Rehearsal and Dinner Pictures

Boys getting instructions on how to be good ushers!

 Moms getting escorted down.

I believe this was the point when I made clear it was all about ME!

Our stand-in bridesmaid while one made it's way there, girls faking the flowers

My dad and I practicing.

 Practice Kiss!!  Aren't those heels hot??

Girls being silly with stand-in flowers using hair accessories instead.  Me saying to the photog, this is what you'll be dealing with tomorrow...

Classiest picture of beer we've seen, DH said it'll go up in our bar someday :)

The gift madness: SIL/BM with tote, GM getting their gifts (customized poker chips), my dad got a fishing cooler and bench and a golf net, moms got the pearl and diamond necklace and my cousin asked if all the wedding guests got those!  Boys discovering their sets and FIL with his digital frame.

During FIL's speech, and me saying I'm always right

BM's fooling around with the centerpieces.

The classiness of my family, me eating a meatball and my dad's tie.

 

Getting Ready 

Jimmy John's sandwiches are delicious and their mustard and mayo packets make for good confetti!!

 Close up of BM dresses.

 

Shouldn't we be in a Starbucks ad??  We totally had my personal attendants get us some!  And my venti caramel frap came without a straw!!  So I had to drink it the best way I could!

 

The boys getting ready, DH mom pinning bouts on.

My bouquet and the girls!

Me getting my lovely present!  It's a three stone ring with an emerald in it, and my BM saying "no more pictures!"

DH getting his gift, that smile on his face is because his card said "YOU'RE A TOWEL!!"  And a few other sweet sentiments, but yes, I did quote Southpark on my wedding day...He got a Citizen Eco-Drive watch because the battery will never die, like our love....awwww....

 Pinning bouts on FIL, our informational GM, and BIL finally combing his hair

We had to do some last minute sewing on some of the girls straps, no worries, we came prepared, a sewing kit is your wedding day best friend!  Also SIL putting on make up.

It's dress time!

I love this picture!  It's seriously what I was doing while they were trying to zip up the dress. 

So the comb to my veil came out.  Just fell out after they shoved it in at the salon, this is me retrying to put it in and all the girls going oh, wait.

Meeting my Groom

You look great, now give me a kiss!!

 

Formals?

All of the boys 

 The flying V - yes, we also talked about the mighty ducks on our wedding day.... 

And the football picture, all of the boys have played, 2 of the GM were teammates in college, and 3 while in HS and really my brother was the only one left out.  You'll see some interesting stances because not all of them played on the line :) 

 

Me and the girls

 Of course, the flower pictures

My bridezilla picture!

Our ANTM shot, had to of course!

Look at me flash my crinoline!

Love my shoe detail picture, what you don't see is my awesome ab strength that held my feet up high for this picture!

My brother smelling SIL's flowers

Me laughing at one of our GM's vests.  You can see it in other pictures, it was WAY too tight.  I finally noticed it and asked DH what it was about.  He laughed and said "it's screaming for air" I couldn't hold it in!  I laughed SO HARD.

 More of the flying V after I composed myself!

 

I  like the color and B&W shots!

 I had to do this, I always smoosh DH's face, isn't it just adorable!?

 Great shot of my e-ring

 Ceremony

 

Our pastor getting ready

 Mom's lighting the family candles 

  BM coming down the aisle

DH waiting for me.

With my daddy :)

Dad giving me away

 Full church shot

 Vows

 Unity Candle 

Giving the flowers to our parents 

 Kiss!

 

Pronounced Husband and Wifey

 I'm not sure what we're looking at but it's probably a "I don't want to trip"

Going back to release the pews!  It only took us 15 minutes for around 180 guests!  We weren't going to mess around with it :)

The girls handing out the bubbles

Posing in between the big family pictures

Signing the license, my aunt was there and harassed me about how I fumbled my new last name!

The Best Man with all the girls flowers and our sweet ride! 

  

Outdoor Shenanigans

Getting bustled

 The ring shot.

I seriously don't remember why we did this.

Of course the hand shot!

Boys with flowers.

Me puckering up, DH likes to laugh at me :)

Gangsta shot.  Literally that was our photog's instructions "throw some gang signs!"

Our favorite part of this one is how one of the GM is looking longingly at DH

The parasols were a hit!  And kind of weapons.

This is me taking out my MOH when I opened my parasol.  Look at the other BM's HILARIOUS.

 Trying to avoid mud and goose poop.

Ok, funny story.  DH and GM on the left were college roommates.  One night GM went out to the bars and brought back a manhole cover, so apparently he wasn't drunk enough to be strong enough to pick it up on the wedding day!

 Funny story, DH ran away to pee and I said I didn't need him, the BM could be a stand in, I kissed him and licked his ear!

 We're cool, we can jump!

 Reception

My very abnoxious enterance!

 

 Cake Cutting Pretty self-explanatory!

 My dads cookies!  My favorite!  I had to fight to get them at the reception with the hotel!

Ok, so here's what went down with my MOH's speech.  She wrote us a poem and it was cute then she faked the hand off and took it back and said that she had to do something that she promised me back in college when we were roommates, I thought I knew what it was but wondered if I had agreed to anything else (hence the look of Oh no, what could it be!).  She then sang Pieces of Me by Ashlee Simpson, she only made it through the first verse before I stopped her!  Notice BM #2 laughing hysterically in the background...

This picture you can really see the Signature Drink we named the Cardinal because it was the mascot of the college we met at!  It was delicious!  We used it to toast instead of champagne and it was the best decision EVER.

BM's toast was good and no surprises!!

 Our First Dance to "Meaning (acoustic)" - Gavin DeGraw

 Father and Daughter dance to "Stand By Me" by Ben E. King

Mother and Son Dance to "Blessed" by Elton John

Bouquet Toss to "Grand Theft Autumn/Where is your boy tonite"  I love Fall Out Boy!

Calling someone out!

 "where is your boy tonite, I hope he is a gentleman, maybe he won't find out what I know, you were the last good thing about this part of town!"

 Garter Removal to "Get Low"

 Bridal party shots!

And the Top Ten Reasons you should do the dollar dance even though the knot tells you it's tacky:

Time to dance!

 Me and BM in hallway

 Yes, we know about every line dance you can think of, me and my college roommates, we went to bars almost every night!  We know most of them!

Fun dancing:

  I was taking a short break on the floor, the DJ thought he lost me, nope, just taking a break on the floor.  They went to go get the photog to take this picture.  And look, it's the signature drink again!

And now you have the craziness that is...Apache (Jump On It)!  We had a ton of people out there doing this...it was hilarious!  And so much fun!!

 

Details 

Altar Decor and DIY Unity Candle

Aisle buckets, last week decision.

Bubbles, we put clear labels with our monogram on it and of course ribbon.

Aisle pictures

Programs

See I told you these chairs were UGLY.  This was our easy fix, worked well, this one had been through some issues though!

 

Gold tealights are always a good time!

Door Letters: we ended up not being able to put them on the outside doors, so we put them onto the ones leading into the sanctuary, worked out ok!  They were then transferred to the reception and placed on those doors!

 The bride and groom duckies that went in DH suite :)

Ok, the best picture I can find right now of the signature drink and maybe some centerpiece.  See, no one noticed them or really cared!  The centerpieces ended up actually being a gold square of fabric, 2 gold tealights in the corners and a mirror with tulle and a small white flower pot from ikea with fake flowers in it. 

 

 The End!!!

 Thanks for looking!

 Advice for Brides:

1.   Don't sweat the small stuff!  If all your knottie details dont' get done on time, don't worry about it, no one will know they were supposed to be done!  Don't stress yourself out over this!

2.  Delegate someone to keep things from you on the wedding day.  Don't let them tell you the flowers are running late or you're behind schedule 15 minutes.  You really don't want to know!

3.   Bring static guard, a sewing kit, deodorant, safety pins and flip flops.  These were the most important things to us!  You can bring the other stuff but be sure to keep this in your bag and bring it to the reception with you.  You never know when you'll need it!

4.  If you can, dismiss your guests from the pews at the church.  This way you get to see all of them, you've said your hellos, they most likely want to chat with your parents instead of you.  And you get to eat your dinner and take pictures in between.  I've known too many brides and grooms who never made it to all the tables or didn't get to eat their dinner!  So do it!

5.  Relax, have fun, things will go wrong!  Don't worry, you're marrying your love so everything is alright!  Your not going to be that glowing bride if you just freaked out on someone else!

6. Plan enough time for what you want.  We planned about 2 1/2 hours beforehand for pictures, we got time to relax, hang out and have fun!  Talk to your photographer for advice and plan an extra 30 minutes just in case :)