Weddingbee Blog

We decided ahead of time to keep our family portraits to immediate family only, in order to keep the chaos levels down. Before the wedding, I gave our photographers a list of all the combinations of people we wanted, which also really helped expedite the process.

We started with Mr. Wiz’s family.

Mr. Wiz’s dad, mom, me, Mr. Wiz, and Best Man D

Us with his grandma, him with his mom

He and his dad got a little silly.

And then we moved onto my side. Because my family is not exactly nuclear, my “immediate family” included my grandma, aunt, and cousins too.

Us with my grandma, us with my dad.

Me and my grandma

That picture is one of my favorites, because it is notoriously hard to get a picture of my grandma genuinely smiling. Her “posed photo smile” is more like a grimace/stink eye, so I’m so glad that our photographers captured one of her real smiles.

Cousin C, us, cousin T, Wizard Aunt

Cousin T, Wizard Aunt, cousin C

Grandma’s “Golden Girls”—me, C, and T—with the new grandson!

Our family pictures seriously took about 15 minutes total. I was bracing myself for an hour-long ordeal (and had budgeted that much time in the schedule) because of all the horror stories I’d heard about these sessions, so I was pleasantly surprised when we finished so quickly.

We had about 30 minutes until the ceremony started, so we hung around and chatted with a few guests who had arrived early. This was also the moment when, in a rush of excitement, we all realized that the outdoor ceremony was back on!

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But before long, too many guests had arrived, and we decided it was high time for us to go hide in the banquet hall while the dads reset everything (again) in the pavilion. It was so fun to peek out the windows and see who was there and watch all of our nearest and dearest experience the things that we had been planning for the past year.

After doing a few last lipstick checks and hair adjustments, it was almost time to line up for the big event. But just as I was about to head out the door, I turned to MOH Lefty and said, “Oh, crap. I forgot to put deodorant on today.” Of all the things I could have forgotten—veil, shoes, rings, dress—deodorant was the least worrisome one. But I still didn’t fancy the idea of being a stinky bride. I’m not sure what made me remember that particular thing at that particular moment, but Lefty didn’t question it. She sprung into action mode and dug a bar of Secret out of her Humongous Purse Of Everything.

In fact, she was such a good MOH that after about two seconds, she grabbed the bar out of my hand and insisted on doing it herself. Yes, folks, my MOH put on my deodorant for me. What are best friends for?

After she was satisfied with her work, she allowed me to put my bolero back on, and we gathered at the door.

All the guests were seated. The music had started. It was go time.

Miss something? Follow along here!

First, I kick things off with our wedding video.
I go stir-crazy, and almost choke to death, the week before our wedding.
We had a pretty bad venue setup/rehearsal day.
I’m the bride with the weak stomach.
The crew arrives, and the ladies get pretty.
Hairstylist B accidentally shares a little secret!
Bride and groom exchange cards and a surprise gift.
Tying bow ties is a comedy of errors.
Finally, I become a bride!
All the little details.
A special lady gets a special gift.
Here comes the sun, and the bride (a.k.a. our first look).

All photos by MichaelWill Photography unless otherwise noted. Images market with a (*) are edited by me, with permission from Michael.