Chasing Cars - Taking a Ride

After our portraits at the hotel, us girls piled into the trolley and took a ride over the church for more pictures.

The hotel was located in the parking area for the museum (our reception venue), so one of the girls snapped a photo of the museum's sign...

The photographers didn't ride over with us, but that doesn't mean the ride wasn't well-documented!

Abes and Nicole

Me and Sissy

Abes and Tina

Me and Stephy

Steph, Nicole, and Mel

Tina and Abes.  Typical.

I had managed to remain composed for most of the day so far.  Until...

Yup.  I totally had a moment on the trolley ride.  All of a sudden, the day was very real.  I was getting married! 

(the photos in the previous series were from my girls)

We arrived at the church and took a few more fun pictures.

Still gabbing.

 

This felt so weird, but it's one of my favorite pictures!

My sister was singing something to me

Are we a bunch of sex-pots, or what?

 

Soon, it was time for us to disappear inside before the trolley came back with the boys.  Oh yeah, they're coming up!

All photos, unless noted, are from Everlasting Images

Chasing Cars - Bridal Portraits

We took bridal and bridal party pictures at the hotel and at the church.  I'm really glad for the dual locations, because it gave us lots of options.  Up first?  Hotel...

Mom and her girls

Me and Mom

MOH Callie

BM Tina

BM Nicole

BM Stephy

Stephy gave me my "Something Borrowed" - a bobby pin she'd worn on her wedding day

BM Mel

BM Abes

I laughed all day long.

Gab-fest.  Typical!

I love these photos.  Coming up, we take a trolley ride to the church and take some more pictures!

All photos from Everlasting Images.

It's Bachelorette Time, Baby!!

Today is my bachelorette party!! I'm so excited. My MOH/sister Callie and BM Steph have arranged quite a day/night for me, it seems. I've been left pretty much in the dark, so I can't wait to see exactly what they have in store. Better yet, though, I can't wait to see the pretty faces of all my favorite girls!! Tune in later for some recaps and - maybe - some pictures!

Bridesmaid Dress? Check!

The shopping excursion on Saturday was a total success - and a BLAST! I always love catching up with these girls. We rode around in the bus (my mom's VW van) all day - from bridal shop to lunch to bridal shop to Friendly's (mmm...ice cream) and back to my mom's house to hang out and work on our tans.

But I digress...we found a dress! Actually, we found two dresses! One at each bridal salon. Everyone really liked both, and we got all the girls measured at the second shop, but then after some serious soul-searching, I decided I like the first one better and that's the final decision. The original decision-maker was that the second dress came in Peacock blue, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought, "You know...that could be really obnoxious on 6 girls!" Plus, I think the first one will be a bit more comfortable for the girls. So, the decision was made!

It's a Bill Levkoff design, and I love it. I think all the girls are going to look stunning in it. And navy is such a classic, elegant color. I'm thrilled that we were able to find something in one day. I'm thrilled that almost everyone was able to come (we missed you, Stephy)! I'm so blessed to have such amazing girls who are going to be standing up with me on one of the most important days of my life.

Shopping!

This weekend, I'm getting together with almost all of my girls to go shopping for their Bridesmaid dresses. I'm so excited!

We've got a full day planned on Saturday, starting with mimosas at my mom's house to give a good kick-start to the day of fun! Then we are going to a couple different bridal shops, including the one where I bought my dress. After shopping, we'll cap the day off with dinner and bowling - one of our favorite activities from way back in the day!

These girls are pretty much my most favorite people in the world, and I cannot wait to get together and catch up with all of them.

The Girls

My poor bridesmaids. They all keep asking me what I'm thinking of for their dresses, and all I keep giving them is, "Long, navy or peacock blue...I have some ideas." I'm so vague, so indecisive, ha ha. So I thought I'd throw them a bone and give them a look at what some of my ideas are.

I defiitely want them in long. It's a church wedding, it's in the fall...it just seems appropriate for them to be in long dresses. And while I like the idea of letting each girl choose a style of dress that suits her, I also like the look in pictures when everyone is wearing the same. So, all the girls will be in the same dress. Ideally, I would love to find a great dress that is available in the peacock blue color, but I'm finding that not a lot of designers make that color, so it may have to be navy.

I'm torn between two different schools of thought (again): having the girls in dresses similar to mine so that it looks cohesive, or having them in dresses different from mine so that I stand out. I equally like both ideas, so I really don't know what direction to go in. It will probably just come down to whatever the girls find that they (or the majority of them) like, that's what we'll go with. But, that doesn't mean I'm not having fun in the meantime looking at different dresses and getting ideas!!

So here are some of the ones I like if I go with dresses similar in style to mine:

And, if I go with something different:

I know, the last one is drastically different, but I totally love it.

Ok, girls, the floor is open...