I am a wife!!

Where to begin? I have soooo much to write about!! But first things first of course, the obvious, I am a MRS!! Wow. The experience was unbelievable.

We started out at the crack of dawn on Friday the 14th, and what a nightmare it was. Our flight was supposed to take off at 7 AM, so we thought that getting in at 530 AM would be more than plenty of time. Oh how wrong we were – when we got to the airport it had been pushed back to 650 AM. There was the most unhelpful ATA employee herding people back into “lines” (throngs to you and me), not knowing much of anything, and being as rude as can be. Someone finally gets the bright idea to call up the people who had 7 AMish flights to another line, but that made the mess worse – people leaving later were getting checked in sooner!! But then they called out our flight to Vegas to come up, and after thinking they couldn’t even seat us together, they wormed us in, so it was off to security. Except security was impossibly long! While we were waiting I heard final boarding for our plane, and I was about to morph into panicky Bridezilla mode. No one was telling us anything, until I spotted a manager who was herding more people from our Vegas flight to the front of the line! So we ran up, weasled in, and made it. But we were told we had no time, so we run all the way to the gate (last one of course) – I didn’t even put my shoes on!! We got on the plane, only to find out there were 40-50 more people in our situation, so we ended up not taking off until 715.

So we finally get to Vegas, and it takes an hour to get Terry, since we landed in the ghetto terminal and took us forever to find out there were two terminals. It took another hour to get our rental car, but soon we were on our way to get food. Finally. The time change messed us up for the first few days, as it was 9 AM Vegas time, but noon to us so we already needed lunch. We went to check into our hotel, Fitzgeralds, located in the older, classic Vegas Downtown. We got upgraded to a corner room with a sweet view and a Jacuzzi, but we couldn’t get in for four more hours because they were cleaning. So we had dragged bags down the parking garage, up to the lobby, and had to go back. We go try to get the guy’s tuxes, and end up going to the wrong men’s formalwear shop. Finally we find the right one. We try to find a place that won’t want $45++ just to steam my dress, and we end up leaving it at a place that can get it to me 2 hours before the wedding, right when I am having my hair done. But for $1.50, it was a steal, even though I was nervous that it would get ruined. But I had limited options. I get a call from the guy scheduled to do my hair and makeup, saying that I never confirmed and was about to cancel on me!!….We go get our marriage license, we go back to finally get our room. Worth it! It’s on the 19th floor and better than it was ever described to us. We gamble a tad and lose (more on gambling later). Poor Terry got stuck tagging along with us, because he was sharing a room with my maid of honor Katie, and he couldn’t check in until she got there. And she almost didn’t! We were on our way to meet Travis’s parents, sister, and brother in law, and a couple blocks from their Strip hotel, and a couple more before the airport, stuck in bad traffic with only ten minutes to go meet Katie before she was due in, she calls and says she is still delayed in LA!! We wait another hour, by the time she takes off its 7PM (like 10 PM our time), we can’t wait anymore and we have to eat. So we cram in dinner in the hour we have to spare before she lands. And yes, with Strip traffic and navigating these massive hotels, an hour is not enough for dinner, lol.

We finally get Katie, and what a reunion it was! That’s my best girl and I hadn’t seen her in almost two years, I can’t believe that! So there was mucho hugging and rejoicing. That made our night start going good, so we went back Downtown to get her food and explore. Let me just say I love the Fremont Street Experience, they have a four block long projection screen that shows these badass six minute videos on the hour. Plus it’s smaller and easier to navigate, even though you have the tradeoff that it is a slightly older crowd, with hotels that aren’t as nice. But it’s vintage Vegas 🙂 We had some sweet specials, like 99 cent fried Oreos and frozen daiquiris, mmmm! Because both food and drink can be had on the super cheap in Vegas…We were out a good bit of the night, then gotup Saturday for brunch. I was getting my nails and accesories ready while I waited for my hair & makeup guy, who ended up being 15 minutes late! Grrrrr, and that makes me panicky…He finally comes in, Katie takes over the bathroom to get ready, and I send the guys off for bonding time and to get my dress. Fast forward to 3 PM, my hair isn’t done, makeup not even started, we are to be at the chapel in half an hour, and I start freaking out. But everyone did a great job of calming me down, and I was okay. Nervous but okay. Somehow it got done. When we left we made a stange sight, everyone else was dressed up, I have my hair done but am in jeans and a big button down shirt, lol.

At the chapel, Cupid’s wedding chapel, I went into the bridal room to change into my gown, and everyone else was outside in the lobby. The chapel was backed up so we had to wait, and my heels are killing me, my 50+ hairpins are digging into my skull and giving me the worst headache, and everyone but me is enjoying the Jets-Steelers football game! Katie was great in coming back to spend time with me so I would be okay. Took them forever to get my flowers, but at least those were gorgeous! We finally get going, but unfortunately not everything went as planned. We didn’t get our meeting with the minister, because he was watching the football game, which led us to not be able to read our own vows!! That was awful…They sped up the processional for Katie, and we were awkward and unsure of what we had to say and where to stand, etc. They didn’t test the music CD for our first dance, so it never worked! There were a couple other hassles, like me not getting my promised garter until AFTER the ceremony, but the most important thing was that I married Travis!!!! It was more headachy than I would have liked, but all things considered it was less than if we had been married in a “traditional” ceremony. It just wasn’t everything we were promised. At least they gave us real champagne with which to toast instead of cider, lol.

Okay so my something old was my earrings from when I got my ears pierced at age six and a penny from my birth year stuck to the bottom of my shoe, my new was my dress and tiara, my borrowed was a piece of net from Travis’s meaningful basketball collection, and my blue was pale blue toenail polish! Travis had some special items with him, such as his uncle Roy’s pocket watch, pices of net, and one of his most treasured blue Kokomo High shirts under his tux 🙂

After the ceremony we went to our hotel to change and get ready to eat. I know we girls were more than happy to get out of heels, and once we did we had a private champagne toast. I loved having Terry and Katie there, we couldn’t have done it without them! We ate dinner with everyone at the Luxor steakhouse, the last time we saw the others, then went off to explore into the wee hours of the night. And drink, lol. I still wore my tiara, because I am the bride, dammit ;p We stay

ed out late even though Terry had to leave Sunday morning, but it was absolutely a blast. Katie would be there until Monday afternoon, so we had extra time to spend with her. And no, we didn’t mind one bit spending part of our honeymoon time with our friends, it added a fun touch! It was so great to see her, and it was the first time she had met Travis and Terry. I bet they thought we were nuts because we were on ultimate girly giggly mode the whole time, lol! Think we even scandalized them a bit, hehe.

Okay so while they were there we did the most sightseeing and casino hopping on the Strip. Our faves have to be New York New York and Paris, definitely the coolest! But I must say I love the Luxor’s Egyptian theme and massive light beam, the Bellagio’s dancing fountains, the elegant canals at the Venetian, and the night view from the top of the Stratosphere. Simply amazing. We did some shopping, including stops at the four story M&M’s world, Nascar Cafe, and glancing at all the overpriced shops in hotels. I think they have the most Gucci places per capita than anywhere else. I couldn’t believe how much everything had changed since I had been there as a kid! I would have loved to ride the coasters at NY NY and Stratosphere, but at $12.50 and $19 a pop I decided not to. I think they’re shitty as far as coasters go, just that they happen to be in super cool places. So that was most of the first few days, just taking it all in!

Sidebar – how utterly embarrasing is it that the morning after your wedding EVERYONE knows that you were doing it the night before?! I mean, everyone who knows that we got married on the 15th knows we screwed that night, lol..

Gambling…we didn’t do a whole lot of it…I can see how it gets super tempting, but we all knew when to stop. I don’t think Travis and I gambled over $100 the whole trip. The only one who really won anything was Terry, who made out with about $200. Even Travis’s uber-Christian dad gambled some, lol! I loved the slots, especially the groups that would have a car as a top prize; I spent some cash trying to win a BMW Z3 convertible and a badass H2 but came out empty 🙁 Travis tried out some table games, but even there it’s super fast to lose serious money. We had hoped to strike it rich out there, but to make a fortune, you have to come in with one already (we found one slot machine at Bellagio that was $1000 a pull!!! EEEEEEPPPP!!! He and I came out on top $80 bucks for the trip, not too shabby if you ask me.

I could do without the pornography handed out though, it seems like everywhere we went we had smut thrown out at us. That was one big reason why we preferred downtown, no smut peddling! That and the sexual shows. I wanted to go to more shows, like some of the Cirque Du Soleil or some of the topless shows, but just the amount of nudity is overwhelming. And I don’t consider myself to be a prude in any way. But we came up with the idea of a Vegas show called “Bare Ass and Dicks A-Flopping”. Just no pretense at all 🙂

Once Terry and Katie left, we did a lot more than just the Vegas sights. We went for a long drive to find Area 51…creepy! It’s at the end of this super well maintained dirt road and people are watching us from miles, just to make sure we don’t cross into classified government areas, or they’d shoot us! We couldn’t even take pics of the “restricted area” sign, that was illegal too! There is nothing but two super tiny towns for several miles around, so you need food, water, and a full gas tank. No UFOS spotted, but there was just such a weird vibe, the nothingness, and most notably the emptiness of the deset that all of a sudden turns into an almost forest of the weirdest Joshua trees ever. *skin crawl* We even got pulled over for speeding but the nice cop let us go…So something off the beaten path, but super cool to us, lol….We went to Hoover Dam for an afternoon, and Red Rocks Canyon for another…We saw Carrot Top live one night after we found half price tickets, score! And just much, much more sightseeing. Vegas is amazing!! And what’s most amazing – 24 hour liquor stores, cheap drinks, and open container laws, woooo!

We certainly didn’t want to come home, not to work, not to the cold, not to living in two separate towns for the next three weeks or so, but we had no choice. But the nine days were amazing, despite all the hassles we had – everything good made it worth it! We almost got stuck in Chicago Saturday too, but we ended up catching a long delayed earlier flight that left us only 90 minutes late. As if coming back wasn’t bad enough! We left with gorgeous weather only to land in the snow and low 20s, booo!

Okay so of course everyone wants to see pics, here are a few that we have to share, we are in the process of getting all the other pictures!