Wedding Pictures Are In!

Merry Christmas! Christmas pictures from our time with our family will eventually be posted . The whirlwind of festivities started off with a birthday celebration for my brother Calvin, a cookie making contest, the Mai Christmas celebration in Burnsville, the Asleson Christmas celebration in Mankato, the Wood Christmas celebration in Mankato, then the Wieland(sister's inlaws) Christmas celebration in Stillwater!!!!! Joyeux Noel! Feliz Navidad! It's such a special time!!!! Ahhh!!!!! It was so great to see everyone!!!!!

Becca Dilley, our wedding photographer is the best ever. Here is the link so that you can view the gigantic wedding gallery!!!! It's very large!!!

http://dilley.smugmug.com/gallery/4019805/

Christmas is coming!

Tis the season to be jolly! I'm sure everyone is busy with their Christmas preparations! I'm trying to figure out gifts for family and finalize my cookie recipe for a cookie making competition while trying to quiet my soul for the season. It's my favorite time of the year! Both Curt and I look forward to the family celebrations.

This weekend has been fabulous. Honestly, every weekend is fabulous when we get to spend it together as newlyweds. We celebrated Brent's graduation on Friday night with dinner at Olives in Mankato. We are so happy for Brent and Shanna...Brent's done with school now and together they are happily waiting for the arrival Baby Wood. We are excited too. Anyway, on Saturday Curt's parents came up for dinner at Birchwood Cafe and holiday lights. So fun.

Today we went to Home Depot to pick up supplies to repair a leaky water hose on the washing machine. It's been an interesting weekend of home issues as Curt woke up on Saturday morning to an inside room temperature of 50 degrees! The heat works now thank goodness. We are thankful to have a roof over our heads, but sometimes little repair jobs are in order!

Happy 30th Wedding Anniversary!

at the church ceremony
a kiss
cutting the cake
a few friends
curt and josh helping out
a celebratory sign

Last weekend we celebrated my parents 30th wedding anniversary with a renewing of vows and reception. Not only did we brave the snow to make the trek to the church, but we realized the Vietnamese church was located in the ghetto of Mpls!!!! we feared for our lives! well, not really, but it was interesting to drive through the neighborhood.

Congratulations Mom and Dad! It was an amazing celebration!

Thank You!

Happy 1 week wedding anniverary!!!!! Thanks to our friends and family for making it extra special. here are the many moments that I won't forget:

Friday: seeing the flowers for the 1st time, loading down our car with everything!!!!, the jittery car ride down to Kato, seeing Doug and Bev at the church prepping for the rehearsal dinner, picking up our sound equipment, working with my sister at the hotel on details, details, details, the entire rehearsal dinner full with beautiful fall decor and hearty soup and sandwiches, having the chance to thank our close friends and family.

Saturday: the decorating team putting everything together, saying goodbye to Curt, hanging out with the girls at the salon and church, being excited while getting dressed, getting emotional when I saw Curt, taking pictures, the dads looking cute, the moms looking wonderful, finding out Chris now lives in Cali, getting Starbucks, the buzz right before the procession, the touching ceremony music (thanks mina!), exchanging vows, our kiss, the excitement when it was all over, greeting guests, arriving at the reception, hanging out with the wedding party in our room, seeing the beautiful reception hall, laying down rules and sharing details about our wedding party, cutting cake, seeing everyone, awesome toasts by Carolyn and Brent, the slideshow, our first dance, being twirled around around around and around by my dad, the electric slide, curt being funny during the garter toss, watching curt dance to soldier boy, hanging out with my family, ending the evening in our room with champagne, candles, chocolate, flowers, a book and.....

Sunday: waking up at 7:30 for breakfast, watching Curt open gifts with our family and close friends, packing up our vehicles, saying our goodbyes, and driving back while crying and laughing.

too many people to thank. we had tons of help. tons.

prewedding details: reception stuff

curt's dj table

candy buffet before fully decorated

granny smith name card table before fully decorated

kiddy coloring books

takeout boxes for candy favors with blank labels

parent wedding photos before fully decorated

map, menu, and reception timeline

here are photos of our reception details before Pat Hansen from Silk Expressions fully worked her magic with the white lights, tulle, etc. I wasn't able to fully appreciate the finished product, but I did take some of it in when we were waiting to do the bridal party grand march.

prewedding details: wedding party gifts

wristlets for bridesmaids from NY and company

pink and green wraps from Sears (they came in handy)

ties for Calvin and Chris from Macy's

rubriks for the guys from Games by James

Back and settling down

After the most emotionally charged and best weekend of our lives we are finally settling down. Married life is great. After the gift opening on Sunday we drove back to Chaska. The entire car ride back was still so emotional. We would think about something cool that happened and start tearing up. We stopped home real quick to make some exchanges and read our cards. It was so fun to read all the well wishes. We are so thankful to everyone especially Grandpa Wood, Grandma Asleson, and Grandpa Asleson.

On Sunday night we made our way to downtown mpls. Curt showed me around the skyway system and his old path when he worked at Target. Then we toured the new Guthrie. Very impressive. We met up with friends Anton and Nicole at Spoon River and enjoyed a seafood Japanese noodle soup and beet ravioli with yummy wine and the best dessert ever. Thanks grandpa Wood!

After a walk around the area we checked into our hotel and fell asleep by 8:30 pm. We must have been so tired because we didn't get up until 7:30 am the next day. We slept for 11 hours!!!!! On Monday morning we had a great breakfast at Hell's kitchen and enjoyed the different shops in downtown. We are back now and are still overwelmed by everyone's support.

We are looking forward to spending Thanksgiving and Christmas with our families. We are super grateful of our friends and want to hang out with all of you soon!!!!!

2 more days

Hi everyone!!!!! We are really excited. We have off from school today and tomorrow. We are joyfully finishing up last details. I still need to work on the name cards for the assigned seating. And i'm making a list of things we need to pack up for the ceremony, reception, and essential clothing items like my dress!

Anyway, on wednesday at school I took down my name sign on the classroom door. on tuesday when i come back I will no longer be Ms. Mai, but Mrs. Wood. My kids are pretty excited for me, but are a bit weirded out by the name change. I told them I won't answer their questions unless they call me by my new name.

If anyone could send me a list of places I need to contact to get my name changed that would be great!

5 more days

I just walked out of the room where we are currently storing gifts from the 3 showers and the bachelorette party. It's full of gifts! Most are still in the packaging that they came in! And the rest of the house is a mess...not very clean and full of wedding stuff. Yes, it's wedding central around here.

Almost every hour this past wknd was spent finishing up details for the wedding. If it's not meeting with someone, then it's picking up something, dropping off something, or going back to get something better.

I can't believe just two weeks ago was the bachelorette party. I had SO MUCH fun. We started off the day with some spa time at Juut in Wayzata. It was exactly what I needed. Very perfect. Then we went bowling and had dinner at Bryant Lake Bowl. To finish off the night we had dessert, warm beverages, and opened presents at Cafe Latte. Everything was great. I loved the time with my friends.

We are working very hard to finish up details. Everything the past two weeks has been so much fun. I'm trying to hold onto each moment. The days go by so fast. I'm getting very excited for everything. The anticipation is killing me...i wake up super early and am going to bed later and later. soon we will be Mr. and Mrs. Wood!!!!!!!!!!

14 more days how can it be!?!?!?

I've ordered the packaging for the wedding favors (it's a surprise) and some things to enhance the reception decor. This weekend will be devoted to working on paper projects for the wedding. I have my bachelorette party too!!!!!

Anyway...14 more days until the wedding! i'm starting to get a bit anxious. i had problems sleeping a few nights ago...it's pretty exciting!!!!!

Curt's excited because he accomplished 2 out of his 4 wedding projects. We have the marriage license and he has his wedding ring! It's super cool.

signing off!!!! cm

17 days and counting

hair trial 1...i'm not quite a fan

Yesterday I went in for a dress fitting with Kristen of the Dressmaker in Edina. After squeezing into the dress (it was alarmingly snug) i was able to look in the mirror and got super excited! I got even more excited when i completed the whole look with the veil. I'm happy about how everything looks together.

I also was able to see my dentist for a pre-wedding cleaning. My teeth will be extra sparkly for all the wedding pictures....hee hee.

The picture is from my 1st hair trial. The experience was fun, but i'm not super happy with the end result. It's a bit busy looking...which isn't quite me. What I had in mind was something a bit simpler....hope it all works out on THE day!!!!!

Shower with the Asleson Aunts

Sandy, Judy, and Linda
The Group

The two pictures are from my 1st shower in Mankato hosted by Curt's aunts. This happened late September. We played some fun games (a word scramble and a guess the cake game) and enjoyed some really yummy crossiant sandwiches. Curt's cousin Katrina was really helpful in helping with gifts too! Before the shower I met with Irene from Country Inn and Suites to do more planning for the reception.

we were once wee ones too

kindergarten
kindergarten

My guess is that we would have been friends....hee hee.

Back from Dallas!

What a whirlwind!!!! It's hard to believe that just one week ago we were in Dallas, Texas. Curt has a super nice recap on his blog. After a very logistically packed triathlon wknd we were back home in MN for a shorter, yet busy week of school. Both me and Curt had long nights of parent/teacher conferences. Since being back i've been recovering from a lingering cold...i can't believe how much mucus moves around in my nasal passages.

In other exciting news...we went to the Carver County offices to apply for a marriage license. We had to swear by oath that I was a woman, he was a man, and that we weren't married to anyone else living. While our right hands were raised I kind of thought...geez this is somewhat official now.... where's the music and celebration? In about 3 weeks we will be married!

Off to Dallas

It's been so long since i've blogged! Life has been great! The past month has been filled with lots of wedding festivities! Think lots of showers! Three! All in Mankato. I'll have to post pictures soon.

My days are spent making lists, crossing off items on my list, and making more lists. Between our wedding celebration and school it just never ends!!!! I'll have to give updates about the wedding prep soon...

In the more present moment....we are headed off to Dallas just for a few days. Curt has a triathlon. We're pretty excited to have a mini-vacation in the midst of this structured chaos!!!!

Other news...I got my flu shot yesterday...i'm feeling a bit worn down today...could be a combination of many things...right now I'm so tired my face feels like it's going to explode!!!