The Ingram's: December 2010

Our wedding festivities were kicked off 7 days before our big day... at 4am on Saturday, December 4th I receiving a phone call from my sister who told me that she was in the hospital and was going to have an emergency appendectomy that morning at 9:30am. I spent most of that day up at the hospital and Jay finished up our "to do list" at the house to get ready for the guests coming in for the wedding. I stayed with Jennifer in the hospital Saturday night and my mom stayed with her the remainder of the nights... and she was released on Wednesday and was moving very slowly, but in good spirits.

Monday and Tuesday I worked half days and took care of the last minute wedding details in the afternoon and spent time with Jennifer and my grandparents who were in town from Salisbury, MD. It was a good week, not like we had planned, but everything got done and by Thursday evening and we were ready to celebrate!

Our out of town guest gift bags!

Thursday night my wonderful friend and bridesmaid Courtney hosted a lingerie shower for me at Crescent Moon Wine Bar. It was so fun and the perfect way to kick off the weekend festivities. Then Friday my mom hosted a fabulous bridal luncheon at Hubbell & Hudson. It was so special to spend a few hours with the women who mean the world to me on the day before my big day.

The guys spent Friday morning on the golf course. As Jay would say... "It doesn't get much better than a great day on the golf course with great friends and family." It was the perfect way to start Jay's wedding weekend celebration and 11 day vacation.

Friday evening we rehearsed... arrived at the church to practice and go over all the details for the ceremony, which went flawless thanks to our wonderful coordinator at the church Renee Robinson. After the rehearsal everyone headed to dinner at The Woodlands Tournament Course. It was lovely and so wonderful to share that evening with our closest friends and family. After dinner they played our slideshow and then the toasts began. It was such a blessing to have so many friends and family members stand up and toast us on the eve of our wedding day. Afterwards it was time to head home, to my parents house, and get some beauty rest.

Surprisingly I slept really well and work up around 8 and got ready for the day... had breakfast, loaded the car to head to the resort and then the church. I arrived to the church around 10ish and spent the rest of the day getting ready and relaxing with my best girlfriends. We all had our hair and make up done at the church by a wonderful hair and make up company Your Beautiful Face. Once my hair and make up was finished it was time to put on the dress! I do have to say that I was calm as a cucumber all day... REALLY I was... surprisingly no nerves and no worries about the little details. My prayer all week was that come the day of the wedding I would not worry about anything and that I would soak in every ounce of the day and remember every second "I get to marry my best friend and the love of my life today!!!" And that prayer was answered tenfold.

Over my many experiences of being a bridesmaid I remember asking each bride... "how do you feel... what is your advice to a bride to be?" And some would replay... just relax and enjoy the day... it goes by SOOO fast and is such a blur. Others would say they didn't remember much... just walking down the aisle, seeing random faces in the crowd, and smiling so much their cheeks were score the next day and things like that. So I took everyones advice and savored every minute! Once I was all dressed and ready to go Jay and I got to exchange wedding day gifts. Jennifer took Jay's gift to him and Dan brought my gift to me. We also exchanged cards. I will admit I did get teary-eyed as I read the sweetest, most beautiful card from my groom; then I got to open my wedding day gift... We both gave each other watches... very traditional, and timeless... After that it was time for our big "first look". That is what the photographer and videographers call the time when a bride and groom see each other before the ceremony.

I remember walking to the church with my bridesmaids beside me and I said, "I can make it from here..." I wanted our moment to be ours... just us... so everyone waited inside and out of sight so Jay and I could just be us. I remember walking outside and thinking this is the moment I have been waiting for all day... the moment I get to see my groom face to face. And that moment exceeded every expectation and dream I had ever had. I can't wait to see the photos. After that we took all of our bridal party and family photos then waited for the ceremony to begin.

I remember waiting outside the church in the hallway with my dad and listening to the beautiful music. Side note... as we planned for the ceremony we put a lot of thought in to the music we choose... We wanted the music to set the tone for the entire evening and it truly did.

As each of my bridesmaids walked down the aisle I remember thinking "THIS IS IT"! This is the moment I have been planning for and praying for my whole life! I am so ready for this and so excited... Let's go, and just then the doors opened and my dad and I both took a deep breath and began our walk down the aisle. I can close my eyes right now and can see Jay's standing at the alter greening from ear to ear. Once we made our way to the front of the church I remember everything about the ceremony. Our "I Do's", the beautiful solos, I even remember most of Kevin's message to us. Then when it came time for the vows. I can now say those traditional vows are so special and so sacred. Each word has so much meaning and reason behind them.

I, (name), take you (name), to be my (wife/husband),

to have and to hold from this day forward,

for better or for worse,

for richer, for poorer,

in sickness and in health,

to love and to cherish;

from this day forward until death do us part.

After we exchanged our vows and Kevin announced us Husband and Wife we took communion and prayed together. After communion we exchanged our wedding rings and sealed it with a kiss to make it official! Now it was time to celebrate!

We took a few more photos then headed to the resort to enjoy the reception. We actually got to sneak in the room before anyone else got to see it and it was so beautiful and just like I had planned. If you are a bride and planning your big day I would totally recommend this. It gives you a chance to see the room untouched and exactly as your planned.

This was our table... "Mr. & Mrs. Jay Bryan Ingram"

Once we were introduced we went right into our first dance, then my dads toast, which was perfect by the way, then dinner and dancing! The entire night was perfect! I remember smiling so much and loving every minute! We didn't want the night to end, but when it came time to make our grand getaway we were ready. It is amazing how fast that night went by. We left in an amazing 1965 Red Mustang Convertible; the night was incredible and I couldn't have asked for anything better.

Our first dance.... "The Way You Look Tonight"

I can't wait to get the photos back and see the video! And when I get them I will post our favorite ones.

Here are a few more photos from our trip... so many to choose from but here are some of our favorites so far.

This has been our favorite place... we rented these chairs and totally recommend it to EVERYONE... it is a beach front view and we had our own waiter serving us... it was wonderful.

This is us 20 Feet under the ocean! We did a snuba trip and it was amazing!

This was taken on a little adventure road trip we took on our way to dinner at Merrimans. We climbed down a cliff to this little rocky area and enjoyed the most amazing sunset views.

This was taken on our dinner cruise. It was nice and relaxing and surprisingly really good food. The weather was perfect and we even saw a shooting star!

P.S. Aloha nui loa mean "Very Much Love" in Hawaiian.