Hi! This is the first post I’ve written in almost 2 months, since before my bachelorette party. What’s wild to me is that it feels like forever ago, and yet also like no time has passed at all. And now it’s been exactly one whole month since our wedding! So wild.
Between all the travel, the cold I was fighting, and all the feels I was feeling, I’ve had no inspiration to say anything of importance on here. My bridal shower had given me a glimpse into how I would handle all of these events, physically and emotionally. I tried to prepare myself as much as possible to not get in my head and go with the flow, but there’s really only so much prepping you can do. You don’t know how you’ll really feel until you’re in it, and I can say that, though this summer of once-in-a-lifetime events had me feeling anxious and heart-achingly sentimental at times (or all the time lol), it was the best freaking time of our lives and I will never ever forget it. As just that: the best time of our lives, so far. So now that I am finally recovered and feeling more like myself again, here it is… our wedding recap (part 1).
About two weeks before we were set to leave to San Diego (just a few days after I’d gotten back from Austin for the bach weekend), I came down with a nasty head cold. I got tested for Covid, which came back negative, then proceeded to lay in bed -for what seemed like forever- hacking my lungs up, blowing my nose every 30 seconds, sleeping and binging RHONJ. I drank shit tons of water, downed vitamin c like no other, and ate really really freaking clean. Honestly, it kind of feels like I was just forced into “wedding day” prep mode a little early, which I wasn’t mad at.
So, after days on end of taking vitamin c, zinc, and elderberry supplements, drinking water, eating raw garlic, and anything else under the sun that I thought might help me kick this thing, and just a few days before we were heading to San Diego, I STILL was not feeling fully better. My sore throat had come back and I decided I couldn’t mess around anymore- I needed to bring in the big guns. So I went into an urgent care and was so relieved to be met by a PA who really knew what he was doing. I told him my wedding was just a few days away and he set me up with literally everything I needed to get rid of my cold (antibiotics-ugh) and manage the symptoms in the meantime. I left feeling ready for anything that could be thrown my way (headcold-wise) and off I went to get ready for our road trip.
That was all on Sunday, and between then and Tuesday, I had a million things to do. But of course…sleep was what won most of the time. Things got postponed which stressed me out a bit, but it all got done and worked out in the end. Once I was finally finished packing Tuesday evening, we said goodbye to Moo and Sloaney, loaded up the car with all of our luggage, wedding decor and Remi, and we were off!
The first night of the road trip was a little rough. There had been a mudslide on the 70, so we were sent on a detour that added 2 hours to the overall trip (making it 18 instead of 16 hours total…oof). It was a little creepy going along those backroads with no cell service in the middle of the night. There was even a point where we almost ran out of gas, but luckily we were able to find a station just in time. The creepiness factor was definitely not helped by the fact that we were listening to ghost stories/murder mysteries as we drove. I swear I saw like 14 ghosts sitting on the side of the road that night hahaha.
What was really rough was that we didn’t sleep that entire night and I got extremely grumpy. Sick Sarah with no sleep.. she’s not a fun gal. We had been trying to make it to Vegas, but the detour messed things up and we ended up stopping at a random hotel in Utah. We took a 3 hour nap, freshened up, grabbed some food and got back on the road. That part of the road trip was MUCH better. Felt refreshed and less creeped out since we were back on a main road and the sun was out (see pics here).
We drove 5 more hours that day and then finally got to Joshua tree. Some of our wedding party/friends had also flown in and drove up from San Diego to meet us, and we all stayed at a pretty neat air bnb that I’d highly recommend. It had a hot tub, ping pong, a sunken fire pit.. seriously everything you could ever need for a Joshua tree trip (see video here). I remember getting there and feeling so relieved that we’d made it this far. The biggest part of the road trip was over and we could finally relax and enjoy ourselves. We made tacos, hot tubbed, played games and sat by the fire. It was the perfect way to kick off our wedding weekend.
The next day we woke up, packed our things, and headed down to San Diego. On the way there I was finalizing seating charts and table arrangements (some of the things that had gotten postponed lol). It definitely stressed me out a bit, but once we got to San Diego and I could see the view of downtown, I started tearing up and felt overwhelmed with excitement. This was finally, REALLY happening.
We checked into our air bnb, and were met by the cutest, most hospitable air bnb host to ever exist (he was a chocolatier who made us chocolates that spelled out “Welcome Daniel”- SO cute). Seriously he was the best. Anyway, we got ready and then 30 of us met downtown at the Shout House, a dueling piano bar. We wanted to welcome everyone to San Diego with one of our favorite SD experiences, and, with this being one of them, it did not disappoint. (See pics/videos from this night here).
Mind you, I wasn’t really drinking this week because 1. I was on antibiotics and 2. I didn’t want to be/look hungover on my wedding day. I was a little bummed at first by this because I wanted to be able to let loose, but honestly looking back I’m so grateful that I got to take it all in as much as I did. I had an amazing time and I was fully present for all of it. That’s exactly what I had wanted and I’m happy it worked out that way.
Friday was the rehearsal at the venue, and then the rehearsal dinner, which was at Dan’s parent’s beautiful air bnb that had an incredible view of downtown/mission bay/the ocean. We got pizza and white claws (cause we’re classy like that), played music, talked, laughed, danced and had an amazing time getting everyone more acquainted before the big day. That night was a bit of a shit show toward the end because I had to go back to the air bnb to pack my stuff and head to our hotel and I forgot my bag and thought I had lost it for about 15 minutes, but it all worked out in the end and two of my bridesmaids and I spent the evening eating french fries and salads, talking and getting ready for the next day. We ended up going to bed at like 4am (whoops) and had to be up at 7am.
So the night before my wedding day I almost had a panic attack about losing my bag and only got 3 hours of sleep. These are just a few examples of how weddings ACTUALLY play out lol. You think it’ll all go one way and then it goes completely the other. But I’m not mad about it. It was perfect.
We’d gotten to the hotel at night, so we couldn’t really see the view out the window. On the morning of my wedding, I woke up between two of my best friends in a big, comfy bed, to a view of the ocean and palm trees right in front of me. It was the most beautiful way I could have asked to begin that day.
More on that later <3
If you liked this post, you may also enjoy: Planning a Wedding: Covid Edition
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