08.29.15 - the first look.

i could end the post right here and that would be enough. lee's face alone here speaks more about our first look than i could ever put into words. 
but before all that, let's get back to the story. after getting ready with the girls, we actually were running a little bit behind schedule. our first look was supposed to be around 1pm in fourth ward park in uptown charlotte. we were still in our suite when i looked at my phone which was screaming 1:20pm. 
let's go! let's go! let's go! those next ten minutes were kind of a blur. did i have my shoes on? where was my bouquet? is my flower crown pinned down right? did we have the guys boutonnieres? i had no clue. we ran down the hallway, and found out the guys had been waiting for 20+ minutes. as the elevator dinged, my maid of honor's sister and her husband stepped off onto our floor. 
morgan & caleb were the first ones to see me, other than the immediate bridal party & my mom. i actually still can see morgan's face when she saw me, to this day. it was one of those smile/sweet sad omg there you are/gonna tear up kind of faces. how lucky was i to have seen so many of those that day. we quickly hugged and jumped into the elevator while grabbing the nearest bellman to help us. 
i have no clue why all this was so stressful looking back on it all. i think that it was anticipation that lee was about to see me for the first time in t-minus 5 minutes or less. allyson some how made valet move out of the way so she could drive into the courtyard to pick me up. 
one thing i've learned during this wedding process is when you're the bride, no rules apply to you. no one is going to say no to a girl in a white gown.

we finally arrived in the fourth ward park and i walked up behind lee. i remember trembling as i walked up the brick path - seeing his back about 50 feet in front of me. my hands and my heart were shaking. i had dreamed of this moment for so long and here it was - happening right in front of me. i remember my voice, shaking, saying "hey lee. i'm here. are you ready to see your bride?" 
tears building behind my eyes as i can play this moment over and over in my head. "yes" he said as i heard him breathe out before he turned around. the tears hit him as they hit me. it was such an emotional moment. 

if you remember back when i was blogging over the summer, i had went back and forth on the first look. i went as far to write a post about why we were not doing a first look. i honestly don't remember if i posted it or not. regardless, my heart was torn. lee was so against it from the moment i initially mentioned it in conversation. 
no, a groom sees the bride for the first time as she comes down the aisle, he said. 
but for some reason, i couldn't shake the fact that a first look was something i thought would be good for us. 

looking back on it, i would NEVER change doing a first look for anything. the day after the wedding, lee looked at me and said "thank you for being so adamant about the first look. i am so glad we got to do that and have that moment together."  
and it also chilled us both out. so much anticipation was there awaiting to see each other for the first time, so it got those jitters out of the way. i can be way emotional at times and i did not want to ugly cry walking down the aisle. 

after seeing him, i was a different bride. i was ready to do the damn thing! i was ready to walk down the aisle and say i do. we then left uptown and headed over to our wedding venue to take a few more photos on site before the ceremony began. here are a few.

 coming soon: our formal wedding party photos. there may or may not be nerf guns present because we're cool like that.