08.29.15 - getting ready {details}.

and thus starts the 08.29.15 series. my bridesmaid, allyson, got this amazing pictures made. do you get it? if not, i won't even explain.

so, i'll warn you - it will be picture heavy over the next wedding posts which will be sporadically written, but i'll break it up into small segments to hopefully not drown you in my wedding-ness. it might be a bit too real at times. weddings are beautiful - perhaps the most wonderful thing to happen to you thus far in your life, but they have their moments. bride's have their moments and i'm going to not hold back here. however, this day was the best day ever and it may be obnoxious, but i'm gonna be bloggin' about it! this series will be my real and true emotions - high and low - so hang tight.

y'all, i kid you not. the weeks (months?) leading up to our day, i was obsessive about the weather. ask lee. ask taylor. ask danielle. ask allyson. ask my mom. i cried over the weather. i prayed to God over the weather. i stressed over the weather. i was a hot damn mess over the stupid weather. 

i downloaded about 4 different apps on my iphone that predicted future weather patterns. i stalked the farmers almanac. i even subscribed to their annoying emails just so i could view 3 months in advance. what did it predict to me? the weekend of august 27-30 - thunderstorms. enter panic mode. for real - i had a meltdown in like JUNE about the weather on our wedding day. 

are you annoyed with me yet? looking back, i was annoyed with me, but bride brain had set in and the type A planner in me needed to fix everything and the weather was the one thing i couldn't have control over. this ended up being the #1 thing that stressed me out the most. i told you this would be a real post about what really happened, so judge me as you may.

we had an outdoor ceremony. i had planned, down to the second, which part of which song i wanted to walk down the aisle too. i planned which part of the song i wanted my dad to enter to - as it wasn't your typical dad walks daughter down the aisle. i wanted different. i had a lavender toss!  i spent hours  days on hand folding each paper cone to be filled with fresh lavender for the toss. this could only take place outside. i had dreamed the way our ceremony would go and no one could convince me of any other 'back up plan.'

so what kind of weather do you think was predicted 5 days out? sunny and 80s. i checked every day; every hour waiting for an update and every time i checked, my app said 0% chance of rain. 

it turns out that's exactly what happened on our wedding day. 0% chance of rain. 0% chance of amanda freaking out. i was as cool as a cucumber.

lee stayed at our house the night before the wedding & his groomsmen came over early. lee gave them their gifts (all to be revealed later), but part of the groomsmen gifts were NBA socks of a few of their favorite players to wear during the wedding. this was so suitable for a bunch of guys that are sports fanatics.

and now time for the girls. luckily for me, i used to work at the westin charlotte hotel in uptown charlotte, so to my surprise, i was given the presidential suite! it was absolutely the perfect spot of us to hang out & get ready the morning of. it even overlooked the panthers stadium! allyson was really excited about that. 

my girls spoiled me in so many ways in all the events leading up to the wedding, so i made a point to spoil them the day of. the fantastic erin ashley, of erin ashley makeup, did mine & all of my bridesmaid as well as both mother's makeup. that was part of my gift to them. in addition, i gave them beautiful floral robes from the paisley box, antropologie coffee mugs, mini prosecco bottles & a few other odds and ends. these girls are my world and i'm so excited they were able to share this with me. 

lee and i both wrote notes to each other on the wedding day. however much to my surprise, the first letter i received in the morning wouldn't be the last. i had never heard of a groom writing a bride multiple letters throughout the day. it was so so so special that he thought of this and planned that for me. i had a total of 3 letters to open that day - one in the morning when i woke up, one when i was getting ready, and the final one was before i went down the aisle. 

clearly i have a romantic man as my husband, right? as if that wasn't enough, he also had the most gorgeous flower arrangement delivered to our suite - with the card below. i'll let that speak for itself & coming soon is a picture to show my reaction. 

let's just say - thank goodness my makeup wasn't done yet.

are you still with me? props if you are. 

for the longest time i wasn't going to wear shoes on the wedding day. i rocked the bridal portraits completely barefoot, so i was all for not buying wedding shoes. then taylor walked in with these super adorable sparkly gold flats. 

i was smitten. 

add in my flower crown, wedding belt & studs - & we were in photo business.

to finish up the detail segment of the wedding day, i'll show some dress shots. i decided not to go with all the same color. to be completely honest, i wasn't 100% sure it would come together until i saw it on the wedding day. talk about a risk, right? it's fine. i was too busy worried about if it was going to rain or not.

we hung the dresses in the window of the hotel, which overlooked the stunning charlotte skyline. garrett, my photographer from carolina portrait designs, captured this amazing reflection shot. as much as i stressed and planned for this one day - it was worth every smile, tear, laugh, frustration, stress, question and all the other words i forgot for it all to come together. 

coming soon: 08.29.15 - getting ready {bridesmaids & groomsmen}.

all photos by carolina portrait designs.