Wedding Day Re-Cap!

Hello! I am writing to you for the first time as Mrs. Dianna Haynes! That is so exciting! I still sit and marvel that I am married. I look at Dusty and am like , "you are my HUSBAND" and he smiles and says, 'and you are my wife." It is crazy, it always felt like the wedding was forever away and now it is 5 days past us! I am surprised to report that I did not cry at the wedding. I predicted that the excitement and hormones would have made me a blubbering baby but rather the happiness that I was finally becoming Dusty's wife kept a smile on my face all evening, that whole day I had not a worry in the world (well...I was worried that a child would trip and get hurt when they were running around but that is every adult's fear when kids run...right?).  If you were unable to make it to the big event or even if you were there let me re-cap for you.

1.) What was the date and time of your wedding? April 11, 2014 at 5:00pm

2.) What was the weather like? The weather was gorgeous. High of 75, partly cloudy, not a rain drop to be seen but a nice breeze to keep us cool! LOTS of pollen though, just ask Dusty's Tux!

3.) What kind of food/beverages did you serve? During cocktail hour we had a cheese and cracker assortment (I stole some cheese cubes while waiting to make our grand entrance because I was STARVING!), drink options were water, sweet tea or lemonade (apparently the best lemonade in the entire world according to everyone who told me about it AFTER the fact!), Dinner was a bacon wrapped turkey tenderloin with a whisky glaze, red skinned mashed potatoes with bacon and cheese on the side as mix ins, macaroni and cheese, grilled vegetables (they gave me my own side of just asparagus) and yeast rolls. It was all amazing! Best wedding food ever in my opinion!

4.) What kind of cake did you have and who made it? We had a 3 layer hexagonal cake from Dewey's bakery, the top and bottom layers were chocolate and the middle was red velvet all with white icing and decorated to match our cinema theme. The cake was fresh, moist and delicious, not to mention the fact that it looked amazing. Dewey's did a great job!

5.) Did everyone who RSVP attend? No, we had a few no-shows but it happens, it did lead to lots of left over delicious food!! We did have some FAR away out of town guests make it in from New York (Lauren and John,) Gabby and Joe), New Hampshire (Alex), Colorado (Katie), Massachusetts (Sam and Mike).

6.) Did your ceremony run smoothly? For the most part, our processional got a little out of sorts when my nephews forgot to push mom down the aisle in her wheel chair so she came in right before me and dad, our flower girl and ring bearer walked down the aisle with our best man and matron of honor (which was absolutely adorable by the way!), I forgot to switch my engagement ring to my right hand before the ceremony so I (probably not so subtly) moved it right before getting my wedding ring, and Noah yawned very loudly after we said our vows which cracked everyone up. All in all it was wonderful.

7.) Did your reception run smoothly? It got a little out of sorts, we didn't have a set order of events which got a little hectic, I didn't bustle my train right away so it got in the way of our first dance and tripped a lot of people during the reception (no one got hurt), no one really danced except Dusty and I with our parents but since we aren't big on the whole dancing thing it worked for us and the kids had the whole front outdoor space to play and run and I can't be sure that I spent enough time with EVERYONE because I kept moving around or being pulled aside for a question or something, hopefully no one felt neglected!

8.) Did you get all of the pictures you wanted? Who knows?? Our photographer was amazing, she came and shot our wedding even though she doesn't do photography anymore and did an awesome job. She had 5 photos to me THAT NIGHT and all of them were amazing. Dusty and I had made signs to use in the photos but realized that we left them in the room so we only used one of them and figured we could add the quotes digitally after the fact. I believe that the rest of the pictures will turn out amazing as well and lots of people have shared their pictures with us on Facebook.

9.) What was your first dance song? Everything Else Disappears by Sister Hazel

10.)What song did you dance with your dad to? I Loved her First by Heartland

11.)What song did the groom and his mother dance to? My Wish by Rascal Flatts

12.) What was your last dance song? We didn't have one, no big deal though.

13.) Who caught the bouquet? Lily McLean

14.) Who caught the garter? We didn't do that.

15.) What were your favors? We had boxes of popcorn and little clapboard picture holders

16.) What did you do for your send off? We didn't have one, we took a picture holding a sign that said "to be continued" in the hall where our room was.

17.) Where did you spend your wedding night? We stayed in the Johnson Room right at the Manor House. The room was right down the hall from our reception and it was beautiful!! The bed was comfy, Lauren, Anita, Brittany and Katie decorated our room before we retired for the night which was awesome, and breakfast the next morning was AMAZING!! Best breakfast ever of fresh Blueberry scones, eggs, bacon, fruit, toast, and orange juice!!

18.) Did anyone decorate your car? Yes! Our car had been written on apparently NOT by David & Sierra with Noah's help! Noah kept claiming that it was some woman with black hair that had him draw on the windows, we named people and he just said no until he said that David and Sierra let him draw on it. He was tickled that he got to draw on the trunk (the back windshield), and the sides "but not the front" and he apparently drew potatoes.

19. Did you take a honeymoon? Yes, we went to Wilmington, NC and are currently still ON our honeymoon. Note the water at the beach is flippin COLD in April!

20. Would you do anything different? While sitting in a movie theater yesterday we thought it would have been cool to have random movie trivia while people were waiting for the ceremony to begin but besides that nope because our wedding was awesome.

181 Days Left!! Meet the Cast and Crew: DOUBLE FEATURE Noah Haynes and Karlee Naglieri

Cast Member: Noah Haynes
Role in Wedding: Ring Bearer
Relationship: Son of the Groom
How we met: Dusty was in the room when he was born. I met Noah one day when Dusty brought Noah in to the office on his day off because he forgot his phone charger.
How he got the gig:  He is awesome, fun, brave, adventurous, inquisitive, smart, polite, handsome, beautiful and all around wonderful. Oh yeah, he is also Dusty's 3 year old son and my soon to be step-son. He is going to be an very handsome ring bearer!

Cast Member:  Karlee Naglieri
Role in Wedding: Flower Girl

Relationship: Niece of the Bride
How we met: Dianna met Karlee in a delivery room at Forsyth Medical Center the night she was born right before she was taken to Brenners to begin her long journey with CHD. Dusty met Karlee on July 4th 2012 when he met the rest of the Naglieri crew.
How she got the gig:  Karlee is an amazing miracle baby! She is the strongest little girl I know and given her adorableness plus the fact that she is the youngest little girl in the Naglieri/Dunne/Haynes clan, she was the perfect fit!

201 Days Left!!!- Meet the Cast: Perry Hardison

So you are planning a wedding, you have the dress, the venue, someone to marry, what else do you need? How about someone to make it official? Cue our next cast member, our officiant.

Crew title: Perry Hardison 
Address: PO Box 374, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27515
Phone: 919.618.3359
Role in wedding: Officiant
How we met: The internet. Since neither Dusty or I attend a church regularly we did not have anyone in mind when it came to someone performing our ceremony. We used wedding venue websites to check out our options for an officiant who would suit our needs and once we found Perry we knew we were on the right track. We met up with Perry in Chapel Hill at a Starbucks, talked it over and booked him to marry us.

What to expect: Perry Hardison is an ordained Baptist minister who will custom write our ceremony to fit our personality and wishes. Perry is a good guy and we are blessed to have him as part of or ceremony.

210 days left!!- Meet the Cast: Leah Robbins

What are some things that you take to a wedding? Tissues? A gift? A camera? I personally LOVE pictures and while I may not be the best at taking them, I sometimes pretend I am and adore having these frozen moments in time to remember a friend's special moments. With this in mind, it is not too hard to believe that the very first vendor that was booked was our photographer.

Crew title: Leah Robbins
Address: N/A
Phone: N/A
Role in wedding: Photographer
How we met: Leah had been the photographer to capture the pictures of Mrs and Mr Callaway's wedding and engagement and Hannah's Bridal shots! The pictures were wonderful so when Hannah told me of an amazing deal that her photographer was having that included 7 hours at the wedding a Bridal Shoot and an Engagement shoot I had to jump! Dusty and I looked through her work and determined that she was perfect for us! We had talked though what we wanted and had Leah booked even before Dusty asked me to marry him! While Leah is no longer accepting new business she is still going to be shooting our wedding making it even more special!

What to expect: You can expect to see a lovely lady setting up and taking amazing pictures at the wedding. We still want you to take pictures but please be mindful that if Leah is trying to set up a shot these are the pictures that WE get to keep, her job is to take the pictures that we will have forever as we wont be toting around a camera to capture the moment. Now she isn't going to stand directly in your way as we are having our first kiss but she may move around if she needs to get a different angle for a shot.

250 Days Left!! - What to Expect- Seating

Ah, the dreaded topic of our seating plan. I think if this wedding has one more area in which to stress me out it is going to be in making the seating plan. Since we are having plated meals that will be submitted beforehand, everyone must be in the seats to which we assign them, which makes our job much harder. Just in case sitting 10 random relatives at a table wasn't already stressful there comes the issue of seating during the ceremony and THAT is where I expect complaints.

Background: Our ceremony and reception are being held in the same room which means we will have it set up almost exactly the same all night. The Crystal Ballroom at our venue is perfect and it was kind of special to be able to have our table in the exact spot that we exchanged our vows. It was also going to be much more money and hassle to either pay for another room in the building for 30 minutes or make guests travel from one location to another for these events. We landed on the single room option and our event coordinator at the venue has instilled confidence in how it will turn out.

What to Expect: You may be standing for our entire ceremony, but it will be probably max about 30 minutes, if that. We will have some chairs moved from tables into rows to create an aisle for immediate family and for anyone with VERY young children or anyone who is injured but these seats will be filled at primarily our discretion. I know it may seem silly that you may have to STAND but this will give you more freedom as to where to be, you can be on the second floor or the first and maybe see the wedding from a POV that you have never experienced! This is one thing about my wedding that I KNOW is going to upset people but honestly, as mean as it sounds, I don't want to hear it, I have stood in line longer to get into a crummy movie or to pay for some groceries so I feel that standing (while I am doing the exact same thing), isn't too much to ask someone. After the ceremony, Dusty and I will make our escape to get some photo's done with our bridal party and family while our guests are offered some snacks, will have access to the pub and can take their seats inside when they are ready waiting for cocktail hour to be over so they can see us again and eat some yummy food then dance it all off!

305 Days Left!- What to Expect: Religion

This post is going to be the first in a series that will explain some things that may be a little different at our wedding. The series will be called "What to Expect" and will cover various aspects that you will notice at our wedding and help you get to know the reasoning behind our decisions and maybe you will even learn a little bit about us! To begin the series we will start with Religion.

When getting married, one of the important discussions you need to have, if you have not already discussed it, is religion. This is important not only to determine important factors and requirements for your ceremony but also so you and your partner will know where you each stand on the subject and give you a basis on how you will live as a married couple.

Background:

Where I am coming from: I was raised a Catholic but have discontinued attending church after my confirmation. I never really felt a strong bond to "church," to me it was always just the reason you got up early on a Sunday and had to pay attention to if it was time to kneel, sit or stand. I had gone to religion class for years, took the tests, heard the stories (sadly most of which I don't remember well), but it was all a means to an end. That being said, I do believe in God, I do pray in my own way opposed to using pre-written prayers and in my opinion I am a good person that I feel God would be proud of...most of the time.

Where Dusty is coming from: Even in my early childhood, while I didn't really go to church, I struggled with heaven and hell and how I could get in one and avoid the other. In my early teens, I came to believe that God was real, had my “born again”, saved experience and began attending a Southern Baptist church several times a week. I spent the rest of my teens immersed in church and vowed to be a youth minister myself. Upon graduating High School and attending Bible College, I found that many of my beliefs didn't really match up with the religion I belonged to. As time went on, I found myself growing further and further into opposition with many of my friends and family on many of the big issues. These days, I still believe in and love God and have a personal relationship with him; but my “church” is more likely to be me alone with Him in my apartment instead of inside a building.

What to Expect:

As  you can see above, while neither Dusty nor I are church goers we do each have a relationship with God. When planning our wedding neither of us imagined a church as the place that we wanted to officially become a family. We looked through some options and determined that we would find an officiant (the technical term for the person that marries you) who could provide us a ceremony that suited us. We wanted a ceremony that would not require our guests to sit through a sermon but rather focus on the reason for the gathering, that two people were blessed enough to find their soul mates and even outside of a church we truly believe He will be proud of us. I don't know word for word what will be said in our wedding, but I know it will focus on the two people who God created and their love for each other  and it will be perfect for us. We know there will be people who are disappointed in our decision, (some have already voiced their feelings), and while we respect everyone's belief system, their traditions and their views on marriage, this is how we want it and we know it will be perfect.