wedding re-cap part 1: getting ready...

Getting ready in the suite at our hotel, after returning from the hair salon. The girls and I were just down the hall from my groom and his guys:

Make-up by Christine. She was so cool under all of the flash bulbs... My sister brought in gifts and an amazing letter from my wonderfully romantic groom. I think this was her first glimpse of me with my make-up finished and looking much more like a bride:After the tears of joy over his love letter, I opened some sparkles...
Getting zipped into a 20 pound dress is NOT a one person job:
My two oldest godchildren (twins) were flower girl and junior usher. They were SO excited to be a part of the wedding and did incredibly well the whole day:
My garter, earrings and bracelet were all afterthoughts - half of my bridals were taken without them! Luckily, I remembered just before we had to walk out the door to get to the church on time...
Grandma - I was so thrilled that she could be with me:
The beautiful ladies...
Dad, Sister (and MOH), Mom and one completely adorable and petulant nephew:

There was so much love and laughter (and so many photographers!) in that suite amid the bustle of activity. I don't recall any moments of stress and the time seemed to just float by. There is a vague memory of Chris, our lead photographer, telling me it was time to get in my dress. Yeah. I HAD typed up a well-organized timeline so that we could all be on time. Too bad I never printed it out! In the end, we were right on schedule and arrived to the church with several minutes to spare.

All credits to our amazing photographers, RendezvousWedding