Processional

And now we come to the wedding itself. The ceremony, or at least the grand lead-up to it. For a long time, the ceremony was just this vague idea less important and less pressing than the million other plans that we had to make for the day of our wedding. But then I remembered that the ceremony is really what it's all about. The joining as one, witnessed by our nearest and dearest. And so I plunged into the planning of the ceremony itself with fervor. I anticipated the ceremony with more optimism and hope than most anything else as I approached our wedding day. With that insight into how I was feeling as I proceeded up the aisle, allow me to show you photos of the processional.

My cousin TJ played guitar for the ceremony. He's a very talented musician and very honestly a good friend as well as a member of my family. While I briefly considered hiring a bagpiper to play the processional, I'm so glad I asked TJ to fill that role instead. It was absolutely perfect hearing "Sea of Love" played by someone I love as I walked down the aisle toward my soon-to-be Husband. I invite you to listen to Cat Power's version, as linked to above, while you browse through the rest of this entry.

There are both of our paternal grandmothers being escorted by my father-in-law and my brother.

There's Opie's mom and stepdad. I also love that my artistic jack-of-all-trades-including-photography Uncle Jim is making eye contact with Jenna's camera.

Opie's dad and stepmom making their way up the aisle. I have no photos of my mom going up the aisle for some reason, but my brother escorted her since I stole my dad's arm for the occasion.

Here's the only shot of the boys coming up the aisle. Opie, are you crying? Or maybe your nose itches. Yeah. That.

Bridesman Michael claimed throughout the whole planning of the wedding that he was more excited about the wedding than Opie and me. So not true, but he does definitely look really happy, doesn't he?

:) Bridesmaid Kelsey lookin' all pretty.

Sister of Honor Jessie processes. Proceeds? Process... whatever. Walks.

Or moves at warpspeed!

Elise was next up, and she did such a marvelous job. No stage fright here.

I love this shot, with the leaves caught mid-toss.

With everyone else in place, it was time.

Time for my dad to escort me to my husband.

I suspect this is about the point where Opie came into view. Note the big ol' grin on my face. :]

Oh happy day.

So much love surrounding us, exactly as I hoped. More than I hoped.

Almost there.

"Who supports this marriage?", asks Virgil. "Her mother and I do", my father answers quietly.

My father shakes Opie's hand and then presses my hand and Opie's together.

I pass my bouquet off to my sister.

This getting married thing requires a firm grip on the man I love. The man I'm marrying.

Hands clasped, the real business can proceed.


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.

Preceremony Photos

This post is ridiculously picture-heavy and I apologize. There are just too many cute, beautiful and/or funny pictures to narrow it down much more than this.

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.