Since the park down the road from our venue was closed, we took our bridal party portraits down on the golf course next to the venue instead. And since it had been raining for days and days, and we still wanted to look nice for y'know.. the actual wedding, we all got to prance around giant mud patches.
I guess it's pretty obvious that we skipped on that whole not-seeing-each-other tradition. Maybe it would've been nice if we hadn't had the opportunity to snap at each other the morning of as stresses piled up - like the fact that I hadn't heard from our venue's event coordinator for nearly a week, and various things hadn't been finalized. Awesome. Overall though, I have no regrets about seeing Opie before the ceremony. It was nice to have a little while to just laugh and relax with him and our best friends before the ceremony.
Also, my dress was far from a surprise. He helped me get ready for my bridal portraits back in April.
I'm pretty sure I've mentioned that we're ridiculous?
I'm pretty sure you can hear someone going "Awwww" when you look at ^that^ photo. Or maybe I'm just hearing things in my head. It happens.
One of my favorites of the whole group. From left to right, Bridesman Michael, Flowergirl Elise, Sister of Honor Jessie, Me!, Opie, Best Man Justin, Bridemaid Kelsey, Groomsman Marshall.
Boooooys.
Flowergirl Elise had been boasting for quite some time about her role in the wedding. Being a flowergirl comes with major status in preschool, I hear. She told me that she was going to dance at our wedding like she had never danced before.
I believe her! :) She danced all night long.
With Elise dismissed to go warm up before the ceremony (have I mentioned yet that it was probably about 50 degrees and dropping while we were taking these photos?), it was time for smaller group photos.
Skeptical Mary is skeptical.
Furthermore, silly boys are silly.
..Yeah.
Yup. Very silly.
See, my side of the bridal party, we're all composed 'n' stuff.
Orrrr not.
Yeah. Not so much. Oh well. We try.
Poor Opie.
I'm only including ^this^ particular photo as proof, as the rest are too completely unflattering (not that this one isn't, really, but at least most everyone else looks weird too. Ha. You're welcome, guys.) but it's terrifying how many photos feature my sister and I with the exact. same. facial expression. Gah. See, we laugh in unison. We both have this obnoxious "EEEAaaaahhhhh" noise that we make at the end of a good, long laugh. And we always make that noise in unison. And then freak out and vow never to do it again, to no avail. [sigh]
Oh, my friends. I love them.
And my sister. I love her too. :]
A nongoofy shot for posterity.
Group shots finished, it was time for some "duets" as Jenna refers to them. Since we never found the time to get engagement portraits, I was very excited to have some nice photos of us.
Mission Accomplished.
Mission so accomplished that I'm having a very hard time picking photos to print and frame. I'll just let these myriad favorites speak for themselves.
Oh red pumps, how awesome thou art. I've already worn them so many times since the wedding.
And here's Opie's boutonniere that my sister, mom and I made the day before the wedding. Those are acorns from the live oak in our front yard, and leftover wheat from my bouquet. :]
I snagged a very handsome fellow, I must say.
Although I already had a slew of bridal portraits, I'm glad to also have a few shots like this from the wedding day.
But the best ones are the ones that show how happy we are as we approach our wedding.
"Bridal glow"? Not a myth.
All photos by Jenna Cole, unless otherwise denoted by watermark as Lynn Nguyen's.
I purchased a disc of unedited high resolution photos from Jenna, so all photos by her have been edited by me for the purpose of sharing them with you.
