Part 30: Of Pre-Wedding Goodness: 10/11-10/12

Hello from the void! Things are finally settling in for me and Mr. Clifton as we've made the transition from honeymoon, to a temporary place in NH for two weeks, to driving from 11am-5am (yes an all nighter drive) to NC as of Thursday/Friday. Almost a week later, we're unpacked and into our 2nd temporary home before we make the big jump to AZ this winter!

Right now however, I figured it was about time to share on the subject of pre-wedding days :] It's crazy to think it's almost been a month since we tied the knot! I'll do my best to retell the event that will forever in my mind be timeless and perfect, starting with the days leading up to the big day. Here we go!

Jacob flew to NH a week before the wedding to help with set up + to just see me. I hadn't seen him since the beginning of July, so it was LONG overdue! The really craziness began around Saturday, however- when baking, organizing, making, creating, and finalizing things took place. Following a long and busy day Saturday was Sunday- a church day, max back squat day, dress up day, and rehearsal dinner day! To be honest, I wasn't fond of the idea of a huge rehearsal dinner, mostly because I already had so much to think about- lucky for me, I have a sweet momma-in-law to planned the whole thing!

The dinner was held at a church in Lakeport, NH- one of the oldest churches in the area, actually. Setting up and trying to organize all those people... it made me wonder how the heck we would get anything done that night! Luckily we did and things went so, so smoothly. It felt so surreal. It really didn't kick in what we were rehearsing for... but oh, the memories of that night are warm in my heart.

One of the best parts of the night was hearing both of our dads talk and seeing the slideshow our mommas had put together for us. Talk about emotional moments... reliving our entire story, remembering all the days and months we had to spend apart... it was a reminder of how great our God is: that he brought together two people who should never have met. Among the other songs in the slideshow, I had hoped to hear this one and I did:

http://grooveshark.com/#!/s/To+Find+My+Way+To+You/4O4JYZ?src=5

It's all those little moments rolled up into one sweet and fantastic evening... goodness. It's just goodness. All of it. I'm so grateful for all the work our families and friends put into that evening, because it was worth more than a million.

Ah yes. This picture. Well. After the dinner, I went back to my best friend/maid of honor's apartment and we had our 'bachelorette party', aka eating whipped cream, dancing, snuggling cats, watching youtube, braiding hair, and making unfortunate videos until late hours.

When I finally got home, I couldn't sleep. Maybe it was the sugar rush, considering I don't ever eat sugar? But either way, I went outside at around 1am and did 100 pushups and 100 jump squats because #weddingday #bridebebroswole #bridedoeswhatshewants and all that jazz, right?

Wait a second. I checked the time again. It was 1am. IT WAS WEDDING DAY. WEDDING DAY, PEOPLE. I stopped my starlight workout and snuck back into my house and off to bed.

When I woke up, I was going to be Mrs. Clifton.

After all these months and days and seconds and moments and tears and phone calls, there was an adventure on the horizon.