First Look

Pictures are heeeere! Rather than taking you through the entire wedding day and all its minutia (sorry if you're a minutia person, but it's been two months already and I just don't have that much time!), I think I'll just post some of my favorite pictures and tell the stories behind those. :)

I never thought I would want to do a "first look" at our wedding. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the current wedding lingo, this is where the bride and groom have a designated time to see each other before she actually walks down the aisle. They spend some time together (with the photographer), and usually the pictures turn out pretty cute.

However, I was rather against the idea of seeing each other before that entrance moment. That was my attitude until I noticed that a few couples I knew, whom I had always considered pretty conservative and traditional, had done a first look. I asked one of the brides about it, and she basically said it was the best wedding decision they made because it allowed them to get some nervous jitters out and spend some time just talking with one another beforehand.

Doing a little more research made me reconsider and present the idea to Travis. He wasn't sure at first, but he eventually determined that he liked the idea, too. We had three reasons.

First, since we'd been long-distance for three years, we knew that we always hated it when the first time we saw each other after an absence took place when a bunch of other people were around. It was just sort of an awkward thing, and we thought a first look might be a good way to avoid that awkwardness on our wedding day.

Secondly: in our last premarital counseling meeting with Pastor Jason, we had gone over the marriage covenant in great detail. Jason's purpose in doing this is to make sure that the couple knows exactly what they are promising to one another, in the likely event that the entire ceremony is a blur because they're so nervous/excited, etc. We were really glad we got to have that meeting with him, but we also wanted to remember as much of the ceremony as possible and be completely present in it. Because really, the ceremony is the point. The rest is just the biggest party you'll ever throw. A first look would take that little bit of pressure off of the ceremony, so we could truly focus on what was going on and what promises we were making.

The third reason is just practical. The more pictures you can take before the ceremony, the less lag time before the reception really starts!

I don't think I've mentioned that the night before our wedding, it rained cats and dogs. Which was great, since it hadn't rained here in months. Except that we wanted to take pictures outside the next day! Luckily, our ceremony wasn't til 6 p.m., so the ground had a while to dry out. But it was still nastily humid and pretty muddy. So that's why I'm constantly holding up my dress in these pictures, in case you were wondering. :)

Waiting...

Creepin'...trying not to get my shoes covered in mud!

I seeee you.

I love this.

It wasn't really raining, but it was so cloudy that an antique umbrella seemed like a good prop. :)

Love the woods all around our church. 

All photos courtesy of Jackie Ray Photography, LLC.