A Lovely Wedding & the Surrounding Celebrations

I am so excited to be posting about this lovely event!

Sometimes, you know two wonderful people, and you have a little thought in the back of your head that they would be great together.....and then it happens and it is just so marvelous + such a God thing. 

This post is about the wedding and surrounding celebrations of my cousin and her (now) husband, both of whom are dear friends of our family.

A week before the wedding, we got together with the bride-to-be and her younger sister to practice the bride's wedding hairstyle! Such fun times.

So beautiful...

 And then there was the rehearsal. The day of the rehearsal was quite stressful with things at home + frantic last-minute practicing of "The Prayer" with our cousin who lives out of state and had just gotten in for the wedding. {that is a whole different story. There's nothing quite like trying to live up to Josh Groban. It's just rough, period. But praise the Lord...HE honestly made that song beautiful, because on our own we weren't doing very well!}
I had so many things on my mind w/ Labor Day prep + preparing for company + the wedding that I totally forgot to take my camera to the rehearsal. Hence the fuzzy phone pictures of the cheesecakes..because I just had to have some kind of picture to document the yumminess. =) Alli & I made cheesecakes for the rehearsal dinner-Blueberry Lemon, Pumpkin Praline, Triple Chocolate, & Mocha.

Ahh!!!

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A BRIDAL SHOWER

One morning the week of the wedding, My aunt hosted a lovely "girls only" bridal shower.

stunning fresh cut flowers

One of my cousins made this amazing biscotti.

Alli & I made chocolate covered strawberries.

Some of the gifts were....very, VERY fun. =)

The bride-to-be with her sisters, mother, aunt, and cousins.

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THE WEDDING ITSELF

Alli & I were in charge of hair/makeup for the bridal party ladies, so the morning of the wedding found us at the bride's home amidst piles of hairspray, bobby pins, and glorious things of that nature. =)

The photographer in me couldn't resist snapping a few pictures as the bride was getting ready. We were crunched for time with trying to get everything done in time for bridal party pictures, so I didn't have time to properly set my camera and compose my shots...but I grabbed a few anyway. =)

My cousin, sister of the bride, sewed her wedding dress for her! It was beautiful.

Dorcas, you are STUNNING!!

There's just nothing quite like leftover rehearsal cheesecake to start out your wedding day!
(even if we were very firm and insisted she wear a bib =))

A few problems occurred with attaching the veil but finally...success!!



The bridesmaids choose various styles...mostly side french braids and then low buns of curls.

lovely little flower girls

On the stage, at the church.

Yes, all these amazing people are my relatives! =) Such a fun group of cousins + uncle + aunt.


LOVE this picture.

We also did hair for two other cousins, who were the program attendants.

yours truly, with the bride...

My apologies...this is the only good picture I have of the ceremony. Being one of the musicians is definitely not like being the photographer; you don't have quite the flexibility and opportunity to take pictures since you are playing an instrument.

Naturally. =)

{you can hear a bit of our prelude music on their wedding teaser video, here}

The rain from the day before cleared off in time for a beautiful outdoor reception. The weather was perfect and the whole celebration could not have been more beautiful!

Alli and I and our brothers played bluegrass/fiddle music while all the guests were being seated and getting their food. The music set such a fun mood! 

Naturally, again, I have no picture of us. =(

The bride & groom had this lovely rustic little bridal table all to themselves.


There were special new additions to the family group....

there were DELISH and BEAUTIFUL cupcakes made by this talented cousin.

the bride with her brother.


the lovely bride, excited to be departing! =)

The wedding photographers had to leave immediately following the wedding, so my cousin asked me if I would come to a nearby location and take a few pictures of them at sunset. 

Of course, I said "yes, please!" =)

And there you have it. Yet another amazing, wonderful, God-honoring wedding, and another incredible couple to join the ranks of married folk. =) I love these weddings, I really do. So much joy and happiness and emphasis on honoring Jesus. It gets me every time. 

**Jacob & Dorcas...y'all are so perfect for each other and I couldn't be happier for you! Love you, dear people!**

Readers...anybody have a favorite? What is your favorite thing about weddings? 

-Chels