Journey to Becoming Mr. & Mrs. Jones (THE WEDDING)

As I may have mentioned one or five-thousand times, when we got engaged I was traveling back and forth to Orlando for work every week.  I'd leave Monday a.m. at the asscrack of dawn (sometimes Sunday night, depending on what time my morning appointment was), and drive back Wednesday afternoon/evening, and then I'd spend Thursday and Friday trying to catch up on everything I'd left unattended for half the week at my "real" job in Jax.  It was exhausting and put so many miles on my car, and I had money going out left and right for gas, food, and hotel...  and then I'd have to wait 2-4 weeks for the company to reimburse me depending on how the pay schedule fell, plus I was working 60-70 hours/week and I severely missed my fiance and my dog and my own bed - it SUCKED. 

Here's a little glimpse of what it was like... 

Sometimes I'd set up at the desk...  and yes, two computers, a file bin, and printer.  It was fun to travel with all this stuff.

and sometimes I'd get the room with double beds - one was an office, one was where I'd sleep for 4 hours

And this was my dinner table.  My only salvation was this gourmet sashimi tuna salad from Ale House.  The discontiuned it about 3 weeks after I fell in love with it.  Standard.
 

So basically, we got engaged in October, and it wasn't until January we even paid attention to wedding planning.  Well ya know, I say that, but it's not entirely true.  By the time I was back in Jax full-time we had picked a date, I had a dress, and we had a ceremony and reception venue.  So I guess the main thing is that it didn't FEEL like we were doing wedding planning, since I hardly ever saw my fiance? 

We carefully chose our date based on the following factors...  1) we didn't want to wait a full year for a fall or Christmas wedding, and who wants to take away from the holidays anyway?!  2) We knew we wanted it to be somewhere on the water so that everyone who came to the wedding could really enjoy Jacksonville and see why we love it so much.  3) We didn't want to do it too late in the summer so everyone wouldn't sweat to death, 4) It couldn't be early spring, because my 30th birthday was in April, Lane's birthday was in late May,  and we always go to the TPC golf tournament in early May.

With all that in mind, when we looked at the dates, June 2, 2012 looked PERFECT.  Not tooooo hot, but still warm enough for people to enjoy the beach, and it fit all of the other criteria.  Plus, both of the venues that we wanted were available on that day.  Done.  Had I known then what I know now, we might have chosen differently because as it turned out about 1% of my family was actually able to come on that day, which was a pretty big bummer.

As I mentioned, I already had a dress by the time I got back to Jax full-time in January.  One of the things that I'd do in my hotel room (to avoid massive bouts of depression) was wedding research and googling and whatnot, so it was easy to get an idea of what kind of dress I wanted.  One weekend when I was back in Jax, I called the store to see if they had the dress, went to try it on 30 minutes later, and walked out of the store with it 30 minutes after that. 

the first time I tried it on

I wanted ivory, they only had white, so added a sash and a super long veil and called it good.
  

As for the venues...  we KNEW hands down that we wanted to be married in the San Marco Preservation Hall in San Marco, which is a historic area adjacent to downtown Jacksonville and the St. John's River.  I could spend two hours typing about it's incredible charm and warmth and originality, but I'll just show you a few pictures instead...

 

See what I mean?!  It's gorgeous and so warm and intimate and beautiful and it was just perfect. 

 

As for the reception venue, we wanted to do something really different and fun.  We wanted to make it more of a party and about everyone being together than doing the "traditional" wedding stuff. 

 

Since the wedding budget was up to me and Lane (and almost non-existent!), we had to choose where we spent the fundage carefully, but there were certain things that we just didn't want to compromise.  The idea of having the Jacksonville skyline and the river as part of our reception was one of those things where we just weren't willing to budge.  We ended up and decided on an authentic paddlewheel boat named the Annabelle Lee for our reception.  It was docked about a mile from San Marco Preservation hall, so the location was perfect, it had an open air top deck and the food and bar would be on the lower deck.  The plan was to cruise the St. John's River through downtown as the sun set and then party on into the night.  Totally unique and fun, right?!  I'm sure it would have been.  More on that later... 

 

So we put down the deposits on the Preservation Hall and the boat.  We toured the boat and while it was "a little rough around the edges", it was nothing my design mind couldn't fix right up with a few strategically placed decorations, etc.  Plus it was an "all-in-one" deal, where they'd do the catering, the DJ, the coordination, so it worked out great.  And it fit within our budgetary constraints.  Awesome.

 

The next big thing was to figure out where all of our out of town guests would be staying.  Since we already had downtown and the river worked into the weekend, to get the full Jacksonville effect, we wanted everyone to stay at the beach.  There is a great oceanfront bar that we love that was at the back of the Oceanfront Comfort Inn.  Perfect.  Our fams wouldn't even have to leave the premisis to get booze.  Check and check. 

 

We went to talk to the events lady at the hotel and she walked us through and explained that the hotel would be going through some renovations and that by the time our guests arrived the hotel would be completely revamped and amazing, as it was becoming a Hampton Inn.  This was in January, and the total overhaul was to be complete by the end of March.  In my practical mind I thought, okay...  even if they run behind, what are the chances they'll run two entire MONTHS behind?!  Eh, we'll be fine!  And the hotel will be brand new.  Perfection.  So we posted the info for the hotel block on our wedding website (www.weddingwire.com/katieandlane) and checked it off the list. 

 

For the next few months I did nothing but wedding projects in my spare time.  Because of the budget I wanted to make as many things as I could, but of course, I still wanted it to be beautiful and special and unlike any other wedding.   In one of my Orlando hotel Googling sessions I found this picture:

 

 

 

And decided that I HAD to have some variation of these beautiful paper flowers for our wedding.  Then I decided that I could make all of the "flowers", so I crossed florist off of our "people to hire" list.  Sweet. 

 

all paper - I loved them!

 

Since we were working the river and the beach theme, all of the projects that I ended up doing kept with a kind of vintage beach theme, so for our "favors" and our "send-off", I made 100 paper pinwheels (that also ended up doubling - or tripling - as centerpieces)...

 

my fingers are still not right from all the hot glue that scalded them

 

And this bunting:

it says "Katie + Lane" - it kinda reminded me of lifeguard flags or pool flags or something?  I dunno.  It worked.

And this cake topper:

Also says "Katie + Lane" - apparently I just really wanted to remind people of who's wedding it was.


 

And speaking of cakes, I made ours out of Rice Krispies, ribbon, and 5 tons of icing. 

 

 



But I digress.  So cut to six weeks before the wedding.  Things with the boat guy had not been going well.  There were some previously unmentioned "repairs" being done to the boat and as it turns out, at that present moment - SIX WEEKS BEFORE THE WEDDING - the authentic paddlwheel boat lacked ummm THE PADDLE.  No paddle = our wedded asses at the dock.  After multiple calls, e-mails, and visits to the boat, the Captain (Captain S.O.S - sack of sh!t henceforth) repeatedly assured us that everything would be fine, and he set up our meeting with the DJ.  Ohhhh the DJ.  He was about 60 years old, long scraggly grey hair, wearing a hawaiian shirt and flops.  And he was high as a kite.  I mean just completely "duuuude".  The takeaway from that meeting was that I'd need to create our own wedding playlist, because it it were left to DJ Bongwater, we'd be jamming to Grateful Dead all night.  So that weekend I went through all of our favorite songs, tried to choose a good variety, and though DJ I am not, I put them all in order for how they should roll during a 4 hour boat ride.  I even sorted them into "boarding music", "dinner music", and "party music" files.  Fool proof.  It also took the entire weekend.  FML. 

 

Then came the chapel. The balance of the rental amount was due a month before the wedding, so on that Thursday (the little old lady who manages the chapel only sits there from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays) I went to drop off the check.  Gertrude (the little old lady, in case you didn't guess), opens the door when I arrived and I was immediately smacked in the face by the most putrid odor, the type of odor that can only be produced by a dead rotting animal.  Gertrude went on to say, "Excuse the smell - we've got somethin' in the walls" and then informed me (between random wayward Febreeze squirts) that this has only happened twice before and she just doesn't know what they're going to do because since it's a historic building they can't just go ripping out the walls.  And then she says, "I just feel bad for the girl who's getting married here tomorrow!"  HOLY.  SHIT.  Are you kidding me?!  Forgive my selfishness, because I too feel bad for the girl who's wedding was the very next day, but I never, ever in all the wedding planning worries had "dead rodent smell" on my radar until then.  Fantastic.  And there was nothing I could do about it besides hope some varmit didn't decide to crawl up in that biotch and start wasting away the week of our nuptuals.  I added scented candles and Febreeze to our "Bring to Chapel" list and crossed my fingers.

 

Next up was the hotel visit.  We originally hadn't planned on doing a rehearsal dinner, but we changed our minds about six weeks out and decided that we couldn't really ask people to travel an average of 6 hours and then not feed them.  We decided to have a rehearsal reception in the pretty grassy courtyard overlooking the ocean at the hotel.  At that point all of our guests had their reservations made and we were committed to the rehearsal reception there, when the event lady called and informed us that the renovations were still "in progress" and that she'd be happy to help everyone change their reservations to another hotel.  Uhhhhh...  say whaaaaa????  I don't think so. 

 

We decided to be brave and go to the hotel to check it out for ourselves.  Despite our trepidation, everything looked okay.  The guest rooms were done, and they were starting on the lobby, which gave them a total of two weeks to knock it out.  Okay.  It's doable.  We were assured that at MOST, all that our guests would see would be a temporary wall (nicely decorated) blocking off one of the pool entrances.  Okay, fine.  We can manage that.  Despite Lane's best efforts to keep me calm, at this point I could even see the wheels starting to come off of his optimism bus.  The hotel lady must have seen it too, because she walked us over the the bar at the hotel and told the bartender to get us whatever we wanted for as long as we wanted.  I was halfway through the first beer when it occurred to me that the hotel transition wasn't even complete, so we didn't know whether to tell our 50+ out of town guests to look for a Comfort Inn sign or a Hampton Inn sign.  When I asked hotel lady this very question (at this point fighting back tears of frustration), she replied that it would be a Hampton Inn sign, covered by a Comfort Inn tarp.  Me:  "Umm so then I tell everyone to look for the tarp???"  Her:  "Well it was like $3,000, so it's a really nice tarp."  My thoughts:  "Are you trying to make me beat you to death with this now empty beer bottle???"  Great.  We'll tell everyone it's a REALLY NICE TARP.  Fine. 

 

We spent the next week with our fingers and toes crossed, lighting candles, rubbing rabbit's feet, looking for four-leaf clovers and praying to the wedding Gods that our luck would take a turn for the better and everything would work out as we'd planned. 

 

Thursday, May 24th, 2012.  Two days before my fiance's birthday.  Eight days before our wedding.  It was a busy, busy work day.  I had been at our National Sales Meeting in Dallas, Texas the week before and was still trying to catch up, not to mention get everything done before the wedding and honeymoon.  I was sitting in the drive through line at Tropical Smoothie Cafe when Lane called.  This is what I remember, "just talked to Capt. S.O.S....  I'm sorry babe...  boat won't be ready...   blah blah something....   gotta find a new place for the reception.....  blah blee bluee....  the end."  I was silent.  Then burst into tears and "I.  JUST. DON'T.  UNDERRRSTAAAAAND.  sniff sniff  inhale WHY.  THIS.  IS.  HAPPENNNIIING!!!!!!  It's.  not.  fairrrrrrrrrrrr.  waaaaaaa haaaaa haaaa!!"  which was interrupted by, "Excuse me ma'am, but here is your buffalo chicken wrap."  I looked at drive-thru dude all bewildered and teary eyed and snatched my lunch out of his hand and sped off. 

 

The next few hours were a blur...  I know I was hysterical.  I know my boss offered me money to make it all better when I cried in front of him.  And I know that my fiance put on his cape and came to my rescue as usual, because less than four hours later, he had set up an appointment for me with the catering manager of the Hyatt Riverfront in downtown Jacksonville.  I got myself together the best that I could and drove down the the Hyatt.  The lobby was gorgeous.  When I walked in from the riverfront entrance and saw this:

my only thought was, "we'll never be able to afford it."

I stood there at the front desk and waited for this little angle to descend from her catering ofice.  When she rounded the corner from the bank of elevators and reached out her arms to hug me I knew everything was going to be fine.  She took me to the bar (I'm seeing a theme here) and asked if I wanted a glass of wine.  I really did, but I had to begrudgingly decline, because of course I had to go back to work.  We talked for a few minutes, recapped what had happened and confirmed that our wedding was exactly one week away.  She then took me to see the space that they had available.  In a word, it was amazing.  The original thought was to have an inside and outside space, but we agreed that the inside space was much bigger than what we needed, so we decided to set up everything on the balcony that overlooked the river and the Main Street Bridge. 

The wedding angel told me that she was sorry about the stress that we were under, but that this was the best thing that could have happened for us, that they were going to take care of every detail, and that everything would be perfect.  She also said that since they didn't have an event booked for that space and it was only a week away, they'd do everything they could to match the original reception quote.  Within two days, we had a new reception venue and the most amazing DJ (who wasn't 1/2 baked), things were looking up. 



safe to say, "Tennessee Jed" was not on his playlist

Then there was a little bit of a hurricane that weekend.  No seriously.  T-minus 5 days til wedding = Hurricane Beryl.

We filled up the bathtubs...

and then naturally went to a rooftop bar at the beach to watch it roll in... 

There was no major damage, just lots and lots of rain.  And Sailor Jerry's. 

That weekend I also reorganized everything that I'd made for the wedding (that lived in giant crates in our garage) since everything would now have to be used in a different way at the new reception venue.   We also made all of the welcome baskets for the out of town guests...

They had sunscreen, a deck of cards, a candle, squirt guns, rafts, and homemade giner candies (that were supposed to be for seasickness - ya know, back when our reception was going to be on a boat)

and then we were finally on the downhill slide to the wedding, with less than a week to go.  Now remember about the hotel that was still "in progress"???  And AT MOST, what our guests would see would be a temporary (nicely decorated) wall blocking one of the pool entrances?  When Lane took the welcome baskets to the hotel that Thursday - the very day our guests started arriving - in addition to the "really nice tarp", this is what greeted him...

So needless to say, not a "minor inconvenience", more like a sheetrock dust covered, drunken Mexican construction worker, sledge-hammer wielding shit show.  Lane obviously was not happy, and had a few choice words with the hotel lady, but what could we do???  We were two days away from the wedding.  It was done. 

You've seen the video...  Lane did not show it to me right away.  When I inquired about how the hotel looked after he dropped off the baskets he said it was "a little bit more unfinished than he expected".  If by "a bit more unfinished than he expected" he meant "no walls, floor, lights, or ceiling", then yes, it was a little bit more unfinished than we thought.

While Lane was trucking through the hotel lobby with gift baskets and a hard hat, our wonderful BFFs (a.k.a. the best man and maid of honor), helped me load up all of my projects and take them down to my wedding angel at the Hyatt.  I tried to reconfigure everything the best that I could based on the new space and the way that everything had to be set up, but some of it I just completely had to have faith that her staff knew what they were doing and that everything would look great.  Completely nerve-racking, as everyone knows relinquishing control is not one of my strong suits. 

When we looked at the forecast later that night it was rain, rain, rain, followed by periods of rain for Friday.  Perfect for an outdoor cocktail reception.  I was about to come unglued.  I really was.  I was just wandering around in a state of confusion and disbelief - we'd worked so hard and I'd planned everything to the tiniest detail, and over the previous four weeks everything had been turned upside down.  (Insert:  "wanna hear God laugh, tell him your plans...")  THANKFULLY, the BFF's and my mom and her hubs were there that night and they turned it all around.  They laughed with us and gave us the most thoughtful gifts - and then we set things on fire in the backyard.  Just what we needed! 

our symbolic burning rings of fire

 



We remembered that at the end of the day, whether it was on a boat or a river terrace (or in a box or with a fox), we'd be MARRIED, and that is all that mattered. 

Rehearsal Dinner day we got up and lounged around...  and watched it rain...

I made the cake...

And then we packed up the cars and we were off!  We were only slightly discouraged upon arrival when we stood at the make-shift plywood check in stand and sweated our baggage-toting butts off, listening to jackhammers and construction workers habla-ing Espanol.  But we got everything in and started to see some friendly faces who had traveled so far to be with us - and who CLEARLY did not seem to be bothered in the least that they pretty much had to wear goggles and ear plugs to safely get to their rooms.  In fact, when I walked in to the lobby, my sweet aunt was there and she hugged me as I looked around in horror and said, "OH WHO CARES!  Everyone is SO nice and the pool and beach and tiki bar are great!"  I love her, thanks Auntie!

We ran up and got dressed for the rehearsal cocktail reception, although we did not do much rehearsing, we did do our fair share of cocktail recepting!  We played cornhole and talked and ate - I got scared when it sprinkled for about three seconds and then there was this...

and the rest was awesome.  No one even noticed when a pack of construction workers Speedy Gonzalezed their way right through the party with their Budweiser 24-packs after a long day of sheetrock hanging.

Our wedding day was perfect.  We had a breakfast at the hotel in a seperate banquet room set up just for our party - it was the LEAST they could do, believe me - and then the girls and I went to get our nails done.  I, of course, wanted to nap when we got back, but thankfully my brilliant BFF told me that would not be an option, and that I had twenty minutes and then we were starting make up.  My mom and Kristin completely manhandled my hair and my face and whipped me into wedding shape in no time.  My precious tiny Chloe brought me a delicious Firehouse sub, which I inhaled in a matter of moments.

Thank goodness Kristin wouldn't let me nap, because even with what I thought was plenty of time, we were about 45 minutes late leaving.  Whoopsie.  And then the dude that drove us in the Navigator that we rented was about 83 years old and drove about 29.5 mph the entire way to the chapel.  I swear he was doing it just to torture me.  I was sending texts to my girls in the backseat going "IS HE EFFING KIDDING ME?!", but no, he was not. 

We finally arrived at the chapel and everything looked so beautiful - and guess what?!  No dead rodents or rotting flesh smell!  Just what I'd always hoped for on my wedding day! 

The rest of the day is a blur of wonderfulness...  every detail surpassed ANYTHING that Lane and I could have imagined.  The ceremony was perfect and so personal to us - it should have been, since Lane and I wrote it together - with the exception of when a cell phone rang and I inadvertantly shouted out "RUDE!"  Hey, just 'cause I'm in a wedding dress doesn't mean I'm not still ME! 

The reception and the river terrace was absolutely stunning.  The weather was perfection in every way.  There wasn't a cloud in the sky, it wasn't hot, there was a nice breeze, the view was amazing, the decor that I'd hot-glued my fingers together 1,000 times to create was even better than the way that I saw it in my mind, and when the sun went down there was a bright full moon over the river. 

Our BFF's gave the most amazing, thoughtful, heartfelt speeches I've ever heard.  They traveled with us on the whole crazy journey to the altar and were there for us when we needed them and didn't even know it.  Their speeches made us laugh and cry and were just the best gift we could have received.

I know that it was the best night of my and Lane's life, but I think that everyone had SO much fun.  I know this because I saw the liquor bill...   Seriously, it was just FUN. People who don't even dance were cutting a rug, everyone was laughing, and just happy...  I will never forget everyone dancing like crazy and jumping up and down at the end of the night.  The whole river terrace was bouncing up and down and there were even people on their balconies at the hotel with their doors open holding up their drinks to us and rocking out to the music as our DJ was bringing the house down.

I sincerely doubt DJ Spliff would have been capable of such a feat

When the reception was over, we all piled back onto the buses (we'd rented motorcoaches to take everyone to and from the hotel) and continued the party.  Both buses stopped to buy two different gas stations completely out of beer, and when we got back to the hotel the boys loaded up a luggage cart, iced down hundreds of beers in their bathtubs, and the party continued on the tiki bar deck. 

late night on the partay bus!

What.  A.  Night.  And this was the end of it for me:

oh did I forget to mention that Baron came with us to the hotel? 
 

And because I never want to forget that for us, June 2, 2012 wasn't about boats, or chapels, or flowers, or pictures, or hotels, or the guest list...  it was about the pledge that we made to each other and becoming husband and wife.  It was about these words:

Lane, I take you to be my husband.  I will share your dreams and help you make them come true.  I will stand fearlessly beside you, holding your hand, knowing that no matter what life has in store for us, together we can do anything.  I promise to give it hell with you, to love you more every day, and that no one will be able to keep up with the Jones’.  My best friend and my perfect one – I promise I will put you and your happiness above all else, now and always.

It was about this moment:

immediately followed by this one:

And without further ado, the beautiful photos from the best day of my life!



Katie + Lane Jones Wedding - June 2, 2012

Password:  jones2012