Tony and Shayna: June 2010

Five years ago today we would have been preparing for our rehearsal dinner. That's one of the first thoughts that came to my mind this morning. The reception tents were delivered, out-of-town family arrived, I'm sure we were doing lots of last minute stuff, and Tony's parents were busy making lots of honey fried chicken. :)

Through the course of our marriage, I have never sat down and wrote a detailed account of our "wedding day season." I say season because there was much more to a wedding than just the actual day. Lots of little things that lead up to the much anticipated big day!! :) To my regret, I didn't journal at all during this busy season, but I do have pictures, my calendar, and e-mails between friends.

Here we are Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 2004. That is two days after I turned 20 years old and two days before Tony purchased my engagement ring.

My family + Tony had all traveled to the NC mountains to visit our Mimi. We enjoyed lots of yummy food and toured Chimney Rock park. On the way back home that Saturday we stopped by a large mall. We had a very short amount of time before we had to be back on the road, so Tony & I quickly made our way to Zales Jewelry store. Yep, I was right there beside him as he picked out and bought my ring. But it didn't get put on my finger yet. He hid it in his pocket and that's where it stayed all the way home.

The following day Tony secretly walked into my dad's office and asked for my hand in marriage. My dad of course said yes!! My parents thought I still didn't know anything about it. Oh, but I did. :) From my parents house Tony & I went on the hunt for a local Zales (this would be the days prior to our dear GPS). We ended up at the Wilson mall where the lady sized my finger and "borrowed" the ring for almost a week.

December 4, 2004 (the following Saturday) we drove back to Zales to pick up the ring. Upon exiting the store, Tony slipped it on my finger and it fit perfectly! He didn't want to wait any longer to give it to me. :) So then we were officially an engaged couple. I was so excited to be able to introduce Tony as my fiance' versus boyfriend. We celebrated that night with dinner at Mayflowers and "Christmas with the Kranks" (which was then in the theater).

We didn't set a date right away ... but we did start planning just a little bit. Mid-December Tony & I spent four days with Mimi in Gatlynburg, TN. We had sooo much fun!! Here we are on the ski lift...

Through the winter we toured houses, celebrated 2 years of togetherness, had lots of date nights, and paid off debt. The middle of March we set the date for June 25, 2005. That started the real planning!! Colors, cakes, dresses, suits, decor, houses, land, finances, guest lists, invitations, etc. A very, very busy season. Here we are March of '05. :)

April 2nd ~ Mom, Brittany, Amber and I went on the hunt for a dress.

I still really like this one!!

This was the winner ~ we liked the uniqueness and simplicity of it.

Amber and I being our normal silly selves. :) Through April we continued to look at houses and land. We designed our invitations, ordered our bands, searched for the perfect bridesmaid dresses .... lots of planning. May 6th we started the paperwork on our new home and they started digging the footers the middle of the month. :) I had two bridal showers ~ one at church and one at work. Our family and friends were soooo very generous!!! Below you can see I had everything packed under my bunk bed ... overflowing really. My bedroom was not very spacious during this season. Haha.

This picture was taken on May 7th ~ Only 1.5 months left 'til we became husband and wife. The wedding day couldn't come fast enough. I think we were all getting a little tired of the planning aspect. ;)

After some prep work, our house was pulled to our land on June 1st. Over the next couple weeks, we picked out pretty "oxford" brick for the foundation, did lots of paperwork, Tony and his dad worked on the electric, and I picked up my wedding dress.

Brittany, me, and Amber ~ Mom was behind the camera :)

Tony saved the above turtle on our way to talk with Bernard about our wedding music ~ "Jesus, lover of my soul" & "Grace flows down." And Brian provided awesome music on the piano.

There's Tony putting in our very own mailbox!! :) Shortly after this picture the land was tilled and driveway set. The week of our wedding was super busy ~ lots of little stuff that needed to be done. We started moving stuff into our very own house. Mom practiced on my hair. We finalized the paperwork. Prepared the flowers for bouquets and decorations. Out of town guests arrived and we had the rehearsal dinner. Which from what I remember went super smoothly. Charlene did a great job at officiating. The honey fried chicken was amazing (as always). And we had lots of help decorating the church. :)

That's us the morning of our wedding. We had Bojangles for breakfast and took the car through the car wash. Family and friends were busy preparing the church ~ blowing up balloons, setting up tables and decorations...

Then it was time to get ready!! Monisha did my makeup ~ mom did my hair. After a couple hours of separation, Tony & I were very happy to see each other again. :) See ...

Then came time for lots and lots and LOTS of pictures. I'll only post a handful.

Almost time to walk down the aisle ~~~~

We decided on a pig picken' for the reception ~ so we had that and lots of other yummy food ~ chicken, coleslaw, potato salad, veggies, fruit, chocolate for dipping, chicken salad, pasta, crackers, cheese .....

Our very first meal as husband and wife!! :) As a side note, see the jar of flowers in front of me?? Well, I collected about 30 pickle jars from my place of work, washed them all up, and used them as vases. Aren't they pretty? ;)

Our cake was fairly simple ~ 4 tiers of yellow cake, frosted in white and accented with green flowers and vines. It was beautiful~! Time to cut the cake...