Our Wedding: Getting Ready

We received our wedding photos back from our photographer last weekend.  I’m not sure why it has taken me so long to post these, but it’s better late than never!  Since we have so many wedding photos, I’m going to space them out in three posts: getting ready/formal portraits, ceremony and cocktail hour, and reception.  Be prepared… this post is going to be long.

My sister, cousin, and I stayed overnight at the hotel the night before the wedding.  I woke up as soon as the sun started to come up.  The first thing I thought when I woke up was, “I hope it’s not raining.”  The week before our wedding we had torrential downpours and it even thunder stormed the night before.  When I woke up, I played a few games on my phone and eventually went over to the patio door and looked outside.  There was not a rain cloud in sight!  I woke up my sister and cousin by jumping on their bed screaming, “It’s my wedding day and there’s no rain!”  They weren’t too happy, but I was ecstatic.

The rest of my bridesmaids met us at the hotel around 9AM so I could give them their gifts.  I made a hanger for each of them with a monogram sticker I ordered from Etsy and gave them a pearl necklace from Milanj Diamonds.  After they were done opening gifts, we went to breakfast at Cake, a restaurant in Chestnut Hill.

After breakfast, we went back to the hotel and started getting ready.  Jeff and Brooke from Brooke Courtney Photography arrived soon after and the day finally started feeling “real.” 

As I mentioned in a previous post, the calligrapher we used for our wedding envelopes and place cards was Kristen Henderson.  I found her on Etsy and she was an absolute pleasure to work with.  We used Lace & Lemon for the return address stamp on our reception cards.  Anna, the shop owner, was so accommodating and even customized the font on our stamp to match our invitations.  Lace & Lemon specializes in wedding stationery and design, but she also does custom website designs, personal stationery and small business branding.  If you’re interested in learning more about Lace & Lemon or contacting Anna, email hello@laceandlemon.com.

Oh my, my makeup!  I received so many compliments on my makeup.  Thank you to Julianne Ulrich for making me look so gorgeous.  Julianne was so down to earth and definitely made me feel at ease on my wedding morning.  I had a makeup trial with her a few months prior to the big day, so I knew I was in good hands.  Julianne is absolutely amazing.  She used airbrush makeup on my skin and very natural looking single false lashes.  There was no way that I’d be able to that on my own.  My makeup still made me look like myself, which was important to me.  I didn’t want to look like a completely different person.  Julianne answered any questions I had regarding my makeup along the way, and even recommended different shades of lipsticks for touching up my makeup throughout the night.

Julianne has done makeup for clients from Los Angeles to New York, but works primarily in the tri-state area.  She does wedding makeup as well as commercial work in film, live TV, print and runway.  She is the absolute best at what she does.  I can’t wait for another opportunity to hire her to do my makeup.  If you’re interested in hiring Julianne, feel free to contact her on her site.  I highly recommend her. 

We did our“first look” on a massive hill at the country club where the hotel was located.  I didn’t think I would be nervous, but I was!  The photographers had Bryan facing one way and asked me to walk up the hill towards him.  That walk felt like the longest walk of my life.  It was super windy, so my veil kept flying around blinding me, but I was so excited for Bryan to see me.  I’d been talking about my dress for months and I was so thrilled to finally show it to him.

We did all of our bride/groom photos at Morris Arboretum before the ceremony.  I am so happy with how the images turned out.  We walked all through the arboretum to find the perfect spots for photos – even through a bunch of mud!  Jeff and Brooke, our photographers, made us feel so comfortable and I think that the photos show that.

Up next:  Our Ceremony!