I took the week before the wedding off from work (HIGHLY recommend this), and headed to NW Houston to run a thousand errands with my momma. It was an exhausting but memorable several days. I loved spending the quality time with my parents. They are so precious to me. I cannot say enough good things about them.
Jason and his parents drove up to Magnolia on Wednesday. It was so exciting to see them!! They helped assemble gift bags, put personalized labels on water bottles, and do a few other little projects. My matron of honor Jackie also came over and wrote names on all my escort cards for me. Thanks Jackie!!
We traveled to Austin Thursday morning (several cars of Augusts and Martins). After making it there, we picked up programs, stopped at Specs to pay for the booz, and then arrived at the ranch. I was in disbelief that our special weekend was finally here!!!
We rented a great place for the weekend for our immediate family and wedding party to stay it. It this awesome place called Longhorn River Ranch. It's a 730 acre property with 4 ranch style houses. It's a gorgeous place with tons of fun things to do (pool, hot tub, disc golf, lake (fishing and zip line), basketball course, tire swings). I will be honest that it was a pain trying to work out the logistics of who would sleep where, what nights people were going to be there, etc, but I am SO glad we decided to rent the ranch. It was great for all our close friends and family to be collocated. It made things really intimate, and we got to spend more time with our loved ones than we would have been able to if everyone was in hotel rooms. Having all the ranch activities was also great for all the down time between wedding events. Constant entertainment!
Thursday night a lot of family and friends had trickled into town, so we grabbed dinner on the patio at Nutty Brown Cafe in Dripping Springs. My adorable aunts/cousins had arrived and they decided (in true Williamson family fashion) to serenade Jason and me with a version of "going to the chapel" at dinner. It was very cute :) Can you tell I am blushing?
I hit the hay at a decent time on Thursday so I would be ready for a full day of rehearsal events on Friday. We had to have our rehearsal at lunch time because there was a Friday wedding at Camp Lucy. We arrived a little early to drop off all our DIY projects and some other decor, and then BAM it was go time. All of a sudden all our wedding party and close family was there. It was such a fun experience. We practiced all "where to stand" type of stuff which was really exciting for me. In choosing an outdoor venue, there are a lot more options for the logistics of the ceremony than there are in a church (bride and groom stand here, etc). At Camp Lucy we were really able to taylor things to how we wanted them, which is awesome, but also kind of overwhelming. Jason can attest that I stressed a lot about the layout of everything. I had multiple page powerpoint documents (rain plan and sunny weather plans). Each slide was a different portion of the evening (cocktail hour, etc). Even though I poured all that work into the layouts, I still had no clue how it would all look together, and the rehearsal really helped me visualize everything. I am a very detailed person, so the rehearsal also put my mind at ease on all the complicated wedding logistics. I was starting to feel more relaxed. The to-do list was become so small!!
After the rehearsal, a group of gals got manicures and pedicures. In true Austin fashion, there was a very nice she-man at the nail salon. She was super friendly! and tall.
After nails, we headed back to the ranch and primped for the rehearsal dinner. Once we picked the hill country for our wedding, I just knew we needed to have our rehearsal dinner at Trattoria Lisina. OMG this place is amazing. Jason and I think it's the best Italian food we have ever had. We worked with them to create a custom menu including Calamari, Bruschette, Cheese Ravioli (it was Good Friday), Chicken Parmesean, Veal, and Cheesecake. I'm salivating just thinking of it. We started off the dinner with passed appetizers out on the bocce ball court, then headed in for dinner. As people were finishing their food, Jason and I talked about each member of our wedding party and our parents. I will always remember this. It was great to highlight all the special people who were there for our big day. Jason broke down talking about his parents (i have never have seen him cry before), so I absolutely lost it when it was my turn to talk about my parents. All I was able to get out was that my parents are my best friends. They truly are.
Lastly, we showed everyone our awesome slideshow. We looped it most of the evening at the wedding in the chapel. But we didn't want our close friends/family to feel like they had to leave the dance floor to go watch the video, so we wanted to show it on Friday as well. Jason did a great job on the video, especially the soundtrack. (my classic rock obsessed husband used some Bieber and flight of the conchords). We thought it was pretty funny :o)
That night I wrote my love letter to Jason (I had meant to write it all week!) and then crawled into bed with my friend/photographer Caroline. I should have known my emotions were going to be a roller coaster the next day because I got really stressed/anxious about the logistics of everything as I was getting ready for bed. Who else was there to talk to but my mom? I called her up to my room and she helped me check that I had everything packed for the next morning (earrings, garter, etc), and was so sweet and encouraging to me. I was so excited to be marrying Jason, but so overwhelmed by all the things that needed to be executed the next day. My mom calmed me down and I got a really, really good night's sleep. I was so happy.
More to come...
