Weddingbee Blog

My alarm went off at 7AM Saturday morning. The girls would be arriving for beautification around 8, and though I had written my letter to Mr. Husky, I still needed to pen the final copy on some nice paper. Even as I finished up the letter, my eyes brimmed with emotion. This was it! Today was the day I would marry the man even my dreams had never dreamed of.

As I’m sure you’ll soon realize, Mr. H and I decided not to have a photographer with us as we got ready, for a couple of reasons. For one, I felt the morning of the wedding would be a very special time with my closest friends and family. It felt like a very intimate event, and the thought of having the photographer there didn’t quite feel comfortable to me.

Particularly because both shooters were men. The other reason, and perhaps the more important one, is that we hired our photographers for a 5-hour package. As we figured it, that would give us enough time for the ceremony, happy hour, toasts, first dances and bouquet toss. If we were to have them there while we got ready, there wouldn’t have been enough time to capture the rest of the day. In most ways, I’m happy with this decision. My only regret is that men aren’t quite as inclined to photograph this process as women may be.

The ladies didn’t have far to travel—most of them were staying at the same house as I was. When they arrived, MOH Husky went to work on my hair.

I love that you can see my mom in the mirror too—that makes this one of my favorite photos, despite the fact that neither MOH-H nor I have a bit of makeup on. Once the curlers were in, it was time to cover me in hairspray.

Meanwhile, BM-L went outside to pop the champagne—it was time for mimosas!

As we enjoyed our mimosas together, I gave the girls their gifts. Each of them received a pouch with a piece of jewelry inside (all from Etsy, of course!) that didn’t necessarily match their dresses, but definitely matched their personalities.

Along with the jewelry, they received a handkerchief embroidered with our “wedding formula” in the color of their individual dresses stuffed inside glass boot mugs! I had tied a name-tag to each mug with raffia, and encouraged them to use their boot mugs during the reception. BM-R was ready to use hers with the mimosa:

And since I know you can’t see the “formula” on the hankies very well, here it is:

MOH-H headed for the shower while BM-N and BM-K put the finishing touches on their hair and makeup:

The curlers came out, and MOH-H and BM-N went back to work on my hair while I did my makeup:

It was right around this time that I found out there had been a glitch in our plans. The ceremony was scheduled to start at 2:00. I had given my phone to MOH-H first thing in the morning, and told her that I didn’t want to talk to anyone except Mr. Husky, and even then, only if he was calling to tell me how much he loved me. She was to take care of whatever problems people were calling me for. I had spent 14 months of my life planning as much of this day as much as I was able, and it was time for me to let go. Well, there turned out to be one problem she couldn’t take care of without a decision from me. It was 1:15, and nearly everyone—including our photographers—were stuck in major traffic in Colorado Springs. Even without traffic, they were an hour away. Turns out, the Army vs. Air Force football game was scheduled for the same day as our wedding, and it threw a giant, rusty wrench into our guests’ travel. It’s funny the things you don’t think about—we had checked the town of Beulah, as well as Pueblo, where most guests would be staying, to ensure no major events would coincide with our wedding. But we didn’t think to check the major cities along the way. So I was faced with two choices: delay the ceremony, or go on without them? It was an easy decision to make. We were fortunate to be at a venue with no curfew, so we were able to push it back without worrying about having enough time for everything else. This actually served us well, as everyone was there when the ceremony began, and it gave those guests who had been stressed out in traffic the opportunity to relax and unwind for a while before it all started. It probably helped that we opened the bar…

The ladies got into their dresses (mine would go on at the other house, to keep from being wrinkled during travel):

A little bit more giddiness…

…And we were ready to hit the road!

*All personal photos, unless otherwise noted.