The Blessing: Getting Ready

So, on the big day (third big day if you're counting), I had a bridesmaid tea with my ladies and our mothers & grandmothers and then we were off! And running behind. I think I took the whole "getting married beforehand means less stress" thing too seriously, and the tea didn't get kicked off right on time so we were a little rushed but once we made it to the chapel things felt great.

Yes, I committed the coat hanger sin. I had changed the coat hanger after san francisco just to make sure it would stay on the hanger and forgot to change it. Ugh. You really can't see it though, so I'm thankful for that.

That's right. Three pictures of my shoes. That's what you get when you're dealing with me. I really like the white on white and kind of want to incorporate it in my house when/if I get one.

I macguyvered the toilet paper bouquet holder (I made the bouquet myself!) and it's small because I'm petite. So, I'm lucky they fit in the toilet paper roll and so glad I got ranunculus! I ordered from 50flowers.com and they were about $1 a stem. They're small flowers, so if you are planning to use a lot of them in your floral arranging I'd order a lot. If you're in Birmingham, Davis Wholesale flowers will let you rent their prep space across the street for 10 percent of your flower budget which was almost nothing for me. And they delivered for $20. Very useful for the DIY bride like me. I prepped on Thursday and Friday, got to store them there, and they delivered.

That's my BFF since first grade doing my hair there, while I straightened my bangs. I had no idea what to do with my hair, I knew it needed to be up. I have a friend in town who works at a salon and had made a last minute (2 days before) appt and she ended up getting really sick the day of! I think everyone was getting the flu, it was awful. But, luckily Stacy has secret talents and is magical with hair, and my friend Mallory got to do my hair for my day after shoot. Linden's on the right, mayhaps she burnt her scalp.

I like that I seem serene here. I wasn't really, but it wasn't at all an "oh my gosh I'm about to get married" thing. It was more of a "oh my gosh I have to get ready and Garrett is here but I haven't seen him.

Excuse my horrendous posture, and pay more attention to the hair.

The bouquet. I made the bouquet and the boutonniere right before I left to get to the church, and once you've made a few of them it's really easy. I've only made bouquets with one kind of flower because I like the aesthetic a lot, but I think anyone who really likes visual arrangement could pretty quickly figure out a bouquet with more variety. Oh, and for the pins, I had bought yellow ones but thought the contrast might be too much/tacky so I painted them with acrylic that I mixed to a shade similar to our colors and it blended really well. I'm pleased.

Stay tuned for the actual blessing! And, if you want to see any of the images better, head over to Spindle Photography.

All images by Kristen Stewart Photography and Je Vois Photography.