Arm in Arm: Broken Bustles and Oak Trees

Immediately following the family portrait session, the plan was to head out to the community park for some creative outdoor shots with the bridal party.  Mama Dillo pulled me aside to help me with my bustle and change my necklace while the rest of the crew and our photographer headed toward the park.  After a couple of seconds of struggling behind me, I heard her mutter an unmentionable word and I jerked my head around.  “What happened?”

“The bustle broke!” she sputtered, and I bit my lip in worry, trying to keep myself from freaking out.  There were a few ladies still in the sanctuary, so my mom called out to them.  “Anybody have some safety pins?”  A few ladies came over with some, and she bunched up the train of my dress and safety-pinned the layers to the bottom of my bodice.  Giving her a shrug, I gathered up the rest of my gown, gave her a quick hug, and climbed into BM Mascara’s car to head over to the park.

Meanwhile, Mr. A and his groomsmen were already there, goofing off in front of our photographer.  That’s when these little gems were captured:

 

 

 

I finally did arrive, however, and as I was climbing out of the vehicle, guess what?  The safety pins holding the train of my dress up popped and went completely MIA.  I immediately had a mental “eff it” moment, made my way over to the group, explained what had happened and why I was 30 minutes late, and let the train of my dress drag through the dirt, leaves and sticks in the park.  There was no point in crying over spilt milk, now!  I’d just have to hope there would be a way to fix it once I got to the reception so we’d be able to comfortably dance all night long.

Then, we got to work with some group shots!

The next photo is one of my favorites from our day.  It shows off all the pretty colors and textures in my bouquet, which I was 100% absolutely IN LOVE WITH.  Our florist took everything into account that I’d asked for and completely delivered on them.  He was able to utilize bright shades of purple and green, highlight my favorite flower (tulips), incorporate some kale into the greenery, and gave me the asymmetrical, garden-like feel I’d asked for.

At the end of it all, our bridal party headed to the reception and our photographer told us to stay put at the park for two or three minutes before we joined them, that way he could get set up for our grand entrance!  We climbed into Mr. A’s car and sat there for a few seconds before we both busted out laughing.  “We did it!” we exclaimed.  It was the first moment we had alone together to really let everything sink in. We were married!  We were husband and wife!  We kissed and I leaned my head against his shoulder as we let the few brief moments of quiet bliss wave over us.  When the clock on the center console hit the three minute mark, Mr. A started up the car and we made the drive over to the reception, where all our friends and family were waiting to greet and congratulate us!

Did you have time to take some outside or creative shots with your bridal party?  Anyone else have a bustle break on their gown (or a minor catastrophe of equivalence?)

• I gave you guys a recap of my recaps.
• I cried over cupcakes, we rehearsed, and stayed up until ungodly hours the night before our wedding day.
• We spent the whole morning and afternoon of the wedding day setting up the reception venue, and I massaged my own feet in the shower.
• Mr. A and his guys got dressed and had a mini photo session in the alley behind our church.
• Our photographer gets some shots of my wedding day accessories, and my ruby slippers are presented with their own personal photo session.
• I FINALLY get into my dress and I take some awesome pictures with my bridesmaids and Mama Dillo.  
• I get a special, sentimental gift from Papa Dillo and I become obsessive about the time and take a few more pictures with the parentals before we head off to the ceremony!
• Everyone makes their grand entrance except for me, and I wallow in the misery of being by myself for 0.2 seconds.
• Papa Dillo walks me down the aisle, bawls his eyes out, and in turn creates the most outrageous chain reaction of blubbering ever.
• We say our vows and listen to some awesome scripture readings by good friends.
• MOH Henna and Bromadillo serenade us, we light our unity candle, and make out in front of the church as husband and wife!
• We gather together and have a super quick family portrait session at the church.

Arm in Arm: Pretty, Pretty Portraits!

Hive, I kid you not:  THE MOMENT I was clear of any of our wedding guests, I kicked those heels off my feet.  They were K-I-L-L-I-N-G me towards the end of the ceremony, and despite the laughs from our bridal party, I dug for them from underneath the skirt of my gown and handed them to my new husband to hold, slipping the six pence into the pocket of Papa Dillo’s tuxedo jacket.  After our photographer gave the all clear sign, we all piled back into the sanctuary for some group shots.

And yes, in every single one of these pictures, I was sans shoes.

First up was Mr. A and I with Pastor Mark, followed by a couple of solo shots of us:

Axe ’em Jacks, y’all!

Then, we did pictures with my family.

With my parents

With my immediate family

With my grandparents (I swear, it’s like my grandmas planned to wear the same shade of blue!)

With my entire clan!

We followed with pictures with Mr. A’s family:

With Mr. A’s mom and sister

With Mr. A’s grandparents

With Mr. A’s clan!

We took a couple of photos with the people who were involved in the ceremony:

With our good friends/ceremony readers

With our ushers!

With MOH Henna and Mr. A’s Best Man Chopper

Me and our good lookin’ groomsmen

Mr. A and our gorgeous bridesmaids

We ended the portrait session with some fun shots with Mr. A and I and the kiddos!

Pretty flower girls!

Mr. A and his identical twin nephews. The only reason I can tell them apart is because the one on the left keeps cutting a chunk out of the front of his hair!

Goofy boys!

All in all, the portrait session at the church took about 15-20 minutes.  Our photographer was seriously on the ball with getting people up for pictures and then moving to the next photo group.  It was a painless and quick process and gave us just enough time to get outside for some artsy group shots with the bridal party before heading to the reception!

How long do you expect your portrait session to take?  Married bees; was the portrait taking a painless process or did it seem to take forever? Anyone else take their heels off for picture taking? 🙂

 

• I gave you guys a recap of my recaps.
• I cried over cupcakes, we rehearsed, and stayed up until ungodly hours the night before our wedding day.
• We spent the whole morning and afternoon of the wedding day setting up the reception venue, and I massaged my own feet in the shower.
• Mr. A and his guys got dressed and had a mini photo session in the alley behind our church.
• Our photographer gets some shots of my wedding day accessories, and my ruby slippers are presented with their own personal photo session.
• I FINALLY get into my dress and I take some awesome pictures with my bridesmaids and Mama Dillo.  
• I get a special, sentimental gift from Papa Dillo and I become obsessive about the time and take a few more pictures with the parentals before we head off to the ceremony!
• Everyone makes their grand entrance except for me, and I wallow in the misery of being by myself for 0.2 seconds.
• Papa Dillo walks me down the aisle, bawls his eyes out, and in turn creates the most outrageous chain reaction of blubbering ever.
• We say our vows and listen to some awesome scripture readings by good friends.
• MOH Henna and Bromadillo serenade us, we light our unity candle, and make out in front of the church as husband and wife!