Hi folks! I’m back from my trip to France and Spain with the hubs and it was amazing. Mr. Eggplant and I ate lots of tapas, took lots of metro trains, and even spoke some French and Spanish. Now that I’ve returned, it’s time to hurry and finish up the wedding recaps before our first wedding anniversary approaches. ![]()
Part I: Primped and Prettied
Part II: The Dashing Gents
Part III: The Wedding Duds + A Suite Switcheroo
Part IV: The Threads, and How They Unravel!
Part V: Meet ’n Greet
Part VI: Ceremoniously Wed
All photographs are property of the awesome Apertura Photography.

If I could change one thing about our wedding, it wouldn’t be the bridesmaid dress fiasco. No, I would’ve left that well enough alone. The only thing I wish we had was more time for portraits. We set aside two hours, and it still seemed so short. But, I’m extremely happy with our photos so I have no complaints.
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Pt. I: Make Me Pretty!
Pt. II: Time To Get Bridal!

There is just something so charismatic and sharp (or should I just say HOT!) about a bunch of guys all dressed up! The photo above is from our teaser pictures!
Meanwhile, the guys were already getting started on their photography session. Given how much longer it would take the ladies to get ready, we thought this would be a good use of that time! But let’s backtrack a sec though, and take a walk through their morning up to this point!

Two weeks ago, Mr. Dumpling and I were lucky enough to get a free engagement session by one of, if not THE, best photographers in town, BLR Life. I scored the free session after attending a bridal event benefiting FEAT, Families for Effective Autism Treatment of Southern Nevada. If you are in Las Vegas when they hold the event next year, you MUST go!
I have to admit, I was very nervous about taking engagement pictures. I’m not the type of person who likes to be all kissy-kissy in public and I had a feeling I’d have to do just that. Luckily, Mr. Dumpling was there to calm me down. He’s a pro at photo shoots, so he kept making fun of me so I’d laugh and give Adam, our photographer, something to work with.
When we got them back, we were AMAZED. They must have had access to Mariah’s retoucher, because while I’d love to tell you guys that I look like this everyday, it would just be a big honkin’ lie. My normal look usually involves gym clothes (that, funny enough, have never seen the insides of a gym before) a couple of pony-tail holders and socks. Mr. Dumpling, however, looks like this all the time.
Ok- I’ll be quiet now and give you the goods…..

I’ve said before that after the fact, I found that paying attention to all the little details was totally worth it. Even with the craziness of our day (you’d think a table number sign might get overlooked in a hailstorm), our guests made sure to mention to that they loved the favors, or the martinis, or the centerpieces, or even the wine glasses. It meant the world to me.
Here are a few more shots of the details for you—as usual, by the well-loved (by us!) Samantha Warren.
Buckets of flip flops, and evidence that yes, your male guests will sport them too:
Wedding Day Part I: The Girls Getting Ready
Wedding Day Part II: The Boys Getting Ready
It turns out it wasn’t just the wedding party who was busy getting ready.

I remember looking out at the ceremony site at about 5PM and it was empty.
Here come the details!
All photos (unless noted) are by Samantha Warren Weddings. Sam deserves HUGE praise for capturing all of these shots. She’s been a loyal reader of my blog (even before I became a bee!) and so she knew how important all of the little things were to me. Thanks, Sam!
Are you starting to get tired of all the planning nonsense? Do you want to throw in the towel on your pain-in-the-butt projects? Don’t! You have this feeling to look forward to when you see all of your hard work in action—it’s worth it!

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We finally made it! It’s time for the last of the Gingerbread wedding recap posts.
Mrs. GB 2.0 had planned to do an official first dance. Well, a few days before the wedding we both said, “You know what’s really stressing me out? The first dance!” So we decided to scrap it. Why do something we weren’t comfortable with? You know what, no one missed it (except for Miss Sweet Tea, but that’s just because she read my posts about planning to do a first dance in the first place).
Now just because we didn’t have a first dance, didn’t mean that we didn’t have dancing!

Part 1: Tryin’ to Get the Pretty
Part 1.5: Old, New, Borrowed, Robotic
Part 2: Please Help Me; I Can’t Dress Myself
Part 3: Poise!
Part 4: The Philosophy of the Ham
Part 5: Setting the Scene
Part 6: Moments Before
Part 7: The Gettin’ Hitched Part

Mr. Lollipop and I discussed our ceremony at our first anniversary dinner. We both agreed that it was one of the most intense experiences either of us has had. This was probably due to the fact that we had prepared for the ceremony for months during premarital counseling, and the fact that it was *our* ceremony. I like to think that maybe our guests felt the same way. We didn’t hear a peep from anyone in the pews the whole time, and nothing from the dozens of young children who attended. Maybe it really was a *holy* experience.
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Wedding Day Part I: The Girls Getting Ready
Please accept my apologies as I’ve been a bad little birdie! The very day after I posted the first recap, we closed and moved into the “Love(bird) Nest” and I’ve pretty much been running around with my head chopped off the last couple of weeks. What do you say, hive, do you forgive the little lovebird? As a token of my sincerity, I offer to you the pro-pics of the boys getting ready the day of the wedding. I believe most of these pictures were taken by our second shooter, Christian of del Sol Photography. Keep in mind I’ve known all these fellas since we were in high school, so I will take every liberty to embarrass them while I can.
Eek! It’s been so long since my last post! I have about a billion reasons why I haven’t posted, but I’ll spare you from all my lame excuses… it’s back to the re-cap for me!
After our 2nd tea ceremony and impromptu formals in my qua, it was time to switch gears and entertain our guests a little! Since our cocktail hour was in a separate room from our banquet room, we hired a lion dance troupe to perform a dance for our guests and help make the transition from cocktail hour to dinner.
Lion dances are traditionally performed during New Year celebrations because they are thought to bring prosperity and good luck for the upcoming year. However, sometimes lion dances are also performed at new business openings and weddings because of the thought that it brings good fortune.
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