(Wedding Recap) Putting on the Dress

We headed downstairs to the lobby of our hotel, with my wedding dress in hand. I previously arranged (and by arranged, I mean double-triple-checked with the hotel manager) for their Escalade to take us the 3 blocks down the street to our venue. My bridesmaids already wore their dresses and heels. Who wants to hoof-it 3 blocks in the mid-summer's heat, in fancy dresses? Not us. So you can imagine our surprise when the Escalade disappeared to run another errand, leaving me pointing at the scheduling book where it said "Bride plus 4, 2p." Luckily they called us a cab. Do you know what 4 girls in bridesmaids dresses looks like in the back of a cab?

 (picture phone quality apology)
Now that's a bridesmaid's shot if I've ever seen one.

Unfortunately my sister is behind the headrest and got cut off.

The 5 minute ride passed with lots of laughter.

At any rate, we made it to the venue & upstairs to the bridal ready room: the Library.

Special thanks to Lila Frances for their lovely gift of my personalized wedding wire hanger! I simply love it & look forward to passing it down to someone else, someday.

 

 I really love the simplicity & meanwhile complexity of this shot.

It says "Here we go!" to me...

But then, right as I stepped over to my dress, almost ready to go, I thought, "Oh my, I should really use the restroom one. last. time...since we all know how complicated that can get..."
I looked down at myself:
veil, button down shirt, special underwear, garter, heels.
I looked like something out of a pin-up catalog.  Which elicited these reactions from my mom & sister:

 

 Clearly, my sister thinks I'm hilarious.

My mom shakes her head and says "Oh, Vicki."

Typical. 

I love it.

 Here's a censored version of what I looked like:

 

 Thank goodness for caterer's napkins.

Although I will admit I did run down the back hallway of the venue with out said napkin....

But once I came back, it was time.

(suck it in, Vicki)

And in a matter of minutes, I really felt like a bride.

My wedding day finally arrived.

Butterflies tried fluttering in my tummy,

but I overcame that nervous energy with thoughts of seeing my

soon-to-be husband at our first look!

{amazing photography by Studio Juno, phone pic aside}