Wedding Recaps- The Ceremony

September 10, 2011. Tom and I could not have asked for a more perfect day. On a beautiful September afternoon, in the presence of our closest family and friends, our wedding ceremony commenced.

Tom escorted his mother down the aisle

Our nephew and junior usher escorted my mom

My sister and maid of honor

My best friend, matron of honor, and wedding officiant

My other best friend and bridesmaid

Our nephew and ring bearer

Here comes the bride, escorted by my mom

The ceremony begins, led by two of our best friends

Our handfasting

With this ring

The kiss

Presenting the new Mr and Mrs

Off into the sunset

Wedding Recaps- We Arrive at the Ceremony Venue

As we left the spa, my maid and matron of honor insisted on stopping at the reception venue. They told me they needed to drop off cars. I was confused, but I went along with it. As we pulled into the reception venue, I saw a limo waiting for us. Our matron of honor and our groomsmen rented us a limo as a wedding gift. Tom and I have the best friends on earth.

Prior to getting into the limo, I ventured into the lobby to check Tom and I into our honeymoon suite. I walked up to the front desk and told them I was the bride, they smiled, and checked me in, no ID needed. I think the wedding gown was enough. They also had me sign the room contract with my married name. It was the first time I ever signed it!

Once we arrived to the fort, it was time to find all the dad's and groomsmen to give them their boutonnieres. I hid in the limo with my bridesmaids. As you can see from the pictures, the weather was absolutely perfect, not a cloud in the sky, mid-70's, and just enough of a breeze to mess with my veil.

Bouts and Corsages

Tom bouting the ring bearer

My dad and step-mom bouting my brother

Mom bouting my Step-Dad

The bride comes out of hiding

This was about when the wind took my veil off for me... oops!

What Tom and I now affectionately refer to as "our fort"

My brother with a pinwheel

All pictures copyright of Classic Photographers, used with permission

Wedding Recaps- Getting Ready

The truth behind a well-laced wedding gown

The morning of our wedding day proved to be calm and relaxing. I woke up around 6:30, and just soaked the day in. My mom made bacon and eggs for breakfast, we packed up all the dresses into the back of the car, and made our way over to the spa.

Thanks to my bridesmaids for taking over the logistics of the wedding day for me, everything worked out like clockwork. I prepared a bridesmaid's tea of pastries, cheese and crackers, and fresh fruits; the spa provided a bottle of champagne. While we were getting our hair and make-up done, my mom picked up our flowers. She arrived back at the salon right as I finished up hair and make-up. My mom and bridesmaids got dressed while I looked over all the bouquets and corsages, and right as it was time for me to get dressed, the photographer arrived. A perfect start to a perfect day.

Matron of honor's hair

Lace the dress

Slip on the shoes

Add the bouquet

I love mirror shots

The bride!

And we are off!

All pictures copyright of Classic Photographers, used with permission.

Wedding Recaps- The Sunday Morning After

I have been assured by my photographer that my DVD of wedding pictures is in the mail, so I am going to skip ahead to the post-wedding events for a couple of posts before going back to the day of.

Sunday started with a Sunday morning brunch with our wedding party and my mother-in-law at our reception venue. I had previously made arrangements, so they reserved a space for us. It was a nice, quiet morning with good food and company that ended with teary good byes as everyone went their separate ways home. Tom and I packed up our car and his mother's car with left over decorations from our reception and we headed over to my mother's house for our gift opening.

My mom's family has a tradition of decorating a fake Christmas tree with wedding decorations with all the wedding gifts underneath, so I was not surprised at all to walk into the living room to find this: 

I should remember that purple, green, silver, and ivory make for a gorgeous Christmas tree... 

After our gift opening, and some left over wedding cake, we opted to enjoy a final day in Maine with Tom's mother and nephews before they drove back to Kansas City, so we drove to Camden to visit Mt. Battie. Camden is one of my favorite parts of the state, it is where mountains reach the ocean and the views are just gorgeous. We drove right up Mt. Battie, the boys had a blast climbing the stone tower at the top. 

The View

Tom's  OUR nephews at the top of the stone tower

My husband

After driving down the mountain, we stopped at Moody's Diner for dinner before saying good-bye. Overall, it was a bittersweet day. It was sad to see our friends and family go, but nice to spend a day relaxing after the wedding and have our apartment to ourselves. 

Wedding Recaps- Non-Pro Pictures

I am waiting to do the ceremony and reception recaps until after I get our pictures back from the photographer, which should be any day now. Until then, I wanted to share some of the non-professional pictures that I have gotten from my mother-in-law and my sister's boyfriend. 

Hoorah! We can do this!

Tom pinning a boutonniere onto his nephew, our ring bearer

I had to hide behind my bridesmaids while Tom walk his mom down the aisle. I love the girl's "nothing to see here" face

Tom walking his mother down the aisle. 

Our ring bearer

My mom escorting me down the aisle

Walking down the aisle

Our handfasting

Mr. and Mrs.

The best looking wedding party ever