Wedding Countdown! 1 Day - Rehearsal Dinner

Its hard to believe our wedding weekend was already two months ago! From Saturday all the way through Monday, we had the time of our lives. There were so many great moments we don't want to forget. I can't wait to share them with all of you!

The Saturday before our wedding, Jordan and his crew celebrated his bachelor party. They spent the afternoon out on the water and had a really great time. I'll spare the details. :) While the boys were out on the water, I was finishing final wedding tasks. I packed the decorations and made checklists for each venue. Its amazing how no matter how much you prepare, there will always be last minute details. I ended up staying awake until 1:00 A.M. worrying over every last thing and finally washed my hands of planning.

The next morning, it truly felt like the weekend was in full swing. I woke up excited and very emotional already. I was so grateful we had finally made it. With Covid-19, I had such anxiety that our wedding day would again be taken from us. Finally, with just one day to go, I felt the weight of the worry I was carrying lifted.

I took that morning to visit my sister and her boyfriend to chat last minute details. Jordan and my brother loaded up their trucks and delivered all the decorations to our venues. I decided to grab a little coffee on my way back to my parent's house. The line was crazy long, so I decided to try backing out to get home in time. I hadn't written my vows yet and time was of the essence... This lead to the lady next to me yelling out her window that I needed to stay in line. She had some other choice words, but I didn't let it bother me. I was the happiest person on the planet that weekend, so I gave her a confused look and decided to stay in line. Once I had my coffee, I rushed over to Target for pick-up. Again - a crazy line, but there was no moving past it.

I finally had my goodies and ran home to write my vows. Our pastor had us write letters to him sharing why we wanted to marry one another. I knew I wanted to write my letter to Jordan close to the wedding date so all the emotions would be at their absolute peak. I started crying to myself in my backyard about 2.5 seconds after I began writing my note. Thank the Lord I was able to pull myself together and get the letter written with enough time.

Before I knew it, Jordan stopped over for a last minute eyebrow touch-up (any other ladies have to do this for their man???) and it was time for us to leave for our nail appointment. All the ladies met over at Legend Nails Spa in Onalaska. They gave us great service and it was a blast having the ladies together! My nail tech that day was so nice and extremely focused. She kept repeating how excited she was that I would be a bride tomorrow and how good should would make my nails look. I completely trusted her and they turned out exactly how I wanted! The salon offered everyone wine and we all had a great time.

Once our nails were complete, a few of us headed over to my parents' home to get ready for the rehearsal. There's something about getting ready as a pack that always make me feel so loved and excited. I think it brings me back to getting ready for football games with my high school friends and getting ready for nights out with friends in college. Something about curling irons and makeup everywhere is so fun!

Finally, everyone was out the door and on our way to the rehearsal. That night it was very warm and humid. There was a slight chance of rain for the following day, so we decided to practice both outdoors and indoors. Things were a little hectic at first, but after a few run throughs, everyone felt comfortable. We grabbed a few family and bridal party photos and were off to dinner!

Before heading inside, we had to take a look at the amazing car my brother borrowed for the weekend. A client of his lent him their BMW i8. If you're like me, you have no idea what this means, but it was still awesome.

Our rehearsal dinner was hosted at The Parlour inside The Charmant Hotel. It was a gorgeous setting and the food was delicious. We decorated the space with custom decorations made by Jordan's mom, Kathy. Kathy made adorable vases with special photos of the two of us. She also made cute little bags of Hershey kisses as party favors for everyone. Such a special add on to the night!

Once we finished dinner, we presented our bridal party and parents with the gifts we had gotten them. It was important for us to do this at the rehearsal dinner as we knew the wedding day would be very busy. We wanted to allow everyone time to see the gifts and soak in the moment. We were able to see their reactions and they were able to use the gift on the following day.

Once dinner was over and a few people were left mingling, Jordan and I stepped away to gift each other the presents we had prepared. Before Jordan opened his gift, I stopped him to take a photo of how cute the wrapping had turned out. I glanced at the corner of my phone screen and screamed, "OMG DO NOT TURN AROUND!" Behind Jordan was my wedding dress... fully out of the bag and draped behind him. When we had entered the room, neither of us had even noticed it. Thank goodness because he had really wanted my wedding gown to be a surprise on the wedding day. I couldn't believe how close we got to blowing the surprise!

Jordan gifted me a beautiful morganite bracelet I had been eyeing up from Zales and a card with a very sweet note inside. I gifted Jordan a watch to wear for the wedding, set with rose gold details to match our wedding rings and love notes I had been writing him throughout our engagement. We snapped this cute iPhone picture before we separated for the night. I swear we were both on Cloud 9, the happiest we've ever been and so excited for the day ahead.

We headed back into The Parlour and said goodnight to our final guests and hugged them goodnight. My sister and I headed upstairs for nothing less than an obnoxious photo shoot and tons of jumping on the bed. I was so restless and excited I couldn't keep still. We laughed at the jokes that had already taken place at the rehearsal dinner and chatted until she finally told me she was heading to bed. The nerves were definitely starting to kick in for me here, so I lay awake aimlessly scrolling through every picture from the rehearsal dinner and dreaming up what our wedding would look like for one last time...