Now It's Time To Say Goodbye...

Hive, I'm going to be honest with you. I finished writing my recaps a few weeks ago. I've been sitting on them editing them over and over again to "make sure they were perfect," but in reality, I was just putting this post off. For the last 15 months, you've let me share my wedding with you. That fantastic day took place eight months ago, and I suppose it's now time to quit dragging my feet and face the inevitable farewell. After all, a lot has happened since our wedding day. Mr. Lion left his job with family law and now works in insurance defense. I left my large trauma hospital, and I now work in a more specialized neurorehab setting. Most importantly (at least it's what we're most excited about), we bought a house! We've had a lot of change in the past eight months, but all of it has been good change. Best of all, we've had each other to rely on.

Mr. Lion and I have been friends since 2003, we've been together since 2005, and we've lived together since 2007. I really didn't think being married would feel that different. I suppose in most ways, life still feels the same. We still enjoy the same things, and every interaction between us still reveals the goofy dorks that we both are. Our relationship is the same for the most part, but our plans feel different. Every time we talk about the future, something about it just feels so much more significant. It truly feels like we've united. We're still two people, but we're also one family. It's an indescribable feeling to know that I have his support in everything I do, and I feel a sense of purpose in knowing that I'll always support him. Our relationship has new depth, and I love that.

Our wedding was everything I wanted it to be. Every planning stressor disappeared when I saw him at the altar waiting for me. Every tiny piece of drama vanished when I looked out and saw all of my loved ones watching us, waiting to witness something magical. As I look back on our wedding photos (and through these recaps), I'm in awe of the love I see around us, and I smile when I notice another detail that I worked so hard on. Every single one of those projects was worth it because each one provided the whimsical setting in which we would create such significant memories. I loved everything about our wedding, and I know it wouldn't have been exactly the same without you, Hive.

I can't even begin to express how important this community has been to me since I first discovered it years ago. You complimented every DIY project, supported me through the rough patches, and shared both your triumphs and your struggles. I think wedding planning is an experience of character building. If you can come out of it on top, I think that says a lot about you. If we can support each other along the way, I think that says a lot about this sisterhood.

As a small token of my infinite gratitude, I'd like to leave you with one last recap. You may recall that we chose our videographers because they included a "love story" in their final wedding video. They interviewed us in an effort to truly grasp what we were all about as a couple. Then, they mashed up this interview with footage of our wedding. I posted the trailer at the beginning of my recaps, so I think it's only fitting to share the entire film with you now.




David & Julia's Love Story from Three Ring Media on Vimeo.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for sharing this journey with me. I hope you'll come visit me at my personal blog, Dr. Princess. In the meantime, I wish each of you the best of luck through your planning process and on your wedding day, and I wish you and your significant other a lifetime of happiness together. It only gets better from here.

Love,
Mrs. Lioness

Love is Where We Are: Sendoff

Before I knew it, the day had flown by and it was time to make our departure. The boys handed out my little DIY sendoff flags, and Mr. Lion and I headed towards the exit.

Remember how the groomsmen decorated my car? Obviously, I was a little concerned when I saw all those balloons!

Fortunately, someone had given Mr. Lion a hint and he somehow ended up with two safety pins. We went to town on the balloons (which I hated and he loved), and made it into our getaway car.


We were just about to take off, when I yelled out the window, "Wait! I want to say bye to my mom." The sea of guests parted, and she raced through to give me one more hug.

Our touching moment was short-lived, as I looked up and noticed a surprise waiting for me on the windshield.

How thoughtful! The groomsmen made sure I'd feel like a princess all the way to our hotel!

Our wedding day was over, and we were ready to embark upon our new life together.

I love this last one. Everyone is cheering, Sister Lioness is crying, and Mr. Lion is fist pumping victoriously.

The Lioness wedding journey has almost reached its end, but I still have one more fun thing to share with y'all. Stay tuned!

Catch up on the Lioness recaps here!

• First, we got ready at my apartment.
• Then, we finished getting ready at the venue.
• The boys got ready and posed for pictures.
• We exchanged gifts.
• The girls posed for pictures.
• I admired every little detail.
• We walked down the aisle.
• We got married.
• We had some alone time.
• We posed for photos with family.
• We posed for photos together.
• Of course, we took a few goofy pictures.
• We had our first dance.
• I danced with my dad, and Mr. Lion danced with his mom.
• We cut the cake.
• We toasted to love.
• We mingled through the dollar dance.
• My sorority sisters carried out one of my favorite traditions.
• We got down on the dance floor.
• The boys decorated our getaway car.
• I tossed my bouquet(s).
• Mr. Lion tossed my garter (and scarred someone for life in the process).
• We were terrified by the hora.
• We enjoyed some ice cold Coca Cola.
• We spontaneously invented a game.
• I made it through the entire wedding without crying...almost.

*All photos by H. Photography unless otherwise noted.

Love is Where We Are: Tears

At this point in the day, I was very proud of myself for making it so long without crying. The day was over, and I had made it through dry-eyed. That is, until my bridesmaids said goodbye to me.

Only one of my bridesmaids lived in Atlanta at the time, and wedding planning was such a wonderful excuse to talk to them all the time and see them as often as possible. At this moment, it hit me that it was all really over. I lost it, and burst into tears. I'm pretty sure they followed my lead, even though half of these girls aren't what I would call criers. We were sad it was all over, but we were so happy to have been able to share such a fun day together.

I'm not really sure where Sister Lioness was for this little photoshoot...probably still on duty!


Do you think you'll cry on your wedding day? What do you think will trigger the waterworks?

Catch up on the Lioness recaps here!

• First, we got ready at my apartment.
• Then, we finished getting ready at the venue.
• The boys got ready and posed for pictures.
• We exchanged gifts.
• The girls posed for pictures.
• I admired every little detail.
• We walked down the aisle.
• We got married.
• We had some alone time.
• We posed for photos with family.
• We posed for photos together.
• Of course, we took a few goofy pictures.
• We had our first dance.
• I danced with my dad, and Mr. Lion danced with his mom.
• We cut the cake.
• We toasted to love.
• We mingled through the dollar dance.
• My sorority sisters carried out one of my favorite traditions.
• We got down on the dance floor.
• The boys decorated our getaway car.
• I tossed my bouquet(s).
• Mr. Lion tossed my garter (and scarred someone for life in the process).
• We were terrified by the hora.
• We enjoyed some ice cold Coca Cola.
• We spontaneously invented a game.

*All photos by H. Photography unless otherwise noted.

Love is Where We Are: Balloonity

Our wedding ceremony came and went, and now our reception was reaching its close. For our last dance, we asked the DJ to play "All You Need is Love" by The Beatles. Mr. Lion and I stood in the center of the dance floor, and a giant group hug quickly formed around us.

You're probably wondering why everyone was looking to their right. Remember that balloon from our Save the Dates? Our photographer brought his along so that we could take these pictures...

Afterwards, the balloon inspired a game amongst our giant group hug. I'm sure you're familiar...I like to call it "The Don't Let the Balloon Touch the Floor Game."

No one gave instructions, or commanded that we begin to play. The balloon randomly appeared, and it was just mutually understood that this was happening. Balloon + unity = balloonity.

That was one of my favorite parts of our wedding day: those little, unexpected moments of joy. This particular moment made for a wonderful finale to a fantastic day.

How are you closing your reception?

Catch up on the Lioness recaps here!

• First, we got ready at my apartment.
• Then, we finished getting ready at the venue.
• The boys got ready and posed for pictures.
• We exchanged gifts.
• The girls posed for pictures.
• I admired every little detail.
• We walked down the aisle.
• We got married.
• We had some alone time.
• We posed for photos with family.
• We posed for photos together.
• Of course, we took a few goofy pictures.
• We had our first dance.
• I danced with my dad, and Mr. Lion danced with his mom.
• We cut the cake.
• We toasted to love.
• We mingled through the dollar dance.
• My sorority sisters carried out one of my favorite traditions.
• We got down on the dance floor.
• The boys decorated our getaway car.
• I tossed my bouquet(s).
• Mr. Lion tossed my garter (and scarred someone for life in the process).
• We were terrified by the hora.
• We enjoyed some ice cold Coca Cola.

*All photos by H. Photography unless otherwise noted.

Love is Where We Are: Representing The A

This post is hardly a recap. I'm not telling the story of an important wedding memory. I'm not revisiting a DIY project that you saw before our wedding. I'm not providing insight or advice that could pertain to your wedding. But these photos are some of my favorites from the entire day, and I just thought they deserved their very own post.

We put together Atlanta-themed OOT bags for our guests. Needless to say, these included glass bottles of Coca Cola. Our photographer (who was an OOT guest himself) was clever enough to bring his bottle with him to use as a prop. The resulting photos were pure Atlanta pride.

While we were out in the garden, we decided to pose with the flowers.

Did I mention that the ballroom overlooked this garden?

Are you including a shout out to your city in your wedding?

Catch up on the Lioness recaps here!

• First, we got ready at my apartment.
• Then, we finished getting ready at the venue.
• The boys got ready and posed for pictures.
• We exchanged gifts.
• The girls posed for pictures.
• I admired every little detail.
• We walked down the aisle.
• We got married.
• We had some alone time.
• We posed for photos with family.
• We posed for photos together.
• Of course, we took a few goofy pictures.
• We had our first dance.
• I danced with my dad, and Mr. Lion danced with his mom.
• We cut the cake.
• We toasted to love.
• We mingled through the dollar dance.
• My sorority sisters carried out one of my favorite traditions.
• We got down on the dance floor.
• The boys decorated our getaway car.
• I tossed my bouquet(s).
• Mr. Lion tossed my garter (and scarred someone for life in the process).
• We were terrified by the hora.

*All photos by H. Photography unless otherwise noted.

Love Is Where We Are: Hora

As I've mentioned before, Mr. Lion and I had an interfaith, nontraditional wedding. It wasn't very religious, but we wanted to incorporate elements from each of our cultures into our big day. One way I wanted to nod towards my Jewish heritage was by dancing the Hora during our wedding reception.

My mom's side of the family is Jewish, but not many of them had traditional Jewish weddings. In fact, our wedding was the first time I had ever participated in the Hora. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. Allow me to now speak from my very recent experience: the Hora is a lot scarier than I expected!

Yep, I look a little scared.

I felt very relieved to be placed back on safe land. I think Mr. Lion's face perfectly summed up my feelings at this point:

And then these crazy kids kept on dancing!

Here are a few more tokens of unsolicited advice regarding the Hora:

• The Hora is very difficult to photograph, even for the most experienced photographer. I think our pictures came out pretty good, but I've seen some really blurry ones. Talk with your photographer about this beforehand so that they're prepared. I think ours really appreciated the heads-up because he had never shot one before!
• Don't feel obligated to participate for the entire song. In fact, I'd go as far as to ask your DJ or band to play an abbreviated version of Hava Nagila. It was fun and I loved it, but I believe I asked our friends to put us down after a couple of minutes!
• USE CHAIRS WITH ARMRESTS. I cannot reiterate this enough! Our DJ placed two dining chairs on the dance floor, and we really would have sat in them if our day-of coordinator hadn't swapped them out at the last second. I'm glad we had something stable to grab on to; it's a bumpy ride!

Are any of you Jewish brides out there planning on doing the Hora?

Catch up on the Lioness recaps here!

• First, we got ready at my apartment.
• Then, we finished getting ready at the venue.
• The boys got ready and posed for pictures.
• We exchanged gifts.
• The girls posed for pictures.
• I admired every little detail.
• We walked down the aisle.
• We got married.
• We had some alone time.
• We posed for photos with family.
• We posed for photos together.
• Of course, we took a few goofy pictures.
• We had our first dance.
• I danced with my dad, and Mr. Lion danced with his mom.
• We cut the cake.
• We toasted to love.
• We mingled through the dollar dance.
• My sorority sisters carried out one of my favorite traditions.
• We got down on the dance floor.
• The boys decorated our getaway car.
• I tossed my bouquet(s).
• Mr. Lion tossed my garter (and scarred someone for life in the process).

*All photos by H. Photography unless otherwise noted.

Love is Where We Are: A Disturbing Scene

Hive, I sincerely apologize for this post. This particular part of our wedding reception came at a time when everyone had enjoyed a few beverages, and we were feeling a little silly. I had just tossed my bouquet(s), and it was Mr. Lion's turn to take the stage. Naturally, he chose "Eye of the Tiger" as his theme music. Sigh.

The song began, and Mr. Lion went in for the kill. By the way, keep your eye on that little kid in the corner.

I wish I could come up with a better explanation as to why I was making this face. The truth? Mr. Lion licked my knee.

And here's that kid again:

Sure enough, Mr. Lion eventually found the garter. He was so psyched, he barely even noticed that I had surprised my Yankees fan husband with a Red Sox garter!

He tossed the garter over his shoulder...

...and it landed in our friend Walter's hands.

And as for that disturbed little kid, well...

...at least he had a bag from the candy buffet to cheer him up!

Catch up on the Lioness recaps here!

• First, we got ready at my apartment.
• Then, we finished getting ready at the venue.
• The boys got ready and posed for pictures.
• We exchanged gifts.
• The girls posed for pictures.
• I admired every little detail.
• We walked down the aisle.
• We got married.
• We had some alone time.
• We posed for photos with family.
• We posed for photos together.
• Of course, we took a few goofy pictures.
• We had our first dance.
• I danced with my dad, and Mr. Lion danced with his mom.
• We cut the cake.
• We toasted to love.
• We mingled through the dollar dance.
• My sorority sisters carried out one of my favorite traditions.
• We got down on the dance floor.
• The boys decorated our getaway car.
• I tossed my bouquet(s).

*All photos by H. Photography unless otherwise noted.

Love is Where We Are: All the Single Ladies

Tossing the bouquet was one of the moments I was most looking forward to at our wedding. I've dreaded participating in the tradition at other weddings, but I was really excited about a little surprise I had in store for my single girls.

As I threw the bouquet up in the air, it burst into six smaller bouquets! Each individual bouquet was tied to a quote about love.

I loved that no one was put on the spot. Being single at a wedding can be a really difficult experience to endure. Instead of these girls feeling as though their relationship status was on display, they were united with other single girls as they celebrated love. Best of all, each quote that each girl caught seemed perfectly appropriate for her, as though the bouquets chose their recipients.

Are you doing a bouquet toss? Are you going the traditional route or trying something new?

Catch up on the Lioness recaps here!

• First, we got ready at my apartment.
• Then, we finished getting ready at the venue.
• The boys got ready and posed for pictures.
• We exchanged gifts.
• The girls posed for pictures.
• I admired every little detail.
• We walked down the aisle.
• We got married.
• We had some alone time.
• We posed for photos with family.
• We posed for photos together.
• Of course, we took a few goofy pictures.
• We had our first dance.
• I danced with my dad, and Mr. Lion danced with his mom.
• We cut the cake.
• We toasted to love.
• We mingled through the dollar dance.
• My sorority sisters carried out one of my favorite traditions.
• We got down on the dance floor.
• The boys decorated our getaway car.

*All photos by H. Photography unless otherwise noted.

Love is Where We Are: The Getaway

At one point in the night, I noticed that all of our groomsmen had mysteriously disappeared from the reception. I could only assume that they were decorating our getaway car, a theory later confirmed by photographic evidence:

I really wanted to rent a white vintage car, like a Rolls Royce or something that I imagined would appear in an old movie. I kept putting the transportation portion of our budget on the back burner; it just wasn't a priority of ours. Eventually, that part of our budget was still on the back burner, and our wedding was a week away! I begrudgingly accepted that my 1997 Accord would be our getaway car. In hindsight, it was perfect. I was glad we were able to spend more on our priority budget items, and my car turned out just fine.

It's kind of hard to see in that picture, but beyond the paint (and pollen), my car was filled with a certain decoration that just so happened to be consistent with our theme.

How in the world did we get inside our car with all of those balloons in the way?! Guess you'll have to stay tuned...

Catch up on the Lioness recaps here!

• First, we got ready at my apartment.
• Then, we finished getting ready at the venue.
• The boys got ready and posed for pictures.
• We exchanged gifts.
• The girls posed for pictures.
• I admired every little detail.
• We walked down the aisle.
• We got married.
• We had some alone time.
• We posed for photos with family.
• We posed for photos together.
• Of course, we took a few goofy pictures.
• We had our first dance.
• I danced with my dad, and Mr. Lion danced with his mom.
• We cut the cake.
• We toasted to love.
• We mingled through the dollar dance.
• My sorority sisters carried out one of my favorite traditions.
• We got down on the dance floor.

*All photos by H. Photography unless otherwise noted.