our wedding: the ceremony

And with that, down the aisle we headed. It wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be. I was so happy at that point to see all our friends and family with us that it took the pressure off. Plus, I had no shoes on. Walking through the grass barefoot seems to instantly make any awkward moment more comfortable.

(guest photo, all other photos were taken by our photographer)

The ceremony went off without a hitch from where we were standing. We were shortly interrupted by a couple of water vehicles but that only made the Mr. and I laugh. No panic. No anger. No annoyance. Just funny.

our awesome officiant, Rosemary

The ceremony wasn't as romantic as I thought it would be. For some reason, I'd built it up in my head as a ridiculously intimate and emotional experience. And it sort of was.

Emotional? Yes. Intimate? No.

When you think of it, it's hard to have an intimate and romantic moment with your partner when you're standing in front of 80 people. I should have thought of that sooner, but I didn't. Even so, the readings made people laugh and I managed to avoid crying, which was a major bonus and I wouldn't have had it any other way. It was a happy 15 minutes, like it should have been, not a sobbing, blubbering, mess of mascara moment.


It was especially funny for me because at one point, I realized that Mr. FP wasn't paying attention. Yep, that's right, in the middle of our ceremony I look over and he's not listening at all to what the officiant saying. What's he doing? Looking at the audience. Typical. It made me giggle. And even more amusing is the fact that he didn't even recognize it at the time. Nope, I had to show him a photo from our ceremony where his eyes are on the audience while the officiant is speaking. So typical. What a man.

Our pretty flower girls, who did a great job walking down the aisle despite their many concerns about this. These concerns were expressed to us in the days before the wedding with about a bajillion questions about their "jobs" in the wedding. Thankfully, the rehearsal seems to calm their nerves slightly.

Rosemary with the rings

Thankfully, we did have one excessively special moment during the ceremony. Our first kiss could not have been better. For the first moment in all the time we'd been standing up there, our first kiss made me feel like we were the only ones there. Cliche, maybe. But true. And I loved it.

And when it was done, we followed it up with wedding party photos which were hilarious, formal portraits which were annoying (who knew we had so much family?!), and couple portraits which were amusing and surprisingly relaxing thanks to our amazing photographer who is such a goof.

At that point, I was able to ditch the veil and change into a short sun dress. For all you summer/outdoor wedding ladies out there, I'd highly recommend having a change of clothing if your wedding dress is long. Mine was simple. Strapless. Light fabric. Two layers. No tulle. But it was long and incredibly warm. And the sun wasn't even if full force that day! I was thankful to get out of it.

Plus, if your wedding dress is tight fitting, how the hell are you going to eat 1,282 cupcakes? Pfft.