our wedding story - part l - morning

i woke up at 5:00 the morning of june 12th, 2010 to the sound of pouring rain and thunder.  we knew that choosing an outdoor ceremony and reception would be risky...choosing not to rent a tent was even more risky.  i think back to that day and wonder to myself "what were we thinking," but this was the wedding we wanted.  besides you can't have a vintage carnival/circus wedding indoors...what fun would that be?  i had second thoughts about our choices that morning...it had been raining all week (seriously...all week!) surely it would stop sometime!

i spent the night and got ready in a beautiful suite surrounded by amazing friends and family.  i could look out the window and see the lincoln state capitol, the location for our ceremony and reception just a few blocks away.  everyone looked beautiful.  i especially loved the small birdcage veils that i made for each of my bridesmaids...it was the perfect touch.

getting into my dress was interesting.  those little buttons were not easy to deal with as you all can imagine.  future brides take note...keep a crochet hook handy...it seriously helps!  while myself and the lovely ladies continued to get ready in our room, just one door down were the handsome gentlemen getting their bow ties ready.

matthew and i wanted everything to be as old fashioned as possible...do you think they had clip on bow ties back in the 1930's?  i'm thinking no :) unfortunately no one knew how to tie a traditional bow tie, so that duty was left to the mom's, lisa (matthew's mother pictured above) and my mom laura, not pictured (but you can see her helping get my dress on in the pictures above!).

there was something so exciting knowing that my best friend, soul mate, and soon to be husband was right next door getting ready as i was getting ready.  at this time it was just after 11:00...i would see him for the first time that day at 12:00.  before we headed over to the capitol for our "first look" at each other corey, our photographer snapped a few shots of us by ourselves first.

looking out the window for these pictures, i was happy to see that the rain had finally subsided.  i crossed my fingers that it would be long enough to get through the whole celebration day!  the parasol in this photo was an antique that i rented from a place called bella umbrella in seattle.  each of my bridesmaids carried one of these parasols instead of a bouquet of flowers.

that elephant ring you see there was a gift from matthew.  i named her elle.  she could not have been  more perfect.  i wanted a piece of jewelry that was fun, different and that fit our theme... i don't think anything could have beat a pink rhinestone elephant with a pearl on the trunk.

these pictures of matthew were taken at the state capitol in one of the most famous hallways in the building.  this is where he waited for me...this is where we had our first look!  matthew did not want to go with a traditional suit for the wedding party so he decided on brown dress pants, a cream button up, suspenders, bow ties, and then he and his dad brian (also his best man) wore these fabulous plaid jackets.

one of our favorite details of the wedding was the ring bearer book.  matthew and i picked up a vintage irish folk tale book.  i cut a well into the pages and attached a decorative piece of ribbon and paper inside where the rings were suspended.  the outside had a paper pinwheel and the book was closed shut with more ribbon (we didn't want those things flying out!)

the time had reached 12:00 it was time for our first look.

all photos taken by corey rourke