wedding ceremony

due to popular demand...here's the link to the amazing wedding ceremony Missy created for us...enjoy!!!

honeymoon...it's over already

On Sunday, July 7th, we jumped a plane and headed to Mexico. All went well...until we landed. Of course, after I convinced Marcus that he did not need to pack a change of clothes in his carry-on (this was a direct flight after all) his bag does not arrive. If you know Marcus, you know that this was very, very, very bad. I handled all the logistics while he steamed...they assured me it would be arriving on one of the next flights and they would quickly deliver it to our resort...which is a shuttle and ferry trip away. Marcus was not calmed.
BUT, after a muggy ferry ride for us (and my bag) we arrived at our beautiful island and resort. Grumpy Marcus quickly had an about-face when we were given scented face clothes and a colorful alcoholic drink upon arrival. It didn't hurt a bit when the front desk staff immediately took our lost baggage info and said they would handle it from there. The bag arrived in our room, unharmed, early the next morning. I think I felt luckier than Marcus did.
As you can see from the slide show to the right we had great weather and we had a great time. Isla Mujeres is a small island off the coast of Mexico that is moving towards becoming a resort island. Lucky for us it's not quite there yet. Our resort has about 60 rooms and while we were there only about 10 rooms were booked...it didn't hurt that we were in the beginning of hurricane season.
We lounged by the pool, snorkeled in a national park, swam with dolphins, toured Mayan ruins, went shell searching, shopped at the local stores and tooled around in a golf cart of of our own. We also saw fire dancers (may be a new career for Marcus), drummers and a traditional Mexican dance show. The resort had a honeymoon dinner on the beach for us on our second night there...we got to design the menu! We made fast friends with a few of the staff: Timoteo (our bartender), Hector (our restaurant manager) and Gabriel (our waiter)....extremely fun people to talk Spanglish with.
Another highlight was when we both tried to call our parents (free calls to USA land lines). No answer at the Meskils and no answer at the Mendoncas...we felt like losers for even wondering what the deal was. Come to find out, the moms were too busy talking to each other to bother with us. :)
As you can imagine, it did not take long for us to make ourselves comfortable and while it was great to come home, love on the pets, and settle in, it hurt a little to leave. Our tans are fading already and we're back to arguing over what to have for dinner. Life was easier when we only had to argue over which lounge chairs looked the most comfortable. We love you Isla Mujeres!!!

link to the chariot ride video

Felecia, the owner of Your Chariot Awaits, took this video with her cell phone...

It's the first image we've seen from the wedding :)

*** we've started slideshows (to the right) of pictures that people have sent us from different events....send us yours and we'll add them***

ceremony and reception songs

processional of wedding party: "If You Want Me" from the Once soundtrack
processional of bride: "Falling Slowly" from the Once soundtrack
recessional: "Luckiest Man" by the Wood Brothers
first dance: "Hold Your Hand" from the Across the Universe soundtrack
second dance: "Hold You in My Arms" by Ray LaMontange
third dance: "No Expectations" by Shannon Whitworth

wedding vendors...

Cater & Cupcake Baker - 28806 catering
Celebrant - Dr. Missy Cheyney
Ceremony Musician - Dorsey Parker
Favors - Custom Ink did the koozies
Florist - Dr. John Sherman
Hair - Terra Marshall
Honeymoon - Isla Mujeres
Lodging - Four Points by Sheraton
Marcus' Ring - was created by Danielle, who's baby was due on 07.04
Photographer - Jesse Kitt
Pottery (from registry) - by Joy Creek
Reception Musicians - Efren Gonzalez & Mike Venable (aka DJ Krumbz)
Rehearsal Dinner BBQ - Okie Dokies
Rehearsal Dinner Spot - Pack Place Rhino Courtyard
Sparklers - Sparkle provided the 3ft. sparklers
Transportation - Your Chariot Awaits
Wedding Planner - Jennifer King

wedding day

Dawn's version
Ahh, the wedding day. I hear that it was pretty hectic for Marcus as his tasks had to be taken care of that day, but I got to spend the day by the pool catching up with friends and gettin' a little sun. A storm tried to roll in around 2:30pm, but I scared it off (maybe the 2nd instance of Bridezilla)....we actually had a beautiful day and while it was hot, I would not ask for anything different.

At around 4pm, the ladies headed over to the bridal suite to hang out, snack and drink. My lovely hairdresser, Terra, came and did my hair and makeup...she's a sweety! Things were pretty chill until I heard Jennifer (the wedding coordinator) say "I need her ready in 15 minutes." It's not that I felt rushed...things seemed pretty under control, I just suddenly realized I was getting MARRIED in 15 minutes. As my hair finished air drying, I had the slightest of panic attacks as I got dressed and LeeAnn put my shoes on and my mom tied the ribbon. I can't remember why LeeAnn had to put my shoes on...what was I doing? I just kept thinking that it could not be that easy to get ready...we had to be forgetting something. But, I wasn't naked so I calmed down and realized I was ready. As we headed to the elevator, we remembered the "something new, something old, something blue, something borrowed" and took turns running back to find it. On the way down, my mom pinned my Air Force blue pin on the dress lining and wrapped her string of pearls around my wrist. As as extra measure, we also pressed on an old 6th ARS tattoo near my ankle (see pictures from wedding).

Luckily when we arrived at the top of the staircase, they weren't quite ready for us...so I got to really chill out and enjoy a few minutes with the folks. As we walked down, we joked about doing the wave or high-fiving along the way. It was nice to see everyone as we came down the isle. As you all know, the ceremony was absolutely beautiful thanks the the wonderful Dr. Missy Cheyney...my new sister-in-law :). Later, she was approached for more info regarding her "church" as a guest wanted to start attending. Unfortunately, Missy lives in Oregon so there's no church for those of us in AVL....maybe we could convince her to do a weekly blog for us :). After the ceremony, Dorsey let a Jimi Hendrix "Star Spangled Banner" rip in honor of the 4th! We did the quick picture routine...thanks to Missy and Andy we had beverages brought down to us too...and Jesse was super patient with us.
The reception was also pretty amazing. Props to Jennifer for keeping it all flowing and under control for us. You lushes :) drank us out of white wine pretty quickly, but Jennifer saved the evening and ran out for more....we didn't want the party to end. Efren and Mike were crazy awesome Emcees and DJs for us...they worked really hard on those sets which turned out to be fabulous! Hopefully, we'll have them posted on archives.org (thanks to Clif) so that we can all download them for future listening. And what can we say about Andy's slideshow...I hadn't even seen some of those pictures...he was great at making us laugh at ourselves!! Loved the beer, food, cupcakes, champagne...what else, loved it all! The sparkler exit was very cooolll...everyone made fun of me for accidentally ordering 3ft. sparklers, but in the end I think we needed them, right. I did hear that there were some close calls though. And the chariot ride was super! Our driver, can't remember his name, worked his a** off to get us uptown and the firework crowds cheered for us (I admit that it took me a second to figure out how they knew we had just gotten married). After meeting up with some folks at the hotel, we headed downtown. That trip didn't last long for this exhausted girl, but I hear the rest of ya made it a late and crazy night!
I have to give a quick shout out to our families and friends who helped out with or participated in the wedding...there is absolutely no way we could have pulled it off without ya! And to all of the friends and family who took the time to spend the day (or several days) in Asheville at our wedding. Believe me, we know that we wouldn't be the people we are today without you guys!

So much planning and now it's over. I'm on the hunt for a new hobby...anybody have a wedding they need planned?

rehearsal recap

Rehearsal and dinner….and the after party
Ah, the best laid plans…right? Rehearsal day was by far the most stressful…it didn't start out that way, but we quickly veered away from my strict schedule when our out-of-town peeps started arriving and we couldn't help but hug and chat the time away. Add in room changes, last minute microphone arrangements and Marcus' car payment (why did he have to do it right then?) and we were officially running wwwaaaaayyy behind, but there was still potential to catch up. We made a quick Sam's trip to pick up last minute dinner needs and headed over to Pack Place to drop off our stuff.
The great Candace and Efren were slatted to arrive shortly after us for set-up. Upon our arrival at Pack Place, we had my one and only instance of Bridezilla behavior…and I don't regret it one bit. The "event coordinator" simply decided (and freely admitted it) that while he had a note from his boss to have the space ready by 4:30pm, he just didn't do it. So, I calmly flipped out. After several quick calls with his boss and with Candace, all was settled and the event went off amazingly. It's my understanding that Andrew was recruited to "rip" the stems off of the flowers as there was no time to cut them gently…they looked amazing. We hear that Rachel also came to the rescue during the set-up...thanks you guys! As the wedding party patiently practiced our steps and words, Candace and Efren were able to whip everything in to shape and we had an awesome rest of the evening. Not to my surprise of course….that's why we recruited the C&E team in the first place. We had an awesome time, the food was great and seeing old friends and meeting new one's topped any hassle we had earlier in the evening!!! Plus, the weather was gorgeous.
A late night trip to Barley's topped the evening off…I think we essentially took the bar over. Paul…our awesome bartender…gave Darcus free drinks and even made a sweet little announcement in our honor! Several hours later, the rehearsal party poured on to the streets headed in all directions. All I know is that at 4:00am, Missy, Andy, Phoebe, Marcus and I climbed the mulched hill of the BB&T on our way back from a late night snack at the 51 grill (they should probably be given vendor status). I have no doubt that the snack saved the next morning for us all!