A Marriage Story: Part I - Pre-Wedding Shenanigans

Are you ready? Are you ready? Are you ready?

As you all are ALL aware by now, the last few months have been super crazy for us - I haven't been around much, mostly because of school, partly because I don't prioritize my life properly, and also because I was getting married! 

For those of you who aren't familiar with Mr. Nicholas and I, you can read our engagement story here & a fun little relationship survey here. 

We are high school/college sweethearts - it was all just a matter of time {7.5 years later!}. Despite our long-term relationship, it feels like there have been so many unique "phases" of our relationship that things seem to always be evolving and changing. We graduated from high school together (separate schools), moved away from home together, graduated from college together (Go Hoosiers!), etc. all while growing and changing into who we are today. We've been through A LOT together and I couldn't be happier or more optimistic about our future together - best buddies for life! 

The weeks leading up to the wedding were hectic to say the least. I finished school and exams at the end of May so I had about 3 weeks to get everything finalized before the big day! During that last week, I decided to run another half marathon which I talked about here. (Thank you all for your kind words on my last post. I realize now that I was pretty hard on myself and I'm thankful that so many of you pointed out that finishing was something to be proud about and not a reason to get down on myself.)

Through all the stress of moving and planning, I managed to have a lot of fun, too! Two of my very good med school friends live down the street from our new apartment with their fiances and we already have some friends from college in the area so family game nights are a go!

Transitioning our lives from Cincinnati to Indianapolis has been really, really great thanks to our friends and family. Despite the fact that both of us would one day love to move back to Cincinnati to raise our family, I think we fit in nicely here. It helps that Indy and Cincy are very similar cities - large enough to have everything you could possible need (entertainment, sports teams, shopping, etc.) but with a small, hometown feel. I'm biased but I still think Cincinnati is the best :) 

{Great med school friends at L's Bachelorette Painting Party - Wine & Canvas}

We started receiving a lot of wedding presents in the month or so before the wedding and this was one of our favorites! You know you're getting old when you get excited for dishes and vacuum cleaners.  

The week before the wedding was craft time! For our favors we decided to do mason jar drinking glasses with a fun kraft paper tag. It was surprisingly easy (though time consuming!). I purchased a personalized stamp from Stamp The Envelope on Etsy and the rest I put together all by myself!

This is the finished product - no I'm not super crafty and I'm sure someone else could've done much better but hey, I'm free labor. 160 mason jars. It's safe to say I'm crafted out for a while.

Also had to make sure I got my bridal beauty routines in! (No, I'm not naked)

On Wednesday before the wedding, I finally made the trek back to Cincinnati to run a bazillion errands including picking my rehearsal dinner dress up from Macy's and meeting with the DJ/Paper lady to pick up our programs. Whew! Things went by SO QUICK and before I knew it, it was time for the rehearsal at the church and dinner!

Programs!

Last minute guestbook table decor from Hobby Lobby!

On Thursday it was rehearsal time so we had our bridal party meet us at a bar down the street from our church in Mt. Adams for snacks and so everyone could finally meet! All of my bridesmaids were my sorority sisters in college - I'm an only child and don't have any other females my age in the family so they were all natural choices and my best friends! Nick, on the other hand, had a wide variety of groomsmen - his brother, best friend from grade school, cousins, co-workers, and college roommate. Everyone got along great though despite never being all together before that time! 

Church rehearsal took about 45 minute and then we headed to Nick's parents house for a big family bash! Lots of fun appetizers to eat including a MASHED POTATO BAR in little martini glasses. Are you kidding me??? Clearly they know me well!

Presents from thoughtful friends! An old bottle that was turned into a drinking glass! Go Bengals!

Two of my bridesmaids!

I wish I had more pictures to share but a lot of them haven't been posted yet :) I stole these from Facebook!

After our rehearsal dinner, it was time to go our separate ways for the night. I stayed downtown with a few of my bridesmaids at our hotel and got some much needed sleep! I didn't have much trouble falling asleep but I certainly woke up bright and early the next morning...