Part 2! 

To fully experience our wedding day you need to set the tone with our music. It’s probably my favorite part of the entire wedding. Listen here.

Can we talk about these flowers!? My brain tingles and my heart pound just thinking about them, then when I drool over the photos I just want to kiss Gayle on the mouth! Gayle and I have been friends for many years, since our first studio together on Florida Ave. We met and signed a lease all in the same evening. Over the past few years we have gotten extremely close and when Joe and I met they gained an instant friend in each other. Gayle and Joe have the same taste in insane metal music. I have an appreciation and happily entertain his attempts to highlight just how genius these musicians are. And I am sincere in my appreciation! However it’s not my jam. Thankfully he can nerd out for days with Gayle and they have found the perfect concert partner in each other, much to my and my ear drum’s relief 😉  We have loved getting into deep talks together, dancing at silent discos, dreaming up new business ventures, and generally being a dream team. We knew we wanted to have the benefit of her insane floral talent on the wedding day AND have her in a place of honor as nothing other than the flower girl. 

We decided to ask our bridal party to be a part of the wedding in person. We invited them all over to our little house over the summer so we could all hang out they could get to know each other. We made a spread of Hawaiian inspired food and filed the bathtub with champagne and beer. After all, we wanted a wedding because we wanted to be with our people and we were going to milk that every chance we got. I will never forget standing in a circle with everyone and Joe giving a toast to everyone and formally asking them to help us celebrate. It was such a wonderful memory. I know my brother and sister were perplexed at being co-ring bearers and Gayle laughed out loud at being the flower girl. But this was our wedding and we sincerely loved these roles for everyone and thankfully they came around. If there is something you are passionate about don’t let anyone else’s opinion interfere. In the end they will wonder why they ever doubted you. 

We were so happy to gather our crew up again for the wedding weekend. Gayle and her lead designer Aaron busted their butts putting together our florals, in secret. She knew exactly what our vision was and she exceeded it a million times over. We wanted pops of saturated color, unexpected mixes, and asymmetry. Did she nail it or what? The way the pieces came out of the open black sculptures, the grey velvet drape, everything! And then she had the genius idea to WEAR flowers and hand out stems down the aisle. And not just wear flowers, she and Aaron applied the florals to her skin with latex. GENIUS! I wish our home could be filled with her masterpieces every day.

Gayle was the last to process to Holocene before the music changed and I came out with my parents to Helicopter by Deerhunter. We had jammed to them live at Shaky Knees, belting out that song maybe an hour before he got down on one knee. I had been grinning al day while Joe’s tears flowed freely. I felt as though I saw his heart open and envelope me more deeply than ever before. We were truly being changed by this experience. We were transforming, solidifying what was in our hearts with the collective love of 90 other people. Powerful. I had tears too but my joy and grin was permanent. I will never forget walking down that aisle to him, hugging my parents and handing Amber my bouquet. After that all could see was Joe’s eyes and feel his hands in mine. Robert blew us away with his incredible love and sincerity. He truly expressed everything we couldn’t quite put into words. More tears, such happy tears. We totally forgot to practice fluffing my train but somehow it settled nicely straight down the steps. We exchanged rings and somehow got through our vows in shaky, overwhelmed voices. The kiss! Pure electricity and then a hug from muscle memory even though we made a pact that we would do it. DJ Eric hit the music in perfect timing and it felt like our very own movie. I was out of my body with joy as we walked back up the aisle through the smoke bombs. 

The smoke bombs! We really wanted to have confetti canons on the dancefloor but you’d be hard pressed to find any venue, let alone an outdoor one, allow them. We were over the sparkler exit trend and didn’t want to waste any precious dancing time with giving drunk people fire. I had seen smoke bombs used at weddings and even had the most epic first look of my career with them for the McGhan’s. Erica helped us settle on the idea of using them for the recessional. BEST DECISION EVER. We grabbed some high end grenade style ones from Enola Gaye in a variety of colors. I am so impressed with how they all went off and stayed on! So proud of our unwitting guests not realizing that they would have this responsibility. It was so incredible to see them all go off as we slowly walked through! My Love Opened the Door blasting and a swirling rainbow of smoke! I will never, ever, ever forget it. Jason captured ALL of the emotion and beauty. 

Gosh we had the best weather too. Low 70’s with bright yellow sunshine and a clear night, just cool enough to not be drenched in sweat as we tore up the dancefloor. Jason was a kid in a candy store with the gorgeous venue and beautiful light. Joe and I were buzzing. We had so much fun playing with my wings for more photos before gathering all the family for formals. Everyone looked so good! I’m so glad we got all of our bridal party photos done after the first look because we almost ran out of time just doing us and the family! 

Part 3 is up next with the reveal of our choreographed dance and the coolest party ever!