My Grand Entrance!

Once My girls walked in, it was time for my grand entrance! I walked down the aisle, with my dad, to an arrangement of Defying Gravity played by my cousin Ali on her flute, and my cousin Karlee on her ukulele. I realize it's not a very traditional wedding song, but the melody is beautiful. And, not to sound corny, but at that moment I really felt like I was "defying gravity." I was on top of the world!

The church doors opened and there I was! I love how my flowers popped against my dress... even if I am carrying them a bit high. Oh well!

The church we were married in is absolutely beautiful. It's old, and ornate but understated. It helped that they had recently changed their gaudy bright orange carpet to something in my wedding palette, too!

I don't remember much, but I was SO hot! I was really excited, too. 

Obligatory shot of the groom :)

How beautiful are those ceiling things! I have no idea what they're called, but I love them. It's hard to see in this shot, but the pastor asked our parents and grandparents to stand up around us while he prayed. Our pastor really sucked and messed up a lot, which I'll talk about later, but I liked this part of our ceremony (even if it lasted wayyyy longer than it was supposed to). 

Here we go!

What do you remember most about walking up the aisle? Have you heard of any other non-traditional wedding songs?

The Party Walks

Oh, yeah... remember how I got married in August? How about I recap some more of what happened. I got a little burned out from wedding stuff - I'm sure some of you brides can relate - so I stopped recapping. But, now that it's been a while since we walked down the aisle, it's kind of fun to look back and relive the day!

While my girls and Josh's guys walked in the processional, my cousins Karlee and Ali played Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls on their ukulele and flute, respectively. It was an awesome sounding song from what I could tell from my post in the back of the church!

My stepsister Heather and Josh's friend Josh

My sister-in-law (Josh's sister) Ashley (yes, we have the same first and last name now),  and Josh's friend Eric

My friend from throughout school, Ashley, and Josh's cousin, Tom

My friend from throughout school, Jenna, and Josh's friend from high school, Brandon.

My friend from throughout school (and wayyyy before that), Erin, and Josh's friend/co-worker, Gary 

My sister, Lindsey, and Josh's best man, Paul

The cutest flower girl and ring bearers ever - Quentin, Grace, and Carter. 

The boys are holding  plates that were custom made by Etsy seller LoveArtWorks. One is a peacock feather with our names and wedding date, and another is a custom painting of Diesel. I liked that there was a part of him with us on our day, too.  As I look at the picture, it cracks me up to see the ring bearers' boutonnaires. They were pretty mangled by the time we got to the end of the ceremony!

How did you (or will you) choose who stands beside you on your wedding day? Are you/will you be incorporating a part of someone/something who can't be with you?

Feels Like Home: Seating our Family

First, the girls got ready, then we put on finishing touches. You got to see the church from a guests point of view, and now it's time for the ceremony to start!

As the grandparents and parents were seated, two of my cousins played music. They played the flute and saxophone, and completely nailed this song:

(I'm told this is in Twilight, which really bummed me out, but it's just such a beautiful song - especially with their instruments!)

Josh's grandma, escorted by Josh's sister's boyfriend, Jason

My stepmom's parents, escorted by my brother, Justin

My dad's parents

My mom's mother

My mom's father. We are beyond thankful that he is still with us (actually, he turned 80 yesterday!). He had quite a scary time in the hospital for almost 100 days last year. The weather made it hard for him to walk, but his goal was to walk down the aisle at my wedding, and he did it :)

My stepmom and my brother

Josh's parents

My mama, looking oh-so-hot in her dress.. and trying not to cry :)

Next up: My girls start walking!

Feels Like Home: From our Guest's POV

So far we got pretty and put on the finishing touches. Then it was time for the wedding to start!

If you were to attend my wedding, you would have noticed a few things:

You would have seen the church, looking much like this, if you got to the wedding more than half an hour before the ceremony started.

If you were there within half an hour of the ceremony start time, you would have been dodging  all of these crazy raindrops as you made your way to the church.

The beautiful green and blue altar flowers would have definitely caught your attention, with their peacock feather sticking out for some added whimsy.

My adorable cousins would have handed you a program so you  knew the order of the ceremony. Later, you'd realize you didn't need it because the pastor chose not to follow the order anyway. (Don't even get me started... seriously)

If you had good eyesight, you would have noticed two galvanized buckets full of dirt, one with my monogram and one with Josh's, next to a tree up on the platform.

If you could see this super cute bow, made my my mother-in-law, then you must have had a great seat :)

One more time for the altar flowers. I just loved them.

The details of the intricate woodwork in the chuch sure would have caught your attention...

And, as you watched the slideshow of pictures from my and Josh's childhood, you would have anxiously awaited the time for these girls to start playing the processional.

 Once they started playing, you would see the grandparents and mothers get seated, and know the ceremony was about to begin!

All photos by Emily Waid Photography - go check her out, because she's great!

Feels Like Home: Just a Few More Minutes!

After we got all prettied up, we headed to the church to get dressed and add the finishing touches.

Erin had to send pictures to her sister of her hair and dress. I've known them both for 23 years - since I was 3! Needless to say, they were a big part of my wedding! 

I got zipped and buttoned up.

All pinched and prodded into place :)

Gratuitous shot of the details on the back of my dress :) There are sparkly buttons there that you can't really see...

Jenna and Ashley took one of the many self portraits to come

Love that lace! And the shot of the back of my hair before it got completely demolished from hugging people.

My dad got pinned...

And my mom put my grandma's necklace on me.

My sister jammed my veil in place...

And I got a last minute shower of hair spray from Jenna :)

Lindsey helped me with my garter. She bought it for me off of Etsy, and it was perfect!!

One picture I don't have is one of me and my bridesmaids all sitting together in front of the fan, dresses hiked up as  much as we could get away with, letting the air attempt to cool off under our dresses! It was HOT and HUMID! I don't think I ever cooled off until we were in our hotel that night... Just one of those things you deal with when you have an August wedding!!

With that, we were ready to get the show on the road!

All photos by Emily Waid Photography - go check her out, because she's great!

Feels Like Home: Girls Gettin' Gorgeous!

This is it! The first of my wedding recaps. Are you all as excited as me? Probably not.... but you should be! Jenn and Paul from Emily Waid Photography captured some amazing images throughout the entire day, and I can't wait for you to see them!

We'll start at the beginning - Getting Ready! We got ready in a salon down town that Josh helped renovate. Since he does architectural drafting, the salon owner came to him for some drawings. He incorporated the archways you'll see in some of the pictures and made sure everything ran smoothly. I LOVE the feel of this salon - very rustic meets glam. Perfect for our wedding!

Getting ready was so much fun. I loved having the people that mean the most to me around for the entire morning. We could talk, laugh, and relieve a little stress. It was just what I needed for the morning!

At this point, my hair and make up was done, but I was less than impressed with my make-up application. I had paid to have a girl in another salon do it, and I was surprised when she pulled out her own stash of make up. Nothing professional quality at all. If I had wanted that, I would have done it myself! So I ended up doing quite a bit of touching up. (I think the streaks on my forehead are from the chandelier lighting... I don't remember having such awful lines on my face!)

My mom got a little choked up... about every ten minutes. 

And she fidgeted with her hair about every ten minutes, too.

My stepsister, Heather, getting her hair curled!

Erin, finally getting a chance to do her own make up!

Josh's sister, watching from a distance while the rest of the girls get their hair done.

Chandeliers and authentic tin stamped ceilings throughout the entire salon. Perfection!

My oh-so-adorable flower girl, Grace. She's 6 years old, and by the end of the night she told her mom that this  "was the best day of her entire life" :) I agree, Grace.

Bridesmaid Ashley :) A newlywed herself!

I passed our guest book around so my girls could write in it before they got too busy. The notes they left are some of my favorite :)

I think Bridesmaid Erin did everyone's make up before she even had a chance to do her own!

I loved my sister's hair. It was so chic without being "formal" or stuffy.

A nice shot of the whole salon - it had such a relaxed feel, and we were lucky to have the whole place to ourselves.

Don't you just love old buildings? Or are you more of a modern salon person?

Up next - Heading to the church!!