Wedding IV

I think we all imagined that the trip over to Joyce and Bill's house was going to be sneakier than it actually was.



We discussed all sorts of cloak and dagger maneuvers, including shrouding me in a giant cloak, having all the girls cluster in front of me so I could tiptoe into the house behind them with no one the wiser, or doing that James Bond peer-around-corners-then-duck-and-tumble-into-position thing. (The latter was abandoned after someone pointed out the impracticality of tumbling in a party dress.)

As it turned out, we just sort of meandered over.



The wait for Paul and his groomsmen to get in place so the wedding could begin was interminable.



The wedding was being held in Joyce and Bill's front yard, so we planned to regroup in their front room and sail right out the front door and down to the "altar" under the big tree in their front yard. So we regrouped. And regrouped. And regrouped. And the guys didn't come, and didn't come, and didn't come. And I got more and more and more fidgety.

Kate and Whitney (our bold and intrepid readers) walked my mom down the aisle.






My bridesmaids and I tried to behave ourselves, but we couldn't keep from peeking through the windows to see who was out there.

First Amy,



then Amy and Erin,



and pretty soon all of us.





Kate totally caught us peeking, but I don't think too many other people noticed. See? We *were* being sneaky. Kinda.



Finally, after about a thousand years, Paul and his groomsmen made their entrance.



My cousins Kelly and Ben started playing "You Raise Me Up" on their violins.



My bridesmaids started making their way down the aisle, and I got more and more nervous as they abandoned me.





Finally it was Dad's and my turn.



Erin, bless her, was already crying, and would cry through the whole ceremony. She was no help at all in my own efforts not to cry.



Brother Tony said a prayer, during which I was able to collect myself somewhat.







(Amy totally peeked during the prayer. Kate confessed that she was peeking, too. Bad girls.)



And then my dad gave me away to my soon-to-be-husband.

Wedding III

Once we mopped ourselves up from the initial "Oh my God, she's a BRIDE" moment, everyone wanted to help get me brushed and fluffed and primped for the ceremony. I'm pretty sure that at one point absolutely everyone in my house had their hands on me



and I got my game face on.



After that, though, it was my turn to shoo everyone off to get themselves ready







while I finished drying Erin's hair. In my wedding dress. Which is exactly how I wanted it to be.





Finally we were all ready.



I decorated Mama



and we were ready to roll. Are these not about the prettiest ladies you've ever seen?



Up next: the exciting dash to Joyce and Bill's house and the excruciating seven minute wait for the ceremony to begin.

*pics by Hannah Samuell

Wedding II

We were perhaps a bit... casual about getting ready for the ceremony. At about 1:00, as I was still happily fussing with the place settings and getting ready to set up the hors d'oeuvres table behind my house, Kate, dear friend/reader/day-of coordinator coordinator extraordinaire, found me and said something to the effect of "WE-ARE-SUPPOSED-TO-BE-HIDING-IN-JOYCE-AND-BILL'S-HOUSE-IN-*ONE*-HOUR-AND-YOU'RE-NOT-EVEN-DRESSED-YET!"

So we started getting ready.

Only people kept calling for me from outside, and I was still convinced that we had plenty of time.



But eventually Kate and my bridesmaids wrestled me into the living room (or the dressing room, as it was that day) and we all started applying our war paint.



All, that is, except Erin, who hadn't gotten around to showering yet that day, and so hopped in the shower at t-40 minutes to go. Little sisters. Bless 'em.



Getting ready was fun, and girly, and a lot like a high school slumber party or dressing up for prom.







Then it was finally time for me to get into my dress. I will probably someday devote an entire post to the dress, but for now, suffice it to say that Kate and I made it together, and it was probably the single biggest labor of love either of us had ever undertaken. I certainly couldn't have done it alone, and the hours (and hours and hours) we spent working on it together are hours I treasure. When my mom helped me put it on she started crying. Which made me start to cry. When I walked out of my room, all of the girls started to cry. Which made me stomp my foot and demand that they STOP IT RIGHT NOW because it was entirely too soon for any of that.



But all the same, it was a good thing I supplied us all with pretty hankies. We needed them that day.

*Photos by Hannah Samuell

Wedding I

Tomorrow will be our one-month anniversary. I haven't posted much about the wedding yet because I've wanted to hold it close and keep it just for myself for a little while, but it's been a month and it's time to share. Plus, I can't keep these gorgeous pictures to myself anymore.


To set the scene: October 10, 2010. 80 degrees, sunny, nary a cloud in the sky.

Slight breeze, just enough to set Amy's little flags waving.

I woke up with my sister and we puttered around nailing down last minute details (me baking two cherry pies, she downloading songs for our fabulous playlist).

The chairs were delivered and Paul, Bill and I set them up in Bill and Joyce's front yard, where we'd be married later that day.

Gradually friends and family started showing up to help, setting the tables,


hanging tissue paper puffballs in the tree to float over our heads while we said our vows,


and obsessively organizing toothpicks for the olive and cheese trays by color.



*all photos by the utterly fabulous Hannah Samuell