The big day...

We did it. I'm married. And it feels pretty much the same as it did before the wedding, except I got to see all of my friends for an awesome party, and now I get to explain how to pronounce "Proulx" for the rest of my life.

The wedding weekend was fabulous and wonderful, and when the only minor problem is a broken bustle and too few people renting cars, you know things are pretty awesome.

We started the weekend with “Christmas” with our families, since we didn’t travel home for the holidays, which was really nice. This filtered straight into New Year’s Eve, complete with a dueling families Trivial Pursuit challenge (Yes, we are nerds), dominos, champagne, Dick Clark, etc. Good fun.

I went out with girlfriends the night of the 1^st for my own low-key bachelorette party. We tried to go to an Irish pub in town, but they were closing early because it was New Year’s Day (WTF?). Then, we waited for an hour at a restaurant across the street, but they couldn’t serve us quickly enough, so we ended up going out for pizza, which turned out to be awesome. After pizza, we met with my (underage) bridesmaid and went to see Benjamin Button, which was girly and ok…although the Hurricane Katrina subplot gave me some minor PTSD. All in all, it was a nice night with people I loved to see, with no drama and drunkeness which was wonderful and perfect for me.

The day before the wedding, I went to church with my mother and friend who were singing and playing for the wedding, so they could have a music rehearsal. My mother has a beautiful voice, and my friend lugged her tuba from NYC on a bus so she could play for us. Andy and I met in college marching band, and she was in the section with us, so it was lovely that she could represent! After rehearsal, I had dinner with Andy and one of our groomsmen, and went to sleep for a few hours before the real giant fun began.

Rehearsal was that night, and went well, and then, we all went out to our awesome bowl-o-rama rehearsal dinner. We spent the night bowling and chatting and eating and drinking, and had a blast. I was so relieved that our friends got along really really well, and everyone had a great time. My family beat Andy’s family in our

head-to-head bowling challenge, which was sweet redemption for their win at Trivial Pursuit.

Perhaps the best moment of the evening was when I looked over to see Andy and the groomsmen with bumpers up, and Andy losing the game. I went to chastise him, and he calmly explained, “No, we’re playing to see who can get the lowest score.” I cracked up. But the night was great -- we had people from college dorms and band, people from grad school, family, and most exciting, two of my friends from Ireland (I studied abroad there in high school) made the trip and were a huge hit, especially with the Notre Dame crowd.

The day of the wedding was cold and windy, but we had some sunshine, which has been a rare sight in Vermont
as of late. My motto of the day is, “Eh, what happens, happens,” and pictures, the ceremony, and reception went wonderfully.

We got married at the Cathedral downtown, then a limo took us to our reception at a hotel south of town, with a short stop to Ben and Jerry’s for some pints along the way. I got lots of comments and compliments on the homemade details in the wedding – our origami flowers, the cardigan I crocheted for myself and my Mom, the sash my friend and Grandma embroidered and sewed, my veil, our centerpieces/favors, etc.

It was great fun to see it all come together. The food was wonderful, the music was great, the dancing was fun, and afterwards, went to the hotel restaurant/bar to hang out with people.

Professional pix to come in...wait for it...10 weeks. Ugh!