For our six o’clock wedding, we had to get to the church ridiculously early. The church ladies wanted us there no later than 4:30, and I was supposed to walk down the aisle at precisely six on the dot, come hell or high water. We arrived at the church right at 4:30 during the beginnings of the massive thunderstorm. Boys and girls were segregated in different parts of the church– the girls and I in the bridal suite, JP’s groomsmen in the narthex, and JP, his best man, and Quincy, our reverend/officiant, in the preacher’s office. And we waited.
While JP had some lovely pictures of the bouts taken, I nervously clamped my ink-stained hands downstairs. Oh yeah, and then I decided I was going to burst if I didn’t use the restroom soon. I know a lot of brides go DEFCON 3 over the whole bathroom-while-dress-clad thing, but I decided long before the wedding how I was going to do it. My plan was just to take the dang thing off, hang it up, grab a sheet for a little hippie toga, and go to the bathroom. The closest restroom to the bridal suite was a public one (good planning, church!), and there was no way I was going to drag my train through that. (A field and dirt? Sure. But bathroom? Just couldn’t do it.)
After I had my little restroom party with Laura laughing like crazy outside, I was plunked down to eat a protein bar and drink some water. Then I sat around and paced in my sheet for an hour. During that time, Mom came down and told us the awful tale of how there was a colossal storm going on outside. They had had to play emergency take-everything-back-inside-the-house-so-it-doesn’t-get-destroyed back home, and she was dressed, but a bit frazzled. For some reason, none of this fazed me, but I guess I was just in my happy zen-bride place. In my toga. Actually, that whole sheet-toga thing was really a great idea in retrospect. It kept my dress from getting even more wrinkled, it let me cool off, and it was comfy and relaxing. If you have a big gap between portraits and the ceremony and you’re in a position to have a quick-change, I highly recommend it.
It came to be time to put on the veil. This was a large task, and somehow, no matter how many billions of bobby pins we put in my hair, it always just slid out. Having your hair down + having fine hair + veil = easy situation. Thankfully, photog Reagan came to the rescue with a magical little twisty hidden hair trick in the back, and we got the veil to stay on.
Upstairs, the musicians were playing as guests began arriving.
The pews were all decked out with our sticks, billy buttons, and twine. I really love what our florist did with all of our arrangements. We didn’t want too much going on decorations-wise at the church because it already was such a grand space.
Programs in use! All of that hard work nailing and sewing was put to good use.
We all lined up, and I was still tucked away at the base of the staircase. I so clearly remember these moments, and looking back on it all is so surreal.
I remember the moment I heard the sounds of Passacaglia trickle down the stairs, and I knew it was time for the parents to start walking.
I imagined my parents carrying the flame, trying not to let the flame go out before they got to the unity candle. Laura reached down and grabbed my hand, and I bit the inside of my mouth to stop the tears from welling in my eyes.
My father walked back down the aisle. He had another lady waiting at the base of the stairs to escort.
With Passacaglia still playing, the bridal party made their way up the aisle, boys and girls alternating.
Then, just as the song was ending, my father and I reached the top of the stairs and entrance to the narthex. The church ladies closed the doors to the sanctuary, and as my father and I readied ourselves behind them, Quincy asked the congregation to stand.
It was time.
*All photographs from Matt Miller of Our Labor of Love.
Need to do some catching up in the recap department?
- I popped in to say hello a few days after the wedding.
- I showed off our awesome wedding video, which was subsequently publicized by Ashton Kutcher.
- The day before our wedding was entirely too hectic, and our rehearsal was almost foiled by a contact.
- I pulled it back together and had a blast at our awesome rehearsal dinner, starting with toasts and roasts, followed by us being handcuffed together, and ending with a good old fashioned beat down.
- The wedding day morning started off with some note writing and veil steaming and then some detail shots were shown off. Then, we all got our hair done, I cried with presents, and topped it all off with some more video action, then finally savored the moment and put the dress on. Oh yeah, and the guys got ready too.
- Our first look began with me running and jumping on JP, and then we threw some hearts around and took sort-of awkward bridal party portraits.
3 and 4 are actually the same headband, but I just wanted to show how it worked. This one I really love, but I think it might be a little too much by most people’s standards. But then again, I’m not most people. 5 is a less intense version of 3/4, which might be a nice compromise. Heck, though, if you’re gonna go, go all out, right? I love the lightness of 6, but I’d definitely have to wear that more towards the back of my head, otherwise those fluffly things would drive me nuts. 7 reminds me of the lovechild of a seahorse, coral, and a be-dazzler, but I like it. A lot. I just don’t know if it would make sense with the dress. 8 is cute, but I don’t know if I can pull cute off.
Now we are starting to get a little funkier, at least color-wise, which makes me very excited in meinen Hosen. 9 is a peacock feather headband. The color is great, and it’s much more headband-y. 10 is awesome, because it just screams blue and feathers and fun and stuff, without being too over the top. I do wonder if it could be a little more intense, but then we might border on our friend Carrie’s bird up thurr. 11 is to die for, with the two giant flowers made out of feathers. I also like guys that are shooting out of it. Almost looks like a fireworks-flower-feather-attack, but in a good way. 12 is great because of that killer brooch-like center, but then with the soft feathers around it.
Whichgoose specializes in natural crowns, which is amazing, and makes me want to dance around in the forest with Puck, Oberon, and Titania. (Bonus points for those of you that get that reference). Out of all of the headpieces here, I think that these might make my heart beat the fastest. 13 is awesome, the color, the pearl-things, the giant-ness. I love it. 14 looks so wonderful and Southern-fairy-princess to me. I love the stick tendrils. I love the shape of the arrangement of flowers in 15. It’s more oblong, and I like that it almost looks like a half-headband. Almost. 16, oh 16. The color is so fantastic. The everything-about-it is so fantastic. The only thing that concerns me is that this one is more of a “crown,” which, sadly, might be too much.
