Chapter 23

Hey yall! SO sorry for the delay! The end of summer got crazy & then with this dumb lockout, Ive been getting writers block! But here's an update FINALLY & there will also be one for my Toews story! 

Oh & in other news--Im moving to PA next month to live with my sister for a while...super excited! So hopefully that will give me some encouragement :)

Enjoy! 

~J

After we ran through everything, it was time for dinner. Something I was so excited for, since we can all hang out and relax (or try to anyways) and eat some amazing BBQ. James & I had our gifts to give out to our wedding party as well.

As soon as we got to my parents house, I had to take something to the bedroom. Once I got a minute to myself, I couldn’t hold it in anymore & I just started crying my eyes out.

“Baby? What’s wrong?” James asks, closing the door behind him and pulling me in

“I’m just anxious, all my emotions are coming out at once and I couldn’t hold it in anymore,” I say

“So this isn’t a bad thing?” he asks, halfway laughing

“No, I’m just a little emotional. Today was a little crazy too. I’m just ready to do everything & get married,”

“I know today was crazy, and some of it was unnecessary, but we’re going to get through it,”
“I’m actually really glad I don’t have to deal with Bailey anymore, I cant believe she did that. Well, never mind, I can,”

“Can I be honest with you?” he asks

“Yeah,” I say, hesitating

“I never really liked her to begin with,”

“That doesn’t surprise me…a lot of people don’t,”
“I’m surprised you didn’t cuss up a storm at her,” he says, laughing

“Ya know, I was about there, until I remembered we were in church, so it wouldn’t be very appropriate,”

“Are you ok now? I know this is getting stressful, but everything’s falling into place. We’re getting married tomorrow!”

“I know! Yeah, I’m good. Better now,”

“Ok, then lets go mingle and eat,” James says, taking my hand in his & leading me out to where everyone started arriving

Everyone had shown up so we started eating. I got a call at some point from Diana at the bakery to let me know the cakes were ready. So I had to figure out how those were going to get over to the casino, once I gave her Nicole’s name & number, she said she had worked with her before so that gave me a little more relief. There was also a guy working there that knew exactly how the Stanley cup looked, so he’d be the one to go with her and put it together and add all the finishing touches. So the cakes are taken care of.

We went to join the rest of the group in the back yard and grabbed some food and began reminiscing on a few old stories.  Mike told about when James called their mom, the day after we all went to Diesel, to tell her that he met the girl he was going to marry…I had no idea of this either, but I thought it was cute. I was grateful to have a brother-in-law like Mike, he’s so caring and so protective of me, and I know I could trust him with a lot. 

Before we cut the cake that my best friend made for us, James and I got our gifts to give to the bridal party to give those out as well. James gave the guys flasks & I gave the girls little baskets with a clutch for tomorrow, full of mints & lip-gloss plus a white button up blouse to wear for our hair & make up session in the morning. 

The time came for James and I to go our separate ways until the ceremony tomorrow.  He snuck me away for a minute to give me the goodbye kiss he would never give in front of our family. Wow. That’s all I have to say about that.

James took the car with the guys and went back to the hotel for the night, I joked and told them not to lose too much money gambling, cause we could use it for our honeymoon…which I still had NO idea where we were going. And James isn’t the greatest at keeping secrets, so he was doing pretty well at keeping quiet.

Guess what! I’m getting MARRIED today!! Holy cow, it’s so crazy to think about but so exciting! I did get a little emotional…but that’s normal right? And it was good emotions, obviously. I’m marrying my best friend!

The girls and I get up to shower and have breakfast, and then make a pit stop at Starbucks before heading to Natalie’s, where her and Rachel are doing our hair and makeup.  We spent most of the day gossiping and chatting with the girls; I was so thankful that I could get them to do this for me, out of Nat’s house too, since neither of them is at a salon anymore.

Nicole texted me letting me know she was on her way to the casino. She is going to do pictures of the guys, while Amanda does our pictures.

We were all done up and going back to my parents house to finish getting ready! Ah I was getting anxious and excited all at once.  We had sandwiches for lunch, calmed my nerves a little bit. 

Amanda brought us a little gift back with mini bottles of alcohol…just what I needed! She took some pictures of us in our button ups, before we figured we should get into our dresses.  Once the girls were dressed, I got my wedding day lingerie on, plus the garters, and then it was dress time! I am so unbelievably in love with my dress, it’s crazy. 

Once we were all ready, it was time to go to the church.  Mom and I made sure we had everything we needed. My overnight bag was already in the room where James and I were staying tonight. 

When we got to the church, I had Vero run in to make sure James was out of sight, and also to get Mike, so I could give him my ring.  The coast was clear, so we all went in straight to the choir room where we’d hang out until its time for the ceremony to start. 

A few family members stopped by to see us before the ceremony.  I had Amanda call James to our room, so we could get a picture together, without seeing each other, obviously. It was almost time to start, when my dad came in, with a surprise for me.

“You might want to have your camera ready,” mom tells Amanda,

“What are you talking about?” I ask her, confused

Not a second later, my dad walks in, with my older brother and his wife behind him

“Shut up. What!” I say, in complete shock

“Surprise!” David says

I’m definitely glad Amanda caught that on camera.

“I’m speechless right now, I thought y’all couldn’t make it!” between hugs

“We couldn’t at first, but I pulled some strings, and well here we are!”

“I had a few people add plus 1’s to their RSVP cards, so I knew you wouldn’t question it,” dad says

“You little sneak!” I say, taking Kleenex to dry my eyes

“I know,” he responds, laughing

So the ceremony begins.  We ended up having Sid walk my mom in, then the rest of the party followed.  Then, it was my turn. The first sight of James that I got, I was already almost crying & he was too, so cute.

I am OFFICIALLY Mrs. Neal! And it feels great! I’m pretty sure I was crying nearly the whole time and so were all the girls.  We all stood out of the church to say hi to everyone before the endless pictures.  One of my really good friends, who was also a hockey wife, and her husband made it down, which made me really happy. 

After all the pictures, and the ride to the hotel & casino, James and I ran up to our suite, before heading in to the reception hall.  The veil had been taken off, my dress was bustled and the girls and I switched into more comfortable shoes, and then went to make our entrance.

The wedding party walked into the hall dancing to “Sexy and I know it”, then James and I walked into “I Can’t Help Fallin’ in Love with you”.  Needlessly to say, it turned out perfect J

I took to Pinterest for a lot of my ideas, including our guest book being our top 2 favorite engagement photos, so we could hang them up in the house.  We also did the “fight box” during the ceremony.  James and I had both written letters to each other the night before, while my mom provided the box and a bottle of our favorite wine, we nailed it shut & had it ready in case we got into a huge fight, I thought it was a creative idea.