You Make My Dreams Come True: Hanging Out

After our formal pictures were finished we headed off to the bridal and groom ‘suites.’ The church basically had two big rooms set up with mirrors and chairs for us to relax in before the ceremony started. It was nice being away from the craziness of the guests arriving and it gave my girls a chance to eat – I was way too anxious to eat anything and forgot to arrange for lunch to be delivered for them. (I know, terrible!) My mom forced me to eat a couple crackers, but like I said before, my stomach freaks out when I’m anxious.

I pretty much paced around the room and we took some pictures while we waited for the ceremony to start. Having the flower girls in there distracted me, which was nice! :) 

Love those pictures of MOH A with my niece! 

 Photo by Lola Jo

Photo by Lola Jo 

We took more individual pictures and got one of all of the bridesmaids and flower girls (a shot our photographer didn’t get) so I’m definitely thankful for these! I have no idea what the guys were doing during this time, but Brandi was getting pictures of our ceremony details (that I’ll share soon). I figured she was getting a couple ring shots since David’s brother/best man had both of our rings, but nope – We didn’t end up with any.

With BM S

With MOH A

It’s ‘tradition’ for us to take serious face pictures – We have one from almost every single high school dance and plenty of random ones too. I guess Brandi didn’t catch that because she didn’t give me the one she took. :(

With my two sisters

 Photo by Lola Jo - Love that she caught this!

Shortly before we had to get ready to line up for the processional I was given another card from my very soon-to-be husband. (I know, a sweet email and two cards in one day?!)  I think it may have been even sweeter than the last one and I cried again and then passed it to my girls and let them cry over it too.

And for my memory’s sake, his message inside:

We are now 30 minutes away from the single greatest event of our lives thus far. And to think – you planned all of it, made all of it and I am so proud of you. I know I wasn’t always the most helpful, or the most exciting with helping out, but it was all worth it! Babe, the card says a lot about how life throws us amazing things that we don’t quite realize are amazing all along. I knew I had something special right from the beginning, though! You challenge me to be a better person and have made me the man I am today. The man that is going to love you in word and in action. The man that is going to take care of and provide for you. And I cannot wait! You will be the most beautiful bride I could’ve ever imagined! I love you, always and forever. I’ll see you soon!

It was really happening! I was seriously about to marry my best friend, my sole mate, and my better half! I went to the bathroom (by myself, thank you!), touched up my makeup, and got ready to line up for our processional! 

Tip #9: Even though you’ll be anxious/stressed/preoccupied, don’t forgot to have food arranged for your bridal party!  They’ll want to eat even if you don’t. :) 

Need to catch up?

We started on Thursday.

We decorated Friday morning.

We rehearsed.

We got pretty!

I put on my dress. 

We had our first look!

The guys had their turn.

The girls stole the show. 

We got some fun bridal party pictures. 

We took bride & groom portraits.

We took care of the formal portraits.

We took pictures with the kiddos.

We Have a Winner...

...for the $40 gift certificate to CSN Stores! Thanks so much to everyone who entered - I was happy so many of you decided to! I have another giveaway in the works that may be even better, so stick around! :) 

Anyway, back to the point. The winner is...

Henria O.!

Congratulations! I'll be emailing you with the details! 

Thanks again to everyone who entered!

**Also! One of my sweet friends from high school (yep, I know Meg in real life!) has an adorable blog and does a 'Mingle Monday' post every week where people can link up and meet new bloggers! I've found some great ladies through it and encourage you to check it out this week! 

You Make My Dreams Come True: The Kiddos

I know every bride says this, but I honestly think we had the cutest ring bearer and flower girls ever! Our ring bearer was my nephew/godson and our flower girls were my two oldest nieces. You may remember that both of my sisters had babies this spring, so my new nephew and new niece were our ‘honorary’ ring bearer and flower girl. They all looked SO precious!

The flower was just too big for her little head!

 

I love each of those kids with all my heart and I’m so glad they were a part of our wedding! They’ll be making more appearances in future recaps! :)

*All pictures except for the first three in this post were taken by Brandi Coldwell of Lola Jo Photo Design*

Need to catch up?

We started on Thursday.

We decorated Friday morning.

We rehearsed.

We got pretty!

I put on my dress. 

We had our first look!

The guys had their turn.

The girls stole the show. 

We got some fun bridal party pictures. 

We took bride & groom portraits.

We took care of the formal portraits.

**Don’t forget to enter my giveaway! It ends tomorrow at midnight!**

Have  a great weekend everyone! David and I are going to a wedding tonight and a baby shower tomorrow and we’re hopefully hanging out with a few of our ‘couple friends’ tomorrow evening!

You Make My Dreams Come True: We're Headed to the Chapel.. For Formal Portraits

Chapel/church - Same difference! After we finished our pictures I hopped back in the car with my wonderful MOH A and was about 10000 times calmer than I had been when we left the hotel. I cannot imagine what the day would've been like had we not done a first look and I hadn't been able to see and talk with David. I was finally just plain HAPPY and excited about the day! I'd totally forgotten about anything that had gone wrong, and I decided I wasn't going to let anything ruin the rest of the day.

I even tweeted a picture of myself (since I had loved when other brides did that!) and you guys were so stinkin sweet. 

I have seriously met some of the BEST people through this blog. I loved seeing all of the little well wishes throughout the day. 

Once we arrived at the church we started with the formal portraits. We took all of our family pictures except for the few large ones of whole sides of the family before the ceremony. I would highly suggest making a list of the formal pictures you want (although I know some photographers carry one) - I've realized since the wedding that we didn't get pictures with only our grandparents, we didn't get one with just my immediate family (parents, younger brother, and David and me), didn't get one with our officiant, etc. I know formal portraits are boring for anyone who doesn't know the people in them, so I'll just share some of my favorites.

David's family

David's siblings (cropped by me)

With his mom

David's parents

Those last two are some of my all-time favorite pictures of him! He looked so good!

Love my dad SO much!

Love my momma SO much too! And that this was unposed.

 My siblings

 Our wonderful ushers!

And lastly, the whole family pictures:

David's extended family

My extended family on my dad's side 

(We're too big to fit in one picture!)

My mom's side - Aren't my grandparents precious?!

The kiddos get their own post tomorrow - They're too darn cute. :)

I know this wasn't one of my more exciting posts, but maybe it'll give you some ideas of groups/pictures that you definitely want and some that you could do without. I wasn't big on doing the formal portraits (and it was a pain in the butt to get everyone in the right place at the right time) but I'm so glad now that we have them. I wish we even had a few more than we got, including one of just David and me at the front of the church. I know at least my grandparents would want a traditional picture to frame. Oh well, hopefully you're able to learn from my mistakes!

Tip # 8: Make a list of the posed portraits you want and the ones that aren't as important to you. Maybe even put them in order of importance so that you're sure to get the ones you really want even if you're running low on time!

*All pictures in this post were taken by Brandi Coldwell of Lola Jo Photo Design*

Need to catch up? 

We started on Thursday.

We decorated Friday morning.

We rehearsed.

We got pretty!

I put on my dress. 

We had our first look!

The guys had their turn. 

The girls stole the show. 

We got some fun bridal party pictures. 

We took bride & groom portraits.