Thank You Family & Friends

Wow!!! I really can not believe our reception has come & gone already. Our weekend of getting married went so quickly and now our weekend of the big reception went so fast as well. It was so nice to have the 3 weeks in between. It was also so wonderful to celebrate twice, wear my dress again, & just enjoy the day with NO STRESS!! If everyone could have what we got to enjoy I say go for it. It was a lot of work but so worth it. I was so thankful it did not rain on the 27th since we did have a bit on the wedding day. It was cool out but beautiful! Just want to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who helped me prepare whether it was the day before or 6 months ago. I have the most amazing family & friends. Thank you to my wonderful husband (ahhhh love saying that) who has endured endless hours of the planning and details for this special day. I do believe he enjoyed both our wedding & big reception but I have a pretty good feeling he is happy it is all over!! Our wedding bedroom can go back to being just a spare bedroom. Thanks to my mom & sister who literally knew almost every single detail and helped me with all decisions when I needed them. Jaimee & Derek did an awesome job with their speeches. Love both of you so much! I honestly can not say thank you enough. I know I have probably already said all this before but I am saying it all again. Thank you to Darla my wonderful friend & personal trainer who helped me look & feel they way I wanted to look & feel on my wedding day=Beautiful! I used to hate having my picture and I can not wait to see all my pictures taken by Susan Storch & Creative Bent. Anna & her mother made the entire reception day so fun while getting pictures. I know everyone was not looking forward to more pictures but I truely feel like we all had such a great time. I also appreciate Darla coming through and doing my make-up on Saturday when my make-up lady no showed on me. Laurie Becker did an awesome job on our backdrop. It was exactly what I imagined! Thank you for safely delivering the grooms cake Aunt Patti & Aunt Nancy! Thank you to all of our wedding party members for being such an important part of both of our days.Everything was fantastic and I am so happy to have shared it with all our family & friends. So thank you for coming and helping us celebrate! I will show lots of pictures and talk about everything in more detail soon but for now here are some pictures the DJ "Cosmo T" took

Enjoy!


http://www.cosmotsdjshows.com/archives/Rhett%20and%20Sara%20Simpson.html



Also I was so preoccupied the last week or so finishing everything up for the big party I kinda left you all hanging about the details for the reception in Eureka Springs. I will back track one of these days and fill you in on how our wedding evening was too. I plan to share our slideshow/video but haven't quite figured out how to upload it to YouTube.

 

                                                    

The ceremony

Last week of wedding madness! Our reception is in 5 days!! Busy busy days finalizing everything. I work Tuesday but have the rest of the week off to get stuff done. Today Rhett helped me cut the wood centerpieces and then I polyurethaned them twice. Finally got the lights I wanted for the branches I am using. I figured once it got closer to Christmas I would find what I needed. My sister gave me the platter she made at the bachelorette party. It turned out great! Wednesday I am meeting with the D.J to go over stuff & getting our backdrop. Rhett's cousin Mark made us a really great slideshow with pictures/video from the wedding day and we will be sharing that at our reception. This was a last minute decision and I am so happy we decided to do it. I collected pictures from 6 people's cameras and sorted through them. Thank you so much to everyone who took pictures and shared them with me. Also a huge Thank You to Mark for making it for us. Their were a lot of fun crazy pictures taken and can not wait for everyone to see.

 I knew that the disc from our photographer would most likely be coming in the mail yesterday so I was very anxious for 2:00 to come. I asked if she could send me just a few pictures she took by the reception date. It will be awhile before she is done editing everything but I can share what I have for now.

Back to our ceremony

Getting married where we did I can honestly say felt like a dream. I know people say your wedding day goes by quickly and it sure did. I am happy to say I get 2 days to celebrate. Thank you to everyone who was there to share our special day with us. We really do appreciate all the help and love from everyone. I am such a crier so I thought for sure I would be a crazy mess during the wedding. Nope! Lots of happy tears in the thorncrown chapel that day but not from me. I did get a little misty when I turned and looked at Jaimee during the first song. I told Rhett days later that all I could think from when the ceremony started was I just wanted to give him a big kiss! Haha I bet the priest would have loved that before our vows. I swear people I am not making this up. Overall everything at the chapel went well. Patricia Taylor did a great job singing & playing the piano. Also huge Thank you to Jason for videotaping.

 I forgot to mention this in the last post...before the ceremony while waiting in the small office building we noticed a group of unknown people walking down the pathway to the chapel. I poked my head out the door and gave a little shout to them. I don't really even remember exactly what I said but something like "I'm getting married today." Then they shouted back kind words and turned around and headed back to the parking lot. The chapel is open to the public normally so they must not of realized a wedding was about to start!

After the ceremony was over our guests headed back to the reception site while Rhett & I got more pictures at the chapel just the 2 of us. Since I knew their would be down time before our meal I arranged for hor dourves for our guests. A loooong long time ago (probably like 7 years) I said when Rhett & I get married we are going to have pigs n a blanket at our reception. We used to make those things like crazy back in the day.I hope everyone enjoyed them! It was supposed to be a surprise for Rhett as well but when we were decorating the evening before the lady mentioned them.

Hope everyone has a great day! I am trying my best to keep my inner bridezilla from coming out in the next few days!

Our Wedding Afternoon!

Lets pick this up right where I left off...since it was raining we were limited on places to take our pictures. The original plan was to be next to a wooded area near the reception site but our plans had to change. Luckily right outside the building was a covered area so we could still be outside. This part of the day was interesting to say the least. If you were there you know what I mean! Also a big thank you to Kandace & Uncle Mark for helping get some of the girls where they needed to be. The zipper on Meghan's dress was broken so Darla sewed her up. Thank goodness she brought the mini sewing kit with her. Everyone was able to go inside the building's lobby and hang out while waiting for their turn for pictures. I am so happy that we will also be having pictures with Creative Bent for the reception day! Just did not have the weather, time, or location for a huge variety of pictures that day. (minus the chapel bc it was amazing) I am so anxious to see all of them. I am hoping they are all great. Once I get the cd I plan to share with all of you! My family did manage to snap a few (or few hundreds) so for now..

During the photo session my cake lady brought and set up the awesome cake that we had. I did not even know this was going on (little preoccupied) but several people did get to see the process of her putting it together. It was 3 separate cakes stacked on top of each other. It tasted & looked amazing. I was sooooo happy with it. I did not even meet the lovely Robyn who made it. She was recomended to me from Cathy Handley (woman who I delt with from the hotel) I looked at cake pictures on The Inn of the Ozark's facebook page found it and immediately knew that was what I wanted. It was honestly above & beyond what I even imagined! I think Rhett was even a little impressed! We had a very small amount leftover but did eat some the next day. Leftover chocolate wedding cake while laying in a comfy bed watching t.v. at 1:00 in the afternoon. All I can say is wonderful! I hope everyone enjoyed the cake because we sure did!

The way it works with weddings at the Thorncrown chapel is you get an hour and half time slot. Ours started at 4 pm and you are not allowed to arrive in parking lot until 3:45. Once it was time we all headed out of town on a very curvy road. (about 2-3 miles away) During the first half hour we all met with the priest and got instructions on what to do. We had no rehearsal the night before (that is an extra $500) so it was kinda like winging it. I do know that Rhett was nervous about not having a rehearsal but the priest explained exactly what to do & all went well. The girls & I got to go into this little office building and hang out. Our guests and all the guys went straight into the chapel. This is also when decorations get set up. All I had were pew bows and the unity candle so it was simple. Thank you Thank you to everyone who helped with this. I know Darla did but not sure who else helped. Us girls had a lot of fun while hanging out in the small room. We took pictures, put on my garter, the little girls hid under the table and peeked out the big glass door. At one point Claire said, "Sara we don't want to do this anymore." Haha I just laughed and said too bad so sad! I think they were tired of the waiting. When my Dad came to retrieve us they started going crazy because it was time! Praise the lord for the little ones they keep me sane. They are just too cute and I love them all so much. At this point I still was not nervous at all but I did have an empty & hungry stomach. In all the hustle and bustle I had not eaten lunch.  I did make sure to use the restroom too because I didn't want to feel the urge to pee while saying my vows. Haha! Sorry I am sure that is really too much information! I asked my Dad if he was nervous and his reply....these shoes are so uncomfortable.

Till next time!! Hope everyone has a great day!

Our Wedding Morning

OCTOBER 6th 2012-After planning for over a year the day had finally arrived! After being together for over 12 years it was offically the day I would get to change my last name, the day I could say HUSBAND (not boyfriend or fiance), the day that I honestly (sometimes thought) might never happen. So what do I do.....of course what every lovely bride does on the day of her wedding- set my alarm for bright & early 7 am and go for a run/walk. It was a cool morning but I think that really made it just even better. Our entire drive to Branson on Friday it rained so I was just happy it wasn't when I woke up. When I got back to the B&B took a nice hot bath in the jacuzzi tub all the while Rhett is snoooozing away in the big comfy bed. Once he woke up we headed downstairs to eat breakfast. The people who own The Bradford House (Bob & Christy) are so nice & friendly. They even remembered us from many years past so it was nice catching up. I took one of the wedding favors I made (strawberry jam) and gave to them. I actually took several and was going to share with the priest, vocalist, & cake lady but in the day of craziness forgot about them. My hair appointment was scheduled for 11 am at the Crescent Hotel and make-up to follow. Me being the most timely person ever..... I didn't leave Branson until about 9:50 a.m. (haha that is a joke) I am always running late it seems and I don't even have kids so I can't imagine how that will work in the future. It takes a little over an hour to get to Eureka Springs so I did not allow near enough time. I guess I could blame it on Rhett though bc he didn't want me to leave. He said, "What am I supposed to do all morning?" I think my response was, "go back to sleep." lol
My original plan was to leave @ 9 but ya know nothing should go as planned on a busy day. Away I went on my own to Arkansas jamming out to my satelite radio and hoping I didn't miss my exit. I had just gone the same route the day before so I figured I would be fine but I am not the greatest with directions. Once I got to Eureka Springs stuck in corvette traffic (ugghhhh) this is why I told everyone else allow extra time. It then began to hail. That's right hail do you think I was freaking out....
 a little....not too bad... but maybe just a smidge. I ended up getting my appointment switched to 11:15 bc their was no way I would make it on time. I swung by the hotel picked up Jaimee & my Momma and headed to the Crescent. Now in the summer I had a trial hair run so I already knew the hairdresser that I was going to have. Best idea ever!! So happy I did that because I felt very comfortable with her and knew I was going to be happy before she even did anything. My mother aka lady with the camera glued to her hands took many pictures throughout the appointment. Jaimee was getting her hair done as well and we both had on our bride & bridesmaid tanks!  

We rushed back to the hotel to finish getting ready! It was a little crazy for a bit. Trying to get dressed while your peeps are getting dressed, forgetting much needed items in the vehicle, not having all my bridesmaids there at the same time, the photographer sitting on the bed waiting for you to be ready to go....just a little hectic. I think I was pretty much freaking out during this whole entire portion of the day. It ended up being ok though because no one got lost. Yay!! Everyone made it to the hotel/convention center with their dresses and tuxes. I was so nervous that people in the wedding party were not going to make it on time. Just want to thank everyone who helped during the getting ready process that day.

For helping finish up the decorations at the reception hall:
Jaimee, Mom, Kandace, Dad, Rebecca, & Andrew

For steaming my dress & Rhett's tux:  Darla

For sending us an awesome food basket filled with fruit & chocolate: Mom & Dad Simpson

For going with me to my hair appointment and getting me dressed: Mom, Jaimee, Kim, & Kandace

For running back and forth to my vehicle getting things while I was flipping out: Andrew

For fixing Meg's dress in a moment of oh my!!!!!!! Darla

For taking lots of awesome pictures (sneaking them when our photographer wasn't watching)
Aunt Patti & Uncle Mark 

Thank you Thank you to everyone who helped get everything ready!

Ms. Married Lady

Well the weekend has come & gone and I am now Mrs. Sara Elizabeth Simpson. We both made it through the ceremony with out passing out, tripping, or trying to escape. Haha! I knew none of those things would really happen. Last week was so busy I didn't get a chance to keep you all updated with my daily activities. I got my nails done, packed all the bags & decorations, got our rings, programs, my dress. I managed to pick up everything including my groom by Thursday afternoon. His flight came in at 4:30 pm in St. Louis. I was so excited & anxious to see him!! If you didn't know I am the loving crazy lady who told her fiance YES you can go to Canada until 2 days before our wedding. When he originally asked months before if I minded that he take another Canada trip just 2 days after our wedding I said sure why not. He had an awesome time last year & I knew we were not planning a honeymoon right away. Then the plot thickens......the trip got changed to before our wedding date. This made me a little nervous but I still said sure why not. Ahhhhh I think about 2 days before he was supposed to leave I started to get really nervous. When I would tell people he was in Canada hunting geese they would say "Are You Crazy??" I just kept telling myself everything will be fine, everything will be great, everything is going to go as planned. Ya know what it WAS!!! I had almost a whole week to get wedding stuff done without having to do a ton of laundry, without making meals every night, without feeling bad for not being home at all. It worked out really well. Rhett made it home on time with no problems. Plus going that many days not seeing each other made it that much more exciting for our wedding weekend!! Since we have lived together for 9 years and see each other daily it was fun! I even snuck a little love card in his bag of clothes. I forgot about putting it in the bag & was getting ready to leave for work. I had to come up with some lame excuse to get him out of the kitchen to shove the card in the bag. "Honey will you please please go out to your truck and get me those pears?" He was probably thinking why don't you just get them when you go out to your car. He had no clue!! Needless to say I felt like I could breathe a sigh of relief when he was back home safe & sound!

I had pretty much everything ready to go so when Friday morning came we were set! We had our ritual breakfast at Subway before heading to Branson. We almost always drive straight through with no stops so we make good time. It took 4 hrs to get Branson plus another hour 15 min to get to our destination. Once we reached Eureka Springs, Arkansas we headed to the courthouse to get our marriage license. I knew that I did not want to mess with that on Saturday and wanted to get it done ahead of time. Everywhere we drove their were corvettes because it was corvette weekend. Each hotel we would pass we would count how many corvettes were parked in the parking lot. Their were a lot!!!!!!! Downtown Eureka Springs is crowded with tiny streets and not a lot of parking. Shame on us we parked and didn't pay (we were literally only in the courthouse for 15 minutes). To be honest we actually couldn't figure out where to pay. We took our chance at being towed and luckily when we came out we were safe! Boy that would have stunk all our wedding stuff gone.



 

After getting our license we headed to the convention center at the hotel where our reception was going to be held. I could not have found a better place to have the mini-reception. I had all the decorations organized and labeled in boxes. No bridesmaids, no Moms, no girlfriends, just Rhett & I ready to decorate. It was a lot of fun! It took a bit to get going but once we did everything fell into place. Darla was nice enough to let me borrow several items. Thank You Darla & Emily! We set up everything that we could ahead of time and then headed back to Branson to check into our B&B. We love the wonderful Bradford House! It is also conveniently located right next to the Bluegreen resort "The Falls" which is where Rhett's family was staying. We met up with them for dinner and ate at White River Fish House on Branson Landing. Highly reccomend if you are in Branson. It was delicous! Had alligator too! It was a wonderful time with the crazy loving family I just married into! Fair warning picture overload here of everyone that was at dinner.

(minus Maggie I'm not sure how I didn't get any of her) Love them all! Luke & Glennda got to Branson a little bit later than everyone else that evening but I think they ate at there a few nights later so still got to enjoy the yummy fish!

 

Hope everyone has a great day! Stay tuned for more wedding madness in a day or so!

The Future Mrs. Simpson

October 1, 2012=less than 1 week until my wedding day!

Had a great bachelorette party on Friday!

We ate out at 54th St. & it was amazing as always!

Then we went to Pottery Hollow and did some painting!

I know you are all probably super dissapointed no strippers, no drunkies, nothing crazy except for the chick that worked at the pottery place. (next time I will be visiting the Edwardsville store)

!

I think I was asleep by 11:30 Friday night.

 We all had a wonderful time & yes if you are wondering I drove all the way from my house with the pink veil and sash on. Haha!! People who passed me probably thought I was crazy.

 

I can't wait to see how my stuff looks when I pick it up. I made a spoon rest & a mug. I am not very creative and we were kinda crunched on time so my stuff is pretty simple. This looks pink but the end result should be a deep red color! My sister made a platter for me so very excited about that!

 

I attended a beautiful wedding on Saturday so of course the whole time I was thinking of everything for my big day! I got a little teary during the unity candle too.

I had a busy busy weekend and it is about to get even crazier so I am making this short & sweet today!

I will be on the go all day running errands and picking things up. On Saturday I was able to pick up Rhett's tuxedo so that was great. Now if I only had a groom around to try it on. Let's hope it fits perfect!

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!!!!!!

 

 

Here is my sleeping partner while Rhett is gone!

She thinks she owns the place!!