08.29.15 - getting ready {wedding party}

so i eventually got over the weather. if you don't know what i'm talking about, you can catch part 1 here. thankfully i still have friends. 
i'm currently sitting in our office, as i write this which is wednesday night around 9pm, with a mix of mexican beers that lee brought home & i'm also listening to eric church's new album while texting one of my girlfriends, corey. when people think of taylor swift - they think of me. when i think of eric - i think of her. so with that background noise, i bring to you part 2 of this 08.29.15 series. 
the morning started with the guys gathering at our house to receive their gifts - which consisted of the nba socks, a mason jar of apple pie moonshine, and some nerf guns.
yes. nerf guns.
so what do they do? they had a freakin' nerf gun shoot-out. 

there are so many more, but i'll spare you. so let's move on to the girls. 

like i mentioned, we got to get ready all morning in the presidential suite. y'all - we had space for days. i'm forever thankful to the westin charlotte for upgrading us. so we took some selfies & toasted with mimosas that i could barely drink. if you know me, you know mimosas are my thing. i wasn't nervous about marrying lee. i was nervous about our first look which happened in a few short hours. 

knock knock on the suite door. i literally remember this exact moment. i thought that our music was too loud or our laughs were too much for the neighbors. i swear to you i thought it was the hotel security. 
it wasn't. it was a delivery. i don't even know who answered the door, to be honest, but shortly after it closed - there sat one of the most gorgeous bouquets i'd ever seen. 

clearly this was before makeup and i'm ever so thankful. you can read the note above and know why this expression was on my face. 

quickly after the big bouquet was delivered - allyson gave me note number 2 from lee - which was one that i was to open while getting ready. luckily for me, they had their sentimental parts, but were mostly hilarious jokes between us. 
the girls had their hair and makeup done before i did, so they started putting their final touches on. and then it was finally time for me to get my hair and makeup done.

i kept thinking to myself "wow - their hair and makeup is fab and i'm over here looking homeless. i hope the photographers know how to edit." the truth is - i couldn't imagine anyone else making my girls look wedding ready better than meghan and erin. i had given them a semi-schedule to follow because i'm admittedly a crazy planner, and they loved (hated?) me for it. but in reality, it kept us on time. 
ps: thanks garrett for capturing us all looking gorgeous no matter the time of the day - makeup or not. 
finally erin was done & i got to see my wedding makeup. i'll let the picture speak for itself below. i don't always feel like a rockstar, but when i do - it was the day i was getting married. shortly after my makeup was time to finalize my hair with that dreaded damn flower crown. 

the flower crown was so frustrating. we learned this during my bridal portraits. i kid you not - we had at least 3 people surrounded by me with scissors, bobby pins, and who knows what else to secure this damn thing. we snipped the weird pieces & pinned down the random leaves. who knew these things were so hard!! the picture above is my hairstylist, meghan, and i being like oh $h!t it's time for that dreaded crown. she's hilarious. i love her.
but, even after knowing how annoying it was to pin down the flower crown,  it still was so important to me to have one, so i had one. 
so before we talk about the final photos of the girls and i, let's talk about one important moment. one of my bridesmaids, taylor wrote & mailed a handwritten note to taylor swift along with our save the date. she told me she did that (and later i found out my mom also did the same thing! people know me right??). anyway, i finally got to read what she mailed to tswift on my wedding day and can you tell it's one of my favorite parts of the day. it was so perfect and so thoughtful and so me. thank you taylor raymer. 

and then finally all the girls were ready in their robes. aren't they gorgeous?? we all climbed on the bed to get some shots and cheers to champagne because how else do you keep your wedding celebrations going? it wasn't RAINING! 
haha - ok i'll stop making a joke about the rain (or lack thereof; thank you Lord). 

this post is already long enough, but you know - my blog; my rules. so i'll end with a few things. i did a first look with my bridesmaids. ps: thanks mom for helping me in my dress!! and their reactions are something i'll forever remember. 

just typing this has me reliving these moments and brings me back. your wedding day flies by faster than you can even imagine. how lucky am i have the pictures (and coming soon our wedding video!) to remind me.
up next-ish (when i have time): 08.29.15 - the story of the first look with lee.