The Wedding!

SATURDAY — The big day!

First thing's first: Coffee! All of us ladies threw back some serious caffeine as we headed to the salon. We had to be there around 9:30 or so. We were all getting our hair done by Eric Garner at the Salon at Salem Woods. I didn't care how the girls got their hair styled, as long as it looked different from their every-day styles. :)

He did most of their hair ...

Andrea and Casey

Before he did mine ...

Fixing the veil

My groom called me!

After all of our hair looked beautiful, we headed back to my parents' house to get ready. The girls put their stunning chocolate-brown dresses on first.

Andrea, Allison, Nicole, Lindsey and Kelsey

As all of the girls were getting ready, April got some great detail shots:

The dress

The shoes

The rings

The jewelry

My mother and bridesmaids helped me get ready:

It felt so wonderful to finally be putting the dress on to actually wear it! After so many fittings and time spent just getting giddy trying it on, I got butterflies because I was finally getting to wear it for David!

My first glimpse of myself

It was wonderful to have my sweet grandmother there with me, too. She was stunning in her gold gown that she wore for her 50th anniversary party.

Can you tell we're related?

I've seen so many photos like the one below, and I always wanted one of David and me. It's just so sweet ... that crazy anticipation of knowing he's right there but you can't see him yet!

I suppose the anticipation is even more heightened in this type of photo if the couple isn't planning to see each other before the wedding ceremony. David and I, however, decided that we wanted to see each other beforehand. There were a couple of reasons for this, but mainly we wanted to get a lot of the photos out of the way so as not to keep all of the guests waiting longer at the reception. We didn't have a ton of time after we got ready before we had to be at the church, but April was able to get some good shots of us in a small amount of time.

I have no idea what we talked about — such a blur!

After David and I had our moment together, April took a few portraits of me.

A view of the front of my dress in my parents' study.

A view of the back of the dress on my parents' porch.

After she got some photos of me, we got all of the groomsmen together to get their boutonnieres on. Next came some awesome group shots!

The whole party in my parents' front yard.

I absolutely loved the back of my girls' dresses, so I had to be sure to get some photos of them. I thought the guys holding our flowers was a cute touch!

Me and my girls!

David and his boys!

We had to get a few more photos of David and me before it was time to head to the church!

I love how sweet he is looking at me like that!

I think this is my favorite picture of the two of us.

After we finished taking our photos, everyone began the mad, 5-minute dash to the church. We had some freak outs about locating the ushers' ties, almost forgetting the rings (since we'd given them to April to take photos), and a small stain on my dress from the car door. But in the end, everything was OK! We found the ties, I remembered the rings and Kelsey covered up my stain with chalk! :)

Once we got to the church, we took a few family photos, but I'll post those after the ceremony. Then began the hiding and waiting period! Kelly Garner, my wedding coordinator, made sure that we were hidden at least 45 minutes before the ceremony started. Ironically, we were hidden in my old English and Latin classroom from middle and high school. The room looks different since they no longer host a school there ... but yeah, odd to be remembering high school English and Latin with Mr. Walker on your wedding day. ;)

These were the programs that I designed. They're layered: A thank-you section from David and me, the wedding party and finally the order of ceremonies.

It took me so long to find the dresses for my flower girls and ring attendant. I had this image in my mind of what I wanted them to look like. They had to be really intricate like my dress, but they also needed to tie in some color with a sash to match the bridesmaids' dresses. I finally found the perfect ones!

Emily, the ring attendant, had a chocolate brown sash that matched the bridesmaids' dresses and the ring pillow. Reagan and Bailey, the flower girls, wore pink sashes and walked down the aisle together.

This is, by far, my favorite picture of all time of my mother and me!

In the foyer, waiting for the processional, the flower girls couldn't quite keep quiet. Their dads had to help them a bit. This is one of those precious moments that you almost cry when you see that the photographer caught it on tape:

Reagan is shushing Bailey, which is ironic considering they were both having noise issues. ;)

There I go! I finally get to go meet my groom!

I love the look on my daddy's face.

We're FINALLY here!

This is the sand ceremony/unity candle lighting. I spent a long time trying to figure out which one I wanted to do, because I love the Southern tradition of the unity candle, but the sand ceremony just looks really pretty. Both symbolize the joining of two separate people into one. As everyone knows my obsession with Yankee Candles, I came up with this idea to crush up tarts. They look like sand when you do, so I figured we could do the sand ceremony that way. Then I decided to put a wick in the middle of a pillar holder and then we could light it to make it a unity candle, too.

He's pouring "Autumn Wreath" tarts, and I'm pouring "Cinnamon & Sugar" tarts. (If you've not smelled them together, it's delicious!)

The kiss!

We're married!

And now for the standard church photos ...

My parents

My new family!: Andrew (brother-in-law), Karen (mother-in-law) and David (father-in-law)

My whole family — Back row: Conner (cousin and usher), Dalton (cousin and usher), Angie (aunt and singer in ceremony), Rich (uncle), Bryant (cousin and usher); Middle row: PawPaw (grandfather), MawMaw (grandmother), Courtney (mother), me, David, Tim (dad), Karen (aunt and singer in ceremony) and Tim (uncle); Front row: Reagan and Bailey (both cousins and flower girls)

Some of my new extended family (assume the "-in-law" part after each) — Betty Anne (aunt), Rosemary (grandmother), Bill (cousin), me, David, David (father), Karen (mother), Andrew (brother) and Ali (cousin)

My other family — the McDonalds: Ray (officiant), Madge, me, David and Nicole (maid of honor and best friend!) — Nicole's brothers, Jonathan and Josh weren't there for the photo

The whole wedding party — including the little girls this time!: Allison, Casey, Kelsey, Andrea, Lindsey, Emily, Nicole, me, David, Reagan, Andrew, Bailey, Jake, Kevin, Steve R., Steve S. and Eric

**And the final photos to come are of the reception!**