Our Wedding: Favorite Moments

I am FINALLY ready to post wedding pictures! Only 8 months later, not too bad... I actually had to get the pictures from my mom who had backups as my thumb drive was no longer working. Thank god for backing things up! 

September 28th, 2013 was absolutely perfect. Everything we wanted it to be and more. We had a very small wedding, less than 100 people, which was perfect for us. We had a chance to talk to and dance with everyone at the wedding. I really wanted it to feel like a great dinner party that just got a little crazy, and that's where we ended up. The entire wedding was held outside at a country club that was an old mansion. 

The ceremony was held in the garden with the house in the background. Our service was short and sweet, with two readings from my sister-in-law-to-be and best friend from college. We had a ring warming ceremony where we passed our rings around to everyone in attendance for their blessing, prayer and well wishes. We loved that we could incorporate everyone in our ceremony. 

The reception was held under a tent behind the mansion with dinner, dessert dancing and a fantastic photo booth. 

I wanted to capture some of my favorite moments. There were so many, so I'll try to keep it brief... but no promises. I want to remember everything!

The moment it became 'real'

Getting dressed

Baby powder is a must!

I decided to just have my mom help me put on my dress, get jewelry on, etc. It was nice to have that special moment just the two of us. We had heard it's a good idea to put baby powder on your legs (seriously though it helps) but my mom put on a hilarious amount. 

I wore the pearls my dad gave to my mom when I was born.

My dad and my bridesmaids seeing the full get up for the first time

Although I wasn't there for this, this picture is amazing.

Modeling with my brother, of course

Zoe telling me she didn't want me to talk anymore. 

Leading up to the wedding, Zoe kept on saying that she didn't want to be in the wedding. She didn't want to put on a dress and certainly didn't want to walk down the aisle. We didn't push her. We did however buy a dress and were hoping she'd wear it and walk down the aisle with her dad and step mom, but it would have been just as nice to just have her there. My mom came prepared with tons of toys at her seat in the front row to keep her entertained during the ceremony. However, as things grew closer, Zoe got caught up in the wedding and ended up being the sweetest little flower girl. She liked her dress, which we made sure was as comfortable as it was adorable, and she had shoes with elastic on them so she wouldn't hurt her feet. Her hair fell out of her updo almost immediately. She was such a wonderful addition to the wedding, running around playing, cracking jokes and just generally being the awesome little person she is. The thing she was most excited for was cake and she got a ton!

A favorite. A moment with my MOH.

My lovely bridesmaids corrupting my niece

Opening a gift from Kyle (beautiful earrings and necklace)

From the bridal suite we could see all of the guests arriving. I think a few of them saw me too.

Right as we started walking down the aisle, we noticed a bee right where I was about to step. The night before at rehearsal the best man was stung, so we should have been prepared. If we hadn't have seen it, I'm sure I would have stepped over it and he would have flown right up my dress. Luckily, my dad stepped on him, but it looked pretty funny for those that didn't know what we were up to!

Kyle seeing me come down the aisle. There is a serious of pictures of him seeing me, but this is my favorite. 

Seeing Kyle crying got me started. I'm an emotional one folks. 

As my dad was hugging me, he ripped out my veil! It ended up being pretty funny and took us a few minutes to get back in. 

Quick moment with mom. 

I just love this picture.

First kiss as husband and wife!

Saying our vows. 

Taking a moment to enjoy our signature cocktails.

First dance (actually more awkward than either of us thought it would be haha)

My dad had been preparing his speed for MONTHS and when he went to grab the print out, he grabbed the rental contract for the linens instead! He winged it and rocked it, of course and he was able to read me the real version the next day. It was perfect.

Listening to speeches. Felt so special and loved.

Dance with my dad. We took dance lessons months leading up to the wedding so that we could do a nice fox trot to In My Life by The Beatles. Two steps in we messed up and couldn't recover so we just ended up laughing our way through it. It was much more memorable than just a perfect dance!

Cutting the cake. Kyle was cracking me up obviously. He wanted to pretend the cake knife was a samurai sword and chop through the top.

At one point our photographer pulled us away into a private room and just told us to dance. Having no idea what he had planned, we just went with it. He had set up lights outside the windows and created what he called 'the perfect shot'. I couldn't agree more.

When my parents were getting married, my mom had a song in mind for their first dance, but couldn't think of the name or singer for the life of her. She tried to hum it at record stores, but no one could place it. They never did remember what song it was, so they ended up with something different. She of course remembered it years later, Follow You Follow Me by Genesis. During our reception, we had the DJ play it, and the had a first dance re-do 30+ years later.

One of my favorite parts of our wedding was the dancing. Everyone got out and got down on the dance floor. I ended up ruining my hair and makeup from dancing, but I did not care. It was a BLAST!

Kyle getting down.

Just having the most amazing time with the most amazing people.

Another shot our photographer pulled me away to do. Love the way it turned out.

Last shot of the night. 

Going through these pictures just reminds me of the fantastic wedding we had. It was so much fun and now I'm married to a fantastic man! I'll try to do a post of some of the details soon.

xo
Alison