Honeymoon

Our honeymoon was a little bit different than we expect...now, don't get me wrong we enjoyed our relaxing vacation! We left our house at 515 the next morning after our wedding which meant very little sleep for us (which we were both very worried about because I don't function well without sleep). We had a smooth check in and we didn't wait long before our plane boarded and we were off to Miami! We arrived in Miami at like 850 and our plane boarded at 1030 (however we added an hour so it was more like a 3 hour layover with the time change).. while we were at Miami I slept and slept and slept and then we got some food and then got on our plane to Cancun! We arrived in Cancun at 1150 and then we had to go through customs and passport stuff. We had prearranged transportation so that was VERY nice. We hopped on our bus and were off to our hotel. The best thing was that our hotel was a very short ride from the hotel! We got to our hotel and they gave me a white carnation and we both got some tropical beverage! We got checked in and got the details of the hotel then headed to our room. I was expecting a super cute room with flowers and stuff like that but it was just the normal hotel room. Our resort was very very nice. We got in and sat on our balcony on the 8th floor and overlooked the activity pool. We ordered mini cheeseburgers and just hung out. Then we decided to adventure around the hotel and see what was around. We went to the beach for a short walk and then I think we got ready for dinner. The first night we went to the mexican restaurant where I had burrito's and jason got fajita's...can I just prepare you for how many times I'm going to say I loved the salsa and guacamole.YUM! That night we went to the Michael Jackson show which was entertaining!

Hope you enjoyed our first day as honeymooners! We will be posting more later with pictures! As we are at 20 days of marriage it is almost hard for me to remember everything we did so i'm going to try and post soon so that I truly don't forget things that I will want to remember!

the DRESS

My goal for this post is to remember everything I possibly can about the wedding...so here we go.

Firstly I must add that the sunday of my wedding-week came and I was just relaxing at my house waiting for my grandma and mom to come over and visit me. They get there and I decided to try on my dress. Now, let me remind you that I took my bridal portraits a few months before the wedding and got my dress a little dirty so I took it to the dry cleaners. Well I hadn't tried to dress on since getting it back from the cleaners because I thought all would be well... NOT SO MUCH! I tried it on for my mom and my grandma and my blatantly honest mom said it's a lot tighter than it was, which was obvious to me because I could feel a fat roll in my backside by the zipper. So we said well maybe I should just keep it on and a few minutes later it seemed a LIIITTTTLEEE less snug. (all the while i was having major issues breathing in the thing) So my mom says well maybe you should stretch...GREAT IDEA? (No BAD BAD idea) So I stretched and started getting a little more air in my lungs and then..dun dun dun.. i tried to touch my toes and so i started thrusting towards the ground with my arms a few times. and then IT HAPPEND.. we heard a wrrriiippp (fabric breaking, popping, shredding) the only thing i could think to do was say NO, NO, NO that didn't just happen.. and LAUGH (and then freak out) my mom and grandma are on the back sides of me and I hear some foul words and then my grandma said, "ohhhh NOOOOOOOO" and then trying to cover up the dreadful situation say, "ohhh NOOOOOO it's NOT THAT BAD!!" We took the dress off and the entire seam had wripped right down the zipper. At this point I started counting the days.. Monday-1, Tuesday-2, Wednesday-3, Thursday-4, FRIDAY-5... 5 days until I'm supposed to get married in this dress. So we made some emergency calls and this lady that we knew was suppose to fix it and let a little out. Took it to her on monday and she said she'd have it to me by wednesday. Thursday came around and I FINALLY got the dress and decided to try it on. Well I looked at it for a few hours and ignored it because I DREADED the dress at this point. Then we took showers (as we were getting atleast 15 people ready for the rehearsal at one house... and I thought, i'm feeling skinnier let's try it now. So we stuffed my fat-behind into the dress and DUN DUN DUN... (situation- I had my cousin holding my boobs together, jomarie was holding my back fat together, my mom was trying to zip the dress, i'm not breathing- i was thinking skinny and some how trying to metamorphasize my body into the shape it needed to be to fit in the dress) so back to the story... my mom can't get the zipper up.. we got the dress back from the lady who was 'supposed' to fix the dress and there was still a LARGE hole in the seam of my zipper. I FREAKED out... and I mean I freaked..started counting days again.. Friday-less than 24 hours away... LESS THAN A DAY AWAY AND THAT DRESS NEEDED TO FIT ME! Thank the Lord that a family member from florida had arrived less than thirty minutes before and was able to stitch the dress. She gave it a good look..told me what I needed and Jomarie and I headed to Target less than an hour before we were supposed to be at the rehearsal dinner. The trip should have taken 3o minutes round trip..we made it to the target and back to the beach house in 16 minutes!! So my family member Eva stitched the dress while we were at the rehearsal and at dinner she told me she had double stiched the seams and that it was FIXED!!! I tried it on at like 1130 that night because she suggested i wear it for 30 minutes...still very very tight but atleast it zippered. Little by little the dress was getting more bearable to wear..so I got out of the dress after my 30 minutes were up and put it away and prayed for the best for the next day. The wedding day came and I was in the men's bathroon with Kristen while my uncle was getting ready and men were walking in left and right... all i could think about was the dress. kristen pulled the dress up and I kept asking her, " is it gonna fit? please tell me it's going to fit" she was sooo reassuring.. she kept saying don't worry it's going to fit. Finally we got to the zipper and i held my breath and she said OH YEA this is gonna fit NO PROBLEM! After all of that hassle the dress fit to a tee!! And that is the story of my wedding dress!

Disclaimer** I didn't do a diet so I did gain weight before the wedding but the dress didn't fit because of the weight I gained/or didn't gain.. it didn't fit because IT SHRUNK at the dry cleaners. All of the shrinkage was in my bust area and around my rib cage... NOTE- to everyone getting married..do not take your dress to the dry cleaners before the wedding and if you do please go on a serious diet or try it on like 5 times a day before the wedding!**

My wedding dress was perfect and the BEST dress I could have imagined. I did so many alterations to it but it was MY perfect dress!

Enjoy!! Another posting will be coming soon!

Catching up!

We are back and getting into the swing of things. The wedding week was craziness and it hasn't stopped since. I will eventually start posting from about the wedding week but right now I can't even get over all of the house work that needs to be done. So for now I'll post a link of some pictures from the ceremony/reception that my dj posted and letcha have a look! it's mostly just details but i LOVE seeing pictures of the wedding so I'd like to remember these pictures in years to come!

http://picasaweb.google.com/deisel40/MrMrsJasonChinnis#

The wedding was beyond gorgeous and it was EXACTLY what we wanted.. casual, southern, and fun!

That's it for now. I'm headed to the pool to gather more sun and hang out with the cousins!

nesting

You know that thing that pregnant women do at the end of their third trimester..nesting? well that's me, except i'm not pregnant... i'm obsessed with getting my house as clean and tidy as possible before i leave for a few weeks.

I've been dusting, sweeping, moping, laundry, and every other type of word used to describe actions of cleaning.

I'm happy to say that I feel like I'm accomplishing something but there are so many nooks and crannies that I feel like i'm leaving out.

Well, enough about cleaning. Here are the plans for the next 7 days!! ONE WEEK until our wedding day!!

today (friday the 21st of May)- picking up my dress from the cleaners for a whopping amount of money that i shall not even think about. packing because i dread packing so i have to do it in little increments. cleaning duh! and then organizing everything so that i don't forget anything at the house that we might need for the wedding ceremony, reception, or honeymoon.

Saturday 22nd of May *tomorrow*- possibly meeting with the person performing our ceremony to tie up loose ends and go over the order of service. loading up all of the JUNK for the beach house. my grandparents are leaving in the AM from Iowa to come for the wedding. I'm so so so excited. I love my grandparents and I'm really excited because my grandpa is walking me down the aisle and I talked to him on the phone the other day and he was so cute. He said, " Maybe, when we get there we can practice 'the walk' because i don't want to mess up or anything!" This was so so sweet to me because the only other person he has walked down the aisle was my aunt sis and she passed away a few years ago of breast cancer. I know this moment will be very very special for the both of us and i'm so excited! I plan on cleaning again tomorrow just because I cannot leave my house messy. I just can't do it..you never know who will stop by.

Sunday 23 of May- my grandparents will arrive in the darkness of the AM because they drive straight through! then we'll pack up my mom's house and ALL the wedding stuff... hang out with the fam and then who knows?

Monday the 24th- Isle of Palms beach house with the family.. simply just relaxing that day because it will only be me, mom, gparents, gma, and family later in the night.

Tuesday the 25th- picking up my cousin from the airport, beach/pool, double date night to who knows where but i'll be sure to take lots of pictures, then just hanging out with fam.

Wednesday the 26th- treating my mom to a spa day with my grandma's... beach/pool, family flies in, bachelorette party!!!!!!

Thursday the 27th- setting up in the afternoon, beach/pool, rehearsal at 600 then rehearsal dinner at 730. then home to the beach house to party for lauren's 21st birthday

FRIDAY the 28th!!!!!- Wedding day! bridal luncheon in the AM, then getting ready, hair and makeup between 230 and 330. pictures and then going to the venue at like 500!! Ceremony at 630 and reception to follow!!

Saturday the 29th - June? Sun Palace Resort Cancun for our HONEYMOON!

Osta La Vista Baby!! (ps please forgive my poor attempt at spelling how i pronounce!)

Enjoy

Jen

Wedding Vows=done!

Today, I didn't have to go to work which allowed me time to work on finishing up my goody bags for the bridesmaids!! I wrote my vows and I can definitely say they speak multitudes of why I'm so in love with my man. I'm starting to think this whole wedding thing might just be setting in!! That makes me super pumped!

The entire week everyone has been asking me if I'm nervous or excited and I just couldn't tell them. I wasn't nervous and I wasn't really even that excited.. it just hadn't hit me. It still felt like it was so far away. We started with 609 days until the day was here and I still felt like i was just waiting. But now, I've written my vows, I can envision the ceremony and the music and me and my dress and the girls and I'm soooo excited! I'm not nervous though. Everyone at work says if you aren't nervous then that means you are ready. Not to say that if you were nervous before you got married that you weren't ready but I do feel ready!

I have to work a 12 tomorrow and then I'll be packing and cleaning the house and meeting with the person who will marry us to tie but all the loose ends and then it's really wedding time. My family comes in on sunday morning and then we go to the beach house on monday and then cheryl and her boyfriend come in on tuesday, wednesday is a special day for my mom and grandma's and I, and then it's bachelorette party, and then thursday it's set-up, rehearsal and rehearsal dinner... then home to birthday celebrate for lauren's(another bridesmaid) 21st birthday because it's really on the wedding day and we have to make her feel special! Then it's wedding day!!! I feel like it's going to fly by now and I'm kinda not ready for that, which is a major change from last week when I was just ready for the whole thing to be over!!!

Cross your fingers... i have to pick up my dress from the dry-cleaners on friday and I'm hoping that it still fits, that it isn't damaged and that the CRAZY amount of money I spent to get a tiny little bit of make-up out of it will be worth it in the end.

Going to do laundry!

Thanks and Enjoy,

Jen

T-minus 12

Quick post:

12 days and i'll be married!!

i'm pretty much turning into bridezilla at this point. only because i've gotten all my stuff done and then others haven't so i feel like i need to be stressed out and get their crap done.. not fair!

Right now I should be writing my vows and things about jason but i think i'll run to the pool instead.

tomorrow we are going to get our wedding license!!

Tues,Weds, Thurs i work and then it's off for 2 and a half weeks!!!

My family will be coming in starting sunday so i'm soooo excited!

I cannot wait to have the day here so i can put my dress on again!!! ps have i told you?? I LOVE MY DRESS. speaking of dress, i need to take it to the cleaners to get it cleaned.. just put that on the to do list..

programs are in the process of being printed, food is ordered... now we just wait on the weather man to make his predictions (which look like rain) and then calculate plan B!!! (which i have myself convinced that it never rains at 630 anyways... right?!)

well seriously.. i need a tan so i'm off to the pool!

oh, and last night my baby cousins came over (not really babies anymore they are 1o and almost 14..) and we watched movies and it was so fun! i miss them and they wanted to spend "quality" time together.. it was soooo cute. I made them look at my dress (i was totally excited) and they were like ohhhh, that's nice. I was like seriously.. just nice? and they had to remind me that they are just boys and don't get excited about this like dresses..

I'm going to try and blog often within the next week!! toodles

vows and other wedding stuff

Today, I am attempting to get started on writing my vows for our wedding. I don't know if the following will make me a bad fiance/wife-to-be but I am having a seriously difficult time doing this. We have been together 4 1/2 years and it seems like I've just become content with who Jason is.. like i've forgotten or pushed back out of my mind how amazing he is. I'm having such great difficulty putting into words how great he is. I can't seem to think of any characteristics that Jason displays or even any type of story that involves us. NOTHING. I'm blank as a sheet of paper at this moment.

Jason suggested I do these at the beach where I can feel as calm as a summer day but I'm scared to wait that long. I want to give him my best and that means I need to get started. I'm madly and deeply in love with him and I know him inside and out but why can't I put it into words?

So there. That's my frustration for the day... I've even put on sappy love songs but they just make me cry so I had to stop that. Oh well, I'll keep trying!

The wedding is something like 17 days away and I'm SOOOO excited. I LOVE my dress, LOVE my pictures, LOVE my venue and LOVE that it's getting closer and closer everyday. Things that I DON'T love.. there are still so many things to do, the ceremony planning is killing me because i've only been to a few weddings and only like 2 that i've truly paid attention, i have no rehearsal dinner dress, still haven't gotten things in the mail that are supposed to be here, and also I'm really leaving this wedding up to others and that SCARES me. I like to be in control and it just hasn't happened. I am praying so so hard that when I walk into my venue it's actually how I want it. If not, at least the cake will be good and i'll be married to my man!

toodles!