Weddingbee Blog

A few weeks before the big day I sent Rozy a big list of family picture configurations. Both Mr. Dragon and I have parents that have split up, so we have our biological parents, their significant others, and a big variety of siblings to contend with. That alone made family pictures difficult, but our location threw another problem into the mix.

Rozy and I figured it’d make the most sense to just do the formal pictures in my mom’s yard, because it was nicer than any park or alternative setting nearby. But with a tent full of tasty food and potent drinks, and a lot of people conversing amongst themselves, it was really, really hard to catch everyone’s attention long enough to get the pictures started, let alone finished.

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I may look chill here, but I’m actually looking around trying to find the family members we needed.

[A side note about the red spiky plant in the background: it’s a castor bean plant, the one Guinness has labelled the most poisonous plant in the world. Anyone watch Breaking Bad? Ricin is made from castor beans. There were a lot of “STAY AWAY FROM THAT PLANT!” warnings through the weekend.]

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And here, I’m getting frustrated. Despite my aunt putting out an awesome spread of finger foods for us ladies while we were getting ready, I was starting to get hangry, and I really wanted a drink. I got a bit forceful, and things got going. GM Jesse tells me that he was juuuuuust about to finally have a bite of food, having not eaten all day, when everyone started screaming “PICTURES!!!” at him.

I know family photos aren’t that exciting, so I won’t show you everything, but here’s an idea of how it worked—with so many combos, I tried to set up the list so people could be subbed in and out and then sent away quickly. It came in handy when the guys were so antsy for punch that they didn’t want to have their pictures taken!

We started out with Mr. D, me, my dad and mom, and sister Kay. (We have one with Niece Opie too, but she’s not very smiley! Pro tip: give up on the cute kid shots if they’re young enough that they can’t be bribed.)

After that we took one of Mr. D, me, and my parents, without Kay. Then we sent my mom away for a moment, and grabbed a quick picture of me, Mr. D, and my dad, while P. Dragon waited to jump in.

I don’t really know why I made that face…probably something to do with beards.

With P. Dragon in place we grabbed one with the two of us, her, and my dad, then added in Kay.

We were finished up with my dad at that point, so we called my mom back over, along with my Aunt Marg and my grandpa. I realized after we could have included Kay and Opie in this one too, but we went with who was immediately available.

Then, we sent everyone but my mom away to grab one of just me, Mr. D, and her.

While he went off to grab his family members for the next round of pictures, Mom and I snapped a quick picture.

We were, at that point, finished up with all of my family members and FIL Dragon, SMIL Dragon, and all of the boys were waiting in the wings.

We told the guys to go away but not too far, then took one with just us, FIL Dragon, and SMIL Dragon.

While we had their attention, though, we took a groomsmen/brothers with the bride and groom shot. GM Jesse strikes again.

We had just one side of the family left, Mr. D’s mom and his maternal relatives. We took a big group shot first, with Aunt Barb, Niece Lily, Brother Joel, cousins, MIL Dragon, and Mr. D’s grandma.

After that, we sent everyone but Mr. D’s mom away, then took a picture with her.

I stepped away to let mother and son have a picture together…and that was that!

Truthfully, there were a lot of on-the-fly edits to the list. I didn’t get any individual shots with my dad or my sister or the little girls, but everyone was hungry and thirsty (including me), and so we made the executive decision to just do the basics. That same sentiment ended up applying to our wedding-party shots, which I’ll show you next!

Did you miss a recap?

• Our journey begins with a bit of reflection on our wedding.
• We road tripped down Highway 11 to Brockville.
• Sadness came before our joy when we found out a family member passed away.
• We rehearsed, ate pizza, baked a cake, and hot tubbed!
• The girls got up bright and early for a hair appointment.
• We put on our makeup and did our nails while everyone else took care of wedding prep.
• I became a (nervous) bride, and with dress, accessories and makeup on…waited.
• Mr. Dragon shares his side of the story.
• Both of the Dragons were jittery, but we managed to get the wedding started.
• But…where was Mr. Dragon going?!
• Everyone made it up the aisle, and it was time for the ceremony.
• We sealed our vows with a kiss.
• Inside the house, we signed our license, and took a few relaxing breaths!

All images by Rozy Seitz. Those marked with an asterisk were edited, with permission, by me.