7 Years Later

Today Chris and I celebrate 7 years of marriage.  I know this isn't long in the grand scheme of things, but it seems like we have been together a lot longer than 7 years!  When we got married it was just before digital pictures were the norm, so while we have beautiful wedding pictures, we don't have many digitally that I can post here.  The pictures below are mostly from my friend Heather, who was one of my bridesmaids.  I think this is the first time I have posted some of these candids!

The morning of the wedding almost all the bridesmaids came to my parent's house to get ready.  We watched Cinderella on this little TV while we were all getting our hair done!  My tiara was inspired by the one Catherine Zeta Jones wore at her wedding.  It was this exact picture that made me want a tiara that was flat all the way across, instead of pointed like a crown.

 I pictured my hair half-up/half-down like Shelby's in Steel Magnolias.  But, when my friend did it that way, I hated it!  So we decided to try it all up and I immediately loved it.  Here is the first attempt, and then the final up-do:

I absolutely loved my wedding dress!  I will never forget the way I felt the first time I saw myself in the mirror with it on and I walked out to show my mom and family friend, Kathy.  All three of us knew it was the one.  It was big, princess-ey, sparkley, and just a total Cinderella dress.  These days the mermaid style dresses are so popular and I have a feeling that if I was getting married now, I would choose a mermaid style dress, so I am SO GLAD I got married when I did so I got to have the big princess gown.

Don't you just love that awful yellow wall color behind me?  This was in the church basement in the room for the bride and bridesmaids. 

So I know this is a random picture, but it's one of my favorites from getting ready.  Melissa's sister Haley was one of my flowergirls and she was in the room getting ready with us.  I was all ready, and my friends had placed a stool under my big ol' dress so I could sit down and Haley asked me a question.  I turned to answer her and somebody got this picture.  I don't know why I like it so much, but it's one of my favorite pictures from that day.

My sister!  She looked so pretty.  It worked out pretty well because her homecoming dance was the same night as my wedding.  Her date came and picked her up at the reception and she was all ready to go, in her bridesmaids dress! 

My mom had to show some of the girls how to bustle my dress for the reception, so there were four of them behind me in this picture, getting very up close and personal with my behind while they figured out the bustle!  I had a little fun with the camera while they were back there.

Here's a funny story that not many people know.  I had the most fabulous shoes to go with my sparkley dress.  They were gaudy and covered with rhinestones...they were perfect!  I took them with me everywhere in the months before my wedding.  Everywhere.  I took them to work and showed them to co-workers and even some patients.  I took them to the bank and showed them to my bank teller.  I even took them to our consulations for the photographer and bakery.  I was super excited to wear them.  These are the shoes:

We got them on...and I couldn't wear them!  All those rhinestones kept getting caught in all the tulle under my dress and it made me trip.  Not exactly what I had in mind.  Thankfully, Melissa had been unable to decide between two pairs of silver shoes for her to wear with her bridesmaids dress and brought both pairs with her.  I put on the shoes she wasn't wearing, which fit perfectly and were also silver and sparkley, and they were perfect!  It was my something borrowed.

And finally, here are some pictures from the actual ceremony.  We got married at 4:00pm and there was a lightly falling rain outside.  There were candles everywhere and it was beautiful.

The wedding was absolutely perfect.  But, if I could go back, I would only change 2 things about that day.

1. I wish we would have sang some worship songs.  Melissa did at her wedding and I intended to, but just somehow forgot.  It was a very spiritual ceremony, so it's not like God was lacking or anything.  If anything, I felt especially close to God that day.  I just wish we had some singing.
2. I would have had a 7th bridesmaid, my friend Emily.  I had been in her wedding and we always said we would be in each other's weddings, but when I got married we were in different places in our lives.  She had been married for a while, and she had kids, and we were just in different places.  Plus, it was already pushing it to have 6 bridesmaids, 7 would have been a bit much!  But, I do wish that she had been in my wedding.  So Emily, someday if Chris and I do a vow-renewal, you are officially invited to be a bridesmaid!

Tomorrow...reception pictures!