Free Brain Space

It’s official.  I’m a married woman now.  WooHoo!

People have already started asking me if it feels any different, and my answer to them has always been “no.”  However, that’s not entirely true.  While it’s true that being married to Craig feels no different than how we were before the wedding, there’s a HUGE difference in how I feel with regards to being on the other side of it.  MY BRAIN IS FINALLY FREE AGAIN!  I’m excited because I can FINALLY have the wedding stuff OFF of my mind!

I started planning this big day back in February 2011, and the wedding, and all that entails has been the foremost thing dominating my brain ever since.  I’ve stressed about the budget, guests, food, flowers, (blah, blah, blah) for too long, and now I’m FREE!

I had heard from my vendors that some of their brides weren’t as diligent in planning their big day as I was, but I’m glad I had over a year to work with.  I did it that way so that when my coordinator took over a month out, I’d be able to relax and just get excited for the day.  And, aside from some minor things that popped up (like the seating arrangements, final questions on the cakes, etc), the month of June was fairly calm.  However, the week we were in Chicago for the wedding was anything but.

Not only did we have friends and family coming in from various points in the country, but there was also quite a bit of running around to do beforehand: pick up Craig’s tux; get the welcome bags ready for our guests; and lots of other things that came up.  The day before was especially packed with things, and then the rehearsal.  The day after was also jam packed with saying goodbye to those who were leaving, and running around returning things from the wedding.  Craig had asked me a few times during the week whether or not I was getting excited for it all, but I had to be honest and tell him that there hadn’t been time to relax enough to think about being excited or not.  I was too worried about one thing or another that still needed to be done.

There were even some things that went a little screwy on the big day.  And anyone who’s ever been married has told me it happens at every wedding.  However, the moment I started walking down the aisle, and saw Craig standing at the end of it waiting for me, everything else went away.  This was the REAL reason that we had put up with all the chaos for the last several months.  I was finally going to marry the man of my dreams.

Tears of joy were shed by both of us, and several of our guests.  Many photos and videos were taken, and the ceremony sounded even more beautiful standing there in front of friends and family than when we were revising it all those months back.  A few people remarked to me about how happy I looked, and they were betting my face would be incredibly sore the following day; so huge was my smile.

The rest of the day was a whirlwind, with the food, the dance, the cake, visiting people, our pie fight, and having our pictures taken.  Afterward, the exhaustion of the week leading up to it finally took its toll and I collapsed in our hotel bed.

Since we got back, there’s been more down time than I’ve been used to in well over a year.  I’ve not known what to do with myself the last few nights, so I haven’t done much.  I have plenty of things I could do; things that were put on hold when the wedding occupied the majority of my thoughts.  I can now get back to my writing, photography, voice overs, and whatever else I used to do with my time.  I just have to get back in the swing of my “life.”

But the most important thing is that it’s now official.  Craig and I are a true married couple . . . finally.  We’ve played with calling each other “wife” and “husband” quite a bit ever since, and the googiness that comes over us makes us giggle and tear up with love.

It was worth it, for sure, but it was also a huge ordeal.  If we had to do it all over again, I think we’d elope.