Weddingbee

Hooray for them! She shares this with her audience and gets teary — it’s so sweet! I wish them a wonderful celebration and many many years of love, health and happiness.
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Here he is again taking some photos downstairs while Daria and Andy were upstairs capturing the tables, flowers, favors etc.

MIL Onion enjoying herself. Isn’t she lovely??

Mr. Onion smiles for a photo with our friend from Curacao (left) and his brother (right). They were the life of the party!

Guests enjoying the weather and each other’s company.

Me with my “aunt” — she and her husband have been friends with my parents for 35+ years and have always been like family to me.

Look how relaxed and happy I was! I felt like this all day.

Another one of our “photographers.” We have so many loved ones who are avid photographers and they all brought their cameras! We were blessed to have so many different perspectives from the day.

My mother had pearl clips made to match her earrings and necklace. I thought she looked very classy.

The day of our wedding there was a Market Festival in the center of Burlington, so we headed down the block for a few minutes to watch a clown and our photographer followed us.

He asked for some audience participation and this cute little boy volunteered.

We were dying laughing he was so funny.

I didn’t realize it until we got down there, but my mother had brought our flower girl down to see the show too. Her expression is priceless!

I love the urban feeling and the energy of these photos.

Look to the left and you’ll see our videographer, Wes Jones.

One of my BM’s came to tell us it was time to head upstairs for the reception. Look how sweet — our flower girl was running up behind us. Again, I didn’t realize until I saw this photo.

Next up…our first dance and the reception begins.

Photos: Daria Bishop Photography
All flowers: Fresh Floral Design Studio
Location: Adrianas Restaurant, and the Church Street Marketplace, Burlington, VT
My Dress: Romona Keveza from Mark Ingram’s Bridal Atelier
My Shoes: Cynthia Rowley Trilogy
Mr. Onion’s suit: Alan David Custom
GM Suits: Dante Zellar, NYC
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Then I saw they had a Sugar Body Scrub and I was so excited.

Here is a description from the Fresh website:
– features precious evening primrose, sweet almond, apricot kernel and jojoba oils
– therapeutic extracts include anti-inflammatory arnica and calendula, stimulating ginseng and peppermint and calming passionflower and white lily
– balancing array of citrus oils brighten and tone skin and add an aromatherapeutic dimension

It is a little more money that I’d want to spend on myself, and with all the wedding expenses I passed it up. Yesterday I got together with one of my bridesmaids who surprised me with a gift of Sugar Body Scrub! I can’t wait to use it and I’ll be sure to report back. I’m sure this would make a lovely addition to a bridesmaid gift or as a shower host thank you.

You can even get it in “on the go” sizes as a more cost effective shower favor, or to add to bridesmaid gifts!I know that Sephora carries many of their products, and you can also visit a Fresh store in NYC, Boston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco etc., or go to the Fresh website.

What are your “must have” treatments?
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You can see video footage of the walk up the marketplace taken by a friend in a previous post. It was actually less than 400 feet from the church to the restaurant!

At the end of our short stroll we arrived at our reception location.

We had our cocktail hour downstairs on their “patio” and then moved upstairs for our dinner reception.

In the center of the patio was a table for our wish bowl and card box. We also rested the bridesmaid’s bouquets and my bouquet on the table which added to the decor. Does the galvanized tin full of white tulips and purple tissue paper look familiar? Yup, those were our pew decorations from the ceremony!

I printed a tent card (placed flat so it didn’t blow away) with one of our lovely monograms explaining the wish bowl inviting guests to write a note, wish, memory or thought for us and to place it in the bowl.

This lovely card box which I purchased for under $10 at a home goods store now holds all our wedding memories — a few of our invitations, programs, CD’s with photos, our video DVD, wish cards etc.

A sample of the yummy cocktail hour food I ate hardly any of as there was so much going on! I did have one piece of this chicken though.

Early on during our cocktail hour our wonderful florist, Dana Barrow, who runs her own company, scooted by with a box of flowers that she had picked up from the church and was bringing upstairs to finish the reception tables (all of our ceremony flowers were used again at the reception — great money saver if you can manage it)!

We were so thrilled to run into her and ran upstairs with her to see the reception space all set up.

We had a few moments to chat with her and thank her for all her hard work. I would highly recommend all couples take a few moments to look at their reception space before everyone else enters so you can really take in all your hard work. Once people start arriving you won’t have a chance to really take this all in.

Next time…back to the cocktail hour and a clown juggling swords!

Photos: Daria Bishop Photography
All flowers: Fresh Floral Design Studio
Location: Adrianas Restaurant, Burlington, VT
My Dress: Romona Keveza from Mark Ingram’s Bridal Atelier
My Shoes: Cynthia Rowley Trilogy
My Veil: Two tier elbow length from Rose’s Bridal, NYC
Mr. Onion’s suit: Alan David Custom
Monograms: Creative Montage
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Daria and Andy Bishop provided us with our proof prints in these nice black archival photo boxes.

There are five of them FULL of lovely proofs. But how do I narrow down almost 2000 photos to 100 or so for our album? I keep thinking I’ll tackle the task over the weekend.

And then the weekend comes and goes….

And here our proofs sit. (I have to admit I dusted them before I took these photos.)

We have started talking with our photographers about a lovely matted Queensbury album (photo sample from www.queensberry.com).

I am very excited to get the ball rolling. Because the album wasn’t included in our package I think we’ve put it off a bit as it will be an expense we’ll have to budget for now. I think a beautiful archival quality wedding album will be something our children and their children will cherish. I know I’m thrilled to have old photos of my family — it gives me a real sense of history and belonging.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Were you quicker to get working on your wedding album if it was included in your photography package?
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I **love love love** this photo. The sheer joy on both our faces tells you everything about how we felt!

I happily took notice of Mr. Onion’s wedding ring on his hand now that it was official! I love that our photographer caught this behind the pillar on the church steps — such a great perspective.

Meanwhile, one of my bridesmaids had an emotional moment. Apparently she was tearing up all the way down the isle after the ceremony.

And here another bridesmaid is comforting the crying one!

No tears from FIL Onion! He had this joyful smile on the entire day. What a wonderful energy and spirit he has. He was so happy for Mr. Onion — as I’ve mentioned before, they have a wonderful relationship.

And now…bring on the love from the wedding party!

I love the editorial feel and textures of this photo — the energy of everything as it’s unfolding. From right to left…you can see Mr. Onion’s brother giving him a great big hug, one bridesmaid waiting patiently to congratulate me looking right at the camera, our flower girl being a polite young lady waiting her turn too, another bridesmaid sharing a moment with me and the stunning light from the beautiful late afternoon sunshine.

In our wedding program we asked our guests to all gather together outside the church and wait for us to walk together to the restaurant. This also allowed us to take a group photo outside the church. Here we are gathering and getting ready for the group photo.

A few different takes on the group photo! I’m really happy to have all of our friends and family in one shot — easier to do when you only have 45 people there!

After the group photo Mr. Onion and I took a moment on the church steps.

And while that was happening, some of our male guests headed up the church tower to ring the bell!! I had no idea they had done this until I saw this photo.

Up next…the group processional up the Church Street Marketplace.

Photos: Daria Bishop Photography
All flowers: Fresh Floral Design Studio
Location: First Congregational Church, Burlington, VT
My Dress: Romona Keveza from Mark Ingram’s Bridal Atelier
My Shoes: Cynthia Rowley Trilogy
My Veil: Two tier elbow length from Rose’s Bridal, NYC
Mr. Onion’s suit: Alan David Custom
BM Dresses: Ann Taylor Celebrations Collection
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Then it was my turn. Mr. Onion and I and read the same vows to each other and worked hard on making them our own. Remember when I said everyone cried except the bride…well that was true until the very end of the vows. When I got to “I give you my hand, my heart and my love from this day forward for as long as we both shall live,” I got a little teary but it was really sweet.

Next up, the ring exchange. First Mr. Onion placed my ring on my finger.

And then it was Mr. Onion’s turn. At this point I couldn’t believe how fast the ceremony was going — I was so happy to be there!

After the ring exchange we had another musical interlude. This time it was a solo guitar by Brendan Burns that he learned just for us - “Better Together,” by Jack Johnson.

And our youngest attendee was keeping himself occupied during the song! I love that our photographer caught this moment.

Our minister was so open to our ideas for the ceremony. One of the personal touches we added was a hand ceremony which was a wonderful. I got to hold Mr. Onion’s hands (nice to connect after looking at each other all that time) as she read.

I just loved this part of the ceremony — here is the last phrase of the hand ceremony: “And lastly, these are the hands that even when wrinkled and aged, will still be reaching for yours, still giving you the same unspoken tenderness with just a touch.”

And finally, “You may now kiss the bride!”

Hooray! Look how happy we are!!

This was hilarious! The last part of the ceremony was an apache blessing. While our minister was trying to read, there began a series of fire engine sirens. She got through it — then immediately there was another round so loud you could hardly hear her. What a great way to lighten the mood — as you can see I was dying laughing.

And off we go to greet our friends and family outside the church.

Stay tuned for the hugs, smiles and walk up the Church Street Marketplace with all our guests!

Photos: Daria Bishop Photography
All flowers: Fresh Floral Design Studio
Location: First Congregational Church, Burlington, VT
My Dress: Romona Keveza from Mark Ingram’s Bridal Atelier
My Veil: Two tier elbow length from Rose’s Bridal, NYC
Mr. Onion’s suit: Alan David Custom
BM Dresses: Ann Taylor Celebrations Collection
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Anyway, I thought it would be romantic to spend our first wedding anniversary back in Burlington, VT at the inn so I asked how quickly she thought they’d be full. It turns out they only have 4 (of their total 14) rooms left six months in advance!! So I asked Mr. Onion what he thought when he got home and he said “book it!”

The room where we stayed for the weekend of our wedding was already booked, but an equally lovely room, the Nantucket, was free so we snapped it up!

One of the Inn’s largest rooms features a gas fireplace with antique mosaic tile and original wood floors. The king-size carved mahogany four poster bed has a quilted bedspread, soft comforter and matching pillows. Blue & white wallpaper, light sconces, antique chest of drawers and stuffed armchair, plus three large windows give this spacious room its finishing touches. Large private tiled bathroom with both an antique bathtub and separate shower.

So all last night I was excited at the thought of going back to Vermont — breakfast at the inn, lunch at Penny Cluse Cafe (a must if you’ve never been), dinner at Leunig’s Bistro… sadly the restaurant where we hosted our reception has since closed, strolling down the Church Street Marketplace…. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! Now all I have to do is wait 6 more months

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Mr. Onion’s mom read “Marriage Advice From 1886,” by Jane Wells
Then my mom read “Tin Wedding Whistle,” By Ogden Nash, which was a reading at my parents’ wedding and she was so excited to read it at ours. She got almost to the end but when she read, “Let none, not even you, disparage, such a valid reason for a marriage,” she looked at me and got a little teary.

My girls look on as my mother reads “Tin Wedding Whistle.”

My mother trying to pull it together after her reading. It was too early in the ceremony for me to cry, so I tried not to look at her or I would have.

Mrs. Onion tried to pay attention to our minister’s homily, but all she can do is gaze at Mr. Onion.

Mr. Onion doing a much better job paying attention to our minister.

I love this photos — Daria and Andy were always looking for the unique angle or look at the day.

Mr. Onion’s mother and brother’s girlfriend looking on.

After the homily a wonderful friend of ours, Nicole Zuraitis, sang a beautiful song with our guitarist, Brendan Burns — “There is No Greater Love,” by Isham Jones and Marty Symes.

See a video and see the lyrics in my post “There is No Greater Love.” (Note: Nicole will have her jazz festival debut this summer at the Litchfield Jazz Festival in Connecticut on Saturday, August 2 — I’m SO excited for her).

Mr. Onion looking at me sweetly while Nicole sings. This is also a nice shot of my hair through the veil if you click to enlarge.

More sweet glances from Mr. Onion, this time in black and white.

OK, how cute is our flower girl?? I love the little bow in her hair that her mom picked out and her Ann Taylor sash bow. Notice she is holding her tulip bouquet AND my bouquet. What a sweetie — it was heavy!

A big grin at my mother, still during the song.

Up next…the vows, more music and the kiss!

Photos: Daria Bishop Photography
All flowers: Fresh Floral Design Studio
Location: First Congregational Church, Burlington, VT
My Dress: Romona Keveza from Mark Ingram’s Bridal Atelier
My Veil: Two tier elbow length from Rose’s Bridal, NYC
Mr. Onion’s suit: Alan David Custom
BM Dresses: Ann Taylor Celebrations Collection
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So happy (this was RIGHT before I bumped into the flower tin on the pew end)! The things you notice — Mr. Onion said he had no idea.
Andy was shooting upstairs while Daria was downstairs. Check out the paparazzi — between our family and friends and our professional photographer (Daria) and videographer (Wes) — we had it covered. The funny thing is I was mostly unaware of any of the cameras, I was just a little nervous that everyone was focused on me.

This is funny — when I got to the altar I forgot I was supposed to kiss my father so there was an awkward pause which felt like much longer than I’m sure it was.

Then our wonderful minister whispered “you can kiss your father goodbye.”

As I mentioned, while Daria was downstairs, Andy was upstairs. Great perspective and nice shot of our white and purple tulips decorating the church.

This photo is cool, but almost looks like no one showed up for our wedding! The church was really large and of our 45 people in attendance, nine of us were standing up front, so it made it look even smaller.

This is a great depth of field shot (for those photography geeks out there) — tulips in the foreground and the bride and groom out of focus in the background.

It really was such a bright and beautiful church.

And the ceremony begins…

Next up…the ceremony continues with readings, a song or two and a tear or two!

Photos: Daria Bishop Photography
All flowers: Fresh Floral Design Studio
Location: First Congregational Church, Burlington, VT
My Dress: Romona Keveza from Mark Ingram’s Bridal Atelier
My Veil: Two tier elbow length from Rose’s Bridal, NYC
Mr. Onion’s suit: Alan David Custom
BM Dresses: Ann Taylor Celebrations Collection
GM Suits: Rental from Dante Zellar
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