It rained on our wedding day.

And although it rained for the exact 8 minutes it took to get through our vows, I'm not even mad about it. Our guests were great sports! Well, they were great sports to our faces. Who knows what kind of grumbling they did under those umbrellas.

I would have been way more of a priss about having to be out in the rain donning formal wear and heavy makeup if I were a guest. Luckily for me, brides are allowed to be prissy and someone held an umbrella over my head the entire time.

I wore top and bottom bridal separates that I ordered from two different Etsy shops. If you've been following along, you know that finding the right wedding dress has been a bit of a bumpy journey, but it worked out fine!

After everyone got dumped on and listened to us declare our everlasting love to each other, we redeemed ourselves by getting them drunk and fed.

If you follow my Instagram, you've probably seen quite a bit of photos and anecdotes from our trip. You may even be sick of us, which I wouldn't blame you for! However, I felt I couldn't dive back into blogging without recapping our nuptials. So here we are.

I have so much to say about our wedding and honeymoon, but at the same time, I'm also kinda out of words. It was wonderful, with just a few hiccups. Where do I begin? Well, let's get organized with a few FAQs, shall we?

Why did we have a destination wedding?

I went into more detail about this on a previous post, but the main reasons are that it allowed us to have a small wedding (which was vital for a semi-introverted bride like me) and it also provided a built-in honeymoon.

And how did that all work out?

Pretty well, actually. The "wedding weekend" consisted of three different events: a kickoff dinner on Friday (no rehearsal), The Big Day on Saturday, and a picnic beach meet-up to bid everyone goodbye on Sunday. The wedding was small enough that all guests could be invited to all the things and most of them attended everything! The kickoff dinner was INTENSE. I was sweating and hungry and just kinda anxious. I tried to stick by Joe's side so we could greet and mingle with people together, but I kept losing him in the crowd! It's okay, though, because the main point of this event was to make the actual wedding more chill. And it worked!

So how chill was the wedding?

Pretty damn chill! I mean, it did rain, but all in all, it was smooth enough for me! The showers only lasted for a few minutes (during the ceremony, of course) but it was totally worth it because LOOK AT THE INSANE SUNSET THAT FOLLOWED.

No filter, ya'll. Plus, everyone kept telling us that rain on your wedding day is good luck, which I don't really believe in, but so far so good! The decor was about as Pinterest-y as I could have hoped. We danced our asses off. We drank a lot. And we ate steak, lobster, and cupcakes.

How 'bout that DIY bridal makeup?

It worked out pretty well, but I totally should have taken the #1 piece of wedding makeup advice and allotted more time. The only recurring wedding nightmare I had was that all our guests were there, the ceremony was starting, and I hadn't started my makeup yet. I ended up having barely enough time to get things done, but it ended up being okay. My false lashes were a last-minute panic but I got them on with the help of a friend. They looked a little weird up close, but photographed well, which really is the point, no?

What else?

On the day-of, I got ready with one of my sisters and two of my best friends. My oldest sister was off the hook because she's a mom, so it was just the 4 of us, and it was really nice! We ate banana bread, sat around in our underwear, and chatted about skincare and feminism.

The ceremony was short and sweet. My brother-in-law married us and Joe and I wrote our own vows. His were super charming and well-written! My were obviously amazing.

The honeymoon was SO good. No complaints or regrets. We ate great food, reveled in being done with wedding planning, swam in the ocean, walked a lot, slept in, explored, shopped, went to Jurassic Park, and. . . .well, you know.

Everything we worked so hard for finally came to fruition. We had fit bodies, money to spend, new clothes to wear, and a wedding we didn't go into debt for. It felt incredible.

What now?

I changed my name, which is a strange thing. I'm Theresa Holland now. I'm happy to share Joe's last name, but it's hard to be a feminist and have an even somewhat traditional wedding. More on this later.

Well guys, I am one happy wife! I know it's been a while since I've posted, but I intend to be better now that I'm not working 12-hour days and planning a 3-day party on an island.

Joe and I are back to our usual routines, except now we're married, which is lots of fun! We're enjoying ourselves, working hard, and saving up for the next big thing: a house.

I'm off to go cook dinner and watch Jersey Shore Family Vacation with my husband. Stay classy!