My brother is officially a married man! This past Saturday, he married his high school sweetheart, Jenny, and it was a beautiful day. They had been dating since they were 15 and 16, and had been through numerous ups and downs – including a horrible year that had Jenny in and out of the hospital, due to Crohn’s Disease – and I never had any doubt in my mind this day would come.
It wasn’t a day without its own set of frustrations and drama but what wedding day is perfect? All that matters is the two of them and the love between them is evident.
The day for my mom and I started early (before 6AM) as we wanted to sneak in a run before all the craziness. After that, it was quick showers and then driving over to the salon for hair and make-up. I had been worried that my hair and make-up wouldn’t keep since I was getting it done so early (8AM for hair, 9AM for make-up) but I needn’t worry. My hair stayed put (and curled!) throughout the day and night and my make-up only required a few sweeps of a make-up brush to blot out any oil.
I also wore fake eyelashes for the first time in my life. Weird at first, but then I got used to them. But boy, when I took them off at the end of the night, I think my real eyelashes cried, “Hallelujah! We can breathe!”
I was really happy with the job the stylist did at the salon. He kept my make-up very dramatic so that when it started fading, it would look more natural. And it totally did! (Salon Solstice for any locals. Ask for Jayson. He’s the bomb-diggity.)
My mom’s hair turned out fabulous as well! A half-updo, with some pretty curls.
Doesn’t she look 35 here?! Hard to believe she has two children in their mid-twenties!
The next few hours were spent on the couch, watching TV and reading blogs. I didn’t do anything since I didn’t want to mess up my hair. We left around 2:30 to go to the hall. We helped put together wedding favors and make sure the hall was set up perfectly for the wedding.
All the bridesmaids and groomsmen started getting dressed around 4:00. I just want to say, again and again, how much I loved my bridesmaid dress! It’s a fun dress and I felt like a million bucks in it. I loved the color and the style.
Then we just had to wait for the ceremony to begin! We did a few run-throughs of the ceremony in the little waiting room we were in and I couldn’t help but snap a few photos of my nephew in his tux!
That’s the flower girl. My nephew called her his girlfriend, but when I asked her if he was her boyfriend, she told me, “No. We’re just friends.” YOU GO, GIRL! No need to get serious so soon, am I right?!
A sweet father and son moment captured. Mark was consoling my nephew for some reason I can’t remember. They are so handsome. 🙂
A picture with my brother! I adore this picture. It’s now on the lock screen on my phone.
Soon enough, Jenny arrived and it was a flurry of pictures as she got her dress and shoes on and we began gathering to start our walk down the aisle.
I managed to walk down the aisle and up the stairs without tripping, although I’m not sure if I was smiling. I remember telling myself to smile. Just not sure I did smile. WHAT IS THAT? I guess we’ll see when the pictures come out!
I was looking forward to seeing my nephew and the flower girl walk down the aisle but my nephew isn’t fond of having ALL of the attention on him and once he saw his mom wasn’t following him, he started crying and ran back to her. Her big grand entrance? On the arm of her father, her other hand holding her crying son’s hand. She took it all in stride, though, more concerned with making sure her son was okay than having her “moment”. (He ended up spending most of the ceremony on my mom’s lap.)
In any event, the ceremony was beautiful and before I knew it, Mark and Jenny were Mr. and Mrs.!
I’m going to be honest here: I’m not a fan of wedding receptions. It’s the introvert in me, I’m sure. But all the dancing and the socializing and the loud music… it’s not my thing. It prompted a conversation on Twitter about dancing at wedding receptions where I learned it’s perfectly acceptable not to have that. I know most people would consider that to be lame, but it’s just not my thing. A sit-down dinner sounds much more my pace!
I did get a fun picture with my favorite little guy! His smile is the best.
Their first dance!
It was a night to remember and I’m happy for the two of them. It’s been thrilling to watch my brother as a boyfriend, then as a fiancé, and now as a husband. He didn’t have a shining example of what a husband should be from my father but he’s proven time and time again that he is nothing like him and has already shown he’s light-years ahead of my father in maturity.
I think it’s totally acceptable to not have a dance! My parents didn’t – no one did during their era… I don’t know if I will have a dance, we’ll see. I would still like the first dance, mother/son, father/daughter dance, but I don’t know if I want the rest of it… I like dancing at wedding dances, but I don’t know if that is what I envision for myself… We’ll see!
I am glad you all had a wonderful day! I have seen many crying flower girls and ring bearers. 😉 You never know how they are going to handle all that attention! You looked gorgeous! I love your dress – it was so flattering!!
I’m sure I would want a first dance! But I’m not a big socializer or dancer so I would love to just skip over all that. Of course, who knows what my husband will want! He might be an extrovert who loves dancing.
The poor flower girl didn’t know what to do when my nephew left her! Haha. They were so adorable together, too.
The dress was SO perfect for me. Hid all my bad areas and accentuated the good! I’m glad because I really did not like the dress I wore previously as a bridesmaid. It wasn’t a flattering cut for me at all. Jenny let us choose from three different styles, but the majority of us chose that one. So fun!
I’m SOSO happy (as you already know like 12 times) with how everything turned out. Everyone looked so great, your pictures so far are beautiful, and other than a few tiny hitches things seemed to have gone relatively smoothly! I love weddings. I understand you not liking the whole loud music thing. I don’t mind it so much- I mean in terms of being social it all depends who’s there. I know it was a bit tougher at my brother’s wedding because it was either hanging out with him and his friends, or with the adults. For an entire week. So obviously I hung out with his friends (and I mean they’re soooo nice and I love them all) but sometimes I just felt like I didn’t belong, you know? The wedding reception wasn’t so bad though. I kinda feel like it’s just all in my head, feeling like I shouldn’t be somewhere, but all this to say I totally understand how you feel. I still think my wedding would have a reception, but really, who knows!
PS FIVE DAYS. 🙂
You brought up a good point! I remember dancing a lot at my friend’s wedding, but all of the bridesmaids knew each other and we had a blast together. (Plus, there was a lot of Indian music played. Indian music is just fun to dance to!) I really didn’t know a whole lot of people at this wedding so I felt a little out of place. And it *was* fun to watch my nephew dance everywhere! Such a cutie, that one. 🙂
I was fortunate enough to have seen these gems on Instagram so I will comment on the reception a little more…
His sisters (who are not as awesome as you) both had huge dance parties at their weddings and even so, no one seemed to view ours as lame. I think it’s all about the flow of the evening. We still had drinks for people who wanted to do that, we still had music, laughter, cake, etc. Everything flowed quite nicely. Even the dancey folk enjoyed our reception. Our table was set up in such a way that we could look out at our guests. Whenever we looked up all we saw was everyone talking and laughing with each other….and THAT made following our own vision totally worth it.
All of this to say you have to follow what works for you and your groom. If there’s anyone who would think you were “lame” for that? Well, their invite should get lost in the mail!
That’s really good to hear! I’ve actually never been to a wedding that didn’t have a long dancing portion of the reception so I didn’t even know I could skip that part. It doesn’t interest me and I think a sit-down meal like you described is much more my pace.
I love these pictures! Jenny is so pretty! And that nephew of yours is just adorable. I hope they have an amazing life together. 🙂
I was one of those flower girls who wouldn’t go down the aisle. I had the dress, the flowers and when it came time, I just wouldn’t do it. Fortunately the bride didn’t mind (she’s one of my mom’s very best friends).
Glad you had such a great time!
We are having dancing, but I’m afraid that no one will dance! that’s one of my wedding fears. I hope that people who are dancing inclined will….!
I’m sure people will! This party had mostly Spanish people so it’s a given there would be dancing. 🙂 And if all else fails, just play the “Cha Cha Slide” song. EVERYONE dances to that!
I have a feeling something similar might happen with our flower girls in July! Meh, not a big deal if they do. I think it would be hard to have all that attention on you as a little kid!
Sounds like it was a wonderful day. You looked beautiful and I love your bridesmaid dress!
The poor flower girl didn’t know what to do when my nephew left her! We had a feeling something like that would happen when he kept interrupting the ceremony during the rehearsal saying, “MY MOMMY!” Haha. It was still a pretty cute moment. 🙂
It’s funny, at Natalie’s wedding the other weekend, I was just saying to Erik that there wasn’t ENOUGH dancing for my taste, haha! But a wedding (the ceremony and reception) are completely up to you. Don’t like dancing? It’s totally okay to skip it! Especially now that there’s so much inspiration on the internet, you can probably find tons of alternative things to do to in place of dancing if you wanted.
Congrats to your brother! I love your dress! It is flattering and the color is great! So often those dresses are horrible, but you must have a great sister in law, because she picked out a great dress!
I have only worn fake eyelashes once, for Halloween and it made me feel strange. Mine real ones are pretty long but not very thick, but I think I will stick with them, only because seeing the fake ones in my peripheral vision kind of weirds me out!
You do look like a million bucks in that dress… it’s gorgeous (and you in it!) 🙂
We had a lot of dancing at our wedding party (and we partied until 7 a.m. the next morning …hehe), but I can understand how that is not everyone’s cup of tea. It’s totally ok not to dance (in my opinion).
And I think that you’ll always fondly remember your nephew’s little faux pas 🙂 Those make the best memories!
aw that looks like a fabulous wedding and your dress is so fun! love that jenny has some pink in her hair too, totally pulls the whole color scheme together, so awesome.
congrats to your brother, yay weddings!
She also had on killer pink heels. Pink is her signature color so the pink hair extensions were a perfect touch! It really made all the other colors pop! 🙂