Weddingbee

As some of you may remember, Mr. Peppermint & I have been busy working on a webseries (”Engaged the Show“–I wonder where we got that idea from??). Along with the episodes, we taped some segments called “Quick Tips”. These are basically snippets of (bad) advice from Chrissie & Keith–who are always willing to dish it out! For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, he show is a mockumentary featuring the trials & tribulations of a newly engaged couple. We’re shooting the next batch of episodes at the end of the month & will have some more quick tips/interviews to come.

And now onto the next part of our wedding: Formals Photos!

Because we opted to not do the formals before the ceremony, this meant that we did them immediately after. I was a bit nervous about this, but I must say that I was completely relaxed for it. We had a lot of fun and I think the photos captured the joy!

THE BRIDE & GROOM:

Since Mr. Peppermint & I opted not to do an engagement session, it was important to us that we get some great photos of the two of us. I really love the sweet moments that were captured, as well as the beauty of the setting.

The focus of the day (of course) was the ceremony. After over a year of planning, the big day was finally here. In less than an hour we were to be wed!After a week of stress about the weather, you can see that the sun shined bright during our ceremony. We did, however, arrange for a tent because of the forecast…

Among the many decisions we made about the big day, Mr. Peppermint and I decided we wanted to spend our mornings apart. While I definitely see the benefits of spending time together before the ceremony, I’m really glad that we did it this way (more on that in a later post). The downside was that this meant we couldn’t do all our formals in beforehand, but we did manage to get some…

We’ll start off with the boys. I love the work our photographer did. We have so many great shots that truly capture the spirit of the day. I was adamant that we get “formals”, but I also wanted shots that weren’t too uptight. I think these fit the bill perfectly…

Mr. Pep & his groomsmen:

Having some fun (our Dads got into the act, too!): Mr. Peppermint, his Dad & his Brother (& Best Man):

Mr. Peppermint & our ring bearers (my twin cousins). We did have a “normal” photo, too, but this one is just too funny!

And now for the ladies…

Here I am with my bridesmaids. I love this photo! It’s fun, fresh and festive:

Now, here I am with my sister (and Maid of Honor):

My Mother-in-law, me and my Mom:

My mom, sister & me:

And last but not least, my flower girl and me. This one makes me laugh because I remember the photographer telling us to get closer together. When we weren’t close enough, he said to push our cheeks together. This was the result:

Stay tuned: more photos of our big day to come!!
« Hide it

Hello, Hive!!  Now that we have our professional pictures all in, I wanted to take you through the events of our big day. To remind you, we got married in December in Palm Springs. Here’s a look at how the girls got ready…

My Mom, Mother-in-Law, Sister & Grandmother and I were the first to arrive at the site (The O’Donnell House). We went straight into hair and make-up…

One of the fun tasks we had leading up to the wedding, was deciding what to give the members of our wedding party. They truly had been such an important part of the day (not to mention our lives!), that we really wanted to thank them for everything.

Since we were the first of the group to get married, there were no expectations (good) and no precedent (bad). Nonetheless, I think we did a pretty good job of giving everyone a token of our gratitude…

Mr. Peppermint discovered Etsy a few weeks before the wedding and decided to get all his groomsmen cuff links. He scoured Etsy for days until he found ones that suited each guys personality.

Here’s a shot on the big day, showcasing the cuff links:

Some of you may remember, the week (okay, 10 days to be exact) leading up to my wedding were full of worry. When we began looking at venues we had discussed the possibility of rain. Each time I brought it up, vendors would laugh at such a preposterous thought–”It never rains in Palm Springs. It’s the desert, you know!”

Well, at 10 days prior to the event, the forecast showed a 60% chance of rain. Every morning I dutifully turned on the computer to see what weather.com had to offer (as I became desperate, the ritual expanded to two other sites: msnweather & accuweather). Each day it fluctuated (anywhere between 20% and 70% chance of showers). What became obvious was that we did need to create a contingency plan.

A few days before the event (and between mild fits of hysteria… okay, that’s a bit dramatic but I will confess that some tears were involved), we decided to have the wedding tented. We’d have to have a tent over the ceremony as well as one for the reception. Originally, I was devastated–this wasn’t at all what I had envisioned in my countless daydreams! Fortunately, with the help of my extremely dedicated (and patient!) vendors, they helped create an atmosphere that even made it look like we’d intended to have tents.

We may not have our album yet (how on earth can I narrow down almost 1000 photos to 130?!?) But, what I got just last night is… the photo CD with all the pictures of the wedding!! I’ve been hesitant to blog about the big day without the photos that capture it. I’m so excited to be able to share them with you now.

Before I get into the details, here’s one photo to get you started:

photo credit to: Michael Graham Photography

I have a confession to make. I was part of a secret plot.Okay. Some background, first. Well, it goes back many years all the way to the fifth grade. That’s when I met Emily, who was to become my best friend. Perhaps my involvement in this scheme should come as no surprise. After all, Em and I had years of pretending to be detectives and notebooks filled with notes on curious neighbors to prove it.

So, a few months ago when Todd (another good friend of ours whom we had introduced to Emily nearly three years ago at Disneyland) told us of his plan to pop the question to Emily at Disneyland (aka The Happiest Place on Earth) with a little help from us, we gladly jumped on board. They had been planning a weekend trip to the park to celebrate Valentine’s Day and had hoped to meet up with us for one of the days.

Here’s the next installment of "Engaged : The Show". Here, we find our newly engaged couple beginning to think about the all-important Ring…

Hope you enjoy it!