I'M MARRIED!

I'm sure most of you know that my lengthy absence from posting recently was due to Chris and me flying back to Oregon to get hitched.  I actually thought I might have some time to post while I was there, but any downtime I had I needed my brain to take a break from wedding so that I would remain sane for the actual event.

It is absolutely amazing how so much time and effort can be put into making one evening the most spectacular night of your life.  I cannot thank both my parents enough for all the love and extreme amounts of help in making my dreams into reality.  A huge shout out to Chris' family for throwing us such a wonderful rehearsal dinner that was so relaxing and just what we needed before the big night.  And of course another big thanks to all my stupendous bridesmaids and friends who dedicated countless hours and small fortunes to spoil me rotten on every occasion.  Last, but not least, everyone who showed up to make my wedding such a magical night.  So fun seeing everyone!

The first big event for my trip home was the bachelorette party hosted by my close friend, Kim.  She and her husband, Chris, just recently bought a home on the Oregon coast in Lincoln City.  She actually works in Salem, so it's actually only and extra 15 minutes to drive there after work rather than back to Portland.  Lucky.  She told me they have been there almost every weekend since they bought it.   The place is absolutely spectacular.  The perfect size getaway home.  It was furnished from the previous owners, so all they had to do was repaint a few rooms and throw some more decorations on the walls.

I drove there with my friend, Rachel, Friday after she got off work.  I neglected to take any photos of the scene when we arrived, but Kim did an amazing job with bachelorette decorations.  I actually don't think I took any photos the entire week since I was too busy hamming it up with all my friends and relatives.  Nothing new though, right?

I grabbed a few photos of the weekend that I snagged from friends off Facebook.  Here is us before boarding the casino bus to take us out to dinner and our gambling adventure (btw I won a whole $15!).

And another we had the waitress snag after dinner at the Chinook's Seafood Grill.

And here I am opening my gift from Rachel, an infamous nightgown lover.  She got me three of these beauties, but I have to admit the one below is my favorite.  I think there was one day during the week I actually never took it off.  Poor Chris.

Our next big event was the rehearsal dinner hosted by Chris' parents on Thursday.  They decided to hold it at the McMenamin's Cornelius Pass Roadhouse in their Octagon Barn.  I grabbed this one from the internet so you could see how cool the venue is on the outside.

They actually had set up bistro tables outside which Mary had put beautiful flowers on.  Most people milled about outside until the food was set up because it was such a nice night.  Chris and I got SUPER lucky with an amazing weather weekend in Portland!

Inside the barn was lit up with white strung lights on all the beams and had such a cool vibe.  Dinner was yummy burgers and hot dogs served with tater tots of course.  After a few great speeches people were back to mingling, dancing and picture taking.  Here are a few snagged again from Facebook!

Chris and I with his sisters, Lynn and Cory.

Me and my seester, Emily.

My handsome hubby (yes hubby) and I.

Such a fun night!

After a day of rest crazy freakout trying to get the few last minute details done, it was finally wedding day!  Rachel and her husband, Aaron, who was our officiant, picked me up in the morning and we headed to the World Trade Center to start getting glammed up.  One of my close friends and bridesmaids, Laura Jay, was actually celebrating her 26th birthday, so we got her a cupcake and sang her Happy Birthday in the dressing room!  My beautiful boo bear!

Chris and I opted to see each other before the ceremony so that we could take more pictures and not keep the guests waiting too long during cocktail hour.  Don't worry, we still did a "capture the first look moment."  Then we decided to take some photos on one of the escalator/staircase areas of the building.  Good photo op?  Yes.  Bad place for a white dress and heels?  UM YEAH.  About halfway through us posing I was walking down and missed a step on the staircase.  I actually pictured my bruised and scraped up face as I was falling and barely caught myself before the insane face plant that would have put a serious damper on the day.  After lifting up my dress to examine the damage on my shin, we discovered that my knee was bleeding slightly.  Joys.  No one had a band aid over there of course, so Chris' groomsman, Jake, dug out a napkin in his pocket and the photographer pulled out some duck tape for one good looking patch.  It was then I also discovered I had rubbed my dress on the freshly oiled handrails of that escalator which created some amazing black patterns on my white chiffon.  Oh and did I mention the pollen from the flowers had also created small yellow stains on it as well?  Deep breaths.

I quickly reminded myself it's no use crying over spilled milk, so once pictures were over I sucked it up and decided to forget the small things and just enjoy that whole getting married to my amazing, smart, loving future husband thing.

My uncle Pete sent a few photos that actually aren't on Facebook yet, so there are a few in here that will be new so some people.

Here is Papa John and I heading down the aisle.  I can't tell if he was sad or relieved that Chris now gets the pleasure of taking care of me.  Muhahaha.

 Chris and I are so happy to finally be forever boos!

Not sure what point in the night this one was taken, but it's my favorite of the two of us so far (minus the dude in the background who I'm too lazy to Photoshop out.)

These are the wedding shoes my fabulous coworkers made Chris and I before I left for Utah.  They are so sweet.  I totally danced the night away in those babies.  I miss my iD crew!!!

And next a pic of our fabulous wedding cake.  I know it is a little out of the ordinary, but so are we, so it totally works.  And it fully went with our bridge/Portland theme. 

Here we are cutting into said cake much later in the night when the lights started twinkling.

And here are a few that Pete also sent of some of the rest of the Engdahl clan.

Gramps and grams Crane.

Brother Chris who traveled down from Seattle and brought us some of his company's (Lantern Brewing) delicious beer.

Seester Emily, Jim, Maddie and Andrew.

 Brother Bryan & Heidi with my surrogate brother, Ryley, and his wife, Amy.

And my lovely parents John & Karen.

And for the Bence clan, I couldn't find many on Facebook (post people!), so I pulled some from our "photo booth" website (more on that in a sec.)

Chris and his beautiful sisters Lynn, Kelly, and Cory.

The Taylors clan.

Woodman clan.

Grandma Joan and Chris' boss, Larry, who flew in from a conference in Helsinki!

The Jacko siblings, Susan, Anne, Mary & Mark.

And the other good lookin' set of Mr. and Mrs. Bences at the party.

Ah! What a wonderful night it was.  So fun to relive it through these few photos I already have.  Official wedding photos (shot by FS Weddings) should arrive to me in about 4 to 5 weeks and I will definitely post another slideshow when I get them.  If you want to see more of the Paparazzi Tonight photos, click here to check them out!

I'll also do another post soon to show you guys how much fun I had letter pressing all the invites and place cards.  Wahoo!

Hope you guys enjoyed my brief retelling of the wedding festivities.  I'm sure you all have some good stories of your own from the night as well!