Wedding Pictures Part 3: It's All About Family

Our take on the wedding was that it's not just about us. It's not "my special day." It's not even "our special day." It's a day for our families. Believe me, if we wanted it to just be about us we would've met up with a priest and a couple of friends in a church any old day over the last year. OR gone to the courthouse. Either way. No, instead we wanted our families to be included and honored. We chose the reception venue (Salty's) specifically because it could accommodate a guest list that would include our entire families. We included family traditions. We had little family keepsakes displayed or included in the ceremony and reception. We had as many family members taking on roles in the ceremony as we could. BUT, if you didn't know what they were looking for, you wouldn't have known what all those little things were about. So, with that, here's a bit of explanation.

A rosary which I think was my mom's mother's, but may not have been. Either way, it was in honor of Granny, who had a rosary in every purse, and a very worn one next to her bedside.  The book, I've mentioned before, but to the inscription from my dad's great-grandmother to my grandmother on her wedding day, my Grandma Johnston added her own little inscription to me on my wedding day.  The rosary was borrowed from my sister Sara. The prayer book was old-- 60 years next month. (My blue was in my earrings, my new was my dress and veil, and I had a lucky sixpence for my shoe, but it wouldn't stay in my shoe and I carried it um... elsewhere...)

Along with the prayer book and rosary, I carried two garden roses-- one in honor of each of our grandmothers who have passed away. They were both were good Catholic women of deep faith, and in their honor, we laid those flowers for Mary during Ave Maria. (Ave Maria has been sung at every family wedding on my mom's side since my great-grandfather sang it at the wedding of each of his children. My granny also laid flowers for Mary at her wedding, but she did it as she left the church rather than during the ceremony.) 

Granny died only a year and half ago, so as much as I tried, I couldn't keep from crying during this part of the ceremony. Nor could I keep the tears from coming as her name was mentioned during the prayers of the faithful. I'm a crier-- it's what I do.

My "Catholic bling," as one friend called it. The cross I wore has been worn by all the women in Kenneth's family on their wedding day except one. The cross was worn every day by Kenneth's grandmother, and came from her parents' jewelry shop they started in Montana after emigrating from Ireland. It was an honor to wear it on my wedding day. (And, the cross is backwards here. It's the one picture I have that shows it well without totally being a boob shot, and it's twisted around. D'oh!)

Kenneth's Auntie Kathleen (who also threw me two wonderful bridal showers!) loaned me a chain to put the cross on. The cross is so big, that most chains are too long when worn with wedding dresses, but Auntie Kathleen has one that makes the cross sit just right. Kenneth's cousin Emily (one of our readers, Kathleen's daughter) wore Kathleen's shorter chain for her wedding day too. Kenneth's mom, Elizabeth did the honors of putting the cross on me. 

Granny's cake topper-- it was used on her wedding cake, and then my cousin Ashley used it as the cake topper on her cake at her wedding in October. It may end up as a new family tradition. The scariest moment of the whole day was when a small, adorable child knocked it off the cake. For a brief moment, I thought I was going to become THE COUSIN WHO BROKE GRANNY'S CAKE TOPPER! Luckily, it survived unscathed. Phew! 

There's a whole lot of family stuff in this picture above. Going from the left: Kenneth's mother's cake knife (Kenneth's grandmother's cake knife?), my dad and step-mom's cake-topper,  Kenneth's grandmother's champagne flutes, a picture from my mom and Eric's wedding, and a picture from my Granny and Granddad's wedding. We would've had pictures and wedding day keepsakes from our other grandparents, but this display was forgotten about until a week before the wedding, so this is what our parents were able to get together with only a few day's notice.  Oops. Anyway, thanks parents for putting this together for us!

Cake knife in action:

The pitcher with garden roses was a gift to my grandmother for her wedding. The picture is of my dad and step-mom on their wedding day 20 years ago this June.

We wanted tradition and to honor family, and I think we did that. Next up is more about how we included family in the wedding, including who's who of the wedding party.

Wedding Pictures Part 2: The Men get Ready, and We Gather in the Hotel Lobby

No intro to these pictures. Mostly because I don't know what was going on in these pictures, but also because they kind of speak for themselves. 

I'd just like to say now that my husband is a very handsome man. :)

Meanwhile, as the men came down in the elevator to meet us, we snapped a few more pictures.

Then it was time for us to see each other for the first time that day.

Before we left for the church, we were off for a quick ride in the elevators for some artsy portraits.

Kenneth is kind of smirking at what the photographers are asking him to do, and I'm smiling in understanding. They take great photos, but man, trying to be lovey-dovey and intimate or giggly-goofy happy while some semi-strangers take photos of you is just plain awkward. Our go-to attitude was to do it what we were told... so when we laugh, we're laughing more at the corniness of it all than anything else. 

Wedding Pictures Part 1: The Women Get Ready

To set the stage a little: For me, our wedding day started off at 5:45, when I woke up to brush my teeth, etc. before my hairstylist was supposed to arrive at 6:00. At about the same time, I got a text from her saying she'd be late and wouldn't be arriving until 6:15. I knew this actually meant 6:30, and I'm really glad I had that time to do my make up, touch up my pedicure, do my daily Bible reading (yay for getting it on my iPhone) and just center myself and take in everything that was about to happen--- without being rushed. Once the hairstylist arrived, she got to work, and things weren't so calm anymore because my hotel room started filling with people. Soon after, my mom, step-mom, and sisters arrived, James (Kenneth's brother) came by soon after with a letter for me (I had one waiting to go back with him for  Kenneth) and then our photographer arrived. In addition to getting ready, the room also had to be packed up, with everything going to the honeymoon suite in one area, and everything else out to the car before 8:30. 

Elsewhere, Ken and the groomsmen were putting on the final touches to their attire in Mom's room, and cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents were assembling downstairs in the lobby. 

   

Christine, my stepmom, MADE that dress. Isn't it pretty?

One of my co-workers saw the picture above, and said he loved it because I look mischievous. I mentioned that to Ken, and he said. "No, that's your 'I'm about to cry but I'm trying hard not to by smiling and I'm actually happy' face." I love that he knows that about me. 

Mom is showing Sara how to bustle my dress. 

And then we broke out the chopsticks. A very important tool in a bride's arsenal. Those buttons would've beat us otherwise. 

One last shot with the very important ladies of the day in the room, and then it was out the door to meet the men.

I think this picture kind of sums up the day, for those in the picture-- me being WAY happy and excited, Sara smiling as she puts up with my enthusiasm, Piper smiling slyly as she takes it in-- and Mom orchestrating everything on the phone. And this is why I wanted (and miraculously got!) a day-of-coordinator. Even with a DOC, Mom was so busy keeping track of everything that was going on--- I can't imagine how crazy it would've been if we hadn't had someone to help us!

Notice something?

The discs of pictures from our photographer came in yesterday, so I've been working on sorting the 2000-ish photos they shot. The great thing about having all these pictures to look back on is that I get to see things I didn't notice the day of the wedding. Like this... Notice something?

And in case you don't see it yet, 

While I do remember thinking Babies Jo and Emma were awfully cute at the wedding, it wasn't until I saw these pictures that I realized we had matching babies! Too cute!

A New Addition to Our Family

I'm eager to write some posts about the wedding, but I think it just won't be as fun without sharing some pictures, so instead, I'll share some other big news in our life: we got a puppy!

See, we found out in the fall that one of my Dad's dogs was pregnant. Dad's idea was that the dogs would be sold and be a nice little addition to our wedding fund. Turns out there are MANY purebred labrador retrievers in southern California, and so it's hard to sell even the sweetest pups. They didn't turn out to be much of an addition to the wedding fund, but it's ok. A little black one never sold, and after bonding with the family, seems no one wanted to get rid of her anyway. But 5 dogs are a lot to have no matter how big your backyard is, so the logical solution was to find someone in the family to take her.

Kenneth and I have been wanting a dog, but it was obviously a terrible idea to get one while we were planning a wedding. Knowing this, Dad offered us the little black puppy since she was the runt and is just barely apartment sized. We said we'd take the dog, with the understanding that the puppy would stay with him in California until we felt we were ready to take her in. Well, a few circumstances combined, and we decided to go ahead and have Dad fly her to Seattle this month. We're still not sure we were totally ready to take on having a dog this soon after the wedding...do you know how much like babies puppies are? Yeah, neither did we... but we love our new little addition to our family all the same.

Her name is Juniper, and she's a sweet little dog who is-- thank God-- very mellow for a lab.  Hope you get to meet her soon!

So are you excited?

With less than a week before the wedding, we're being asked that a lot. But what exactly are we excited about?

We're excited to be married, and to start that part of our lives. Mentally, over the last couple months, we've already started thinking of each other as "my husband" or "my wife" so we're excited that the wedding will make it official. 

We're excited that the wedding planning process will be over. We're both ready to have more time to spend with friends, and on our hobbies. We're also looking forward to having more time to spend together-- just spending a lazy Saturday afternoon together with no pressure to accomplish items on our wedding to-do list.

We're ready to have our disposable income back. We've been saving to afford the wedding, and we're looking forward to going to the movies again, being able to get our dog, buy plane tickets to visit family, or any other little things we've been putting off for the last year.

Mostly, after the excitement just in the act of the wedding itself and starting our marriage, we're excited for all the family and friends coming in to town (starting today!)  We are so excited to see everyone!

Groomals!

As I waited for my luggage to come around the conveyer belt at JFK airport a week and a half ago, I saw an email from both Kenneth and our wedding photographer come through on my iPhone. It's the moment I've been waiting weeks for-- our groomals were done!

We took these in order to get to know our photographers a bit, take the pressure to get PERFECT photos on our wedding day, and also get some pictures out of the way when we only have half an hour for our pictures around the church on the wedding day.

Here's a link to see them on our photographer's blog. We'll share more later.