Monday, December 28, 2009

Our Rainy-Day Wedding: Just Us Part II


I hope everyone had a great holiday!  I spent mine relaxing in the snowy Rocky Mountains with the Dude and his family.  Why can't vacations last forever? 

Anyway, recaps are back on!  Here are some more of my favorite bride-and-groom portraits of the day.

Starting with a little nose kiss.



Eyes closed, breathing it in.



Underneath the chapel tower.


Hidden in a lane of foliage.



Sweet and serene.



Smiling like dorks.



Then it was inside the mansion for a few more quick shots.

A soft kiss on the shoulder.



Nervous laughter as we looked out the window.



Love in color.



Love in black-and-white.




One last place to pose.






Before we rounded up our troops for the bridal party shots.

All photos by the Nichols.

Previously, on Our Rainy-Day Wedding:

Monday, December 21, 2009

Our Rainy-Day Wedding: Just Us Part I

Taking photos by ourselves was fun, but I loved taking our portraits together.  It was one of the best parts of the day!  Luckily we'd already gotten some practice in with our engagement session, so we were much more comfortable and relaxed in front of the camera.  And we had an easier time with posing because we'd done it before.

Here are some of the more formal ones we took:  outside the mansion, jacket on.





Our best impersonation of a serious couple.



This one's more us, squinty eyes and all.



This one doesn't really fit into a neat category, but I love it so.




This next one was actually one of the first photos we took.  The gnome was randomly sitting in the hallway outside the bridal suite.  I believe the Dude saw it and made some joke about it, and our photographer was like, "Let's take a picture with it!"  I love how faux serious we are.



Then it was time for some more casual shots with the Dude's jacket off.  I love this candid one of me helping to refasten the button on his sleeve.




I still find it funny that we got these shots in front of the little chapel on the Barr Mansion grounds, considering that we are both nonreligious and our ceremony was completely secular!  I love the way the chapel doors photographed.


Check out the Dude's sexy expression here!  I'm used to seeing him act so goofy all the time, so I'm really glad I have photos like this one.


We look so happy and relaxed here, and as far as I can remember, that's how I felt.  I know the Dude was relaxed. (He doesn't really have any other state of being--he is the Dude, after all.)



This next one is hands-down my favorite shot of the day.  I used it on the Moo cards that we sent with our Thank Yous to remind people to add their photos to our Flickr page.



I have a few more favorite portraits of the two of us to share with you guys, but I'd better save them for another post!

All photos by the Nichols.

Previously, on Our Rainy-Day Wedding:

Monday, December 14, 2009

Our Rainy-Day Wedding: Da Bride

While the Dude was striking a pose, I was getting some solo shots with Jennifer (one of the benefits to hiring a husband/wife team to shoot your wedding!).

We started off on the lower balcony of the mansion.  Finally, my bouquet makes an appearance!



If you look closely, you can see my great-grandmother's ring in this shot.



We moved over to shoot in front of the little chapel.



Hooray for more warm, seventies tones!  (I specifically requested our photographers to give us some photos with this effect, but honestly they got our style so well they probably would have done it for us anyway.)




Uh oh!  Looks like I was spotted!







The series of photos above is probably my favorite from the day!

A few pics in a more organic setting--this was supposed to be a garden wedding, after all.



I love the expression on my face here.  It's like, "Yeah, I'm carrying a bunch of floofy flowers.  I could still kick your ass."  (The Dude is pretty familiar with this look!)



Some sassy headless posing . . .



. . . and the shot I teased you all with back in September.



Now that I think about it, I'm really lucky I didn't bruise my shins or get any mosquito bites before the wedding.  The thought never crossed my mind, but there really could have been a potential for disaster there!

We were also very lucky that, up until this point, the rain had held off.  The skies were cloudy, but we hadn't felt any drops yet.  Would our luck hold?

Next up:  Bride & Groom portraits

All photos by the Nichols.

Previously, on Our Rainy-Day Wedding:

Friday, December 11, 2009

Our Rainy-Day Wedding: The Dude (Still) Looks Pretty Hot in a Suit

After our first look, we took portraits together and separately.  I'm gonna share the Dude's first--he's such a natural in front of the camera!  (I'm not the only one who thinks so--recently he was spotted by a local actor/comedian who asked him to play Jesus in a fake commercial he was filming!  I'll share the video with you guys when it comes out if I get permission.)

Anyway, back to the Dude's wedding portraits.



I've just got to say that I'm so happy the Dude didn't cut his hair off or shave his beard for the wedding!  At one point, we were discussing him doing this--I'm glad he decided to represent for all those shaggy boys out there.



Look at this GQ pose!  Are you kidding me?



I like how he looks all sweet and contemplative here. 



Close up of the bout and tie!  The tie was a vintage find, and the boutonniere was made from pink wax flower and rosemary.  The best part?  It dried really well, so we kept it in a box with other various wedding doodads.



My personal favorite shot of this session.  Love the warm, vintage tones--goes great with the Yves St. Laurent suit that my dad rocked back in 1979!



Next up:  bridal portraits!

All photos by the Nichols.

Previously, on Our Rainy-Day Wedding:

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Our Rainy-Day Wedding: First Look

The Dude and I decided a long time ago that we were going to do a first look.  It worked well with our timeline, and we didn't want to miss out on any of the fun between the ceremony and the reception!

Once MOH Deniz and I arrived at Barr Mansion, we only had to wait a little bit before Bridesmaids Kelli and Dani showed up.  One of the staff members brought up a bottle of wine, and I tried to relax a bit. I was so nervous about the ceremony.  The thought of standing up in front of all of those people was freaking me out just a little!  Luckily I had my beautiful bouquet to distract me from my nerves.

And it wasn't too long before the Dude showed up and our photographers got us ready for our first look.  While I waited in the bridal suite, the Dude hung out on the balcony.



I started to make my way towards him.




I resisted the urge to kick him in the back of the knee or poke him really hard in between his shoulder blades.



Then he saw me for the first time as a bride.  (I accidentally already saw him from the second story of the mansion when he got there.  Oops!)




Time for some hugs.



A bit of tie adjustment.



A little pose.



And a peek at the reception site. 



Next, it was time to grab my bouquet and take some portraits with the Dude.  It's kind of weird to think that in all of these pictures, we weren't married yet.

All photos by The Nichols.

Previously, on Our Rainy-Day Wedding:

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Our Rainy-Day Wedding: Getting Ready


When I left you last, our rehearsal dinner guests were heading out the door.  But the night wasn't quite over yet!  The Dude and I decided not to spend the night apart, so we curled up in bed and got excited for tomorrow:  our wedding day.  But first, we decided to do a practice run of our first dance--we had literally done nothing up to this point besides pick out a song.  So with "our song" playing quietly out of the Dude's computer, we practiced our dance on the carpet of our bedroom.  It didn't go so well (the tempo was a bit slower than we realized), and I started to get nervous for the next day--but the Dude assured me it would be OK, so we decided to just go with it. 

Here we are the next morning, before I headed off for my appointment at the salon. The Dude is playing with a Transformer he received as a wedding gift!



When I arrived, Lauren was almost finished with my mom's hair and make-up.  My mom was worried her eyes were too dramatic, but I reassured her that she looked great.



It was my turn to go next.  Here's the requisite Blackberry shot.



My make-up was starting to come together while the hot rollers cooled.  (Please excuse the toilet tissue!)  This time, Lauren used a different eyeshadow on me--MAC's Amber Lights.  I loved it so much that I went out an bought it after the honeymoon.



At this point in the day, I was starting to worry about my dress.  I had tried it on (with MOH Deniz's help) that morning (or maybe it was the night before--it's kind of a blur to me now!), and the last-minute alterations were perfect.  But I was still a little worried about the dress staying put all night.  My mom and Deniz offered to head out and find some fashion tape, while I finished getting ready.

After my hair and make-up were done, I played paparazzi with everyone else who was still in the salon.




I caught bridesmaid Kelli putting on mascara.



And flower girl Christina getting her hair done while her nails dried.




Pretty soon, I was done, my mom and my MOH were back, and it was time to head home to put on my dress and shoes.  I made sure that MOH Deniz got some shots of the dress first.  (Unfortunately, you can see the lining in the bodice that was inserted last-minute by my alterations lady.  Maybe it can be fixed with Photoshop?)






While we waited for my mom to arrive, I put on my jewelry . . .

.

. . . and slipped into my shoes.





 As soon as my mom got to the house, she helped me tie the pearl belt that came with my dress.




Then she handed me the ring that belonged to my great grandmother:  my "something borrowed."



With that, I was ready to head out the door and drive myself to my wedding!  (Although MOH Deniz is an incredibly talented human being, driving is unfortunately not in her repertoire. ;))  She did ride with me and keep me entertained, however.  We jammed some MIA, while she filmed my excited rambles--for some reason I like to spout off "fun facts" whenever there is a camera on me.  Nervous habit, I guess?

In retrospect, the morning was pretty chaotic.  I wish all of my bridesmaids had been with me as I got ready.  It also would have been nice to relax with some champagne, but I had so much nervous energy that I didn't want anything to drink! I also regret not getting any photos of the guys getting ready.  I sent the Dude off with a Flip video camera, so I might try include some footage of the guys getting dressed in the next post.

Despite the chaos, at the moment all I cared about was that I was a bride!



All photos in this post by MOH Deniz.

Previously, on Our Rainy-Day Wedding: