wedding wednesday

We're almost getting to pictures of the actual wedding! That makes me excited but it also makes me want to cry because I miss that day so much. I cannot believe that it was EIGHT months ago. Eight very happy and amazing months, yes, but I just loved that day so much. Can someone invent a time machine so I can repeat it?

Rewinding a bit. I decided to have all of the bridesmaids get ready at my parent's house since it was about 5 minutes from the church. My mom's hairdresser came over at 7 and we got to it. Uhh yea...SEVEN AM. You see, it was either a 2:00 or 7:30 wedding time at my church. I wanted a four hour reception, but with an hour long full mass (and they're always more than an hour) and the reception venue closing at midnight, that wouldn't have been possible. So we opted for the 2pm ceremony with the reception from 3:30 - 7:30. It worked out perfectly and everyone arrived at the reception closer to 3:30 anyways due to the ceremony being delayed - but that will be in another post ;) 

Back to getting ready. I'm still not sure how I didn't wake up with a massive hangover, those margaritas pictured last week were FULL of sugar - bad news, normally. Maybe it was the excitement? I'm not sure, just extremely thankful. I was not so lucky on Sunday morning. Most of my girls came over around 8 for hair, but there were a few who had others do it - which worked out because there were 12 girls needing their hair done. 

I originally was going to do my makeup myself. I had it done for my portraits and just did not like it AT ALL. It wasn't me, and I wanted to feel like myself on my wedding day. My older sister, the genius she is, wasn't going to let that happen. She found a freelance Mac artist who only charged $60 each. Everyone else wanted to charge $200 each bridesmaid and $350 or something INSANE for the bride. Not even including location and transportation fees. That should be illegal. 

Not only was Lynn AMAZING, but my photographers happened to show up an hour or so early and they got to capture some of the getting ready process. I am so glad they did, this was such a fun time. 

Everyone needs a little last minute eyebrow plucking, right?

My favorite shots from the morning are the ones through the cosmetic mirror. He's pretty amazing with that camera.

They laughed at me for getting into the pool, but they didn't know what they were missing out on. August in Houston is HOT. I needed that cool off time. Also, two bridesmaids are missing in this picture because A took FOREVER when they went to give him his gift. I love this picture - we took all of our photos in that very spot for all the high school dances. Full circle!

Speaking of presents - I love my reaction to what he gave me. Pretty much the best present ever - even if I don't know how to use it yet :)

I was lucky to find a trolley company in Houston. I knew after my sister-in-law's wedding that I HAD to have one.

It first brought all of us to the church and then went and picked up the guys at the hotel - they got ready in my parent's suite there.

Then we played the waiting game. The boys were a bit late due to A not knowing how to put in contacts yet (he got them just for the wedding), so after we took all of our group shots we just sat around and played with Reid in the bride's room.

This was just before the bridesmaids left to walk down the aisle. I'm laughing in the shot and now, because somehow - even though they were IN MY HANDS - I left the rings in the room and didn't realize it until I sat down on the stool during the ceremony. Thank goodness I caught my sister's attention and she sent someone to get them. Yep, I was that bride.

Thanks for making it through the worst post ever! All over the place and a bajillion pictures. Next week I'm going to introduce my amazing wedding party...and then I'll finally get to the good stuff, I promise :)