Let's start from the wedding and move backwards

I have sooo much to catch up on, so I thought I would start with the day of the wedding and work back words.  I can't believe it's already been 16 days since the wedding, at times it feels like it yesterday and others it seems so long ago like a dream that didn't really happen. Everyone keeps asking me"was it what you hoped for" and I always answer it was MORE than WE could have ever hoped for.  Our wedding was amazing not only because of us, but because of everyone that had their part in it.  From the very beginning we had decided that our wedding was not just about us getting married, it was also about our families and friends blending. One of my favorite comments that someone told us was that we were "the most loving, generous, inclusive and happy bride and groom of all time" this made me so happy to hear!
Here are a few tips that helped ensure that we enjoyed ourselves:

1. Make an agreement with your fiance, your families and the wedding party that no matter what, you ALL will enjoy the day and won't let anything bother you, because all that matters is that we are all together. No stress, no worries, no drama for yo momma. 
2. Let go and just be. My dad told me that he really liked how my husband (he he) and me were true to ourselves, he could see were we were not pretending to be a certain way, that we were enjoying every moment. We weren't worried of what people would say or think. As mi amor & I frequently say to each other when the other one is not understanding us "Just love me".
3. Remember the wedding is not about the dress, the venue, or the decor, it's about proclaiming in front of all those that you love that you found your soul mate & you want to share that moment & celebrate it with them. Enjoy each moment with everyone that is there. My hubbie said the day after that it was the best day of his life, for me too it was the best day of my life.  Some tell you that it shouldn't be the "best day" of your life because you are setting yourself up for disappointment saying nothing will compare to that day, but for us this is not the case. It was the best day of our life because it was the day we married the person we always dreamed of, because it marked the day that we blended our families into one and because we got to spend 3 days partying with those most important to us in the entire world. 

This is us entering after we took the bride & groom pictures, thankfully my little bro (also groomsman) hooked us up with some Pico Sours, and as you can see, people came up to us as soon as they saw us. The guy in the black tux on the right is my groomsman, he was on the hunt for some apps for her since cocktail hour was just about to end.

MOH/Cousin fixing my bustle after my 85 year old great aunt stepped on it while doing a salsa move. Brides Man is in background supervising he he. I freaking LOVE this pic!

One of many photobooth pictures, can you believe 1/2 of the people in this picture had never met before the wedding! 

Wedding In a Week: LA

You know how much we love contests. I just heard about this one via Liz Coopersmith. Looks totally RAD (excuse my 80s speak)!!! MYfm.com has teamed up with Wedding Wire where one lucky Los Angeles based couple gets the Wedding of their dream... only catch is that they have to plan it in a week. Not likely a contest that the peeps on WestsideWedding would be up for but super cool for anyone who can! Submissions for the contest are now closed but why not head on over to vote for your favorite couple?!

Check out the submissions and vote here.

What's Faster Than a Shotgun?

One of my good friends, Lindsey and I were hanging out after work about a week ago, chatting it up about the life, relationships and the like. I had been talking to her about some of the ideas and updates for Westside Wedding when she says, "Speaking of weddings... Craisin is getting married." (Craisin is the nickname for her "crazy" cousin.) I replied with someone completely incomprehensible. She had been dating her boyfriend for less than 3 months!

I wasn't surprised though. Craisin was *very* outlandish and her boyfriend seemed to complement that outlandishless perfectly. She had also gone through a recent loss in the family and her crazy bf had stepped up to the plate. As the story goes, she had a conversation with Lindsey along the lines of "I think I'm getting married soon..."

Last night I happened to catch Craisin's facebook status update:

Praying that this is the best night of my life. Yesterday at 5:24pm

I immediately thought that they had gone and eloped. Waiting for yet another status update today... I instead got a text at 1:oopm from the bride to be stating, "We are getting married at Newport Beach Pier at 6pm. Please come if you can!" I noticed this text at 4pm and Newport Beach was 40 miles away!

The sad thing is that I was more surprised about the invite than I was about the marriage being today. Craisin's latest status on facebook states:

Nothing about me screams traditional... I was proposed to lastnight.. am engaged and I am getting married tonight at 6! Call me if you want to come to watch me get married! 9 hours ago

Although I was unfortunately not able to make it to this "faster than a shotgun" wedding I did receive a picturemail via Lindsey of the newlyweds (see above). Call me a hopeless romantic but I thought the whole thing was kind of cute... what do you guys think?