Love Under the Moon: Portrait Party

The hour or two leading up to our ceremony are very fuzzy to me. I don't remember much except going where the photographers told us to go, sometimes smiling, sometimes exchanging kisses with Mr. Coyote, sometimes posing with family and friends. It was an absolute blur.

I know portraits can be boring if you don't know the people in the photos so I'm going to try and breeze through these as quickly as possible. We started by taking some photos just outside our venue.

I super love this photo and the way the guys are posed in the background, but you can tell it happened just after the first look because my eyes are still watery!

Eventually we moved to the side of the building for a few more shots. Mr. Coyote helped by carrying some of the bouquets and acting goofy. He kept me laughing (instead of crying!) and I was finally starting to relax. 

The posse:

The next two photos are some of my faves. I was so worried about having an uneven bridal party, but I think it worked out well! Our photographers really knew how to line everyone up so it didn't look weird.

After a while the heat started to get to us (it was a super hot day) so we moved inside the venue. The main room where the ceremony and reception took place were on the first floor, but the second floor consisted of a few smaller rooms, one of which was perfect for a few more portraits.

After the wedding party portraits were out of the way it was time for some solo shots with me and my soon-to-be husband!

*All photos are by the fabulous Upstate Photographers unless otherwise noted.*

Miss a recap?

• I babble about being married and share our wedding video.
• We finish up some last-minute wedding tasks and pre-wedding jitters set in the day before the wedding.
• We practice getting married and then head to our rehearsal dinner where I shed my first tears of the weekend. We later wind down with our families back at the hotel.
• My bridesmaids get pretty and I get a special message from Mr. Coyote.
• I try to cope when things don’t go quite as planned, but thankfully I quickly bounce back and then it was time to become a bride. Meanwhile, Mr. Coyote was calm as a cucumber as he got ready with the dads and groomsmen.
• I finish getting ready and see an unexpected guest on my way to our first look.
• It was finally time to cross the street and meet my groom!

Love Under the Moon: First Look

As I left the hotel to go meet my groom I felt like a bundle of nerves. I was so excited to see him, but was still having trouble believing that we were actually getting married! In order to meet Mr. Coyote I had to cross the street to the venue.

I love this photo because if you look *really* closely you can see Mr. Coyote waiting for me under the Franklin Plaza awning. Can you spot him??

Brenda quickly ran into the road and acted not only as photographer, but also crossing guard. (Have I mentioned she is fantastic?) Even though my thoughts were drowning out the noises around me, as I crossed the street I vaguely heard horns honking. As a true and die hard New Yorker, I remember thinking, "Seriously?! Can't you see that I am in heels and a WEDDING DRESS? Calm yo'self!" I almost felt compelled to yell at the culprits until MOH D (who was carrying my train) mentioned how cute it was that people were honking for me (not at me). Whoops.

Slow. Bride Crossing. 

Once I made it safely across the street, MOH D dropped my train and I started tiptoeing to my groom. 

Meanwhile, our other photographer Paul (who had been busy snapping photos of the guys getting ready) was capturing Mr. Coyote as he awaited my arrival. Mr. Coyote later confessed that he felt like he had been standing there foreverrrrr waiting for me. I told him that I was worth the wait. ;)

As I crept closer my brain started to scream with excitement. ThisIsIt. ThisIsIt. ThisIsIt!!! I took a deep breath, tapped him on the shoulder and...

Started to cry.

I warned you that there were a lot of tears this weekend! I couldn't help it. I was so overwhelmed and so gosh darn happy that our time had finally arrived. I remember Mr. Coyote laughing and saying, "Look at you!"

I barely even let him take a glimpse of me before I pulled him for a hug. 

He whispered in my ear and asked me if I was okay (he had heard through the grapevine about my hair and makeup debacle). I choked out a "no", but the truth is, I felt a million times better once I was in his arms.

We took a few more photos and exchanged a few smooches...

But I was starting to feel all eyes on me. Our wedding party and parents were hovering near by and I was feeling very self-conscious. Our photographers sensed my awkwardness and quickly moved us into our bridal portraits.

*All photos are by the fabulous Upstate Photographers, unless otherwise noted.*

Miss a recap?

• I babble about being married and share our wedding video.
• We finish up some last-minute wedding tasks and pre-wedding jitters set in the day before the wedding.
• We practice getting married and then head to our rehearsal dinner where I shed my first tears of the weekend. We later wind down with our families back at the hotel.
• My bridesmaids get pretty and I get a special message from Mr. Coyote.
• I try to cope when things don’t go quite as planned, but thankfully I quickly bounce back and then it was time to become a bride. Meanwhile, Mr. Coyote was calm as a cucumber as he got ready with the dads and groomsmen.
• I finish getting ready and see an unexpected guest on my way to meet Mr. Coyote.

Love Under the Moon: Final Touches

While Mr. Coyote and the dudes headed over to Franklin Plaza, I remained in our hotel suite, adding a few final touches to my ensemble.

Momma Coyote helped with me my bracelet:

I popped in my earrings:

And my two maids of honor helped me with my shoes, which led to some very goofy photos!

As soon as I was all accessorized up Brenda (our photographer) sent the bridesmaids over to Franklin Plaza to meet up with the guys. The mommas stayed behind as well as MOH D who assisted me with my dress. We had a few minutes to relax before it was time to head over for the first look, but after all of the nerves from earlier in the day I really just wanted to see Mr. Coyote. I was pumped and ready to go! Thankfully we didn't have to wait too much longer and soon enough it was time to head out. I was giddy with excitement and could not wait to see my groom.

We opened the door, started to head down the hallway and what I saw made my heart melt. No, no it wasn't Mr. Coyote... It was my grandfather.

Hive, my grandfather -- my wonderful, fun, happy grandfather -- is currently fighting a difficult battle against dementia. If you have never had a loved one suffer from this disease, I can only hope you never will. It is true when they say that it is hardest on those surrounding the person who is suffering from it. My grandfather no longer recognizes any of his grandchildren and he often does not know where he is or who he is with. His moods change with the wind and in the weeks leading up to our wedding we were unsure if my grandparents would be able to make it. My grandfather's health was deteriorating and my grandmother, in a true testament of love and sacrifice (or just plain ol' stubbornness, I'm really not sure), refuses to leave his side.

And so, I feel incredibly blessed to be able to tell you that my grandfather improved enough to make the journey to our wedding. Seeing him standing there at the end of the hallway immediately stopped me in my tracks.

Rationally I know that he did not recognize me, but ladies, I swear to you his eyes lit up when he saw me. I hugged him as tightly as I could and once again, the tears began to flow. I never told my photographer about my grandfather or about his dementia, but when she noticed how I reacted she realized something big was happening and snapped the most poignant wedding photo we have. Many of our photos bring out a variety of emotions, but I am flooded with memories when I see this particular shot. It is the only one that still brings tears to my eyes every time I look at it. It is a true testament to her skill and ability as a photographer to be able to capture a candid moment like this:

Unfortunately my time with my grandfather ended too soon and it was time to head outside to meet my groom. I dried my tears (again) and headed for the door.

*All photos are by the fabulous Upstate Photographers, unless otherwise noted.*

Miss a recap?

• I babble about being married and share our wedding video.
• We finish up some last-minute wedding tasks and pre-wedding jitters set in the day before the wedding.
• We practice getting married and then head to our rehearsal dinner where I shed my first tears of the weekend. We later wind down with our families back at the hotel.
• My bridesmaids get pretty and I get a special message from Mr. Coyote.
• I try to cope when things don’t go quite as planned, but thankfully I quickly bounce back and then it was time to become a bride. Meanwhile, Mr. Coyote was calm as a cucumber as he got ready with the dads and groomsmen.

Love Under the Moon: Becoming a Groom

Upstairs, the groom, the dads, and all the groomsmen were in their own hotel room getting ready. 

Way back when we chose the tuxedos, we decided to stick with a simple and classic look. The guys wore black tuxes with black vests and ties, but Mr. Coyote chose silver for himself. He wanted to stick out a bit from the guys and it happened to be one of our accent colors. 

Mr. Coyote and I chose not to purchase wedding gifts for each other, but at the last minute I decided to pick up something small for him. You see, after we bought cufflinks for the guys and the dads, Mr. Coyote started feeling left out -- he kept complaining that he would be stuck with the standard cuff links that came with the tuxedo while everyone else had their own awesome cuff links. And so I secretly hopped back onto Etsy and found the perfect links for Mr. Coyote.

Personal Photo / Cuff links purchased from Etsy shop Mancornas

I called my brother down to my hotel suite while we were getting ready so he could give the links to Mr. Coyote. He was definitely surprised and even though he was mad at me for breaking the "no presents" rule I think he was okay with my exception!

FIL Coyote checking out the links.

I absolutely love this photo of FIL Coyote helping his son put on his boutinerre. 

After the guys were all dressed and spiffy they headed over to Franklin Plaza to get ready for the first look. 

And now there was nothing left to do but wait for the bride…

*All photos are by the fabulous Upstate Photographers, unless otherwise noted.*

Miss a recap?

• I babble about being married and share our wedding video.
• We finish up some last-minute wedding tasks and pre-wedding jitters set in the day before the wedding.
• We practice getting married and then head to our rehearsal dinner where I shed my first tears of the weekend. We later wind down with our families back at the hotel.
• My bridesmaids get pretty and I get a special message from Mr. Coyote.
• I try to cope when things don’t go quite as planned, but thankfully I quickly bounce back and then it was time to become a bride.

Love Under the Moon: Becoming a Bride

After I dried my tears, I opened the door to a whirlwind of activity. The videographer had already arrived, the photographer was on her way in and the bouquets and boutonnieres were entering the room in shifts. I apologized to everyone for my outburst and then spent some time pinning and pulling my curls down. Most of my bridesmaids were munching on sandwiches (courtesy of Momma Coyote) and BM P quickly pulled one out for me. Even though I didn't have much of an appetite (I literally took about three bites) I am so glad we decided to bring some food in. Huge tip for future brides: Even if you're not hungry just remember that your bridal party will be! A well-fed bridal party is a happy bridal party. :)

I had moved past the whole hair and makeup debacle (and even managed to fix it up a bit myself!), but that didn't stop the tears from coming. Honestly, I didn't even know why I was crying anymore, but the second someone directed a comment or a question toward me I started to cry.

Random Person in the Room: "Hey Miss Coyote, aren't puppies cute?"

Miss Coyote, sobbing: "Oh my gosh! Puppies?! I love puppies so much. Can we talk about something else? Just thinking about how cute puppies are is making me cry."

It was pathetic. So pathetic that when Dennis, our videographer, noticed the charms on my bouquet and asked me about them I only got about halfway through explaining how the bee charms are passed from bride to bride, how the coyote charms reflect my unique avatar and how amazing the community is before I became totally overwhelmed and started crying again. That's right. I cried over Weddingbee. I hope you're happy.

I did what I could to keep myself distracted while my bridesmaids finished getting ready and soon enough, it was time.

I've done enough yapping in my last few posts so I'm just going to let the photos tell the rest of this story. 

When scheduling out a timeline of the day with our photographers one of the first things they asked me was if I had a corset dress. When I responded yes they immediately told me to tack on another 30 minutes of "getting ready" time.

I thought they were joking, but you guys, you would not believe how long it took to get that damn dress on.

I know this sounds strange, but looking back, it was one of my favorite parts of the day.

I had some of the best ladies in the world surrounding me and had finally reached some zen-like state that is unattainable on any other day than your wedding day.

 

While I was busy becoming a bride, the men were in a hotel room upstairs having their own fun...

*All photos are by the fabulous Upstate Photographers, unless otherwise noted.*

Miss a recap?

• I babble about being married and share our wedding video.
• We finish up some last-minute wedding tasks and pre-wedding jitters set in the day before the wedding.
• We practice getting married and then head to our rehearsal dinner where I shed my first tears of the weekend. We later wind down with our families back at the hotel.
• My bridesmaids get pretty and I get a special message from Mr. Coyote.
• I try to cope when things don't go quite as planned.