Wedding! Part 1 - Getting Ready and the Ceremony

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Looking back on it now, I cannot believe that all of the planning and preparation for so many months culminated in just one day.  There are a lot of pictures so I decided to break it up into two posts.

(Also, I didn't mean for there to be such a long break between the posts about the rehearsal dinner and the wedding itself-- but after the whirlwind of the wedding festivities and activities, it felt fitting and right to properly sink into the leisure of the honeymoon and try to lose track of the days.  I brought my laptop but really didn't open it after the first day.  And I stopped checking my phone (as it turns out I could never properly link to the wifi system in Anguilla), so it was with a kind of delight and surprise that I realized on one of the days that I had no idea what day of the week it was, much less what date.  I assure you it was marvelous!)

 

To pick up where the previous post left off, I stayed at the Andaz on Wall Street with my sister the night before the wedding, in a large suite on their 17th floor.  We were so tired from running around in a craze the day and night before that I am not sure we managed to enjoy it as much as we should have!  However, the room was bright and spacious and we made good use of it getting ready there on Saturday morning.  (Side note: the Andaz had complimentary tea and coffee in the lobby, which I loved, and were generally pretty accommodating of my requests, including a pretty specific request for a straight back chair at 8:50 am on a Saturday morning.  The rooms were very spacious (definitely not your typical NYC cramped style) but the furniture felt a little bit cheap (I may be biased - I bruised myself on the low bed frame at least twice).  Overall the prices were right and I was pretty happy with my stay there, except that I thought they could have had a more efficient check-in and check-out process.)

Saturday emerged bright and beautiful, sunny and relatively cool with very little humidity.  After a full week of forecasted thunderstorms and scattered rain showers, I had never been so happy for the weather report to be inaccurate! The morning kicked off with a very well regimented schedule - bridesmaids getting hair and makeup done starting promptly at 9 am.  I have to say, I was so very pleased with my makeup and hair artist and stylist, Ai, of Ai Love Hair.  

She and her assistant were so prompt, so professional… they showed up 15 minutes before the appointment, unrolled their suitcases in a jiffy, and, before I knew it, had turned my hotel room into a nifty blow-dry/curling iron/makeup bar.  They were bright eyed and bushy tailed and did a fantastic job on everyone's hair and makeup. My aunt came up during the wedding and insisted on taking a picture of the back of my head because it was "just too pretty."  I was really pleased.

Printed out headshots from my trial

A bona fide makeup studio

One of the bridesmaids and best friends from law school brought me champagne, a spread of bagels, lox and cream cheese from Russ & Daughters (yum!) as well as fresh juice and berries.  Michael had also very thoughtfully had fresh fruit sent up to the room (he knows me well!).  

The spread

And then before I knew it it was time to get into the dress and get a move on!  It was fun watching all the girls get ready together.

I was the last one to get hair and makeup done

                 Here you can see my sister's gorgeous side do and perfect makeup!

I loved, loved loved the back of my dress

Then we piled into the limo to head to the church!

All smiles along the FDR

We arrived at the church and sat in wait for the boys' limo.  I was feeling pretty calm and jitter-free until this moment.  For some reason waiting in the limo for the first reveal was the most anxiety-inducing part of the day for me.  But after I tapped on Michael's shoulder and we started getting pictures taken it was all much better.

 We proceeded to get a few pictures of the bridal parties before the ceremony started:

 We received quite a few felicitations and yelled out congratulations from passerby.  Oh, NYC.

 Our flower girls were so wickedly, devastatingly adorable.  One had a penchant for flashing her underwear (which, by the way, is totally cool by me) but for the pictures I thought it might be better to hold her hand.

I thought a little bit about posting these pictures - we paid a professional photographer and her assistant a lot of money for beautiful, perfect, well lit, well angled, good shots - but in the interest of providing a tidbit here and now, I figured what the heck.  Just a few for fun, am I right?

A shot of the church as people file in

Our magnificent usher walking both grandmothers down the aisle

The bridesmaids and groomsmen processing in pairs

Our delightful flower girls who did an A+ job, holding hands and baskets!

 It felt a bit like a movie, especially when my dad and I stood in front of the doors, waiting for them to swing open dramatically and for everyone to stand and turn around expectantly as "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" started to play.

formally pronounced husband and wife

And then, finally, the recessional!

We then took a bunch of family pictures in the church, before we headed off in a beautiful Mercedes to take some couple-only shots in Nolita, while the rest of our bridal party and family headed to the venue for cocktail hour and dinner and dancing.  Next post!