After what's felt like interminable waiting, but really wasn't, I received the DVD of photos from our wedding. (Yea!) I spent most of tonight pulling a selection of the best and putting them together into a quick photo album for your viewing pleasure. It's stuff like this:
And this:
(Let me tell you, this guy is good!)
To view the album of professional photos from our wedding, click right here - and enjoy!
Big, huge, major thanks goes to my sister-in-law, Heather, for shooting these images during the ceremony. At least, I'm 99% certain she's the one behind the lens - my brother took Lyla upstairs to watch the ceremony from up there when she started talking about princess dresses and circle lights (which I thought was precious, by the way) so again, I'm pretty sure Heather's the one to credit for these. If not, I'm sure Jim will let me know...
We've decided to call this one "Crazy Mountain Man gives away the bride". Between my Dad's long beard and the walls of the log cabin behind him, the only thing missing is the shotgun! Actually, Dad asked (with a sad tone in his voice) if I was going to make him trim up his beard. C'mon ... and give up a photo opportunity like this?!?
The look on Jim's face just cracks me up...! I'm not sure what was going on here - precisely what was said, or if I was talking, or if he was just looking at me - but it's the look on his face, and the laughter on Kevin's, that just makes me smile when I see this photo.
Isn't it obvious we were having a little bit of fun during the ceremony? Again, I don't recall precisely what was said at this point - I'll have to go back and watch the video - but Veronica and I were giggling. Not really anything new when the two of us are together, but it's a sweet moment to have caught on film. (Or digitally ... whatever.)
Aaaaahhhh... the kiss. Need I say more? Heather got an awesome photo of this. Thank you, girl!
...and until that long-awaited CD arrives in our mailbox, that's it for the wedding photos. I have more shots to share from the post-wedding festivities, including hilarious outtakes from tubing, impressive shots of Jim skiing, and some incredible close-ups I got of Lyla making silly faces. But I think I've done enough for tonight.
More will follow tomorrow!
...to help them get ready on their wedding day.
No, I'm serious: it does wonders to help reduce your stress level. Because you've got to keep laughing if you're going to have that many little girls running around, and if you're laughing, you can't scream or cry, right? Right.
This is what it looked like upstairs in the 'bridal wing" most of the morning of my wedding day:
That's me, surrounded by all my little ladies. Or "the loud-mouthed, opinionated little boogers" - depending on the moment.
When we decided on a home-style wedding, I knew I wanted family and kids around. My mother warned me my 20-month old niece, Lyla, was liable to "shriek like a banshee during the ceremony" - which I thought was hilarious. See, my attitude is this: life is messy, and loud, and imperfect. Why shouldn't a wedding be like real life? As long as you're surrounded by the people you love, and people who love you, doing things that make you happy ... all the glossy polish that people worry about "for show" really doesn't matter. But then again, that's me.
Let me introduce you to my cousin, Krista.
(Krista reads my blog, and she's probably going to KILL me for posting her photo here. Too bad. I think she's beautiful, and I want her photo here. So there. Nyeah.)
Krista belongs to my Mom's younger sister, Nancy, although we're happy to claim her, too. <grin> She's in high school now, although I have trouble remembering that ... since it seems like we only spend time together every couple of years, my brain has a hard time making those jumps. I remember Krista as a tough-as-nails middle schooler who played softball and hated all things "girly". Now, she's in marching band and - holy crap - she even wears makeup!
But seriously ... aside from the fact that Krista's a trip to hang out with, it was a total Godsend to have her there for "wedding weekend". She was right there to roll up her sleeves and pitch in with whatever we were doing - whether it involved food prep, putting together floral arrangements, moving furniture, hauling stuff around on the deck, or ... and this was the best part ... corraling six girls under the age of 12.
My two buddies - and instigators of probably at least half the fun stuff going on at the house - were Veronica and my niece, Gabby. These two were in and out of my room all morning Monday. First it was V to check on me and make sure I'd be ready to do her hair at 9:30 like we planned. Then it was Gabby to talk with me until her Mom was out of the shower. Then it was V again. Then both Gabby and V.
At some point, Lyla wandered in. (Isn't she just precious?) 20 months old, into everything, and talking up a storm ... Lyla was equally fascinated by my body brush (go figure...) and the extra rose from my bouquet. She was perfectly happy to poke around my room while I did my hair and makeup, and then started in on the girls.
That's right - girls - not just Veronica, but all the girls wound up lining up for a turn in my chair. How bizarre is that?!? Since V now has a super-short bob, I did her hair in a half-up-do with little twists, and wove in baby's breath for this sweet little crown. Of course, then all the girls wanted flowers in their hair. So, I told them to go downstairs and each take a flower from one of the arrangements.
Quite pleasantly, I discovered they followed my instructions and each took just one... so I wound up pinning up everyone's hair and working in these purple daisies for Gabby, Grace (Anita's 6 year old daughter), and Julianna (Jim's best friend - and our pastor - Kevin's youngest daughter).
At various points, the adults popped their heads into my room to check on me ... and each time they had this look of trepidation - like, "She's going to be freaking out, what are the girls doing in here, we need to get them away..." And instead, they found me surrounded by giggles and absolutely overflowing with joy.
If you'd told me two weeks ago that this is how I'd spend the morning of my wedding, I'd have said NO WAY - and then I'd probably call my MD for a prescription for tranquilizers. But I can't imagine a better way to have started off the best day of my life!
(By the way, in the group shot above, from left to right: Veronica, Julianna, me, Lyla, Gabby, Grace, and Mikaela - Kevin's oldest daughter, who was much happier playing pool with the guys downstairs than doing girly stuff upstairs with us)
I'm still anxiously awaiting those "official" photographs from my photographer, which should be arriving any day now, but in the meanwhile, I'm entertaining myself by browsing through the images shot with my camera.
When we arrived at the lake house, Jim and I found a gift from my parents in the form of a towel cake. Sounds strange, but looks cool... one of their gifts to us was a set of new towels, all in white, and my Mom took some of them and whip-stitched them together and formed a beautiful "cake" out of them. What a clever way to give us the towels - and what an gorgeous decoration!
I have to note, though, that the cake topper has a story to it: it came with a note from my Mom saying she knew it didn't look like us, but that it was supposed to just be symbolic, "...like art, y'know?" Apparently she considered having my Dad sand off the hair on the guy and then was going to paint the hair on the girl a shade of red, but she was afraid of messing it up. How cute is that?!? Naw, Mom ... symbolic is good.
My surprise for our families was a project I'd spent several days of the previous week working on: a poster commemorating the weddings of our parents and siblings (and, my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Keith, since Aunt Nancy joined us for the wedding). We located wedding photos of everyone and with some Photoshop work on my end, this was the result:
Cool, huh? It was so entirely worth it when I saw the looks on their faces as each of them looked at the poster.
Clockwise, from upper left: Jim's parents, my parents, my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Keith, my brother Jim and his wife Heather, Jim's youngest sister Anita and her husband Mike, Jim's younger sister Karen and her husband Jeff, and Jim's older sister Cindy and her husband Keith.
Of course, I can't do anything without making at least a small boo-boo, and with this project, I gave my brother something to pick on for years to come: I got his wedding date wrong. Jim and Heather were married in 2004, not 2003. This became a running joke all weekend, and I'm delighted to know I'm still good for giving my family something to pick on and tease about...!
When it came to decorating the lake house for our wedding, I wanted to keep it simple and "homey". The house is already so beautiful, it didn't need a whole lot other than a few touches to add in our blue color scheme.
Since the ceremony would take place in front of the fireplace, Veronica and I decorated the mantle with a variety of candles: pillars, small jars, and mason jars filled with pebbles, water, and floating candles.
They were so ridiculously simple to put together, and so inexpensive (double bonus!) and they went perfectly with the whole at-home, Texas-style feel I wanted for the day. My only regret is that in the craziness right before the start of the ceremony, we forgot to light the candles!
Another amazing touch came courtesy of my father. I was concerned that our guests would have difficulty finding the house, since it's tucked away in a wonderfully hidden spot. So Dad made these beautiful, rustic signs to lead the way.
With one at the turn onto the street, and a second at the turn into the driveway, it was easy to find your way ... and I especially loved the "key" directional arrows!
But best of all was the sign Dad made to go near the front entrance to the house:
He asked me if there was a specific Bible verse that was meaningful to us, so I gave him 1 Corinthians 13 - you know the one, "Love is patient, love is kind" - and he used the phrase from the end, "...but the greatest of these is love." Isn't it beautiful?
The sign sat right next to the front door, leaving no doubt that our guests were in the right place.
More photos to come...
Words will come later ... for now, photographs will speak volumes:
Massive thanks to my brother and sister-in-law for taking candid snapshots during the ceremony so my need for immediate photographic gratification could be fulfilled. (The photos from the photographer will arrive in a week, but I can't wait that long...)
More to come later.
One of the lessons I've learned through the course of planning a wedding with Jim is that we have drastically different expectations as to what goes into this type of event. For example, when I first mentioned the idea of wedding favors for our guests, he looked at me like I was utterly insane. "This isn't a child's birthday party," he said with more than a little indignance in his voice.
I've also learned that a good sense of humor, lots of hugs and kisses, and calm discussions are invaluable in getting past those differences of opinion.
Somewhere along the way, Jim decided he was okay with the idea of doing wedding favors ... especially when I suggested an idea that was (a) edible and (b) cheap. On Wednesday after work, he joined me for a shopping run that included stops at Michael's, Walmart, and Sam's Club to pick up all the supplies.
About a month ago, I got it in my head that I wanted to use Mason Jars as a theme for decorating the wedding. They seem to fit with the whole down-home, rustic feel of the wedding at the lakehouse. The favors are pint-size jars filled with trail mix, spruced up with a hand-stamped top and tag.
I think I estimated these cost somewhere between $1 and $1.50 apiece. But the best part was the unexpected treat of Jim offering to help with the entire project... including the "crafty stuff" he claims he's not any good at. I taught him how to use my heat gun to set the ink on the shimmer white cardstock for the top ... he helped trace and cut the circles ... he helped punch the tags ... and he helped tie them on with the twine.
We made two dozen of these, start to finish, in less than an hour. And the entire time was spent talking, laughing, and singing along to the 80's tunes I cranked up in my studio. Just when I think I know how very blessed I am to have this man in my life, he surprises me yet again and gives me another reason to be thankful.
With the favors done, that was the last major project to check off my list ... so I'm down to just menu planning, grocery lists, and packing. Which means this weekend, I can switch gears and focus on Toastmasters for a little bit.
...but that's a topic for another post!
We're in the final stretch, with the wedding countdown numbering days rather than weeks ... so as we hit the mark of less than 30 days to go, it was time to make a trip to the Collin County Clerk's office. 20 minutes and $36 later, Jim and I walked out with the most important thing we need have on June 30th:
Isn't it cool?!? We have our marriage license!
Not to say that the fact I'm marrying Jim hasn't been real to me, but I've had these moments over the past few weeks where everything around me stops, and I think, "Wow - we're getting married." I don't know if I can explain it any better than that, but other brides can probably relate.
Like the evening we bought our wedding rings. When it slid onto my finger, and it was so perfect i heard the "click" in my head, and Jim said "We'll take them," and we walked out with the bag containing two 6mm wide gold bands clutched in my eager, excited hands, I thought - "Wow ... we're getting married."
Like the night my wedding dress arrived. When I opened the box, and tossed the tissue paper all over the floor, and pulled out the garment bag, and unzipped it, and out spilled my dress, and I hung it on the back of the door and spread the train out and stepped back to look at it, and it was perfect, I thought - "Wow ... we're getting married."
Like when I put my veil on for the first time, and saw my reflection in the mirror, and realized that I'm going to bring tears to Jim's eyes as I walk down the stairs and into his arms in front of the fireplace, I thought - "Wow ... we're getting married."
This morning, when the County Clerk handed us our license and said, "This is where your officiant will sign and date it on June 30th," I had another one of those moments.
Just 25 days to go ... and we're getting married!
Have you ever started a project and then asked yourself, “Just what have I gotten myself into?”
That was the question I found myself asking early last week as Jim and I sat down with the to-do list for our September 6th wedding. When I realized everything that needed to be done within the next four months to pull off this big event in Waco, first I freaked out … then, I said, “Remind me again - why are we doing it this way?”
And I’m awful glad I did. Of course, I wish I’d asked those questions before we sent out the Save-the-Date cards… Oh well, I've never claimed to have the best sense of timing.
Jim and I are so blissfully excited about beginning our new lives together, and we wanted to share that joy with all of our friends. But as the guest list climbed to 300, I realized there was no way we’d get to spend any meaningful time with any of our guests at our reception before having to make our getaway. Compound that with the stress of planning a wedding for 300 … and again, I found myself asking, “Why?”
So I asked Jim to elope with me. Yeah … it’s the first time in eight or nine years of friendship that I’ve ever seen him truly speechless.
Turns out he doesn’t have a ladder that will reach my third floor apartment. (Bummer…) Instead, we’ve reached a beautiful compromise that makes us both incredibly happy. And best of all, I get to become his wife sooner than we had planned!
On Monday, June 30th – in just seven weeks – Jim and I will be married in the presence of our families at a friends’ lakehouse in Kingsland, on beautiful Lake LBJ. It’s going to be small, simple, and just about as stress-free as a wedding can possibly get. We’ll have the rest of the week to relax at the lake with family, and we’ll wrap up our wedding celebration with fireworks on the dock on the 4th of July. How cool is that?!?
We’re still taking our honeymoon on September 7th – we’ve booked an 8-day cruise of the Mexican Riviera – and it’s my hope that in the weeks and months that come, we’ll be able to celebrate and share that aforementioned joy with some of our friends. Whether we get together for lunch or go grab dinner, or if we see each other at a conference or event, our time spent together visiting and talking and enjoying each other’s company will be much more meaningful than a quick hug or handshake in a receiving line.
Of course, we’ll use our wedding website to make everyone feel like they were there… we’ll post photos and possibly video, if we can. So keep an eye on www.jimandangiewedding.com … I should have the first update online in the next day or two.
Right now, my head is in this totally weird state ... I can't believe that exactly seven weeks from today, I'll be "Angie Key" ... there's still a lot to do, but it's such fun, cool stuff. The lakehouse is such a place of peace for me, I can't think of any other place I'd rather marry my Jim. But there's time to tell you more about all that later...
Credits for these incredible photos go to Audrey Reed, who shot them on Sunday in McKinney.
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