Married Melodies: Feeling Very Bridal

The morning of our wedding day, I woke up early and checked the weather. Clear as a bell! Then it hit me: after fifteen months of planning, my wedding day was finally here! I was finally going to get to see all of my planning come to fruition. All of a sudden I couldn't wait and I wanted to get married immediately. Too bad it was only 5AM!

After eating a light breakfast, jumping up and down on my bed, showering and finishing up my vows I made my rounds to wake up the bridal party. Most of us had rooms on the same floor, so I went door to door demanding that everyone get showered and head over to my room to get ready. I was kind of a brat, but my family has a reputation for being a wee bit tardy. Thankfully, everybody got a move on and before I knew it, my make-up artist and videographer had arrived! I only had to wait a little longer before I could get fancied up with these little things:

After our makeup was done, my big Sis (BM Gemini) went to work on our hair. The photographer arrived after this, so there's no photos, but if you want to watch me get all done up, check out our wedding video! I was so anxious to get into my dress and get over to the venue for the first look, that I took out my curlers early. Which ended up coming back to bite me in the ass, because my curls completely fell out by the end of the night. But, I was determined not to keep my man waiting!

Yup. They're LAUGHING at me.

Once I was finally in my dress and saw everyone's reaction, I started to get a little misty eyed. These were the people who had watched me grow from a little girl into an almost married woman in the blink of an eye. I looked around the room and tried to imagine myself in their eyes. Thankfully, my niece started making jokes and reminded me that I'm a rock, I don't cry!

Mama Warbler getting fresh with that garter!

Let me tell you something. No matter how prepared and "ready" you think you are to get married, you will still probably have a mini freak out. None of my wedding planning prepared me for the enormity that was my wedding day. Before I knew it, it was time to head to the venue to see my fiancé one last time! After I finished getting ready, I flitted around the room making sure that I didn't forget anything. 

Up next: The guys get ready and...I forgot something.

Catch Up!

• We stuffed our faces at the rehearsal dinner.
• Check out our super fly wedding video.

All photos by Nataly Lemus Photography

Married Melodies: We Rehearse

The morning of our rehearsal I woke up to the sound of a bride's worst fear: rain. The week of our wedding, it rained nearly every day. Heavy rain. The forecast showed a slight chance of rain on the days of our rehearsal and wedding, so I went to bed Thursday night confident that the weather would cut us a break. But literally the second I woke up, I was filled with dread. I just knew our wedding would get rained out.

The weather was so intense that we were forced to hold the rehearsal indoors because the grounds were flooded. The rain didn't look like it was letting up any time soon. As you can imagine I was freaking out.

Ha, look at our faces!

Sadly, that was the only salvage photo from the rehearsal. At one point we decided to line up outside when the rain was a bit lighter, but we ended up rained out almost as soon as we started. Eventually, we got all of the logistics down and headed back to get ready for the best part of the day: dinner!

MOH J5 is just waiting to dive into that pizza.

By the time the rehearsal dinner rolled around, the rain had stopped. And (spoiler alert) it didn't start again. Bridal freak out averted! We celebrated by stuffing our faces with delicious pizza and pasta from Buca di Beppo. We feasted, we drank..

Annnnd Mr. Warbs and I were drunkenly out of sync.

Seriously?

Happily thanking our family and friends.

After the dinner, one of our guests surprised us by taking care of the bill. Our waitress brought us a note from the generous person that simply said "congratulations". We definitely were not expecting that. We still don't know to this day who paid and I am still moved by their generosity. Little did we know we were in for more surprises!

When Mr. Warbs and I got back to our hotel room, everyone from the rehearsal dinner was waiting for us. BM Tata had a gift for us...a slideshow!

Let me tell you, that girl is resourceful! I had never even seen some of those photos she threw in there (stalker). Again, it was kind of overwhelming seeing all the love everyone was throwing our way. Weddings are great that way, in that you feel the love from all sides, not just from your partner. You just feel happy. Like Santa Claus. On Prozac. At Disneyland. Getting laid. Ten points for the reference!

After the slideshow we toasted with more wine and champagne. Mr. Warbs and his family turned in for the night (aka went in search of hard liquor) so I decided to give the bridal party their gifts.

The ladies received bracelets.

BM Tata's mama made them. She's so crafty.

 MOH J5's gift was a little less conventional...

Back in February, I shared the details of MOH J5's awesome RSVP in which he confirmed his attendance in the grandest of fashions. He also included his list of demands and a reader commented that it would make a great gift. One demand was for four hundred and twenty six Reese's peanut butter cups. Be careful what you wish for, MOH J5!

Not pictured: cheesecake scented Post-it notes, a pint of water from the dead sea and an invisibility cloak. Oh, excuse me the cloak is pictured, my mistake.

After a few more hours of laughter, reminiscing, drinks and vow writing (totally waited until the last minute), it was time for me to get some much needed beauty sleep. Big things were ahead!

Catch Up!

• Check out our super fly wedding video.

Married Melodies: Our Video

Well, it's officially recap time! I couldn't think of a better way to start than to show you our wedding video, so let's jump right in! Our videograhers did an amazing job of capturing the essence of our wedding, and making us look good in the process. One disclaimer: I can't dance. Don't judge me for busting out the same dance move over and over again!


Melody + Jason from Lovebirds Film on Vimeo.

From Waikiki to Wailea: Maui

So, it appears that it has been more than two months since my last post. Whoops! Just know that the Warblers have been busy. Busy snatching up houses! OK, only one house. We are officially homeowners! It was a very long and stressful process, we were in escrow for more than 60 days. The week that we closed, Mr. Warbs had to go to Houston for work which left me to deal with packing, moving and furniture deliveries by myself. But, we're in the house now and that's all hat matters. Now, shall we commence with the honeymoon recap?

That's more like it!

After a busy week in Oahu, we were more than ready to relax in Maui. In fact, that's pretty much all we did in Maui. We hung out and relaxed in our pimped out condo. We managed to get a good deal at the Outrigger Palms in Wailea. I would definitely recommend the company. Our condo came equipped with a huge kitchen, living room, balcony, deck and two bathrooms.

Respect.

The kitchen was fully equipped with cookware and supplies!

 

  This shower was big enough for 3 or 4 people!

HUGE Private balcony

Even though we were super close to the beach, we probably spent most of our time in Maui just lounging around the condo. After Oahu, it was nice to spend the rest of our honeymoon just winding down. Of course, we did manage to leave our cave long enough for the Road to Hana. Even though you can drive on your own, we decided to take a guided tour. I'm glad we did too because parts of the road are really dangerous to drive on. There are a ton of sharp curves and one lane bridges.

Apparently, you also have to look out for people out for a stroll.

As you can probably expect from Hawaii, the trip was gorgeous. The road passes by dozens of waterfalls, cliffs, beaches and miles of rainforest. The trip there and back to our condo took around 10 hours, including sight seeing, breakfast and lunch.

 

On the way back we saw the biggest rainbow I've ever seen in my life.
Our tour guide said it was a good sign from the gods!

We also drove to  Lahiana for a luau. I was excited because I had never seen a luau before, but in all honesty, we probably should have skipped it. The experience consisted of a lukewarm buffet, watered down drinks and of course the show. Most of the dancing felt awkward, the only part I really enjoyed was the fire twirling , because who doesn't like fire? I wouldn't go again, but I figure it's something you have to do if you're in Hawaii.

Ok, well, that's impressive.

 At least the dancers weren't bad looking.

Like I said earlier, the remaining days of our honeymoon were spent lazing around our condo. Some days we went to shopping or to the beach.

  

 

This boogie board was awesome. You could hardly tell I was trying not to drown!

But most of the time, we grilled up some food, drank wine and watched amazing Hawaiian sunsets from our balcony.

Drool.

Gah, I miss Hawaii!

We had a ton of fun in both Oahu and Maui, but Maui was by far the most relaxing. Sometimes it's good to just do nothing, even if you are on vacation. It was the perfect ending to our Hawaiian honeymoon!

Soooo, it's time for wedding recaps! Are you guys ready? Let's go!