The First Look

I got word as I was finishing up getting dressed that my groom had arrived and was patiently waiting in the limo. We had decided from the start that we would do a "first look" picture as opposed to doing the traditional not see me until I walk down the isle. We did this for a couple of reasons:

1. Ian wanted to see me before the ceremony. Truth be told, I wanted to see him too. We both knew that we would be too nervous not to see each other, after being together for 7 years we have become accustomed to being each others rock's.
2. We wanted to get the family portraits done before the ceremony so that we had lots and lots of time to do pictures after the ceremony.
   

So after I was dressed and helped down the stairs I was told to stand in the front doorway to my parents house and wait for my Prince.


Ian rounded the corner and I honestly can't tell you how I felt because there are no words. It was probably one of the most magical moments of my life to see him for the first time on our wedding day.


I can't really speak for him but the look on his face kind of says it all.


We had a beautiful private moment which was the perfect way to start our marriage.



Ian brought out a letter that I had written him many years ago that he had kept all this time. I nearly started to bawl right then and there.


And to make sure that the moment wasn't too serious...
In my excitement at seeing Ian for the first time I hugged him a little too tightly and got lipstick on his collar! OOOPS! It was a moment that was fitting to us and looking back on it now, this is a hilarious and gorgeous picture!


A side little note: my parents worked endlessly making the yard and garden gorgeous for this day and it's only featured in these pictures. So please make sure you get a good look because it truly looked amazing!

Wedding Morning

The sleep that I got the night before the wedding was pretty pathetic because every time I woke up I would listen to the rain and cringe. Finally I gave up on sleep around 6am, and watched an episode of Beverly Hills Bride on Slice.ca... yea it was better than staring at the ceiling.

After a little more sleep I got up and my day got started.

It started with hair and make-up - there was a schedule that had to be kept and I have to say my girls were totally on the ball. They even arrived with coffee!

Heather getting pretty

Kristy - also getting pretty

last minute DIY - thanks bridesmaids!!!

We had help - she was pretty darn cute, I'm pretty sure she's going for her Mother's coffee here...

Flower girl - see how cute!

Maid of Honour and the other flower girl - she refused to be anywhere else but Momma's lap while she got pretty

AND NOW: The dressing of the bride - I now realize that being the bride is kind of like being an infant, you don't do anything for yourself. That includes dressing and feeding. (There was a sandwich fed to me while I got make-up done, it was ham and cheese and delicious. Thanks Momma!)

The Hair

The posed make-up application shot

This is all pretend haha! I was already fully made up when the photog arrived :)

Pre-getting dressed

The dress is on!

Time to get laced

This took a while

Mom had already laced 4 other dresses and was getting good at it - I needed help bracing myself. Who says that a bride needs to breathe on her wedding day?

Shoes!

Jewelry - Like I said, didn't do ANYTHING for myself...

Bracelet - with the touching addition of a silver heart that belonged from my bestest friend in the whole world.

Almost ready...

Make with the poofing!!

READY!
actually now that I look at this picture - there isn't any jewelry, I thought it was taken after all that... hmmm oh well!

Girls Night

One of the things that I had wanted to do since I started planning my wedding was to have a girls night on my last night as a single woman. Actually what I had really wanted to do was to have a whole girls day with spa treatments, lunch and what not, but that wasn't really in the cards.

What I did manage to organize (which ended up being pretty perfect) was mani-pedi's for the women and dinner at a really great little place down at 5 corners in White Rock.

I arrived at the nail salon with the momma a little bit early because I was getting gel-nails which would take longer than a regular manicure, they turned out so great and I loved them. The nice girl did some really nifty designs with sparkly things and everything. I was about 1/2 way done when the rest of the girls arrived and started in on their nails, we had such a great time chilling and chatting and being girly.

Maid of Honour and Bridesmaid

Bride and Sister of the Groom

Bridesmaid

Officiant

There was one particular colour that was popular with the girls and the name had something to do with weddings or brides or something. I had it on my toes and a couple other girls had it on their hands. If anyone can remember the name of this nail polish I would very much appreciate it.

After we got done with our nails and were all pretty in our disposable flip flops we wondered down to the restaurant for some much needed food and beverages. We had some amazing food and some equally amazing deserts and drinks. We chatted about the wedding and had a lot of fun.

One funny that made me laugh was, I was wearing my "Future Mrs. Paterson" hoody -
- and our waitress walked over to me and asked if I was a big Twilight fan. I looked at her like she was from Mars and said, "Pardon me"? She motioned to my hoody, and I said, "oooooh, no I am getting married tomorrow and Paterson is going to be my new name". She looked mildly embarrassed but that's okay. It kind of made me laugh.

I finished the night hanging out with my parents and brother and went to bed early, well I tried to go to bed early. I probably slept about 2 hours the whole night because I kept waking up listening to the rain but... oh well. I was getting married and I wasn't going to let a silly thing like rain get my down.