A Sunday Kind of Love: Bridal Details & the "Somethings"

Before we get to our first look, I want to share with you my bridal details and my "somethings."

All photos by Mike Landis Photographer

Bridal details: 

I used to love my shoes.  When I first bought them they fit perfectly, of course before I was pregnant, and I didn't spend enough time breaking them in before the wedding.  After about an hour and a half in them, I was near tears just taking a step. But before I put them on, they looked so nice:

Enzo Angiolini shoes - Mollinia style in gray suede 

 My dress, as I mentioned before, is Monique Lhullier Bliss, style 0915.

My DIY bride hanger that I made for my bridesmaid's wedding back in the summer that she graciously let me use for myself:

I had so much jewelry that day,  I had my "bridal" jewelry that I wore for all the pictures and ceremony which included my mom's pearls, my new earrings, and Mrs. Sunhat's bracelet. My reception jewelry I had my Kate Spade bow earrings & Mrs. necklace, and for the day-after I had my new monogram necklace which was a Christmas gift from my FIL. Not all the jewelry made it into the pictures, but you can get the general idea! 

My flowers. Sigh... I'm still a little bit obsessed with my bouquet. You all remember my hangry bridezilla freakout where I thought I wouldn't get ranunculous?  Well, I got my flowers, and I could not have loved them any more. Our florist, Penny's Flowers, did an incredible job on all our flowers, but these were by far my favorite. 

My Somethings

Something Old: I wanted to carry something that was important to my family history, something from each of my grandmothers, and something that I could easily attach to the bouquet.  It was the fashion back in the day when my parents were born for a mother to have a charm necklace or bracelet with a charm for each of their kids, with their names and birthdays on it.  Both of my grandmothers had their charms for my parents and offered them to me to add to my bouquet. I love that I had tokens that represented both my grandmothers and my parents on my bouquet.

Something New: I had a lot of new things on me the day of my wedding: my dress, my shoes, a lot of my jewelry. But if I had to pick the newest thing I had on, it would have to be my earrings from Mr. Ly that I had received just that morning.

Something Borrowed: Last post, I showed you the bracelet I borrowed from Mrs. Sunhat, and the pearls I borrowed from my mom.  Another borrowed tradition I continued the day of the wedding were my bees, which you've seen in many other bloggers posts. Mine came from the sweet Mrs. Coach, and I was so happy to have a piece of the hive with me on my wedding day.

Something Blue: When I first started blogging, I shared that my something blue would be my ring. I never added anything else blue to my attire or jewelry that day, so my something blue remains as my engagement ring, a blue diamond.

Mr. Ly's ring with my wedding band and my "something blue" engagement ring 

I pre-capped our recaps with a big announcement!
Recaps began with our Same Day Edit video.
I needed to get some perspective the week of the wedding.
Personally brewed beers gave our rehearsal lunch a special touch!
I spent a fantastic last day as a Miss.
I shared some gifts for my bridesmaids. 
The girls spend an easy and relaxing morning getting made up.
The guys spent the morning building a chuppah and doing guy things.
I panicked when the morning went by too fast.
We exchanged lovely notes and gifts on the wedding morning.
I put on my dress and became a Blissful Bride.

A Sunday Kind of Love: A Blissful Bride

Once gifts were exchanged, I was ready to finally get dressed. It was ten to one, and we were really behind schedule. I wanted to get my dress on, and get to our much anticipated first look, but there was still a small hurdle to get through - my mother was no where to be found. I had requested she be back in the room by 12:30, at 12:47 she was still no where to be found. After a few terse phone calls and a minor freak out, every one was where they should be and I was ready to put on my dress.

All photos by Mike Landis Photographer

Due to the pregnancy, my body had been changing like crazy.  I had my final fitting about a week and a half before the wedding, which was perfect. However, I was really nervous that despite it fitting a week before, it was not going to fit that day.

All I'm thinking is "please zip, please zip." 

My face says it all - something along the lines of "If this dress doesn't zip..." 

Once my dress zipped, and I could breathe a sigh of relief, I got my shoes on and accessorized.

Now it's time for some accessories, I'm all smiles - my mom's pearls

Putting on my new earrings from Mr. Ly

You may recognize one of my "Somethings" - a borrowed bracelet from Mrs. Sunhat

Once I was fully dressed and accessorized, there was the final touch.  My veil.  I never blogged about my veil, but I absolutely love it. It's cathedral length with an embroidered scalloped edge, and it completed my bridal look.

The look is complete with my veil

Checking out my full bridal look

I'm so ready to go to see my groom! 

Posing with my parents

And then I was ready for our first look!  I vaguely remember handing off a bunch of stuff to some of my bridesmaids to make sure they got it to the trolley, but all I was focused on was getting myself out that door and across the street to see Mr. Ly!

I pre-capped our recaps with a big announcement!
Recaps began with our Same Day Edit video.
I needed to get some perspective the week of the wedding.
Personally brewed beers gave our rehearsal lunch a special touch!
I spent a fantastic last day as a Miss.
I shared some gifts for my bridesmaids. 
The girls spend an easy and relaxing morning getting made up.
The guys spent the morning building a chuppah and doing guy things.
I panicked when the morning went by too fast.
We exchanged lovely notes and gifts on the wedding morning.

A Sunday Kind of Love: Gifts of Love

The last post ended with a knock on the door to the penthouse.  I couldn't really imagine who it would be, it was almost 12:30, everyone who needed to be in the suite was there, but in walks two of the groomsmen bearing 2 dozen roses, an 8x10 photograph of Mr. Ly, & a little green box (which I know by it's wrapping comes from our jeweler).  In the middle of all the planning and scheduling, I totally forgot that we'd be exchanging gifts that morning.  Luckily, I had already put most of Mr. Ly's gift together.

All photos by Mike Landis Photographer

I mean who doesn't want an 8x10 framed photo of their soon-to-be husband? 

I'm explaining the rules of my gift - the card, and everything enclosed is for Mr. Ly's EYES ONLY. 

 Yes, I did a boudoir shoot for Mr. Ly's gift. I had bought and booked the appointment before I was pregnant, but decided to go ahead with it anyway.  I was only 12 weeks, and when you have your hair and makeup all done, how can you not feel sexy.  I embraced the pregnancy curves and got some great shots.

Showing the girls the gift

 The pictures are really not risque or anything, but I didn't have a great experience with the studio where I did my shoot (it's been over 3.5 months since my shoot and I still don't have my 5 edited photos), but I was able to give Mr. Ly a low-res picture from the shoot. Hopefully I can post about them before recaps are over. 

Love Mr. Ly's sister's reaction

Mr. Ly followed my request, and opened his card/picture out in the hall.  

I, on the other hand, had a full audience 

 For the rest of his gift, I got him cufflinks, which matched the ones he got for his groomsmen in theme:

Aperture Science Cuff links from the video game Portal 

Mr. Ly got me a gorgeous pair of pearl earrings

 Once the gifts were exchanged and opened, it was finally time to get dressed!

I pre-capped our recaps with a big announcement!
Recaps began with our Same Day Edit video.
I needed to get some perspective the week of the wedding.
Personally brewed beers gave our rehearsal lunch a special touch!
I spent a fantastic last day as a Miss.
I shared some gifts for my bridesmaids. 
The girls spend an easy and relaxing morning getting made up.
The guys spent the morning building a chuppah and doing guy things.
I panicked when the morning went by too fast.

A Sunday Kind of Love: An hour of panic

While the morning leading up to the wedding was relaxing, once the photographers and videographer arrived, I suddenly realized that were at risk at falling really, really behind schedule.  I haven't talked much about my wedding-day schedule, because it wasn't a huge part in my wedding planning.  The only thing I cared about scheduling-wise was that we made it to our photo locations and to the venue on time.  Our ceremony had to start on time, and I was not going to let the schedule get away from me.

Our day-of schedule looked like this:

8:00 Get up, breakfast at hotel

8:30 - Girls arrive, part 2 of gifts

8:30 - Hair & Make-up arrive

	Hair 1	Hair 2	Makeup 1	Makeup 2
8:30	Linda - half up	Elizabeth - curls (short hair, just needs style/volume)	Diane	Liz
9:15	Mom - up	Debbie - half up	Linda	Sarah
9:45	Erica	Liz - up	Martha	Elizabeth
10:30	Erica	Sarah - up	Mom	Debbie
11:15	Diane - up	Alissa - up	Erica	Katie
11:45	Martha - ?	Katie - down with curls	Erica

12:00 - Erica finish make-up, Photogs arrive, Videographer Arrives

12:15 - Get in dress, final touches

1:00 - First look, Trolley arrives

1:30 - 3:00 Photos in Philadelphia, start at art museum, then broad street, end in Olde City

3:00 - Trolley drop off at Curtis Quick walk through/rehearsal @ Curtis Center

3:30 - Ketubah signing

3:30 Trolley pick-up at Omni

4:00 - guests arrive

4:15 ceremony begins

So as you can see, from the time our photographers/videographers arrived, I was supposed to be getting dressed 15 minutes later. Yeah, I was no where near ready.

Here's where I was when they arrived:

All photos by Mike Landis Photographer

I am trying to stay calm, but I know all I'm thinking about is the time. 

You can see my stress levels a bit higher here... 

I seriously think I look like I'm on the verge of tears here.  Nothing serious to panic about, but yet so much stress! 

My bridesmaids found ways to amuse themselves while waiting to get some pictures in their robes

 Since I was no where near ready to get dressed, the girls took some photos with my dress in their robes:

I hopped in for a few pictures before putting the finishing touches on my make-up:

I checked out my bridal look for the first time all day:

The first time really feeling like a bride. 

And posing with my fabulous makeup artist, Danielle.  

 You might think it was now time to get dressed, but no, not yet... because one thing I didn't account for in the schedule was the gift exchange between me and Mr. Ly. Around 12:30 (note: 15 minutes AFTER I was supposed to be dressed), there was knock on the door...

I pre-capped our recaps with a big announcement!
Recaps began with our Same Day Edit video.
I needed to get some perspective the week of the wedding.
Personally brewed beers gave our rehearsal lunch a special touch!
I spent a fantastic last day as a Miss.
I shared some gifts for my bridesmaids. 
The girls spend an easy and relaxing morning getting made up.
The guys spent the morning building a chuppah and doing guy things.