Friday 17 December 2010

The Carmody-Moretti wedding

Round 29: September 2030 (Spring)

Nick Moretti is 27 and Sarah Carmody is 25

Narrated by Sarah Carmody

On the night before our wedding, Nick stayed at his dad's place, so we spent our mornings apart. Nick had a big breakfast with Caleb, his stepmother and siblings.

Nick moved in with me and Mama a couple of months ago, so the tradition of not seeing each other before the wedding seemed a little pointless. But Nick and his dad are so close, so I was glad they had that time together anyway.

Meanwhile, I got ready at home, with Mama and Susannah. I never really wanted a huge bridal party, so I just had my sister as bridesmaid.

I always thought I'd feel a little sad when this day finally came and I was right. Mum has been gone over a year now but it often doesn't seem like it's been that long.

Especially at times like these, when I would have liked to have both my parents with me. It's bittersweet.

I know that Mama and Susannah were feeling the same way but it was still an exciting morning.

I could tell Nick was a bit nervous. Not about being married but more about getting married. He's so shy, so standing up in front of so many people is a big deal to him.

He was worried he'd flub his vows, or fall over or something.

But he didn't. He said remembered everything perfectly, and said it beautifully at that.

It was all perfect.

I don't think Mitchell, Austin or Lauren were too invested in the whole thing though. I guess weddings are sort of boring for children.

We have been so lucky with the way our two families have mixed together so seamlessly. Everyone in my family was eager to welcome Nick and his family have been just as warm towards me.

Mama and Nick's stepmother Cara are actually very good friends now.

Cara took care of Mum and Mama when they were in the hospital after their accident and Mama really appreciated her bedside manner. Then it just kept going from there.

Mama can be very standoffish at times, even with people she knows, so I'm happy she's been putting herself out there with Nick's family.

Nick's family are all really sweet. Except maybe Veronica. She always seems so angry at the world, or something.

Nick says she's just being 13 though. I guess it's kind of an angsty age.

Nick's family is so huge and absolutely full of kids!

It's taken a little getting used to, seeing our family is tiny and right now, there are no kids at all.

But Nick and I are hoping to change that very, very shortly. We want to start trying for a baby right away.

Caleb is a little dazed at the idea of becoming a grandfather before the age of 50 - he tells us we're making him feel really old!

Instead of having everyone sit through dozens of toasts, we tried to keep it short. Seeing Troy is a close friend of both of us, we had him do just the one toast. He knows us both so well, so he was a natural choice.

As for Troy's wife, Josie, well...I'm trying my best with her. At the very least, I think she's finally accepted that I'm not after Troy, like she assumed I was when we were in college.

We don't have a lot in common but we're going to be seeing each other a lot, so we might as well get on.

Nick is still very close friends with his ex, Maia, who is now dating my ex, Ethan.

I thought it would be a little strange having Ethan at our wedding but it wasn't thankfully. That was all the way back in high school and I like to think we've put that behind us now.

Caleb says elaborately decorated cakes are slightly out of his range of ability but he did manage to score us a really great one, at a lower price. It pays to have connections in the restaurant industry!
It was delicious but I don't know that Nick needed to smush so much of it my face. Nick's always kidding around like that.

I guess the cake looked good because there was a mad rush for it as soon as we cut it. Nick and I got separated and we ended up eating at separate tables!

But Nick came and joined us later when he had seconds on lunch. We sat down with Mama, which was actually the first time I'd really had the chance to talk to her since that morning.

The whole day went by so fast! We were at the park for about 5 hours all up but it almost felt like 10 minutes. Nick and I had such a fantastic time.

We considered honeymooning in Takemizu Village but went to Cape Elizabeth instead. Mama owns a holiday house there and I'd never been. We were so glad we did, because we had so much privacy!

There was a house across the road but the owners weren't there, so we were completely alone.

The plan was that we'd cook at home, so we didn't have to go out too much and we could maximise our privacy.

That didn't always go so well, so we ended up having to venture out a few times.

There was a ton of stuff to do there and we really enjoyed ourselves.

But it's not like we were in any danger of getting bored.

Sadly, all good things must come to an end and after a week, Nick and I had to head home.

Once we did get back home though, we got some awesome news - I'm pregnant! We weren't expecting it to happen so soon, but I know we were both hoping it would.

We are so excited! Neither of us have stopped smiling since we found out!

Outtakes:
Ethan and Maia were making out or flirting every time I had the camera on them. They were the last ones to move to the main area once everyone arrived on the lot, because they were too busy being adorable.

I use an invisible recolour of the dining booth when I want the Love Talk/Hot Smooch animations, so Sarah and Nick were not really sitting on the couch. This leads to silliness like this.

Sarah looked kind of bad-ass getting off the helicopter. It was an interesting stance for someone who stepped off and then proceeded to vomit all over the road (which motion sickness-related, not pregnancy-related, by the way - Nick did it too). I don't know...do Sims always do this?

And this just cracks me up in general!

I also took a ton of pics of Nick and Sarah that I didn't get to use but still adore, so I'm lumping them all together at the end here.



Extras:I might be a little bit in love with this pose. It's from Ang's Wedding Posebox.


I went a little nuts with the photos this time, because there were so many nice photo places at the park (because I didn't decorate it, lol!)

Nick, Sarah and Sarah's mother Kimberly.

Sarah and her sister Susannah. Both were adopted, for new readers. I have had a few people think Susannah is Betsy and Kimberly's biological daughter, because she does look like a Carmody.

The happy couple, with their entire bridal party: bridesmaid Susannah and best man Troy.

Both married off now! I'll miss playing these two as roommates, I think!

I forgot to do one with Nick and Sarah and just his parents, so I'll have to duck back in and do that at some point. But in its place, here is Sarah and Nick and Nick's whole crazy big family! Caleb and Abigail are his parents, who had him very young and never married. Abigail had an affair with Jesse and she and Caleb broke up. Caleb moved on and married Cara and had twins Anthony and Veronica. Two years later, Abigail married Jesse and had Mitchell, followed by twins Austin and Lauren. I think that's it!

Notes:
  • My good luck with weddings didn't continue with this one, unfortunately. I did crash, right after the ceremony and I lost a few pictures (they were blank once I looked at them later on). But I don't even remember what they were, so I guess they can't have been that good anyway! All in all, it wasn't too bad, especially compared to Troy and Josie's wedding which was a nightmare.
  • I mentioned in comments the other day that I was a total nerd about this wedding. I knew Troy would be the best man and that I wanted Nick in uniform, but I hadn't ever seen a wedding with mixed military/civilian dress. From my Googling, a lot of people haven't, including people who are actually in the military. But the consensus seemed to be that it's fine to do, as long as you use suits and not tuxedos. Apparently, that's a big no no!
  • The first pregnancy update for Sarah will be in January. I'm trying to clump the pregnancy updates together, so while there will still be a second and third trimester update for each woman, they may not always come at 3 months and 6 months any more. I've been thinking about it and that's how it seems to work best for me. Baby Moretti is due in June. What is that now? Five pregnant women? Wow!

18 comments:

  1. Love the wedding! And those pictures are gorgeous with the poses. And yay! Yay! Yay! A Nick/Sarah baby! I'm so excited!! :D

    Having a lot of military family members, I've been to quite a few mixed military/civilian weddings, lol! When my cousin got married last year, her husband was in the marines but his two groomsmen weren't so the groom was in uniform but the groomsmen were in suits. It was the same with my sister's wedding a few years ago. I think you're right about the tuxes because I can't remember any of them having the groomsmen in tuxes, always in suits with the groom in uniform. Nick looks very dashing in his uniform! :)

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  2. Shana, thank you! I'm very happy with how it turned out and am even happier that Sarah got pregnant. The odds were with them, because Sarah's so young but when she didn't get pregnant the first time, I wonder if they would have trouble. It seems not though!

    Yes, what I read was that military dress is the equivalent of a suit, not of a tux, so that's the way to match them. I'm glad I was a nerd and Googled because I was thinking a plain tux would be better at first.

    I'll take any excuse to post pictures of Nick in his uniform. ;)

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  3. Aww yeah! I love Sarah's expression talking to Josie, that looks like one forced smile!! I'm excited they are pregnant! It sure didn't take long, I thought you might make them wait along with Josie. Can't wait to see what the little one looks like.

    Good to know that it's a no no to wear tuxedos with military uniforms. Never knew that! The poses all look really great, I think my favorite is Sarah leaning on Nick, with her Mom in the photo. Super sweet.

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  4. Awww (I need a few swoon emoticons). Nick looked great in his uniform. I loved the pic of him looking shy under the arch. And I'm so upset that I still haven't seen that tender kiss with the hand on the cheek in my game :(.

    LOL @ Veronica. I wonder what she was so upset about. Probably life in general. But more importantly, YAY another Sullivan baby! I'm so happy these 2 conceived right away. I'm excited for the new addition!

    Your outtakes were funny. Sarah looks like Lara Croft coming out of the helicopter. I think all sims look like that while waiting to get off. I just checked the pics of Davina, Joel and Paul when they got out of the heli and they're standing the same way. They just don't look as intimidating as Sarah did LOL. And Nick looks absolutely adorable doing the hula behind Sarah. All the extra pics are beautiful. You have the best poses. I'm going to have to look for that one of Sarah leaning back on Nick. It's very sweet.

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  5. Maisie, I think it might be a "fake it till you make it" thing with Sarah and Josie! Although I noticed that they had the little BFF icon, even though their relationship is only 15/15. So they were friends at one point, which I do not remember!

    Well, the only reason Troy and Josie waited was because neither of them had the want right away. Troy rolled it when I went back into finish their house. But Nick and Sarah have been crazy for babies since well before they got married, so I let them go for it. Thank goodness Sarah is allowed BC, because they both want some insane amount of kids!

    I love that picture too. I had Nick posed and then was looking for a pose for Sarah when she did that idle animation where they look up and sigh or take a deep breath or whatever that's supposed to be (it's an M&G thing). So I just froze her, lol!

    Danielle, heh, that was more autonomy! I think Nick was doing one of the music idles there. As for the tender kiss, are you looking under the ACR menu? It's a crap shoot whether you'll get the default tender kiss or the hand on the cheek one, but you'll only see it if you use the ACR one. Sometimes Sims will do it autonomously too.

    Veronica's just mad all the time. She's just sweet that way!

    I'm thrilled about the baby but I am dreading playing my primary school in about 5 years! Hopefully the other classes won't be too nuts and it will still be manageable!

    LOL, funny how I've never noticed Sims getting out of the helicopter like that before! Sarah does kind of look like Lara Croft in that picture though - must be the shorts and the tank top!

    As is so often the case with a lot of the best pictures, Sarah is actually not posed in that picture! I explained to Maisie how I got her standing like that, so make sure you read my reply to her as well.

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  6. I just loved this! The number of guests and family members is astonishing, and you have such fantastic group shots. I love wedding chapters and honeymoon pics, just sweet and adorable.

    I've never heard of the invisible dining booth. What a great idea! We might have a wedding coming up too so I'll have to try to find Ang's wedding box.

    I looked at all these at least 4 times! Wonderful!

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  7. Wow, you really are a wizard with those posed shots! Absolutely gorgeous.

    Man, there's just something about Nick. *sigh* Definitely one of my favorites, so I'm glad to see him happy. :)

    Another lovely Sullivan wedding! Perfect. :)

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  8. S.B., thank you, I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Nick and Sarah have become a favourite couple of mine and I was so happy to do their wedding finally. After my first crash, I actually had a few less guests around but I don't think you guys would have noticed anyone was missing, let alone who. But the seats all looked filled during the ceremony and that was the main thing!

    The invisible dining booth is great. It's here: http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=253579
    The good thing about it is that it has a nice clear outline that makes it easy to grab when you move it around but is simple to either Photoshop out or just shoot your pictures around it. You should be able to find Ang's box in the big list at GOS. I think that's where I found it.

    Thanks again. :)

    Rachel, thanks so much!

    Nick is such a sweetheart. I adore him and I'm glad so many of you all seem to as well. He's had his heart broken a few times, so he deserves some happiness now. And now a baby - he's wanted a baby for about 5 years now, since before he even met Sarah.

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  9. Gotta love autonomy when it just falls into place like that. And thanks for letting me know about using the ACR menu for the kiss. I didn't think of using that menu. I've just been clicking on the sim like usual. Can't wait to try it now :).

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  10. Danielle, you're welcome! Just remember that it's random as to which kiss you'll get, so you might have to try a few times.

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  11. Lovely wedding :) I like all the posed pictures, especially the one where they're sitting on the ground with the flowers and asian sculptures in the background.

    Nick looks very handsome in his uniform and Sarah looks really pretty. I didn't know that tuxes were a no-no with military uniforms because I'm too lazy to google. Now I wonder if I've done the unmentionable in one of my past weddings.

    A baby! That's five women pregnant in Sullivan now?! Wow.

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  12. Wow, your sims have fertile honeymoons! But I absolutely love it!! Can't wait to meet this baby too :)

    I LOVE Nick and Sarah! Their wedding is very lovely.
    I never knew you could use the uniforms as formalwear, I like it on Nick! He looks very handsome in it.

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  13. Yay! I finally have a chance to read and comment! Love the wedding and I have a ton of WCIFs (Cara's dress, Nick's shorts, posebox from the beachhouse).

    I love the photos of the honeymoon and am excited to see another baby, especially a Nick baby. He's come a long way and I guess it's time to find a new pixel crush :)

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  14. I just used Ang's wedding posebox as well, only this time I had a wedding at the courthouse, after all the trouble I had with Liam's nuptials, too bad your good luck didn't hold out, but you got some great shots, and Nick looked dashing in his uniform!
    Carla, you are a fountain of info, I had no idea about the invisible dining booth either, thanks!

    Lovely, warm family feeling in this, enjoyed it!

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  15. Sari, thank you! I moved them around a ton of times for that picture, because I wasn't sure where I wanted them. There's a little stream in front of them which I wanted in the pic as well, but I couldn't get the stream in and still have an angle I was happy with. Oh well. I'm happy with the pictures as they are anyway.

    I loved Sarah's look for the wedding and it's inspired me to change her hair. She looks better with more hair framing her face. And Nick's always handsome. ;)

    LOTS of babies coming up soon! It must be on my mind, because I had a dream last night that Anna was pregnant with twins, lol!

    Tanja, lately they have, haven't they? I can't say I'm not excited about all the babies, though I'm cringing at the idea of my population increasing so fast, lol.

    Aww, I love Nick and Sarah too. I'm glad you enjoyed the wedding. With the game as is, you can't use the uniforms as formalwear. Sari did a wedding with uniforms as formalwear a while ago and I asked her in Comments how she did it. There are unlocked versions you can download and they're categorised as everyday and formal.

    Apple Valley, Sarah and Nick had a great time on their honeymoon. I love when my Sims have holiday houses hidden in their inventories - I totally forgot this house existed! I can't wait for this baby to be born but it's a LONG way away! I'm not even going to bump her into the second trimester until January!

    Now your WCIFs! I used two poseboxes at the beach house - one for the bed and one for the kitchen outtake. The kitchen outtake is definitely either MayPinks Lovers Pose Box 2 or 3 (I'm almost positive that it's #2).

    Nick's shorts are from All About Style. Cara's dress is one I'll have to check for you in game. I'm pretty sure that came from one of those LJ/Dreamwidth blogs and I can never tell one of those from the other!

    Drew, ooh, I haven't had a town hall wedding in a while. I'll need to remember that, the next time I have a couple who would suit something small. This wedding wasn't too much of a trial. Only one crash and after that, it seemed to play fairly smoothly.

    I like to pass on the knowledge where I can, so you're welcome. I believe it was The Lunar Fox who linked me to the invisible dining booth, when I was complaining about how much I liked those animations but rarely got the chance to use them.

    Glad you liked the wedding!

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  16. Apple Valley, Cara's dress is from here:

    http://witheredlilies.livejournal.com/12659.html

    Her Photobucket bandwidth has run out for the month, but if you open the images in new tabs, you should still be able to see them. If not, Cara's dress is the third one - there are four other colours included.

    And I forgot to tell you about the bed pose but that one is definitely from MayPink's Lovers Posebox 2, as is the pose in the kitchen. :)

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  17. OMG-- so many cute pictures this update! Wow, Nick and Sarah are really really adorable here! Especially all those pictures of them on their honey moon.

    I can't wait to see them as parents!

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  18. Lunar, Nick and Sarah really are cute. Usually, when I make a Sim selectable on another lot, their wants don't change too much. If I do it with Nick or Sarah, they'll usually roll up at least a couple of wants to see each other. It's very sweet!

    And me either - I'm very excited! Apple Valley downloaded Nick and has him living in her hood (under a different name) and posted some pics of him at N99 today. He's already a father in her game, so that was like a tiny preview for me, lol!

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