100 Days

Tim and I have been married 100 days today! :-) 

This is definitely one of my favorite pictures from the wedding, taken by our friend Amanda's boyfriend, Neil.

We got married on October 9th, 2010 at Hopkins Park in DeKalb. We had an outdoor ceremony, outdoor pictures and then our reception was inside. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day, with the temperature being around 82 degrees that day! That morning, I met all of the groomsmen, including the groom, at the reception hall to set everything up. They were all SO helpful in getting everything ready! My aunt Sue also was a huge help in setting up the reception hall for us. Later, while the girls and I were getting ready at our apartment, we had to turn the air conditioning on because it was getting so hot in there! My maid of honor created a playlist on her ipod of fun songs that we used to sing all the time together that play while everyone was getting ready. I love music, so this really helped calm me down--even though, to my surprise, I was completely relaxed the entire day, up until the moment I knew it was my turn to walk down the aisle...but I'll get to that in a bit. So, we're getting ready, listening to music and it's finally time for me to put my dress on and the song "Going to the Chapel" by the Dixie Cups comes on and I start tearing up! That was the only time the entire day that I cried! I was very proud of myself, but that song gets me every time....especially when it's my wedding day and I'm putting my dress on!

Anyway, so then I start making everyone else cry and we were all blubbery for a few minutes til the next song came on. We made our way to Hopkins Park where we hung out in the basement room until it was time to go. This is the room that I was going to walk out of to go down the aisle, so I could see everyone as they arrived, so that was pretty cool. Again, I was pretty relaxed...til I saw the groomsmen and Tim walking down the aisle to start the ceremony. 

The parents and grandparents went first, then the guys started going...then my bridesmaids started leaving! Pretty soon, I was the only on left and that's when it hit me! Holy crap, this is really happening, I'm about to get married!!!! I walked out of the basement room, up a few stairs to my dad, who was starting to get choked up. I told him he better stop crying or he would make me cry! So he made his usually dad comments and asked if he could parade wave to everyone down the aisle. I smiled and told him no! As I walked down the aisle, Tim's little 3 year old cousin said "Hey Colleen!" to me as I walked past him, so I laughed and said, "Hey Jake!" The ceremony was perfect. I said my vows without crying, and listened to Tim's vows without crying, and it was really 

wonderful. I couldn't believe it was happening and 

that it was all over so fast. When she announced us as husband and wife to everybody, it was like a huge sigh of relief; we did it! I was SO excited! After the ceremony, we took lots of amazing pictures  and then went inside and had the best reception ever! Throughout the reception, I had to keep telling myself, "This is your wedding! People are here because you just got married!" We had so much fun that night, and I really think everyone else did, too. There is literally one thing about that entire day that I wouldn't change, it was absolutely everything I could have ever asked for! (Our wedding pictures: http://browneyesphotography.zenfolio.com/f326656102)

Many people have asked, "How's married life?"...my advice to those people, don't ask newlyweds that question because it's really awkward, haha. But don't get offended if you've asked me that, I'm guilty of asking newly married people that before, too. So, to answer that question, after being married for 100 days, married life is great. It's really no different than before, because we had been living together for over a year before we got married, but it's like it's official now. For the past 100 days, I've been able to tell people that I have a husband, and that I'm Tim's wife. I love being referred to as a "Mrs" now, makes me feel officially like an adult! Also, going from changing my last name from something fairly simple (Rooney), to something people freak out about when they first see (Veitengruber)...that's been fun. I've noticed I've had the most problems with my last name with adults. The kids at school are great with it! Having a little five year old come up to me and say, "Mrs. Veitengruber..." it's just too cute! It's the adults that I've had a problem with, like insurance companies, doctors office, bank, etc. 

Changing my name is (not was--I'm still in the process with insurance) as much as a pain as people said it was going to be, especially going to something different where all the letters sound the same over the phone: V, E, T, E, G, B, and E. I love signing it though! :) Being married is fun because now we actually start talking about having kids in front of people without them giving us weird looks, because we're married now and that's what married people do, haha. We had our "First Christmas together" according to my grandma, even though it was really our fifth Christmas together. To her, everything is a first now because we're married. That's weird to me because we were together for four years when we got married, so I don't really want to start counting all over again. It's a little weird though, because my closest friends aren't married, so it's weird talking about being married and them still dating, or even being single. It's like we're in completely different places in our lives but we're the same age. My friends are great though, and super supportive. I always knew that I wanted to get married right after college, and that's exactly what I did. Tim's a great husband and I wouldn't want my life any other way! :-)