Once the dress was on, Margot, the photographer, and I drove over to a little park near my parents’ house for first look pictures. Rob and I wanted to get the majority of our photos done before the ceremony so we could hAll Postsave more time with family and friends afterwards.
The photographer, Jordan, went to set up the shot while Margot and I waited just outside the park gate. A few minutes later, it was time to see Rob!
I walked up behind him on the dirt path leading into the park and was pretty nervous about what his reaction might be. As he turned around, he broke into the biggest smile I’d ever seen. We hadn’t been alone in about three days and it felt wonderful to just have a few minutes to gawk at each other. Rob looked so handsome!
We spent the next hour in various poses, kissing, staring at each other, smiling, and just giggling at the love and oddity of it being our wedding day. It was just so surreal. The photographer gave us gentle suggestions and let us just be natural. Margot was a big help being our driver as we moved between two locations, my bouquet holder, taking pictures, and positioning my unruly train in the wind. I don’t know what I would have done without her!
Around 3:15, we headed to the wedding venue, a beach club overlooking the sound about a mile from my parents’ house, and set ourselves up on these dramatic looking rocks for family pictures. Between the crashing waves, wind, and high heels, it was all we could do to stand still on the uneven ground and not fall off! At one point, a big gust of wind came and unbalanced Margot, which unbalanced Mom, then me, then Kate, then Jackie. The whole line of us almost went down and took a few minutes for us to compose ourselves from uncontrollable laughter.
The one major snafu was the bridal party from the hotel was dropped at the wrong location by the driver. The beach club also has a golf club under the same name and the driver left them there instead! It took about a half hour for the mistake to be corrected and for everyone to show up, but they finally arrived and pictures continued.
How awesome do my parents look?
Since the rocks were tough to navigate in heels, I just stayed in the picture spot and let the various groupings come to me. This picture taken by Laura (one of the groomsmen’s wives) has quickly become a family favorite. Thank you Laura! (I have no idea what I was doing, probably bracing against the wind.)
At 4:30, my bridesmaids whisked me off to the locker room of the club (appropriate for a fitness blogger, right?) to hide before the ceremony.
I had about 10 minutes to use the restroom, drink some water, and sit down. Our pastor came in to pray with us, my parents joined us, and suddenly we were lining up to begin the processional. It was finally time to marry this guy I’d been smitten with since we had shared a classroom wall five years ago.
Other Wedding Posts:
- Wedding Sneak Peak
- Wedding Preparations and Pre-Party
- Friday Rehearsal Dinner Backyard BBQ
- Getting Ready
- Ceremony
- Reception Memories
- Two Week Mini-Moon
RQ: Did you have time to breathe the morning/afternoon of your wedding?
I’m Brooke Selb, a Personal Trainer and Health Coach specializing in helping busy moms and moms to be to easily juggle mom life with family friendly recipes, and easy exercise routines to help you achieve your fitness goals that fit in with your already busy life with sound nutritional advice.
OMG BROOKE!!!! SO SO beautiful. you look amazing & so happy. love the image of the whole line of you almost falling down haha.
Thank you, Caitlyn!
Gorgeous pictures!!!
Your parents are so cute – they look very much in love and like the nicest couple!!!
Those rocks look treacherous but so worth it for the amazing pictures!
It’s kind of gross (in a good way) how much they still love each other. I hope everyone gets to be that lucky.
Natural photos are the best. I feel like I have a really cheesey smile when I’m “trying to be natural” – the pictures are gorgeous!
My ceremony started at 11:30am so I really had no time to breath, but for me that was good. The big snafu on my wedding day was running up and over a concrete median – the big ones separating parking spaces – at Dunkin Donuts (I was getting coffee and muffins for my bridal party). My sister was in the car with me, we just stared at each other with our jaws dropped, and she was immediately like “it’s fine! I’ll call mom to get us, and a tow truck….and…” and I just looked at her and said “No. I’m getting married today. I’m backing up off this curb even if my dang car falls apart!” Luckily the car was fine in the end. My sister and I still about it to this day.
Looking forward to the ceremony and reception post!
I am so glad your car was ok and that you guys were ok! Talk about a frazzled wedding brain! Why was your ceremony so early in the day?
It was early because we wanted the wedding package that included brunch! We are brunch lovers 🙂 Our reception was then from noon-5pm.
oops… *laugh about it to this day.
😉
So lovely 🙂
I wanted to do a first look with JG but he didn’t want to!
On the morning of my wedding I said to my bridal party “This is some serious sh*t. I can’t back out now.” lol
You and your dress are gorgeous! Your whole family is gorgeous! YAY for your wedding!!!!
Hahahaha. Love your comment to your bridal party!