As a part of my 101 in 1001 project, I decided I wanted to do an A-Z photo essay of my wedding. My original thought was that I’d pick one picture for each letter and let them speak for themselves. However, I can’t not be a writer and write a bit about each photo, so it really is like a photo essay/essay more than just an essay comprised of only photos.
All photographs by Kella MacPhee
Adorable
My nephew, TJ, was an honorary ringbearer and wore a little tux with Converse. I think one look at him tells anyone I know why I now want children. He is so incredibly adorable.
Brooch
This brooch, at the waist of my wedding dress, was a big part of why I bought the dress. I loved it so much and planned to have it removed from my dress and made into a brooch I could wear on my coat. However, I forgot to tell my mother this before she took my dress to be preserved. Now I have to decide if I should just forget about it and let it remain in storage or ruin the preservation to get to the brooch.
Edit: The brooch was saved! Now I just need to make it into a pin I can wear.
Cake
Our cake was exactly what I wanted. Tom didn’t know what my dress looked like, but I was able to arrange it so our invitations and cake had swirly patterns on them that matched the swirls on my dress. It was so beautiful; it’s probably the first time I ever really thought, “Wow, it’s a shame to cut into this” about any food.
Dad
Dancing with my dad was the most emotional part of the day. I was never one of those girls that planned her wedding day for years. I really didn’t think about it too much until Tom and I got engaged; the one thing I always did know, though, was that I wanted to dance with my dad to Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World. My dad cried through nearly the whole dance (and again when he saw the wedding photos and again when he saw the wedding highlight video). He’s a mush.
Earrings
My friend Jen made these earrings for me. I absolutely love them and wish I could wear them every day.
Front Doors
These are the front doors of the church. I wanted flowers for the door; I felt like it would signify that something special was going on there that day. I had rings of flowers in mind but they showed up in somewhat of a heart shape, which was fine by me. I think they’re really beautiful and was so happy to have them.
Gals + Mike
My matron-of-honor, man-of-honor, and bridesmaids. Mike has been my best friend for years – there for me through thick and thin, good times and less-than-good times. We’ve been through a lot and there was never a question in my mind that he’d be in my wedding party. I was his wife’s maid of honor when they got married (one year before us). I really love this photo; I look at it and feel so much love for the people in my life. When we had to cancel our videographer due to lack of money, my bridal party pulled together and paid for our videographer as their gift to us. I feel so lucky to have such amazingly wonderful friends and family.
Hangin' Out
I think this photo is so creative and unique. It’s posed but not traditional.
Ice Cream
Along with the wedding cake and pastries, we got a full ice cream bar... that we didn’t ask for! It was a total surprise and, apparently, a huge hit. We heard a lot about how great it was. (I never got to have any, but that’s okay – I can’t eat much ice cream anyway.)
Jewelry
I love this picture of our rings. During the reception, our photographer took the rings and went off with them; we didn’t know where. When we got the photos, we saw our rings on leaves, on guitars, and on our cake toppers. I love creative ring photos.
Kiss
At the rehearsal, the pastor made us kiss longer; he said our kiss was too short. I don’t even like holding hands in public, so I was nervous about kissing in public (silly, I know). But when the moment came, I didn’t think twice about it. It really felt more okay than I ever thought it would.
Lamps
I loved our reception location. I wanted a photographer that would take advantage of all the great details around, and Kella did a great job. I’m also a sucker for any picture of things in a row.
Men
I love this photo of the groomsmen. I think it looks like a Quentin Tarantino movie poster.
Nicole Clark Cake Toppers
I absolutely adore our cake toppers. I found Nicole through Weddingbee and am so glad. I have never been interested in traditional cake toppers and wanted our wedding to include elements we could display. Because Tom didn’t want to know anything about what my dress looked like, he didn’t see my cake topper until the reception. My mom and I joked about how his looks a little like Mr. Bill and if it fell off the cake we’d have to say, “Oh no, Mr. Bill!” Thankfully they didn’t fall.
Old Fashioned
I love the shading and tint of this picture.
Program
I originally wanted to have DIY programs but we didn’t have the money. The programs from the church were free and ended up being just fine. I was really happy with how they turned out.
Quartet
All of the groomsmen were musicians so they put on a mini-show near the end of the reception, giving the DJ a break. Here they’re playing “Maybe I’m Amazed”, one of my favorite songs. (Note: not all the groomsmen are playing in this song, hence it only being a quartet at this point.)
Ringbearer
My godson, Erik, was our ringbearer. I absolutely love this photo. He looks sweet and adorable and the composition and framing are amazing. He’s a great kid – really entertaining with such a mischievous twinkle in his eye.
Shoes
Kella put these three photos together on her blog (which is why they have the fun, sketchy black outlines). Those are my Converse for the reception, my shoes for the ceremony, and TJ’s Converse for his tux. I’ve been wearing and obsessed with Converse since high school so there was never a question about me wearing them for the reception.
Toasts
We had four toasts at our wedding – the best man, best woman, matron-of-honor (above), and man-of-honor. All four were absolutely tremendous and unique. Each of our four honor attendants are very different from each other so the toasts gave a wonderful picture of the relationships my husband and I have with our family and friends. I can’t wait to watch the toasts again on the video.
Umbrellas
When I woke up around 5am on the morning of the wedding, all I heard beyond my alarm was the sound of a crashing downpour outside. When I left the house to go get ready at my sister’s house, it was still pouring. By the time of the ceremony, though, it had stopped and stayed clear (if overcast) for the rest of the day. We had plenty of umbrellas on hand from the morning, but this is the last time we saw some of them. I don’t know what happened to them but somehow they left the reception without us.
Verdant
The exterior appearance of the building and grounds were half the reason we chose our reception location. I was so glad that the weather held up and we were able to take pictures among all the autumn foliage and remaining greenery.
Walking
Kella likes to take pictures of bridal parties in motion. I absolutely adore this photo (how many times can I say that?) and can’t wait to display it. I had worries about the size of our bridal party, but then I look at this photo and realize it couldn’t have been any smaller; all of these people mean the world to us.
eXamine
This is me at the reception, caught admiring my rings. I really do love my rings and look at them often, especially if I’m sitting in a direct light that makes them extra sparkly.
Yum
All of the food at the reception was SO good! Everyone told us for a year straight, “Make sure you make time to eat!” Well, we had no problem with that but I was too excited to eat most of the day (which is a true rarity for me). The cake was scrumptious, but the bite when we cut the cake was the only bite I got.
Zany
Our ringbearer is such a fantastic kid. He was dancing up a storm! He was so fantastic, that he gets some bonus photos:
I always thought that people who said their wedding day was the best day of their life were a bit cheesy and devaluing other important days and events. I wasn’t prepared for how happy I would feel that day, how sure I was that I was marrying the right man, and how loved I felt – both by my husband and by all the family and friends who were there to celebrate our love and the start of our married life. I don’t doubt that we will have many other wonderful days, but this will always be tied for the top of the list with anything else great that happens.
<3
