It's really hard to believe

that 2 years ago today I married Mr. Allan. I can remember everything like it was just yesterday. From sharing the "marital" bed aka the biggest King bed ever in the Buddy Cianci suite at the Providence Biltmore Hotel with my sister the night before the wedding to waking up insanely early and making my way down to the hotel's Starbucks to enjoy a quiet moment with my pumpkin spiced latte. I remember the nervousness that morning as I sat in my white hooded sweatshirt watching the Today show as my fantastic hairdresser, Jen, arrived followed by the make up artist, Kristin. I remember eating whoopie pies for breakfast since the deli thought that fell into the category of pastry appropriate for breakfast and everyone slowly filed into and began to get ready. I remember my awesome photographer, Melissa, and videographer, John, coming in and that's when the action really began. before I knew it, my bridesmaids were dressed and ready to go and I was being laced up into my dress by my mom and sister as my dad looked on. We were piled into the limo and I was standing outside the church with my dad. I remember wanting to take in the moment, not rush down the aisle and I was DYING to see Mr. Allan's face.

My favorite part of the day was our ceremony. It was something our minister really let us create and personalize. We decided to write out own vows and exchanging them was hands down the most memorable moment of our wedding day. I remember not wanting to go first and just sit there with a goofy look on my face as Mr. Allan read his, so we opted to take turns, each reading one at a time. Before we knew it we were husband and wife. We were whisked outside to greet the guests and say hello and had some time gallivanting around the city for pictures. We dropped off the bridal party for cocktail hour and then had an hour to ourselves with the photographers....another favorite time since it slowed the day down.

Then the night began...dancing, toasts, dinner, and more dancing. But, the best thing about that day...was, of course, becoming Mrs. Allan.

So, to help re-live the memories of what took place 2 short years ago...here's a clip from our videographer John Cipolla from http://www.weddingstoriesri.com/. Hands down one of the best decisions we made was to hire a videographer and after watching this clip you'll see why. Tonight, after our dinner out, we'll be snuggling up on the couch with our 3 cats watching this
.

Holly and Bill from weddingstories on Vimeo.

Highlights
 
Because everyone loves all things wedding..here's the day as I remember in photos...all photos are from our fabulous photographer Melissa Robotti...check her out here http://www.melissarobotti.com/ and enjoy remembering the day photo by photo

                           

so what has two years of marriage taught me? I've learned that I married a patient, caring, thoughtful and respectful man. A man who treats me as his true partner and equal. A man who lets me know that my thoughts, ideas and opinions are valuable and important. But, most importantly, a man who is head over heels in love with me and lets me know it every day. Happy Anniversary to my Mr. Allan!

Those Crazy Cats....

Mr. Allan travels a lot. I typically find myself alone for a week about once a month.

When Mr. Allan travels, not only do I get a little bit sad, but our three cats do as well. The first day, they typically act normal. The second day, they're all over me and become clingy. By the third day, they're going nuts. They run around the house like chickens with their heads cut off, scratching at doors, thinking I'm hiding Mr. Allan in a closet somewhere. The fourth, fifth, and so on days, they ignore me in protest for Mr. Allan being gone. Mr. Allan typically comes home to a fanfare from the cats, rubbing up against his legs, purring, showing him how happy they are that he's home.

For example, this morning the cats decided to gallop around the house chasing each other and practically shrieking. I've never heard such a high pitched meow come out of our male cat. He typically doesn't make alot of noise at all. He seemed to enjoy the sound of his meow and kept going in the hallway and living room to hear it echo even louder. Oh yeah, all this at 5:10 AM.

I do realize that I sound like a crazy cat lady. As a co-worker told me, it's not normal when the number of cats outnumber the humans in your house. The child-less peeps will know what I'm talking about. When you don't have kids, your pets are your kids. So crazy as I may sound, these cats are the cutest kiddos we have right now!

In protest of her dad leaving, our little Tortie cat, Reese, slept on his suitcase hoping he wouldn't leave.

How it all began.......

When all my friends immediately started to settle down in college and right after graduation, there came a time when I thought, this long term relationship stuff just isn't for me. I graduated and moved back to my home state of Rhode Island. I started law school and who knew that I had met my future husband.

I wish I had some cool story of how it was love at first site, he swept me off my feet and we knew it was "IT" right away. But....to tell you the truth, I was the wild let's go out every night college gal and he was a young professional and it was off and on in the beginning.

Once law school came to an end, I graduated, took bar exams, and things became more serious. I was employed at my first job, then moved to my current job and before I knew moved right in with him to our beloved apartment in downtown Newport.

That's where the future kind of all began....we made so many great friends for the 5-6 years we spend in that apartment. We walked to many downtown bars, attended many a St. Patty Day Parades, and Halloween become our official favorite holiday.

Here are some pics pulled our from our trip down memory lane......

This is Bill and I in our early years at my Barrister's Ball....scary yet suave at the same time!

The annual hiking trip to Tuckerman's Ravine...my favorite part...the rest stop with the NH Liquor Store!

The Newport Storm Pub Crawl pre party @ Gary and Nic's old house...who knew Bill would make such a sexy Colonel Sanders

One of many parade days down in Newport...we've yet to miss one..rain or shine!

Our Martha's Vineyard annual trip...you'd have to go to understand this picture and our colorful togas

Crusing the high seas...Bill in his dreaded parrot shirt...I LOATHE this shirt. It's typically saved for smoking a cigar in Martha's Vineyard on Hawaiian shirt night..but it made a guest appearance on our cruise.

A more recent picture...Bill's gone from beer to Bombay Sapphire martinis since I've known him and I've gone from overly highlighted blond to my newer brunette locks!

Here's the place it kind of sort of all began...our beloved Vaughan Ave apartment. It wasn't this yellow when we lived here but we couldn't help making a stop by on our engagement pic shoot last summer....ahh the memories.

All in all, it's been one heck of a ride. It boggles my mind to think that I was a mere 21 years old, starting a new chapter of my life called adulthood when I met Bill. Who knew it would end like this! With me, becoming Mrs. Allan.