Weddingbee Blog

Shazam! That’s what I think our lighting added to our pictures when I look back at these reception shots—a bit of shazam. Since Mr. Sunbeam is an animator, he has lots of creative friends. Several brought their fancy cameras to our shindig and worked our lighting for all it was worth. We’re so happy now we picked this barn for our reception and didn’t overload the room with lanterns or other lighting elements. The simple Christmas lights did JUST the trick. Check out some photos of the reception by our friends photos below!
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Oh, the first dance. We’ve all seen the YouTube videos where the bride and groom and sometimes their bridal party break out choreography that makes you say, “I wanna do that at my wedding!” Well Mr. Sunbeam and I attempted. We took a few dance lessons and learned the two-step to My Lady’s House by Iron & Wine.

Let’s just say it went OK. We tried! Even though it makes us blush, I’ll share the video in case you are interested in our two-step attempt.
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As a guest, one of my favorite parts about a wedding is the toasting. It’s fun to when the BM and MOH give you a little more insight into the couple getting married and often tell embarrassing stories. I sort of wish everyone at weddings would do a toast—but of course that would eat into dancing time!
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(Photo by our caterer)

Mr. Sunbeam and I are foodies. We splurge on a nice meal out about once month because we can’t help ourselves. While we couldn’t really splurge on the food for our wedding, we were still able to find a caterer who worked with use to create a delicious menu with food that reflected us and the fall season.

If you’ve read my profile you know I am a lover of cheese and Mr. Sunbeam is a lover of wine.
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In the wee hours the night before our wedding I had pretty much come to terms that the barn where our reception was to be held wasn’t going to be nearly as beautiful as I had hoped. The decorations weren’t quite like I had wanted them to be, the barn seemed to have less room than it did on my spreadsheet, and I just wasn’t convinced it would be a very magical place for our reception after all.
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Mr. Sunbeam and I had taken a lot of photos before our ceremony. We did a first look, pictures at our old high school, and pictures at my parents’ house, but I still needed a few pictures of everyone at the altar post-ceremony! Those are the sort of photos I remember from my grandparents’ wedding and my parents’ wedding. The classic just-married-and-posing-at-the-altar-with-your-family portraits.

My family in law

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As my dad placed my hand in Mr. Sunbeam’s and kissed my cheek, the moment of getting married really hit me. Slowly we walked up the stairs of the church with a hundred eyes on our back and took our places facing each other by the minister. For a quick moment, I turned to look at our audience and gave them a humongous grin. I wanted to acknowledge that they were there sharing our special day and many of them mentioned their appreciation of this small gesture.
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by Rad Photography

Hi bees! Remember me?! After six months of marriage I’m finally back on the blogging horse and hope you’re still looking forward to some sunny recaps! It’s hard to believe Mr. Sunbeam and I have already hit our six month mark. I feel like the wedding was just yesterday and still think about squeezing back into my wedding dress now and then. Of course that would probably mean I’d have to admit I’ve packed on a few post-bridal pounds… so I’ll leave it on the hanger and admire it from a distance!
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When we arrived at the chapel, to my surprise the entrance of the church was already full of guests obviously realizing they had beaten our ushers to church. The ceremony began at 4:30 and it must have been something like 4:10.
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Since my bridesmaids’ dresses have been getting so many comments I thought it was due time I did a post on them! If you didn’t catch the background, I had chosen a range of red hues that I thought would be appropriate for their dresses and sent each one a note with the swatches, along with a few loose suggestions on style and length. From there the girls were let loose to find whatever suited them best! They had a few email chains going where they would share dresses they were considering with me and each other. In the end, everyone looked fabulous and happy! Here are all my lovelies together.

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After our fun photo shoot at our old high school it was time to stop back at my parents’ house for some food and formal shots. At this point in the day it was drizzling outside, so my dream of having family pictures in the garden where we had our first look wasn’t going to come true. The plan had been to take pictures with family outside while the wedding party helped Heather, our DOC, decorate the church. However when we arrived at the house we were told Heather had it all under control, so we were able to take more pictures with our wedding party, as well.

It was actually really nice to meet at the house all dressed up and have a little family camaraderie before the ceremony.

We got our fathers ready for their close-ups.

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We were having so much fun running around our old high school (where all of the bridesmaids had also attended!). We had taken pictures in the library, and in our old chemistry lab, and were wandering through the hallways to our last stop.
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It was a few short hours before our ceremony, and we were wandering through the halls where had we passed notes and held hands as high school sweethearts. It had been at least 9 years since we’d been to the school, and the trip down memory lane felt a little out-of-body to me. After taking a few photos at our school library, we headed to a room that dripped with “us” memories; the chemistry room. Mr. Sunbeam and I had two classes together, math and chemistry, but it wasn’t until the end of that year that we really took notice of each other.
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Like a diligent eye-candy obsessed bride-to-be I had scoured the internet looking for photo inspirations before the wedding. Once we had worked everything out to have our first photo shoot at our high school, I looked all over for any others who took photos in a school. I found a few, but my bridal brain was so in the moment I didn’t think to draw upon any of them when we were taking photos! Luckily I did remember which school rooms I had in mind for us to visit! First stop: love in the stacks of ye ol’ library!
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After our giddy first look, our “limo” showed up to drive us off to our next photo shoot location. We rented a school bus to go along with the fact that we were high school sweethearts and it arrived at the chapel to pick us up right on time. Sadly, the rain prevented me from decorating it with my little red tissue paper poms that I had spent so long making. Sigh. It was still a sweet ride, but you’d have had no idea there was any sort of wedding party inside. If you are worried about rain, make your poms out of yarn!

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