Vanessa’s Blog

As many of you already know, Charlie Kraebel left us for the Land of Seasons otherwise known as upstate New York.

Former Sports Editor Bryan C. Hanks has moved into that position (and into the nice office that goes with it!), and wrote his first news column, found here.

Bryan is a good friend of mine, and I’m excited to see the changes he’ll bring to the newsroom. He’s already made some; when you see a Free Press reporter, we should all now be spiffily dressed, re: our new dress code. (I like it; it gave me an excuse to go shopping, even though I really, technically may not have needed to do so.)

So to my sources: Get used to seeing Hanks around. He’s going to be coming with us to meetings, etc., to meet the people we talk to on a regular basis.

I think, as Martha Stewart might say, it’s a good thing.

More on honeymoons later. (With pics, like I promised!)

After the wedding, Tim and I headed over to The Umstead Hotel and Spa in Cary. It was gorgeous. We went up to our room and they had personalized robes, chocolate-dipped strawberries and chilled champagne waiting for us. Fabulous. We also had leftovers from our wedding meal, which Vicky and the chefs at Highgrove packaged up for us. Delicious even cold.

Then we spent a good while opening the cards we’d gotten before hitting the hay in a ridiculously large bed. I don’t think I’d ever slept better.

The next morning, we sat out on the balcony and watched a different couple get married on the back part of the property near the pool. It was sweet.

Eventually, we got out of the hotel and headed over to get our first meal at a restaurant as a married couple, at good ol’ Red Robin (yuuuum). We went to a bunch of places, picked up a digital SLR camera for myself and a little point and shoot for Tim who already has a film SLR and were on our way.

We stopped in Greensboro, where my parents live, to drop off my wedding dress and Tim’s suit and to see the pictures Mum had taken the night before. We chatted with the bunch of people staying at my parents’ house and finally hit the road toward Asheville.

The drive was fairly uneventful, but enjoyable. We listened to Big Tim’s Sirius radio the whole way.

We arrived at The Grove Park Inn after following a long, twisty road the went up and up until finally the view cleared a bit and we could see the mountains. The view from the inn was just incredible. You could see Asheville off in the distance and the Blue Ridge Mountains. We had that view from the room.

Anyway, we got to the room and just crashed. We ordered room service and just relaxed for the rest of the night.

The craziness started the next day….

More on that tomorrow. (Plus pics!)

So. Where was I? Oh, yes.

After Tim dropped me off, I took a shower. This brings us to the wee hours of Saturday morning. I get into bed probably around 12:30 a.m., which would have afforded me about 8 hours of sleep. Unfortunately, there was a problem. It wasn’t nerves. It wasn’t cold feet. It was my aunt.

She snores. A lot.

I was up pretty much all night listening to the most inhuman noises coming out of that woman’s mouth. It was awful. I think around 6 a.m. she stopped snoring, and I finally dropped off. Hooray for me. My mum came in at 8 a.m., at the request of my aunt. She thought I needed to be woken up.

…

So, I get up, drink some coffee and wait for Kyra, hair, and Natasha, make up, to arrive. They did, around 8:45 a.m. Cayla and Jean were slated to be the first to start hair and makeup, but they were a bit late, so Mum and I stepped in and started getting us done. They arrive a few minutes later and work began on them.

That’s Cayla with her hair and makeup done. She’d just started on me when they arrived.

That’s Jean, with her makeup done, and Kyra doing her hair.

They then did Marie, my maid of honour, and my mum and a few of my aunts. Kyra even trimmed my brother’s hair. It was all pretty awesome.

Then, everyone got ready and headed downstairs to catch the limo.

That’s Mum, moi and Marie standing outside on a red carpet you can’t see in front of the limosine. Bill, the driver, was awesome. Blue Diamond in Raleigh gets top marks from us.

So, we headed over to the church. Of course, we needed a photo op once we got there.

That’s Cayla, moi and Marie outside St. Francis in Raleigh. We got inside before Tim could see me and hid in the bride’s room. TONS of people came and hung out with us while we got bouquets, corsages and boutenierres sorted out. It was a lot of fun.

Tim did photos with his family in the sanctuary and then my family and I did some.

Then, time for the ceremony. First, seating Tim’s grandmother, whom everyone calls Maude, and my grandparents, then Tim’s mother and my mum. Then, the processional. Tim’s dad as the cross bearer, Father Mark, Tim and his best man Chris, Cayla and Dave, Marie, then Dad and I.

Dad and I walking down the aisle. The people in focus are my friend Joyce, who did a reading, and I think my Dad’s cousin John.

The ceremony was pretty short, since we didn’t do communion. I think Tim and I giggled and talked through most of it. We did our vows, Father Mark did a lovely homily, Joyce, Martha and Big Tim did readings for us and then recessional!

An impromptu receiving line formed outside the sanctuary room, which was nice. Then, we did more pictures, but with Tim and I and various groupings of our families and wedding party.

This one shows how awesome the church looks. That’s Tim and I, of course.

That’s Tim and I with our siblings: Dave, moi, Tim and Cayla. Obviously, we’re looking at Ray, the photographer.

Then, Tim and I got into the limo and headed over to Highgrove.

From what I heard, the cocktail hour was really nice. They set up the bar outside and played jazzy music. Ray took some more pictures and then we were ready to be announced. We came in to David Bowie’s “Golden Years.” Then, the first dance.

Tim and I dancing to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers “You and Me.”

Dad and I dancing to Frank Sinatra’s “The Way You Look Tonight.”

Tim surprised his mum with a dance to her favourite song, Tom Petty’s “Breakdown.”

After the dances, Chris gave his best man’s toast, which was really good. I daresay he even got a bit choked up. Then, food. And oh my goodness, was it ever delicious! Everything was perfect. I’m glad Tim and I each ordered an entree and split them because both the cod and the steak were amazing.

That’s how the head table looks. The flowers were gorgeous.

The cake was really pretty too, and delicious.

Afterwards, Marie gave a really great toast about loyalty, which was lovely.

Then, it was time for everybody to get down.

Tim certainly did.

Afterward, we got so many compliments and people said it was the best wedding they’d been to. We agreed. It was nice that so many people appreciated it, too. Oh, and the candy buffet was a hit!

Tomorrow: Honeymoon.

As I have decided to change my name at work, this story caught my interest.

I’m hoping it doesn’t take me 9 months to change my name.

Yes, the rumours are true: Tim and I finally tied the knot. Also, I’m back at work and more inclined to blog instead of laying about our apartment and generally enjoying being married.

So, I think I’ll spread this one out a bit. It’s an awfully long story to do at once (trust me), so I think I’ll do it bit by bit.

Tuesday was my last day working before the wedding, and I definitely enjoyed Wednesday. I dropped Tim off at work at about 8 a.m. and the poor man dropped his coffee on the way out of my car. So, I went over to the newish Starbucks on 10th Street (as an aside — how does Greenville have 5 Sbux and Kinston has none?!) and bought him some coffee. I brought it to him in my jammies, which I’m sure those walking around campus that early enjoyed. I really must love him.

Then, I went back to sleep.

I got up a few hours later. I think I was lazy for about 3 hours before I got bored with it, so I started cleaning up the apartment a bit. Then, it was time to go pick him up. We ate dinner, found out more people weren’t coming and worked on the final DIY projects we were doing: programs and place cards. Thank God we have a good printer, but it still took a long time. Probably about an hour for the programs and maybe about the same for the place cards. I think we finally went to sleep around midnight.

Thursday, Marie drove from Raleigh to Greenville to hang out and help out with last minute details. She’d flown into Raleigh from New Jersey on Wednesday. We got lunch, printed off the last of the place cards and then (seriously) she helped me fold laundry since I was doing that and packing for Tim and I. We picked Tim up around 4 p.m., finished packing and then she took us out for dinner at a new sushi-Thai place in Greenville, Wasabi 88. Yum.

Then, we drove to Raleigh. She went back to her hotel and met us at the in-law’s for some tasty snacks, which she provided. It was great. Her, Jean and I ate brie, fruit and those yummy Lindt truffles and drank wine while Tim and Big Tim watched the Celtics slaughter the Lakers. Eventually, we all went to sleep.

The next morning, Marie picked me up and we went for our manicures and pedicures from Iatria. It was awesome. Cayla and Jean joined us later. Then, out to lunch before getting ready for the rehearsal.

The rehearsal at St. Francis was pretty fast. Karen, the day-off coordinator for the church, walked us through everything and told us what we’d need to know for the next day. Then, we had some time in between the rehearsal and the dinner, so we decided to bring my stuff from Jean and Tim’s to the hotel where I’d be staying Friday night. We should’ve had plenty of time, except for the comedy of errors that ensued. First, the GPS took us a bizarre and unnecessarily long way. Then, people from Dad’s family were still at the pool, so Dad decided to go talk to them, leaving us in the car waiting for them. All in all, I think I was 30 minutes late to my own rehearsal dinner.

I had Tim have an Amaretto Sour waiting for me when I got to Maggiano’s, though, and soon after felt much better.

The rehearsal dinner was awesome. All the food was delicious, including the ones we had to change due to the salmonella outbreak in tomatoes. So no tomato, basil and mozzerella appetizer for us and no house salad. Tons of people came because some who were invited either didn’t show up or were on later flights and couldn’t make it, so we invited others to make up for it. It looked like everyone at each table was having a blast.

Big Tim gave a really moving toast about his father, Tim’s grandfather who recently passed away. Tim’s best man Chris gave a funny toast at the last-minute behest of Jean. Mum gave a bilingual toast (to accomodate the Frenchies, her siblings) and gave me a beautiful locket in which I’ll eventually put a picture from the wedding.

We were there for a few hours before we left. We had misplaced our programs, so Tim and I got a ride with Chris and Martha (his wife) back to his parents’ house to look for them. An hour later, we found them in his suitcase, which is the logical place for them.

…

Then, Tim drove me back to the hotel in Jean’s convertible — top down, of course.

More on the wedding tomorrow.

We’re married.

Awesome.

On honeymoon.

More later!

Two days.

Not much time left before I stop being Vanessa Clarke and start being Vanessa Shortley. That’s pretty flippin’ cool.

My maid of honour, Marie, is coming over in a bit. She said she was willing to help out with last minute stuff, but Tim and I got a lot of that done last night. We finally printed off the programs (hooray for Microsoft Word…) and all the place cards but one. We got the dreaded seating chart finalized. I still have to send Vicky (the caterer) the breakdown by table of how many people are eating what dish, but hopefully, Marie will help me with that.

Then it’s just laundry and packing. Tim and I (and Marie) are heading into Raleigh tonight. We’re going out to dinner with Ree, and then heading over to Tim’s parents’ house to hang out and probably watch The Producers.

Then, it’s up early tomorrow to get manicures and pedicures for myself, Marie, Jean and Cayla. We may have some time to kill before the rehearsal, but we’ll probably just go back to Jean’s to get ready, since they’re so close to the church.

It’s down to the wire, kids.

So, we’re winding down to the last few posts before I’m a married woman. Calling this my “bride-to-be blog” will soon be a misnomer. How cool is that.

This is actually my last day working before I get married. I will have my laptop with me — we’re bringing it to get directions while we’re in the mountains — so I’ll try to get a post or two about the rehearsal dinner, and maybe a quick “I did it!” I’ll post pictures and a longer account when I get back from the honeymoon.

People start coming in tomorrow. My maid of honour Marie flies into Raleigh around 2 p.m. I’ll still be in Greenville because apparently my Civic has had some kind of safety recall, so I’ll be bringing it into the shop. I also have to print place cards and programs because Tim finally got a copy of Microsoft Word from his dad. Hooray.

It’s kind of amazing what Tim and I have been through over the passed few months and what we will continue to deal with once we’re married. Several people have told me if we can get through what we dealt with in the month preceeding the wedding, we can make it through anything. That’s not to say it was easy; there were misunderstandings, arguments and miscommunications, but I think we’re stronger for it.

So, here’s to us, baby. I can’t wait until the 14th!

I’m actually speechless.

Some people will do anything to have the “perfect” wedding.

The bridesmaids pre-nup is a bit much, though.

I woke up this morning with a realization that’s actually pretty cool: For the first time, I can say I’m getting married this week. Not this year, this quarter or this month, but this week. How crazy is that?

It’s actually kind of funny how fast and how slowly the past 15 months have gone. At times the wait seemed nigh interminable. I remember when I started seriously planning last August, I thought June 2008 would never get here, but here we are, June 9, not so many days away.

I feel like we still have a million things to do, but I guess it’s really not that many. We just don’t have all that much time left to do it. But it’s OK, really. Even if we don’t get everything done, the essentials have been completed. And the important thing is on Saturday, Tim and I will be getting married. All the other stuff — even though it’s awesome, and I appreciate it, and love it — is icing on the cake.

In other wedding news, Dad and I are trying to come up a song to dance to, which is awesome. I can’t wait to have a nice father-daughter dance with him. Of course, I’ll have to watch out for his two left feet. I remember when he and Mum took dance lessons; they set up the “feet” for the steps in our basement. Apparently, Dad’s dancing skills left something to be desired. I don’t care though. It’ll still be a great moment for us.