Mr. and Mrs. Weak Sauce Go the Distance (a completed Disneymoon TR!)

[Nermel9]

I love all the pictures of you guys getting ready! I love your hair, it looks so pretty curly like that! And your dress is amazing, and the bridesmaid dresses are adorable too! You all look so beautiful! Pictures like this make me regret not having a big wedding! Oh well...in 3 years I'll do my vow renewal in Disney and make up for it then!

 

[RunningGirl]

Thanks for sharing such great photos! I love that you were crafting up to the very last minute. You look really gorgeous all done up, but I also love the pic with your hair in the 2 big white clips - very cute!

 

[dellasgirl]

Hi Rachel

Congratulations on your marriage
I LOVE the pictures of your shoes and the rings
and the flowers with the rings in them.
Wish i had thought of that shot for my
daughter's wedding.

Looking forward to reading about the rest of the ceremony
and the disneynoon


Ann

 

[729tink]

Congratulations! You sound like you were the same kind of bride I was! I begged my husband to take me to town hall to elope a dozen times before we were married, but he forced me to go through with the whole shebang anyway. You were a beautiful bride - I can't wait to read the rest

 

[RachelNinja]

Love all the wedding pictures and backstory!

I am with you on the make-up! My make-up person insisted on doing a " smoky eye". I thought it was too dark but it didn't look so bad in the pictures.

We really are a lot alike except that High School Musical 2 is my favorite of the movies!

I knew that I had to trust the makeup girl because she clearly had done the makeup for so many brides beforehand, but I'm glad I spoke up about not making it TOO dark. For the trial, she used black to line and all that, but I don't wear black on a daily basis (I use pewter). For the wedding, she went with a dark brown or something else instead. I was very happy with it!

Haha, HSM2 is the one I couldn't quite get into, I don't know why. It bothered me that Troy was out singing on the golf course (haha even though Howard sings that song every so often out of nowhere!).

LOL, before I even got to the end of the sentence I thought of HSM with that "night of nights" quote.

All your wedding pictures are great!

Haha, I knew that you would definitely get the reference right away! Woohoo, HSM! EVERY time we pass by the new show at DHS, Howard and I MUST comment on how HSM was better!

Congratulations!!! You guys make an adorable couple!

I remember reading (lurking) a previous TR and really enjoyed how witty you are! I can't wait to hear more about your wedding and disneymoon

All of your DIY wedding projects came out amazing! You have a great talent

You look so gorgeous in your dress and the makeup looks great!!

I'm so glad you're here for this one too! Haha, I don't know about the whole "witty" thing, but I hope that it'll be somewhat entertaining! I know that I'm enjoying sharing about all the pre-Disneymoon wedding craziness!

(I completely agree with you about The Office... it's just not the same without Steve Carell! )

HAHAHA, your HSM3 quote made me laugh. I haven't watched any of those movies in forever, but I used to be so obsessed with them!

Awww... I totally understand how you didn't want to make a big fuss over your wedding, but I must say that so far everything sounds like it was great, and you looked beautiful!

I'm surprised that it's still on without Steve Carell. I really like Will Ferrell, but when he was on the show for those few episodes, I could NOT get into it. It's too difficult to fill those shoes!

Love it so far! You look so beautiful in your dress.

Great philosophy about the unity candle vs. sand ceremony--I never thought of that before. When we got married, we planned a unity candle, but tornadoes in the vicinity sort of cut our outdoor ceremony short, so needless to say, we cut out the unity candle and lit it on 1 year anniversary.

I can't wait for the ceremony pictures! I miss your trip reports and I'm so glad you are writing this one! Yay!

I just couldn't accept the unity candle idea mainly because I was worried about holding the candle itself too! I don't like dealing with fire even in something so small! Everyone there really liked the sand because they had never seen it before. I guess I had read so many wedding blogs and reports here on DIS that the sand ceremony was so common in my mind!

Congrats on the wedding!! I am impressed with how you accomplished all those DIY projects for the big day! When I get married, I too want to do all my centerpieces, favors and invitations myself. I get nervous to think how much time it will take though....

Can't wait to read more!

Thank you! It's definitely a huge undertaking, but if you plan your projects earlier, it'll be a LOT of fun. I just couldn't juggle all of that along with my job as a teacher. I also had a LONG engagement, so I COULD have had more time to work on it, but in actuality, the long engagement meant that we kind of procrastinated thinking we had a lot of time left!

You look so beautiful!

Thank you!

I'm gonna try to do a TR this go round. We got engaged at Cinderella's Royal Table in April this year so for us to go two trips in one year is amazing. One will be the Disneymoon and my daughter isn't going.

Ooo, if you do write a TR, make sure you send me the link! I'd love to hear the proposal story too if you write your TR! Yeah, this was the first time we had two trips in one year because my parents just happened to be going in April because the timeshare week matched up with Easter week (no exchange fee).

I'm joining in! I totally know what you mean about not being excited to actually get married. I hated being the center of attention at our wedding a year ago. It was so nice to get back to our hotel room and just be together and not have everybody paying attention to us You looked beautiful and you guys make such a cute couple! I can't wait to hear all about your honeymoon

Yay, so glad you're here! Haha, I like finding other couples who don't enjoy all the attention! People kept telling me, "Oh, you'll enjoy it on the day of." Um, those people clearly didn't know me that well because even on the day of, I couldn't fully enjoy myself because I was so aware of everyone watching! I liked the moments with smaller crowds like when we signed our marriage license or in the limo with the 4 people in our bridal party or eating hor d'ouvres in the bridal suite. That stuff was fun!

I love everything about this!!! It makes me want to star planning my wedding. I won't be getting married for a few years, Andy's mother passed away last summer and we promised her that we would wait until he finished college to get married.

The Jim and Pam reference is perfect. I loved that episode it just made me so happy!!!

Much like you we don't want anything big and fancy. I have my heart set on a Disney wedding because we don't have much extended family so it's do able with the small numbers. I love that you did so much on your own but I can totally see where it can be a lot to take on.

You hair looked beautiful just the right amount of curl and it's so long. Your dress is perfect, I love chiffon and I think your qualifications in dress shopping were spot on haha. I loved the picture where you said it was the last time you would be a Miss in your house, melt my heart you are just perfect.

I can't wait to read more!!!

That's so sad to hear that Andy's mom passed away so recently and before the wedding. She was right though in it being better to wait until after he finishes college. I don't know that we would've been able to handle college things with wedding things too! It was very important that we both have steady jobs before getting married even though in my mind, I was so ready to be married right away!

Oh man, if you have a Disney wedding, that is going to be one awesome TR!!! I was really intrigued by the Disney Escape wedding because everything would've been taken care of. I'm really not picky, so answering a few questions and having someone else take care of it was the greatest! I mean, we didn't even go to our bakery to choose or taste the cake. The reception place used 2 vendors (cake was part of the price), so I asked the coordinator which was better. She gave me an answer and then a book of all the cake designs we could choose from. From there, we picked one really quickly and just asked for pink and green to match our colors. She encouraged us to go for the cake taste testing, but we didn't have any time, so we looked online at the flavors and immediately decided on chocolate cake with peanut butter filling! That's how wedding planning SHOULD be, haha. I think Disney would do an excellent job handling all the things that I find minor!

Thank you! Chiffon was the best material, and I knew I wanted it right away because I like dresses that move and flow. I did try on the other materials like satin and taffeta, but they were too stiff or too shiny for me. I tried a v-neck, halter top, sweetheart, corset back, and a skirt with pick-ups just in case I liked something else even though I expected not to. They were just too fussy for me, and I couldn't imagine going to the bathroom by myself in those bigger skirts! I'm so happy that it wasn't difficult finding my dress at all!

It's not terribly magical, pretty much social media based . I dated my fiance's brother when I was 18. We broke up after 6 months and I remained in contact with my now fiance (just random phone calls, saying Hi). We became friends when I was dating his brother. After a year or so since his brother and I had broken up, my now fiance asked me out. We went out on a few dates, but it was weird and we both felt guilty. We decided to remain friends.

We kept in random contact throughout the next 9-10 years. Some years just a handful of phonecalls. Two years ago he contacted me through Facebook and asked me out on a date (after asking his brother's permission this time [who's now married with a child]) and we've been inseparable ever since.

I'm planning on making a pommander as my bouquet and I search Etsy all the time for ideas! I think I can do what it is I have in my mind and I figure I have enough time that if I screw it up, I still have time to just buy the one off of Etsy . I love finding any and every way to save a dollar .

I know! It's crazy how life goes on and evolves in to such wonderful things .

I stopped watching the Office when Jim and Pam got married too. I tried to watch a few of the episodes after they had a kid, but it just wasn't as interesting to me anymore. And I'm not ashamed to admit, I shed a few tears during that wedding episode.

Ok, now I have to go back and read your recent update!

***Love the update!! Oh, and I totally eat toasted sesame bagels with avocado now because of you! I remember reading one of your TR's and thought it was a great combination. I went out and got a pack of sesame bagels and a bunch of avocadoes and it was sooooooo delicious!

I love the picture of your Mom putting on the necklace and you 'snootily' pushing back your veil. Haha!

Great idea about putting your vows on cardstock (especially in one of your wedding colors!). I have intentions on memorizing mine, but I know it'll never actually happen.

Thanks for sharing your story! I think it's so cute how you guys still ended up together despite that long time period!

Ooo, you should definitely try making the pommander yourself! With so many videos on YouTube and step-by-step tutorials with photos, you can do a test just to see if it'll work!

YES, I cry during that wedding episode! I can't help it. It's just done so beautifully with the scenes of their boat wedding cut into the scenes of the dancing down the aisle!

Haha, they seriously are the greatest breakfast ever! You don't have to feel guilty about it because the avocado has the good kind of fat in it!

I knew there'd be NO way that I could memorize my vows. I'm pretty good at memorizing (like for our church coffeehouses), but this would be way too much pressure! Plus, when I do scenes in coffeehouse, it's dialogue whereas the vows would be just ALL YOU. The colored cardstock would at least look a bit more planned! Could be really pretty!

Before I even read the explanation, I was like how awesome to start your update with a quote from HSM...love it!

I can about imagine how awful the eyelashes must have felt....but they definitely looked fantastic. Your hair and makeup looked perfect...I especially love how she did the curls in your hair.

I also love the fact that you had your bridesmaid's wear different colored dresses. I've always loved that idea and think it really adds something, especially in pictures.

Can't wait for more

HSM is the greatest! The newer Disney channel movies just weren't as good as the much older ones, so I was very happy when HSM came out!

When I showed Howard that picture, I was like, "And that's the GLUE that she had to put on my eye for the eyelashes!" He cringed! It's just so ... unnatural! Haha, at least it looked good.

Since I only had 2 girls, I thought it'd be nice to have one pink and one green. It was too bad that the dress, which was from J.Crew online, only came in berry and green. It worked out that the sizes they had left fit my girls! I didn't even have to decide who wore what; it was decided for me, haha. They were on sale for $70 each, so I'm glad I was able to save (in Chinese tradition, the couples pays for the bridal party).

Oh, I also wanted to add that your Mom looked beautiful! I love her dress!

And your dress is gorgeous!

Thanks! There was actually another blue dress that I had wanted her to wear instead, but she wanted to be more covered up, haha. The dress she wore was my 2nd choice for her, but she was a LOT more comfortable in it!

Rachel, I always enjoyed your comments on Joni's trip reports so I was very excited to find your trip report. So excited to be along for the ride. Congrats on the wedding. Everything was beautiful and that is so amazing how much you could do yourself.

Looking forward to reading more!

I'm so glad you came over to hang out with me on my TR!

I love all the pictures of you guys getting ready! I love your hair, it looks so pretty curly like that! And your dress is amazing, and the bridesmaid dresses are adorable too! You all look so beautiful! Pictures like this make me regret not having a big wedding! Oh well...in 3 years I'll do my vow renewal in Disney and make up for it then!

I'm glad my hair worked out on the wedding day. We didn't do that hairstyle during the trial. She had tried a half-up/half-down do without a side part, so my hair was pulled back and way too tight. Then she tried an updo even though I told her I didn't want one, but she wanted me to make sure I knew what it would look like. I combined half of the first style with half of the second for my actual hairstyle, so I didn't know how it would come out! I know it was simple, but I still worried about it a bit.

Ooo, vow renewal? How nice! Haha, when we were planning our wedding, Howard and I said the same thing! We were telling people we were planning our Disney vow renewal since it'd be what WE wanted the first time!

Thanks for sharing such great photos! I love that you were crafting up to the very last minute. You look really gorgeous all done up, but I also love the pic with your hair in the 2 big white clips - very cute!

We really were crafting up to the last minute! The only reason we weren't crafting up until the wedding day was because the reception place needed the stuff ahead of time, haha. I like the white clip pigtail pics too! It made us laugh when we saw it.

Hi Rachel

Congratulations on your marriage
I LOVE the pictures of your shoes and the rings
and the flowers with the rings in them.
Wish i had thought of that shot for my
daughter's wedding.

Looking forward to reading about the rest of the ceremony
and the disneynoon

Ann

Thank you! I'm glad the photographers thought to take those pictures. They were also very good in that they asked us for any specifics we wanted. There's one with a chair I love that I'll post later!

Congratulations! You sound like you were the same kind of bride I was! I begged my husband to take me to town hall to elope a dozen times before we were married, but he forced me to go through with the whole shebang anyway. You were a beautiful bride - I can't wait to read the rest

Thank you! I never thought I would be the type who wanted to elope, but as we were planning, I totally understood the draw of it!

 

[RachelNinja]

Mr. and Mrs. Weak Sauce: The Ceremony

In my last update, I said that when we arrived at the church, I was feeling a little nervous. I've been way more nervous about other things in my life though, so I was actually hoping that I could enjoy these moments since it's a one time thing only! I like that the photographers caught this picture of my dad making a joke. I have absolutely no recollection of the actual joke, but I just know that I was feeling calm enough to laugh. I wanted to get this show on the road!

Time to walk down the aisle! During the rehearsal, a few people including my mother-in-law kept trying to tell me that I had to do the walk-and-pause thing. I was like, "No one does that anymore! Everyone just walks slowly down the aisle!" I mean, sure, I was walking a lot faster during the rehearsal, but no way was I doing the stop and pause thing! They kept saying it's a short aisle (it's a wide church), but thankfully, I was able to convince my dad to just walk slowly. Phew.

I looked at Howard the ENTIRE time. My co-workers said that they looked at him too, and one specifically said he had this look that just showed how much he loved me. Oh, in this picture, you gotta love the fact that my uncle is standing out there getting a shot of me. You can see part of his face to the left of my head. And you see the person wearing black with the Nikon strap? Yeah, that's one of my photographers. I have to admit that it did kind of bug me that people were being somewhat annoying with pictures. Um, we paid good money for our AWESOME photographers! Let them do their job! They should be the only ones allowed to move wherever they want. Just sayin'!

I have to say that it was rather awkward being handed off to Howard. With EVERYONE watching, I just felt like we were putting on this show! By the way, the pastor who married us is one of my co-workers. He teachers Spanish and Bible at my school. During my first year of teaching in 2007-2008, we had a prep period together on Fridays during 8th period. I had struggles during the year (as all first year teachers do), and he was like, my spiritual mentor. He was one of the few who helped me through that trying year, and that's why it was so meaningful for me to have him marry us!

Thankfully, we had to face forward for the beginning part of it so I didn't have to look at anyone! You can see more of the detailing on the front of my dress here. I don't think there's a good picture of the beading going down the train. HAHA, Howard just passed by when I had this picture up, and he said, "Haha, that means you're nervous." Yup, I do play with my hands and hold them like that when I'm nervous!

For the praise session, we sang "Haven't You Been Good" and "From the Inside Out." The pianist, Andrew, is a former student of mine. He and his sister, a current student, sang together. They are awesome! They have such mature voices for being only a junior in HS and a 7th grader! I know the two of them and their parents pretty well in comparison to other families at the school, so that's why it meant so much for them to be part of my wedding day. I used to sing with Andrew during our Wednesday afternoon chapel service because the other girls would back out, and he'd ask me to fill in. He's also the one who gave me an apple on my first day of teaching EVER, so I started calling him "Apple Andrew" at home because my mom couldn't keep track of all my students' names. I eventually told Andrew about the nickname, and to this day, I still call him "Apple Andrew," and he signs his emails to me with that name as well!

I think the vows are the most important part of a wedding ceremony. For the longest time, we knew we wanted to write our own, but as we got closer to the actual day (like the Thursday before when we had our rehearsal), a part of me didn't want to because I knew it had to be written in a way that people could follow, but I also wanted to include some references for just the two of us. Haha, Howard joked that he was going to say, "Rae, is that you?" because I told him that I didn't like how the makeup looked during my trial! Haha, he didn't though.

Here am I reading my vows. And for those of you who are interested, this is what I promised to my guy:

<< Howard, I'm so blessed that I get to stand here with you in front of all our friends and family witnessing the fact that I get to marry my best friend. I think back to when we dated the first time around and how we broke up with my thinking that never in a million years would we get back together and get married. I was adamant that you weren't the one for me because clearly I knew what I wanted and needed in a spouse. But I failed to remember how God works things together according to His will. His hands were clearly in our relationship as we were best friends, boyfriend and girlfriend, not so good friends, best friends, boyfriend and girlfriend again, fiance and fiancee, and now as husband and wife.

As I nervously stand here, you and I both know that I'm not prepared to be a bride and no amount of time will change that. However, I'm ready to be your wife. I'm ready for God to teach me on a daily basis how to love you, respect you, and submit to you. I want to be your helper, standing right next to you, looking toward our Lord and Savior ... just in a lot less makeup than I'm wearing right now.

I am thrilled that I get to say that I, Rachel, take you, Howard, to be my husband, my constant friend, my faithful partner, and my love from this day forward. In the presence of God and all these people staring at us right now, I vow to be your faithful wife in all of our joy and our sorrow. I promise to love you unconditionally, support you in your goals, honor and respect you, and to laugh and cry with you for all the days of my life. >>

We had a funny moment when it was time to exchange rings! The best man misinterpreted the pastor who had said, "Can I have the ring for the bride?" He wasn't sure if he meant to give the ring that I needed to place on Howard's finger or if he was supposed to give Howard the ring he was to place on my hand (it was the latter). Plus, he gave the ring IN the box, haha. There was a mix-up so Howard had to say, "This is the wrong ring" and swap it back.

I actually really liked the moment because it broke the tension and made us laugh. When he gave me the ring to put on Howard's hand, I had to say, "Take the box" because I didn't have a pocket to put it in, haha. That's when Howard gave him the other box too. It was definitely much appreciated comic relief!

When it was time to do the sand ceremony, Howard started pouring first before I did. At the end, we poured at the same time. I'm smiling and looking at him here because I had just said, "You're shaking!" Hehe, guess my guy was more nervous than I was!

This is one of my favorite pictures from the ceremony because of the pink and green sand and the view of the church from this angle. Some of you might have noticed that my bridesmaid's dress is not pink. When we ordered them, the color online looked closer to my pink, but it was actually berry. Oh well!

We had a moment for parent dedication where we gave a bouquet of flowers to our parents and hugged them. Here I am hugging my momsicles. Strangely, we weren't that emotional! It was probably because it was in the view of all the people. When I hugged my mom during the rehearsal, she started crying, and I was about to as well!

Here's Howard hugging my dad. I like this picture a lot! Haha. My parents have been awesome since the wedding. We live closer to them than we do to my in-laws, so they've been helping us out a lot. I email my mom a few times almost every single day because I'm still learning how to do things on my own, and I'll have to email her questions about cooking or shopping!

This is the "you-may-kiss-the-bride" photo.

This is the "Oh-my-gosh-we-just-kissed-in-front-of-all-these-people!" photo. This was one thing I was worried about. We hadn't kissed in front of anyone beforehand, and now we had to do it in front of my parents and grandparents! In this photo, I was also wondering whether or not Howard would wipe his lips since I probably got lip gloss all over 'em!

DONE! Let's skedaddle!

This is one of the best post-ceremony photos with my MOH, Danielle, dancing! Haha, I was clearly laughing as I'm bent so far back. I did NOT want to go back in there for photos, haha. I was perfectly content with the bridal party and my ushers (the guy with the shaved head is my cousin, and the guy next to him is Nikki's boyfriend).

Before we leave for the reception place, let's just make sure it's legal!

Okay, the hard part is over, right? RIGHT?

 

[mermaid764]

Wow Rachel, your wedding was beyond belief gorgeous, and your wedding vows were so touching and so well written.

You and Howard both looked so happy to finally be married and your photographer did an amazing job of capturing the whole experience

 

[PrincessShea]

What beautiful pictures! Congrats! I'll be following

 

[729tink]

Loved your vows. Can't wait to see the next update!

 

[jane2073]

You are such a beautiful bride!!!

I felt just like you did. I found the walk down the aisle to be a little embarrassing, and I just wanted it to be over and to be married!

Yea for a moment of laughter during the ceremony! It really does help make things a little calmer! For us it was when my husband said, "I do!" a little too loudly and eagerly! everyone got a good chuckle and it is my most favorite part of the ceremony.

 

[livsmom04]

Your wedding looked beautiful! And I love your dress. I told my husband Jason that if we were to do a vow renewal I want to have a pretty dress and all the glam. I normally don't wear a dress for anything so it would be fun to do. I look forward to reading more of the wedding and the Disneymoon.

 

[Cinderella16]

I teared up reading your vows...such beautiful words to say to your new husband!

Funny about the rings! I love when things like that happen at ceremonies, it really does lift some of the tension/nervousness!

 

[JLCJMC]

Beautiful pictures, lovely wedding. My most heart-felt best wishes!

 

[RachelNinja]

Wow Rachel, your wedding was beyond belief gorgeous, and your wedding vows were so touching and so well written.

You and Howard both looked so happy to finally be married and your photographer did an amazing job of capturing the whole experience

Thank you! Everyone kept telling me that my vows would come out well because I enjoy writing and I teach ELA. But that put MORE pressure on me! I just wanted it to be something that meant something to my guy!

We absolutely love our photographers from Dreamlite Photography. It's the 2 guys who do all events together so that's why we have so many different views!

What beautiful pictures! Congrats! I'll be following

Thank you! So glad you're here!

Loved your vows. Can't wait to see the next update!

Aww, thanks! I wish they didn't have to stress me out so much in terms of writing them though!

You are such a beautiful bride!!!

I felt just like you did. I found the walk down the aisle to be a little embarrassing, and I just wanted it to be over and to be married!

Yea for a moment of laughter during the ceremony! It really does help make things a little calmer! For us it was when my husband said, "I do!" a little too loudly and eagerly! everyone got a good chuckle and it is my most favorite part of the ceremony.

Oh man, and with everyone and their cameras?!? So nerve-wracking! I'm happy that there was the moment for us to laugh though! Aww, how cute that your DH said "I do" like that! Hope you have that recorded (we didn't get videographers, but we had a few people record for us so hopefully we can get that footage).

Your wedding looked beautiful! And I love your dress. I told my husband Jason that if we were to do a vow renewal I want to have a pretty dress and all the glam. I normally don't wear a dress for anything so it would be fun to do. I look forward to reading more of the wedding and the Disneymoon.

It's the perfect opportunity for all the glam! It is fun to do stuff that is out of the norm to make the day more special! I'd love to get a cute, short dress for a vow renewal because part of me really likes those short wedding dresses! It wouldn't have worked for my ceremony, of course, but a vow renewal in WDW would call for that!

I teared up reading your vows...such beautiful words to say to your new husband!

Funny about the rings! I love when things like that happen at ceremonies, it really does lift some of the tension/nervousness!

Awww, thank you! I thought I'd tear up while reading it, but I just got choked up at one point without crying. I was too nervous about getting through the vows without stumbling.

I'm glad that the "mistake" was made by someone else too and not by either of us! Haha, that really helped.

Beautiful pictures, lovely wedding. My most heart-felt best wishes!

Thank you so much! I'm having fun sharing them with all of you!

 

[jane2073]

Friends of ours that we're supposed to video the wedding got the time wrong and didn't make it, but another friend of our did video the ceremony.

I was a third grade teacher at the time and invited my class to the wedding. One of them actually timed our kiss! . It wasn't that long.

 

[jecskc]

Loving your wedding story. Thanks so much for sharing. So much of life ahead to look forward to. Your dress and flowers are beautiful.

 

[Jennifer48]

What beautiful vows!

 

[RachelNinja]

Friends of ours that we're supposed to video the wedding got the time wrong and didn't make it, but another friend of our did video the ceremony.

I was a third grade teacher at the time and invited my class to the wedding. One of them actually timed our kiss! . It wasn't that long.

So glad you have video! I think it's crazy that videographers cost so much. I didn't care about all the frills; I just wanted someone to record everything that happened.

Haha, I was nervous about kissing in front of my students too, but they sat in the back so at least they were farther away!

Loving your wedding story. Thanks so much for sharing. So much of life ahead to look forward to. Your dress and flowers are beautiful.

Thank you! I'm very happy to have a DH now and to be a DW!

What beautiful vows!

Thank you!

 

[RachelNinja]

Mr. and Mrs. Weak Sauce: Photo Session

After the ceremony was over, we headed back into the sanctuary for group photos. This was one of the things I wasn't looking forward to because it's always such a hassle getting everyone in the right spot. During the rehearsal, they were saying that they'd have the people come out and congratulate us in the receiving line and get something to eat while those who needed to stay for photos would stay behind. I was like, "No, everyone has to stay for photos because the only people here would have to be in at least one photo (ex. family, church friends, co-workers, students). We're going to be trying to track people down if they leave the sanctuary." I was very concerned about just getting it done so that the bridal party could head to the reception venue for the photo session.

I was right in saying that it'd be a lot of chaos because it seriously was! The first issue was trying to fit everyone in a spot so that everyone could be seen Then there was the whole issue of everyone and their mother wanting to take a picture on their own camera meaning that there was a lot of "Hey, can you take my camera?" when the rest of us were just waiting to start. THEN there was the issue of people looking in different directions. I said it before, but seriously, we paid for our photographers! C'mon now! Our photographers were very patient though, God bless 'em! Haha. I wasn't feeling very patient though because I wanted to get to the photo session on the grounds.

The same thing happened at the reception venue when we were taking pictures with each table. It took FOREVER, and when we took a look at the actual photos, not everyone was looking in the right place even though our photographers waited for everyone else to be done. I don't mind people wanting the photos, but afterwards, put your camera down so that people don't look there! I just hate that the extra time for each table made us miss SO much of our wedding what with the "Oh, he's in the bathroom" or "I don't know where they just went."

THEN there were some families who wanted individual family pictures with the two of us, but we didn't have time for that either (we both have a lot of relatives on each side). I just wanted to make sure we got the photos with those who weren't going to be at the reception, and I overheard some people have an issue with the fact that we didn't take pics with them but did with others. Howard finally explained it to them that they were going at this point, and then things settled down. Okay, I need to let go of this. Haha, in reality, I won't, but let's just pretend I did.

Time to move on! I was happy to be getting away from the hustle and bustle of the church and move on to the next phase of the wedding day! It was a lot of fun in the limo since it was very quiet and relaxing. I also tried convincing Howard that they made me get my ears pierced because of the earrings. He didn't believe me, and I was like, "Touch them." He still didn't believe me and so he said, "Nik, did she really get her ears pierced?" and Nik said, "Yeah, touch them!" Hehe, no, I didn't really pierce them, but it was fun teasing him! Afterwards he was like, "NIKKI!" and she said, "What!? She's my cousin; I'm on her side." So funny!

When we arrived at the venue, the photographers took some shots of us in the limo. Haha, I got a kick out of this one because the goofy grin Howard is making kind of scared me. The photographers kept telling us to laugh or told him to make me laugh for more natural pictures.

We had the toast once we stepped out of the limo. The package came with a champagne toast, but we don't actually like champagne, so we asked for sparkling apple cider instead. Strangely, the limo guy only poured it for the two of us and not for the rest of the bridal party until we asked them if they wanted. Is that normal? Haha, I mean, there were only 6 of us in total unless he wanted to party hard with the rest of that bubbly apple juice! I was happy to have the toast only because I was thirsty! The water I had in the limo wasn't quenching my thirst, so this was a welcome refresher.

We dropped off our belongings in the bridal suite, and I changed from my white Payless heels into my fuschia Payless flats, haha. This is also when I took my one and only bathroom break. We took these bridal party photos in the suite before we went back out. I really like how these turned out!

I might have said it before, but for those of you who read my Feb 2011 trip report called "Delicious Indeed," you'll recognize my MOH Danielle (in green) and my bridesmaid Nikki (in berry) as the cousins who ventured with us to WDW! What's pretty awesome is that I bought the dresses from J.Crew, but they were originally strapless. The girls had them fitted by a seamstress and added that one strap that you see. It's linked to the front right of the dress to the back left so it crosses over in the back! VERY pretty! And since both of them did it, it looks like it was the original dress! They also bought matching shoes. You might also recognize Ray in the berry vest and tie. He went with us too!

Once we were ready, we headed on out to take pictures on the grounds. The girls helped me hold my flowers and dress even though it was already starting to get a little dirty. Haha, it ended up getting really dirty by the time we were done!

I highly recommend taking pictures outdoors if possible! The green backdrop from the grass and trees just made everything pop! I knew for sure that I wanted natural sunlight. My venue with all the gardens was just perfect for what I wanted in wedding photos.

We took a couple of wacky photos too, but whereas we're more "natural" being wacky on our own, it was kind of odd having the photographers tell us to come up with funny poses! This was one of my favorites, haha.

After a bunch of shots with the whole bridal party, the 2 guys and Nik went back to eat during cocktail hour that had already started. Dani stayed with us to help just in case. Howard and I had our own photo session, which I really enjoyed! Well, except for getting really funny-looking photos like this! I guess I just can't make posed shots look natural! I just had to laugh. It's like my hand is a claw or something!

Just the two of us! We took a photo similar to this when we first visited the venue, so I wanted to have one here on our wedding day in our attire.

This was also taken in the Chinese Scholars Garden. Pretty bridges and green green green foliage! I say that only because we had initially wanted to get married in February or March when it was cooler and the prices were cheaper, but that would've meant that the grounds would've been brown and a bit lifeless.

I was really starting to enjoy the photo session we were having because we really got to joke around with each other! No one else was around, so we didn't have to act a certain way or feel like we were being watched by an audience.

But alas, it was time to walk back to the building so that we could get ready for the actual reception. This is when we ate a few hor d'ouvres in the bridal suite (pic in my first post).

But before we went in, I asked for pictures on these benches that were right outside the building and got one of my favorite photos!

Alrighty, I guess it's time to see everyone again. ::Sigh:: Haha.

 

[archdandy]

You got some really great shots! That's one of the things I regret the most about our wedding was not spending more time together without everybody surrounding us. Oh well. I guess every bride has regrets and things she wishes went differently. I'm just glad the wedding is over and we're married now as I am sure you are too!