For The Love of Love: Before God & Everybody

It was time. Everything that I had been planning since May 28th of 2011(and lets be honest, a bit before that too!) was about to come to pass. Our nearest and dearest had come from all over the world, to celebrate with us. It.was.time.

Because it was the Saturday after Easter, the church was fully decorated in all it's seasonal finery and we didn't have to do a thing.

Mr. Aardvark was dressed and ready, as was I. All of the tiny details disappeared as the importance of what was about to happen sunk in!

Thanks again to Mrs. Ferris Wheel for the great tutorial!

The music changed and everyone headed down the aisle. First Mr. Aardvark with both of his parents. Then, my mom and step dad, Step-mama Aardvark and MOH MD's little brother, then two by two, the bridesmaids and groomsmen. MOH MD walked alone, and then the cutest little kids in the world took center stage.

They all did a great job! My new nephew was a bit confused by the ring book though, he had been practicing with a pillow at home. After a couple attempts to dutifully return the book to the pew, he got a helping hand from his mama.

Then the music changed again. It was my turn. I had been a little worried that I would well up and ugly-cry the whole way down the aisle.

But I lucked out! No ugly cry here! Just a big goofy grin! Papa Aardvark didn't cry either (that I could see). It was so surreal to be walking down the aisle. I knew everyone one was looking at me, and I sort of felt like I should be looking at them, but I could not pull my eyes away from Mr. Aardvark. He was about the be my husband. This was really happening. We were doing a good job walking slowly until we got about half way. I noticed a jump in our pace and tried to put the breaks on a bit. In the picture below my dad and I are both suppressing giggles, trying to remember that it's not a race.

When we finally got the the front of the church, my mother stood up with us. I had not noticed until that point, but she was making up for the lack of tears. I mean full on water works. I was so surprised! My mom is the toughest woman person I know. She has always been a rock, and to see her tears on my wedding day was really touching. Fortunately, she was able to gather herself for the next part.

I had not given much thought to the whole, "giving away" thing. Mostly because shortly after becoming engaged, I read a wonderful post by Mrs. Tartlet and knew it was a perfect combination of tradition, and respect for the independence of a modern woman. The priest asked, "Who presents this woman for marriage?" And in unison my parents said, "She presents herself, with our blessing." At that point I was SO ready to give Mr. Aardvark a huge hug! I felt like we had been standing there FOREVER! I stepped toward him, but my dad still had my arm. We hadn't done the veil thing and they still had their handshake/ hug. Doh! I had made the same mistake at the rehearsal. Everyone got a good chuckle at the over-eager bride.

Once I finally got to Mr. Aardvark it took everything I had not to give him a big kiss right then and there! The rest of the service was a traditional Catholic wedding with full mass.

There was lots of standing, and sitting, and kneeling, I really enjoyed the whole thing. My very-soon-to-be sister-in-law (and mother of the ring bearer) did the first reading. When she finished, her little guy stole the show with a loud, "Good job mommy!" It was one of the sweetest things ever and I was again glad we had decided to have little ones in the wedding.

When the time came for the vows and rings, I was feeling pretty confident. I had held back tears so far, I could do this! During his vows, Mr. Aardvarks voice cracked a bit, and I thought I was done for. But then it was my turn. The words that I had thought about over and over in the years we had been together were coming out of my mouth. Mr. Aardvark was smiling, I was smiling, and trying really hard to soak in the moment and feel the weight and importance of what was happening. 

I love the picture below because that is what the church looked like, very warm and glowy, while I love detail and crispness of the professional pictures, I feel like the colors in this one are spot on.

Guest Photo

The actual wedding part went very quickly and then it was on to the rest of Mass.

The photo sequence below is another of my favorites. I think I am saying something like, "We're married!" and Mr. Aardvark said, "We should be paying attention still." This exchange, or a similar one, happens most Sundays at Mass. I am always trying to chat him up while he is trying to pray. So it is fitting that it is captured here on our wedding day as well!

We also did a Marian Altar visit. It was right after communion and basically, MOH MD had carried an extra bouquet down the aisle and we placed it on the Mary Altar while music played. The priest had warned us to take our time doing this, and we thought we did. We went over, placed the flowers, said a prayer, stood there for awhile longer just for good measure and headed back to our seats...However we must have been too fast because the song seemed to go on FOR EVER after we sat down. Word to the wise, know the length of the music you pick, for any additional ceremonies, or ask for only the first few verses!

After that, everyone stood. This was it! We were married and we would finally get to kiss! It seems a bit odd to me that on our wedding day we did not even kiss hello until nearly 3:30! But it was well worth the wait! Mrs. & Mr. Aardvark, man and wife!

Awkward hand much?
Oh well I was not thinking about hand placement!

We were married! The priest and the photographers had both told us to hurry back around to this side of the church after our exit so that we could sign the papers and then make our "Grand exit" after all the guests had filed out of the church.

Well, hurry we did! So much so in fact that I missed a step on the way out and face-planted on the sidewalk!  Mr. Aardvark and the wedding coordinator (and a few passing cars) were the only ones to see. I popped back up right away and my veil blew off! Ha! What a start to married life! We had a good laugh about it though.

My dress seemed to be intact and I hadn't skinned my knees (though I did destroy my stockings). With a little help from MOH MD, everything was back in order!

We signed the papers and everything was legal! In those few quiet moments we laughed about how, of course I would fall coming out of church! I am not the world's most graceful lady by a long shot.

After a few moments we got the word that everyone had their flags and streamers and bells and it was time for our exit! It was magical! A small handful of people had cowbells, a nod to our cycling history as well as the fact that we live in Wisconsin, Others had ribbon wands that MIL Aardvark had made with little jingle bells on top. The sound and colors and cheering were so festive!  And, I made it down the steps without issue the second time! Practice makes perfect!

After our exit people began to disperse. And a new crowd began to gather. It turns out the Knights of Columbus were having a large ceremony in the church following our wedding. It was a really cool to see so many(maybe 100) of them, in their full gear as well as all of their wives and families wishing us well.  

Guest Photo

I also found out that they were the ones who had booked up our first hotel! Talk about things coming full circle!

Guest Photo. BIL and Nephew Aardvark making friends with the KoC

They were so sweet though, I could hardly be mad at them for stealing all of our rooms! And in the big scheme  of things, it didn't matter at all anyway. I had married the man of my dreams with heaps of wonderful people there to watch and support us. Now the only thing left to do was celebrate! 

All photos by Michael Terri Studios Unless otherwise noted.

Miss a recap? Don't fret! Here they are!

1) For the Love of Love: Practice Makes Perfect
2) For the Love of Love: DIY Flowers]
4) For the Love of Love: Dudes Become Gentlemen
5) For the Love of Love: The Girls get Fancy
6) For the Love of Love: Final Moments as A Miss

For the Love of Love: Final Moments as a Miss

This was it! Our faces and hair done up, our dresses on. Every detail in it's place. It was time to head across the street to the church. 

However, guests were still flowing in so the wedding coordinator had us wait before coming in. The photographer decided to take the opportunity to snap a few shots.

Mama Aardvark and I, as well as shots with each of the bridesmaids! I had LOTS of little frames left over from not doing table numbers so I plan to send each bridesmaid a copy of their shot.

Bridesmaid Sis

MOH MD

Bridesmaid Flossy

Bridesmaid OT

Bridesmaid Red

Papa Aardvark

We were slowly working our way around the building to the front when I saw the three cutest little girls in the world!

I am not sure if I explained my flower girl plan earlier, but in case I forgot, here goes. Our church did not allow for petals to be dropped on the aisle (something about the oils and the carpet) so, since we had three little girls, and three moms (Mama, Step Mama, and MIL Aardvark) I had each of the girls carry a bouquet and give it to one of the moms. For the rehearsal, the littlest one was not interested in participating at all. Luckily, she was fully game the day of and they all did an AMAZING job!

Things were really down to the wire now! The last of the guests were all rushing to their seats and we were about to go in!

Since Mr. Aardvark and the groomsmen were walking down the aisle, I could not just hang out in the foyer of the church. The wedding coordinator blockaded Mr. Aardvark in one corner or the foyer while I rushed up to the choir loft to wait.  MOH MD came up and stood with me while the rest of or wedding party and parent's clamored around below.

I was a wonderfully surreal moment. Quietly hiding out with my best friend since childhood. "Are you nervous?" "No." "Are you ready?" "Yes." I think that was all we said. It was fascinating listening to everyone chatter away below us. I could hear my dad happily greeting everyone as they lined up. For a moment I was sad that he was not up there with me, but after a second I realized he was in his element holding court down below. Sitting quietly would have most likely made him nervous or at the very least emotional and would have upped the risk of ruined make up for me.

Before I knew it, the music had started. Mr. Aardvark and his parents were the first to go down the aisle. That meant I could come out of my hiding spot. As I came down the stairs, I was calm, happy, and ready. One more change of music and it would be my turn.


Married bees, did you skip the first look? What lengths did you have to go to in order to "hide" from your groom?


All photos by Michael Terri Studios Unless otherwise noted.

Miss a recap? Don't fret! Here they are!

1) For the Love of Love: Practice Makes Perfect
2) For the Love of Love: DIY Flowers]
4) For the Love of Love: Dudes Become Gentlemen
5) For the Love of Love: The Girls get Fancy

For the Love of Love: Girls get Fancy

After the flowers were done and the tutus were trimmed, the ladies were off to the salon. My mom had arranged for snacks and champagne, so we would not be dying of starvation by the time the reception started. We had most of the salon to ourselves, since there were about 15 of us getting hair and or make-up done.  For what it's worth, I think all hair cuts should be accompanied by a glass of champagne. 

Personal Photo

It was a really fun, laid back time to just sit and be pampered. I also loved watching everyone's hair take shape. If you are struggling to figure out who and what to pay for in the pro hair/ makeup department, here is what I did: I paid for all the bridesmaid hair and if they wanted pro makeup too, they covered that themselves. Only one girl (besides me) went for the pro makeup. Everyone looked AH-Mazing.

Personal Photo

If you recall, I had my hair and makeup trial the day of my Bridal shower. There were a few things I wanted to tweak, and Lisa did a phenomenal job. I could not be more happy with how my makeup turned out. I felt so beautiful all day. I didn't touch anything up except lipstick, and that, only once.

Personal Photo

As the last two girls (MOH MD and Bridesmaid Red) where sitting down to get their hair done, we got a call. The photographers were done with the dudes and ready to come shoot the girls' getting ready shots.  Before I had a chance to be concerned the two remaining maids told me to go and they would meet me at the church. With that, we were off.

The "Bride Room" at the church was in the parish center basement. It was not the most glamorous place in the world, but it had a large open room with big mirrors, rails to hang dresses on, one smaller room with a table and a piano, and a kitchen. My dress had been in it's bag for a few weeks so Grandma Aardvark and Bridesmaid Flossy steamed it quickly while my Bridesmoms got into their dresses. 

I helped Bridesmaid Sis do her makeup and tried to relax and soak in the moments as people came down and the excitement built. 

After stalling as long as I could waiting for MOH MD and Red, it was time to get dressed. First the little dress. There were buttons over the zipper but it really did not take that long to get into. 

Then, it was time for the over-skirt. I had tried the dress on a few times and never figured out a lady-like way to do it. It pretty much came down to me stuffing the little skirt in like a long shirt. Although having extra hands helped!

And then lifting my skirt like a toddler (and or cancan dancer) so that everything could be sorted out underneath.

The picture below is another of my many favorites for a number of reasons. It is, I think, the only picture from the whole day of just Mama, Step-Mama Aardvark and me. On top of that, the photographer did not get a clear shot the first time Step-Mama Aardvark helped me with my garter (which I made a failed to blog about! EEK soooo sorry it was a LAST last minute addition) so, they asked her to "adjust" it so they could get  a better shot. I think she said something like, " I didn't expect be the one to linger at your thigh on your wedding day..." And then we all cracked up.  (Also, sorry about about the near crotch shot, and big white leg...)

While all of these shenanigans where going on, the bridesmaids were also getting dressed. I have to say, I was a tiny bit nervous, that the girls in their different navy blues would clash. (Clearly, not nervous enough to come up with a different plan.) I have to say they looked stunning!

At this point MOH MD and Bridesmaid Red were still at the salon. I was doing my best to ignore that little voice in my head saying, "FREAK OUT! FREAK OUT NOW THEY AREN"T GOING TO BE IN ANY PICTURES AAHHHHH!!!".

That was silly. They would make it. Deep breathes. Everyone seemed to be running around and getting themselves ready so I slipped back into the "getting dressed" room to put on my super-long-lasting-72-hour lip color. It was totally quite and peaceful. I was not stressed or jittery or anxious. In those few final moments, I was putting on my lipstick. That was all. It was such a blessing to have that time to myself on such a busy day.

Then, it was back out into the chaos!

I did not want to put my veil on until MOH MD and Bridesmaid Red arrived. I just didn't want to be "Full on bride" when they got there, I wanted to share some of the transition with them. The photographers were getting worried that we wouldn't have time for many shots before the wedding, but I was not concerned. They decided to get some detail shots while we waited.

Besides my butt bow which had been Step mama Aardvark's, I still hadn't found a "something old". The weekend before the wedding it hit me. My late grandfather always had a hanky. As a kid, I thought it was gross that he would blow his nose on it and then put it back in his pocket, but now as a bride, I thought it would be the prefect way to carry a part of him with me. My grandma found the one above for me to carry. The W is the first letter of my maiden name as well as the first letter of his first name. It was really nice to keep in my pocket and came in handy in an unexpected way later that evening!

MOH MD and Red Finally arrived. MD teared up right away when she saw me in the dress, but managed to  rein it in and save her makeup!

While they scrambled to get into their dresses, I was finally ready to put on my veil! But before I did, I made sure the photographer got a shot of my hair do...and a few little friends that were hitching a ride!

Mama Aardvark was somehow the only one in the in the "getting dressed" room. It was so nice to have some mommy and me time in the those last couple of minutes before anything began.

Once my veil was on, things got real. I was about to marry Mr. Aardvark. all of the planning and crafting and stressing was over. The only thing left was actually getting married!

Then, Papa Aardvark cam in "to see if anyone needed anything".  I am SO grateful (an a little surprised) that he didn't cry. He just had the biggest brightest smile on his face. There were no deep parting words of wisdom or marriage advice, but there didn't need to be. All I needed was a hug.

With that we were ready. The guests were arriving and everything was in order. It was time to go to the church!


All photos by Michael Terri Studios Unless otherwise noted.

Miss a recap? Don't fret! Here they are!

1) For the Love of Love: Practice Makes Perfect
2) For the Love of Love: DIY Flowers]
4) For the Love of Love: Dudes Become Gentlemen

For the Love of Love: Dudes Become Gentlemen

We'll take a break from all the girly-ness that is wedding day preparations to bring you the dudes. I adore these pictures because I have memories of the rest of the day, but not these moments. While we were putting together flowers and having our hair and make-up done (more on that to come) the dudes were relaxing, having snacks, hanging out with guests and then, about an hour before the ceremony, getting dressed. Guys have it so easy!

This handsome man was moments away from becoming my husband! He only looks a little nervous! :)

These bike chain cuff-links were a Valentine's gift from me. At the time, he did not have a french cuff shirt (oops!) but he got one in time for the wedding!

Now, how do these things go on??

Mr. Aardvark purchased his suit at a small mom and pop shop. They threw in the tie for free!

Apparently, the guys were discussing the merits of different tie tying styles and what would look best with their vests....

(Prepare to hear this a lot) This is one of my favorite pictures of the day. My husband-to-be helping my little brother, his groomsman, tie his tie. It just warms my heart in the biggest fuzziest way.

This, lovely shot is of our ring book. It worked out perfectly and safely got the rings down the aisle.

Confession time, in 2009, at Christmas, I had just graduated from collage and was moving to Wisconsin. I thought Mr. Aardvark might be proposing so I got him a gift that wouldn't look silly next to a ring, this pocket watch.  I had it engraved with his initials and "Christmas 2009". Turns out I was about a year and a half ahead of myself, but he loves it and wears it every time he dresses up. It meant a lot to me that he had it for the wedding.

The guys were almost ready to go, but were the girls still on schedule?


Are your dudes all getting ready together? Does your groom have any cool accessories for the big day?

All photos by Michael Terri Studios

Miss a recap? Don't fret! Here they are!

1) For the Love of Love: Practice Makes Perfect
2) For the Love of Love: DIY Flowers

For the Love of Love: DIY Flowers

After our lovely rehearsal, I made my way back to the hotel with MOH MD. At that point, I am pretty sure she was more nervous than I was :). We had a big room with a HUGE Jacuzzi tub that I took full advantage of, before trying my hardest to fall asleep. I knew morning would come fast. 

And it sure did! If you recall, I had decided to DIY flowers somewhat at the last minute. The shop where we were buying the flowers opened at seven AM. Can you guess what time this crazy bride wanted to be there? Yes, 7:03. So like the trooper she is MOH MD woke me at about 6:40. All of the buzzing from the past week was gone. A had a serene feeling of readiness, but no jitters to speak of.  MOH MD decided we needed some tunes. 

                                      

We got about 45 seconds into Train's Marry Me when I think MOH MD realized that A) this song was way too sleepy for 6:45am and B) She is prone to tearing up during insurance commercials, if we started the day with this song, there would be no hope of dry eyes later. So, in an abrupt change of pace, we turned on the "get pumped" music, which happened to start with this:

                                     

Disney's Mulan: I'll Make a Man out of You

With a little(lot) of singing along and dancing around, I was ready to meet the rest of my half awake bridesmaids in the hotel lobby. We went to pick out our flowers and grab some coffee and breakfeasty treats. Once we had selected the blooms, we headed to my dad's bike shop. it was about 7:30, so we had plenty of time before they opened to get our flowers done. 

I have said it before and I will say it again. My Bridesmaids are AMAZING! I showed them my "test bouquets" and how a built them up and then they went to town. Mine was super easy because I knew from the start that I wanted all daffodils. 

A side note, if you also love daffodils, when they are in water the release a toxin that will kill other flowers, so keep them in their own vase.

Somebody has a case of the early-morning sillies!

In less than an hour we had 3 mom bouquets, 1 bride bouquet, 1 Marian Alter bouquet (pretty much the same as the mom ones) and 5 bridesmaid bouquets!  We were doing great and had plenty of time before our 10:00 hair and makeup.

Around 9:00 two of my three flower girls arrived. I had made them tutu style skirts, but never trimmed the length because little girls  are prone to growth spurts at the last second. by leaving it until the morning of the wedding, I felt pretty safe that we would no sudden growth issues. The  two littlest flower girls are roughly the same height so, even though they were not all present we got everyone trimmed up. 

It was lots of fun (kinda like cutting hair) and the girls LOVED them. Once they left, all of my pre-wedding tasks were done. The only thing left to do was become a bride....

And now some shameless glamour shots of the flowers thanks to Micheal Terri Studios. (All other photos are personal)

My bouquet, just, you know, hanging out in a fence.... (Isn't that where you kept your flowers when you weren't carrying them?)

The Bridesmaid and Mom flowers. I adore this picture, the colors are so vivid, just like they were in real life. The flowers looked so happy and celebratory! I am so glad I had something to focus my energy on before the ceremony. I think I would have been a ball of nerves if I just woke up and had to wait until 2:00 to roll around!

Did/will you have any very last minute tasks to do the day of your wedding? How did it go?

Missed a recap?  Don't fret! Catch up here!

1) For the Love of Love: Practice Makes Perfect.

For the Love of Love: Practice Makes Perfect

The week before the wedding was buzzing with excitement and things to do. In fact, things seemed to get exponentially more busy until the moments before I walked down the aisle. One of the last large items to check off the list was "Rehearse". 

I am not really sure what I expected at the rehearsal, but I figured for a Catholic wedding with a full mass, there would be a lot of choreography to figure out. I thought there would be lots of instruction (like when do you pass of the bouquet?) but there was not. We practiced coming in and lining up and walking out. And then we did it a few more times. And then we were done. Or rather, then we went to our rehearsal dinner (aka "first reception" aka pre-ception"), where 80+ of our guests were there to help us practice eating, chatting and posing for pictures all at once. 

Speaking of posing for pictures....

I never got a chance to tell you about my rehearsal dress, I scored it on a  "extra 50% off  Clearance" sale at Ann Taylor. I can't help but brag about the good deal I got! Original price: $569.99 (YIKES!) I paid $79.99!!!! (YAY!) It is covered with super heavy beading and feels like a dream on. I can't wait to wear it to a New Year's Eve party!

With my Bridesmoms, Mama Aardvark on the left, Step Mama Aardvark on the right.

Chillin' with MOH MD. My feet were already killing me but according to MOH MD's little brother (and usher) I looked like a super-hero bride. I think it was just the blue tights, but I'll take it!

So....this time tomorrow we will be married!

The rehearsal dinner was amazing. There was so much going on that we never got a chance to make a speech or thank our bridal party in front of everyone. But there was tons of love, wine and homemade ravioli! It was a great way to spend my last night as a single lady. 

Have you ever been a part of a rehearsal that seemed easier than it should have? Married bees, were you nervous the night before your wedding?

The Power of Customer Service.

Hive! How I have missed you! I am very excited to start my re-caps, but before I do, I wanted to share a little story with you. A story about (as the title suggests) the power of customer service.

As I was organizing my wedding photos for recaps, I figured, "Hey, now would be a great time to put together our wedding album." I had already filtered out the best group shots, and my very most favorite of the 435,233,425,823,542,752 other shots taken by our photographers and guests. I had everything in neat folders on our computer, and I knew which service I wanted to use for our DIY wedding album. I used Picaboo to make our guest book of engagement pictures and was very happy with the results. The program was easy to use, and the finished product was nice without costing an arm and a leg. Putting together an album should be EASY AS PIE!

Wrong. I knew I shouldn't have been so smug, I knew things often do not go as planned, but I was young and foolish! This was weeks ago! I have learned so much since then.

I set out one Saturday to hammer out the album. I spent about seven hours glued to the computer screen arranging little photo boxes and picking just the right images to tell our story. I was almost done. Everything was in place and I was SO happy with how it looked. I went to the print preview, one final step before completion, and that is where things started to go wrong. Two of the photos were missing. I went back to the "edit" page and there they were. Back to print preview, gone. Edit, there. Print preview, gone. (I am a little slow so I did this a few times just to make sure I wasn't seeing things.) If it hadn't been incredibly late at night, I would have used the "Live Chat" Picaboo offers for struggling customers, however it was after hours so I sent an e-mail and decided to worry about it in the morning.

When clicked save the screen went blank. No error message, no please hang up and try again, just a white screen with a "!" in the center. My mouth went dry. I shakily got up and went to the kitchen hoping I would come back to find my photo album. Instead I found "!". Panic began to spread through my body as I realized it might all be gone. I began frantically clicking and opening windows in hopes that I would be able to find the album. The more I clicked the more hopeless it became. I could not navigate off the "!" pages without "losing your changes" and if I opened I new window it would not let me log into my account. I was trying to keep it together and think through what was happening, but my bedtime had long since passed and logic was slipping away with it.  Mr. Aardvark came in to check on my progress and that is when I lost it it.

Hive, I sobbed. I cried harder than I have since Mr. A moved here, big ugly tears. Not just for the lost work, but for the beautiful day I had spent indoors, ignoring my husband. There were also angry tears too. Why was it just a white screen with an exclamation point?? How could it all just vanish?? Instead of looking at me like a total nut job, Mr. Aardvark gave me a big hug and told me it was time for bed. We could both worry about it more in the morning. (I love this man.)

The next day, with the friendly help of someone on the "Live Chat" I had part of my album back. By part, I mean I had the format I had arranged and seven (out of 46) pages of photos. I had also loaded the desktop version of the program because I thought it would be better about protecting my work. Then I stepped away from the project to cool off a bit.

The following weekend I set to work replacing the photos. It did not take ALL DAY this time but a good four hours. I had save compulsively throughout the process so I figured I would be ok. One final save! But then when I tried to navigate away from the main page it told me it was not done uploading. It was at this point I noticed the upload tracker. It.was.crawling. So I left it alone. Every half hour or so I would check in and see it was inching slowly across the screen. After THREE HOURS (disclaimer, we have cheapo internet with crappy upload speeds so this was bad, but not unexpected)  it was this close to being done. I was about to relax and enjoy my victory over technology,  when for a  second time disaster struck.

This time there was an error message. There had been an issue with the upload. When I re-opened the program all of my work from the second time around was gone. At this point I was not sad at all. Only angry. Really, rage-fully angry. I felt like I had been duped into wasting more time on this and vowed to find a different vendor. I sent customer service and e-mail detailing my disappointment and frustration (by some act of God I refrained from filling it with curse words) and I walked away from the project entirely.

Over the last week I corresponded (via e-mail) with one, very helpful customer service rep. The fact that I was not bounced around between anonymous "service technicians meant a lot to me. She explained that the crashes were due to the fact that some of the images I was using were over 10MB. She was also able to recover all but a few pages of my second book and showed me how to save them on my actual desktop (not the same thing as uploading). She was friendly and apologetic. These things went a long way to ease my mind. She managed to restore my faith in the company and offered me a great deal to make up for my frustration. Her assistance and Mr. Aardvark's support are the only two things that kept me from plunging headlong into insanity.

The moral of the story is, service is everything. The whole ship was turned around and the problem was not only solved, it was explained. Knowing how to avoid these troubles in the future proves they value not only their own time, but mine as well. I felt confident placing my order last night and I cannot wait to see the final product.

Have you ever had an experience saved by great service? Did you hit any speed bumps with technology during your planning (or post wedding) process?