Last-minute Preparations

Before I knew it, July was here. I couldn't believe it was so close! On the 2nd, Zach and I treated ourselves to full-body massages to relax and enjoy the last couple days of planning. At this point I was entirely stressed out about programs, favors, place cards, and seating charts. I was just ready for this wedding to be over with!

After our massages, we joined my mom and some of our wedding party to finish decorating for the reception. They had most everything done, but there were a few things to put finishing touches on. Looking around, I couldn't believe that this was all for us. I stood there and thought to myself, The people standing in this room just two days from now will be here to celebrate with US. I felt truly blessed.

On the 3rd, we met with our bridal party and some family at the church for our rehearsal. I took charge because we had a timeline to be on and I wasn't going to deal with people messing up MY schedule. We finished pretty quickly and everything went smoothly. After some last minute decorations at the church, we loaded up and headed to Chris and Cathy's for our rehearsal dinner.

Their house looked amazing! They'd set up wonderful tents and tables in the yard and decorated with lots and lots of red, white, and blue! We'd opted to do a cookout for our rehearsal dinner since we wouldn't really be celebrating the 4th of July properly. The food was incredible. Zach's dad and uncles did a wonderful job with the meats on the grill, and his mom and aunt's side dishes were mouthwatering. It was wonderful to just relax and enjoy a cookout with friends and family, even though in the back of my mind I couldn't stop thinking about what tomorrow would be.

After we finished eating, taking pictures, and passing out gifts to our wedding party, we headed out to Raritan for the fireworks. We were praying for dry weather, but the local stations were all predicting rain. The firemen were able to launch the fireworks display, but halfway through it started sprinkling. Nothing to ruin the fireworks, but several people were holding umbrellas.

Afterward, I went home to my parents' house with my roommate from college, Laura. She and I stayed up talking for a few hours. Then, I took a soothing bath to calm my jitters and try to relax myself enough to sleep. I stayed up until after midnight just to take a picture of my phone showing the time and date: my wedding day.