Our Wedding Day | Getting Ready

A few weeks ago I shared some of our wedding day highlights (here is part one and part two), one of which included getting ready with my girls! I absolutely loved getting to spend the morning of our wedding getting ready with the most important women in my life. Today I’m excited to share more photos and give a run down of our morning/afternoon before the ceremony started! I’ll be back next Wednesday to share the details of our ceremony (I can’t wait!) I’m listing all vendors & wedding details are linked at the bottom of this post 🙂

P.S. There are a lot of photos! Sorry, it’s so hard to narrow down favorites when you love them all!!

I stayed in our “Ready or Knot” suite on Friday night after our rehearsal dinner/welcome party with one of my bridesmaids Kate. It was so nice to be able to come back to the suite & wind down with a friend (plus it helped to ease my nerves!) My bridesmaids had helped me unload and unpack everything on Friday afternoon, so when we woke up on Saturday morning there was nothing left to do except celebrate the day. I really wanted to be fully present and soak in every single moment of the day, so that morning I actually gave my phone to one of my bridesmaids and hardly looked at it all day (I highly suggest doing this if you’re a bride-to-be!)

When my the rest of my bridesmaids, mom/stepmom, & MIL arrived in the suite on Saturday morning we opened presents & had a little bit of downtime before the hair & makeup team arrived. I had everyone arrive about an hour before H&MU so that no one felt rushed & we could hang out before the craziness began. I gifted my bridesmaids the GiGi New York All in One clutch & robes from Plum Pretty Sugar.

GETTING READY WITH HAIR & MAKEUP

Once the hair & makeup team from Carla White Beauty arrived things got a bit chaotic… it was officially game time! Carla White Beauty knows her stuff y’all- she had us all on a schedule so that we were all getting hair/makeup done at different times & in a timely manner. This is when I was glad that we had a really large suite because we never felt cramped or in the way! Our suite had huge windows, so all the makeup and hair was done by those. Carla was the first and only person I considered for hair & makeup in my area. As soon as I met her we clicked and I absolutely loved her style of classic beauty. Plus she’s so darn funny! I had the best time with her at my trial and on our wedding day! My one request was that I still looked and felt like myself & she totally achieved that!

EXCHANGING NOTES & GIFTS WITH NICK

I shared a lot about this in my wedding highlights post, but I couldn’t help but share it again because it was such a sweet moment for both of us. When we first started planning our wedding I really wanted to have a first look. To be honest, I was really worried that I would be a mess that day & my nerves would be out of control. To me, doing a “first look” with Nick would ease those nerves. He and I had a really long conversation about it and that’s when he voiced that he didn’t want a first look. I took a bit to think on it & ended up agreeing with him. His reasoning made sense and looking back I’m really glad we chose not to do a first look because it made the moment when we *did* see each other so much more special.

Anyways, we chose to exchange notes and gifts before the ceremony and I’m glad we did that because reading his note(s) was so special and I love that I’m able to keep those notes & read them forever. My bridesmaid, Jenn, did the exchanging of the notes/gifts and she reported back with all the details of what they were doing 6 floors above us haha! I’ll also note that she’s a huge crier and her crying made me cry at least four times throughout the day 😉 I got him a watch he had been wanting for his wedding present & he gave me a David Yurman ring!

Nick also gave his mom, my mom and my stepmom a letter and as we read them together we were all in tears. I’m so glad Carla was still there after reading the notes because quite a few of us needed touch ups haha! After a few touch-ups it was time for everyone to get dressed & head to our ceremony venue.  

WHITE ROBE | BRIDESMAID’S ROBES

GETTING DRESSED  & A FEW PORTRAITS IN OUR SUITE

Once it was time to get dressed, it really made everything feel “real.” I don’t think I could wipe the smile off my face if I tried as I stepped into my dress. It was such an intimate moment having my mom & sister helping me get my dress on and it’s one I will never forget. My bridesmaids got dressed on the other side of the room behind a curtain, so everything would be a surprise.

This photo below was taken moments before I got dressed and I think it captures all of the emotions I was feeling at the time. As a bride, the day can be a bit overwhelming. I was overwhelmed, excited, nervous, happy, ready, and grateful all at once. I was soaking in every moment with the most special women in my life before I became a Mrs. It’s a lot to take in and I tried my best to remember it all in that moment. Putting on my dress with my mom and sister was one of my favorite moments from the morning. My mom, sister, and I have been through a lot- but it’s always been the three of us at the end of the day. We’re a team and are always ready to help each other out, so this was something I was excited to have my mom & sister do with me. It was all very surreal to say the least. My sister definitely came in handy because my mom didn’t have her glasses close by and my buttons required a crochet pick to secure them. My sister was so focused and really helped with the process ha! I can say it was definitely a team effort.

My something old was my grandmother’s earrings (see full post here). It was really special to be able to wear those and feel her “with” me throughout the day. My something new was my wedding dress & wedding shoes. My mom, stepmom, sister, MIL, and MOH were with me when I said yes to the dress. My best friends (who lived in other states) helped me select my wedding shoes! My something borrowed was a handkerchief from my dad (that I borrowed during our first look!) My something blue was a David Yurman bracelet that Nick gifted me when I was 18. It was his first “big” gift to me and I have rarely taken it off since I received it. It’s always held a special meaning, so I knew it was what I wanted to be my something blue on the day I married him.

FIRST LOOK WITH MY BRIDESMAIDS

Seeing all of my bridesmaids for the first time was so exciting! I loved seeing the girls in their dresses and seeing how they decided to style them. Only two of my bridesmaids had seen me in my dress (the others had only seen it in photos or on FaceTime!) so it was such a fun and emotional moment! My bridesmaids wore a convertible dress from Wtoo by Watters and they all loved it! Seeing their reactions was so great- every time I see these photos I well up with tears because they were so cute! Jenn 100% won the best reaction award haha!

PHOTOS WITH MY BRIDESMAIDS

After I did my first look(s) with my dad and stepdad it was time to take photos with my bridesmaids! I’ve already ordered a few of these & can’t wait to frame them! P.S. I just have to brag on my bridesmaids- they were the absolute BEST all day long. They helped me with my dress (especially when a bathroom trip was in order haha!), they constantly made sure I had everything I needed and they kept me laughing all day long. I love this pic my photographer got of us as we made our way down to take photos! 

NICK GETTING READY WITH HIS GROOMSMEN

It’s so funny looking back on these photos because I had no idea what they were up to prior to the ceremony (other than having fun!) The guy’s day was obviously a lot less crazy than the girl’s. They were able to all grab lunch, relax, and have a few drinks together before their day really “started!” All of his groomsmen are hilarious & I couldn’t stop laughing when we got our photos back. Naturally none of those photos made it to the blog haha!

Nick got his groomsmen personalized flasks & had their favorite liquor to go along with it! He also gifted them all of their ties for the big day. Fun fact: When the first one of Nick’s best friends got married they all decided to buy a J.Crew tux instead of rent one. Totally genius idea because the only decisions they have to make is if they want to wear suspenders or not & if they want to wear a tie or bowtie. They’ve worn those tuxes for four of their weddings now! If only girls could be that easy, right?!

VENDORS & WEDDING INFO:

WEDDING DRESS: WATTERS AZALEA DRESS | EARRINGS: GRANDMOTHER’S | SHOES: STUART WEITZMAN | WHITE ROBE: PLUM PRETTY SUGAR c/o | BRIDESMAID’S ROBES: PLUM PRETTY SUGAR | BRIDESMAID DRESSES: WTOO BY WATTERS | BRIDE & GROOM CARDS: MARRYGRAMS | GROOM’S & GROOMSMEN TUXES: J.CREW | GROOM’S & GROOMSMEN’S TIES: THE TIE BAR: | VENUE: PROXIMITY HOTEL | CATERING: PRINT WORKS BISTRO | PHOTOGRAPHY: ALEXA’S PHOTOGRAPHY | EVENT PLANNING: CARLY MARIE EVENTS | FLORAL: ABBA DESIGN | VIDEOGRAPHY: WHITEWASH FILMS | HAIR & MAKEUP: CARLA WHITE BEAUTY | BRIDESMAID’S GIFTS: GIGI NEW YORK | GROOMSMEN’S GIFTS: GRAPHIC IMAGE | PERSONALIZED GIFT TAGS: IF IT’S PAPER