The Fab Mrs. Mini

My husband and I got married June 28 in Dallas. Because my husband is from Syracuse, New York, and many of his family members and friends could not attend our wedding, my husband's parents threw us a second wedding reception in Syracuse.
As my husband and I were dancing to the last song at our reception (which ironically was to the song "Last Dance") I felt my right knee dislocate. I immediately crumbled to the floor.
Apparently most of the guests thought I was doing some new dance move because everyone, including my husband, didn't react for several seconds. When everyone realized I wasn't getting up, a swarm of people surrounded me.
There I was in my wedding gown lying on the floor, writhing in pain. I tried in vain to pop my knee back into place, but the next thing I knew, an ambulance was on its way.
When the paramedics arrived, it took an entire team of people to dig through the countless layers of dress and petticoat to find the source of my trauma. After finally calming me down, getting my I.V. set up, and strapping me to the stretcher, we were on our way to the hospital.
As I was being loaded into the ambulance, and the morphine had kicked in, all I kept saying was, "Don't forget my shoes and don't let them hurt my dress!"
When we arrived at the ER, my main concern was that my dress wasn't ruined. The nurse actually suggested that they cut off my dress. I looked at my husband, in tears, and said, "They can cut off my leg before they cut off this dress." My husband and the nurse were able to get the dress off without incident, and after some x-rays, some more pain medicine, and a new pair of crutches, I was released.
Now that it's all over, I can truly look back on the incident and laugh. Most girls leave their reception in a limo, or perhaps even a horse-drawn carriage (which we did at our first reception) but I left my reception in an ambulance.


Complete with my husband pushing all the siren buttons.

Yep, I'm that bride. The bride who sees her gown and cries. The bride who thinks about her veil and tears up. The bride who can't sleep the night before shopping for her wedding shoes because she's too excited.

I suppose this isn't really a surprise. I'm quite an emotional girl. And truth be told, I didn't actually cry when I saw my gown...I cried when I saw a picture of it. wow. (The dress itself will be in next month, and the saleslady has informed me that NO other bride has MY dress!) Good Lord. How am I actually going to make it through my wedding day without ruining my make up a million times?

It's been awhile since I've seen my dress. There were no pictures online until recently because it's so new. I actually bought it at a trunk show where Demetrios was unveiling the spring collection during a weekend last fall. But now there are pictures online...which I find myself staring at constantly. Between staring at the dress and staring at my engagement ring, it's a wonder I have time to look at anything else! (Even as I'm writing this, I have the pictures of my dress opened in another window. true story.)

But it's just so beautiful. I mean, I know that all girls think their dress is beautiful, but mine really is. I'm pretty sure it's the most beautiful dress ever created in the history of dresses. I challenge anyone to find a dress more beautiful than mine. Actually, don't waste your time: It can't be done.

I am a shoe girl. I know there are many girls out there who say they are "shoe girls", but I really am. Shoes are my thing. They're kind of my trademark. I have 130+ pairs, most of them heels. On any given day, my coworkers will stop me just to see which shoes I'm wearing. At one point (before I was able to upgrade my closet) I was storing boxes of shoes in my oven. I mean, I don't cook, so why not make use of that extra storage space?

So obviously I am taking my wedding shoe hunt VERY seriously. Almost as seriously as the dress hunt. There are so many lovely pairs of shoes out there. As I head through Neimans or Nordstrom, they literally scream at me to take them home. Often, I oblige. But lately I have been on a mission. The mission to find THE perfect wedding shoes.

Here is my dilemna: My fiance is about 5'6" with shoes on. I am about 5'4" without shoes on. (I'm sure you see where this is going.) I had basically buried the idea of wearing heels in my wedding, not because my fiance opposes the idea, but because I don't want to look like some Amazon woman standing at the altar. (But I also don't want to feel like some short, dumpy girl waddling down the aisle. ok, fine. I'm not dumpy, but heels just have a way of making a girl feel graceful and ellongated!)Thus began my search for the perfect flat. I've searched high and low, near and far, here and there. And with every flat I find, a piece of my heart cries. Not because the shoes are lovely. But because my hearts yurns for me to wear heels. Many girls feel like their bride ensemble isn't complete until the put on a veil. I fear my ensemble won't be complete until I put on a pair of fabulous heels.

So now my biggest wedding problem is this: Do I wear the flats (I've found a couple of pairs that are cute) and ensure that I won't tower over my groom? Or do I go for the 3 1/4 heels (nothing compared to the 4+ I usually wear) that make my heart sing?I know what my fiance would say. He's all for hearing my heart sing. I guess I could always squat a little in the pictures...

Yes, I am a bit compulsive about planning. So what? I get things done. Our wedding is less than six months away, which seems like an eternity. But I'm sure it will be here in no time.

We've got our church and minister: George Baker at Highland Oaks Church of Christ
Reception: Trammell Crow Building in the Asian Art Museum
Photographer: The FABULOUS Cristina Wisner
Florist: The lovely ladies of A Stylish Soiree
Our cake: The Cake Lady (2 cakes: Mine and Brian's...both paid for by Bri's parents. yay!)
The ceremony music: 2 of my students are redoing the traditional wedding march using an electric guitar and a snare drum. (Mimi is gonna freak!)
Our DJ: The talented Nate at DJ Connection
Our favors: A photobooth and perhaps CDs for everyone
The Hotel: Hotel Indigo...quite unique
My dress: blogged a bit about that already...from Demetrios
Bridesmaids' Dresses: To be taken care of Thursday! (the 5 bridesmaids in knee-length black dresses; the Matron of Honor is a floor-length pink number)
The Honeymoon: Hawaii! (flights booked today!!!)
The Rehearsal Dinner: BUGATTI...so yummy!
The Stylist: The ever so fabulous Bailey

The bridal portrait date is set and my 2 showers are on the calendar.
The girls are all staying with me the Friday night before the wedding. My last slumber party as a bachelorette! I'm so blessed to have girlfriends like the girls in my bridal party: Kim, the Matron of Honor (I'd be lost without her...my wedding coordinator), my sister Courtney (she's my best friend), my sister Morgan (probably the happiest for Brian and me), Leila (busy.busy.busy. but always comes through in the end), Raeane (so super supportive), and Luanne (Brian's sister and soon to be my sister too!). Then there's Paige...the junior bridesmaid and Brian's niece, and Raegan, the CUTEST flower girl ever. Seriously, she may outshine me that day. (okay...probably not...or at least she better not!)

I don't know what I'd do without those girls. And I don't know what I'd do without Mimi. She may be more obsessed with this wedding than I am. (yeah, that's definitely an overstatement, but she's nuts about it too!) She's already helped us so much. And my mom is great, too. She's always there to help buffer the situation when Mimi's opinions get a little out of hand. Brian's parents are awesome too. I really never thought people got along with their in-laws, but I honestly do. They are wonderful. Our families get along so well. It really makes our lives so much easier. I know people who don't get along with their in-laws, and it makes things so incredibly difficult, especially around the holidays.I'm glad Brian and I don't have to deal with that. We are quite fortunate.

Okay, so they aren't exactly wearing couture, per se. But I am in love with the girls' dresses.

I have 5 bridesmaids and 1 matron of honor. The 5 bridesmaids are wearing black, strapless, knee-length bubble hem dresses from David's Bridal. (I could get into how much I loathe David's Bridal, but the unfortunate fact is, they had the dress I wanted. And they are affordable. Nevermind that the sales girl was maybe 19 and was about as interested in helping us as she was is the results of the recent presidential primary.)

But, I digress: The dresses are fantastic. I found them online and my vision was realized when the girls put the dresses on in the store. Did I mention I'm obsessed with bubble hems? yeah. OBSESSED. So the 5 bridesmaids are all wearing the same black dress with black strappy sandals. For the matron of honor, I went with a floor-length dress in watermelon. It's a vibrant pink that goes really well with the other pinks I'm using. The middle has a band around it that matches the bands of the bridesmaid dresses perfectly. I love how it all tied together.

I also picked out the junior bridesmaid dress. It's the same color as my matron of honor's dress, only tea-length.Tomorrow we're going to look at tuxedos for Brian and the groomsmen. I'm hoping he'll go with pink ties and vests for the groomsmen and a white or maybe silver-ish for him. But we'll see what happens tomorrow.We're also going to pick out the flower girl's dress.

She's adorable. I can't wait to see what we come up with for her.

After a heated debate with myself about my choice of shoe for the big day, I have finally made a decision: I'm going with the heels!

There are few things I love as much as a fabulous pair of stilettos (only my fiance and my dog come to mind right now) and so it may come as a surprise that I struggled with the idea of wearing heels on the big day. But with a groom who is a little on the short side (more Tom Cruise short, not so much Hobbit short) I had a decision to make: tower over the groom or sell my stiletto-loving soul to the shoe devil: flats.

Ok, so perhaps I'm being a bit dramatic, as my fiance likes to remind me. He is 100% comfortable with the idea of me being taller than him when I wear heels. I love his height, and he's learning to love my shoe collection. And I wouldn't exactly "tower" over him. I'd be about an inch taller. And even I, the queen of all things shoe, have been known, on occasion, to wear a flat or two. But shoes, they're like my "thing". On any given day, I will gladly choose a 4-inch-heel, even if it means blisters and sad feet, over the more sensible flat. It's a matter of principle.

But on my wedding day did I really want pictures of me not looking like the teeny tiny (ha!) bride princess I really am? Would that image still translate if I were taller than my groom?

As it turns out, the image I'd much rather translate is one of a bride who forgoes her own silly ideas, like not being taller than the groom, in favor of adorning her feet with an oh-so-lovely pair of fuschia heels. And sure I'll be just a tad bit taller than my groom that day, but that's a small price to pay to the shoe gods to whom I owe my stylish trademark.

Oh, my wedding day. What a fantastic day that was. From start to finish, the day was flawless. Well, mostly flawless. As flawless as a girl with OCD and a need for perfection can handle.

As I sit here typing this, I still can't believe that it's over. But the pictures and stories and the boxed up wedding dress (that's actually currently being shipped to Syracuse so I can wear it again...more on that later) tell me that it is, in fact, over. My days of being obsessing with wedding planning and making sure I am the most fabulous bride I could possibly be are over. Now it's on to obsessing over our new house that's being built and being the most fabulous wife I could possibly be.


And I don't mean to brag, but 3 and a half weeks in, and I think I'm doing a pretty fabulous job as a wife. ha!

So what follows are the details of my wedding day that I just had to get down in writing, both to share with the world, and to engrain in my head since I'm still trying to make sense of it all.


The night before the wedding, Brian's parents hosted an amazing rehearsal dinner for us at Bugatti. It was so wonderful to have our closest friends and our family there to celebrate with us on the eve of our wedding. I remember stopping myself several times that night and trying to take it all in, take in the extent of what was happening. I felt like that episode of "Friends" where Alec Baldwin guest starred and he kept taking "mental snapshots" of every moment because it was all so important to him. Even now, I still don't think my mental snapshots can do the night justice. It was a lovely evening with the people I care most about in the world.

But that was just Wedding Eve. The next day, Wedding Day, I learned what it truly means to love and to be loved.


My bridesmaids and I spent the morning getting all dolled up for the evening's festivities. I had so much fun just sitting around, drinking mimosas, and laughing with my best friends. And it was made even better by the fact that the fabulous Bailey, who has been doing my hair for 15 years, was there all morning to do everyone's up-dos, down-dos, curly-dos, everything-dos. It's just not a wedding with Bailey!

And it certainly isn't a wedding, or at least not MY wedding, if my sister, Morgan, isn't doing my makeup. The girl is a magician, I tell you. Not once throughout the night did I have to reapply anything other than lip gloss. Yeah, she's that good. Her makeup job even held up through the 90+ degree heat I stood in during my bridal portrait shoot in Deep Ellum.

My mom came over around 1 that afternoon and added to all the fun we were having. My mom is so awesome. That really is the best word to describe her. Awesome. She was already in her wedding attire: Black pant suit (not the mother-of-the-bride boring kind) and fantastic pink shirt underneath. Totally my mom's style since it allowed her to throw up the rocker sign several times at the reception!

After all the ladies were ready (and looking ever so hot!) and lots of hairspray had wafted into the air, we made our way to the church where I would get dressed. We pilled all 11 of us into a Hummer limo and cranked up the hip/hop so we could raise the roof, literally, on our way to the church. Good times and good talks took place in that limo. Moments that I will cherish for the rest of my life, no matter how cliche that sounds.

When we arrived at the church, we all took off for the bride's room, so I could remain undercover until my fierce moment to shine.

Getting me dressed only took one fabulous person: My amazing Matron of Honor, Kim. That girl is good. I mean REALLY good. I know there are all sorts of heroic characters out there to whom a great deal of gratitude is no doubt deserved, but she beats them all. Hercules. please. He's got nothing on Kim. And she's also a champ at making a girl feel like the most beautiful bride that ever graced a church. Somehow, having Kim there made me know that everything was going to be alright. (and it was)

After I was dressed, all the other people in the wedding party went outside to line up for the processional. I had a few moments to myself before my Daddy came to get me. During those few moments, I cried a few happy tears and I prayed. But mostly, I thanked God for leading me to such a wonderful man. I thanked God that I was there, about to marry the man of my dreams, the man I never thought would come. My man, my prince, my Brian was there...and now he was waiting at the front of the church for me.

When my Daddy knocked on the door, I knew it was time. We walked to the front of those huge double-doors. I looked at my Daddy and we shared a smile, a smile that let me know I will always be his little girl and he will always be my Daddy. Then, the doors opened. I tried to count to at least 3 so I could soak it all in, but we were already moving down the aisle and I was already crying.

The rest of the ceremony is somewhat of a blur, but there were definitely several moments that I will never forget: Handing my mother a single peony; my Daddy kissing me on the cheek and putting my hand in Brian's; Kim helping me up the stairs (remember to breath, don't lock your knees, don't pass out); Brian taking an ever so long pause when the minister asked him to repeat the words "I promise"; Brian realizing he was suppose to say "I do" and not "Yes!"; our ring bearer machine-gunning people in the crowd (thanks, Tommy, for the comic relief!); the sand ceremony that left our vase with a pathetically small amount of sand in it; putting on Brian's wedding ring; our first kiss; the announcement of us as husband and wife.

Ok, so maybe I remember more than I thought. But it's not hard when there were so many memorable moments.

But there are things I didn't remember until I saw the pictures: How beautiful all the bridesmaids looked lined up behind me; how well I held it together (I thought I would be bawling); how beautiful the church was.

After the ceremony, we all gathered in a room and waited until people left so we could start the formal pictures. Much like the rehearsal dinner, having all those people gathered in the same place was one of the best moments of this experience. All the hugs, kisses, love...embracing my new in-laws, being asked if Brian's neices and nephew could now call me "Aunt Heather"...

The ceremony was perfect...not because everything went according to plan, but because of those little moments that weren't in the script. I could not have planned it better, which is saying a lot because planning is my passion. It was exactly how my wedding ceremony was suppose to go. It was full of love, laughter, prayer. It was full of fabulousness.

And that was only the beginning of the evening.