This weekend my little sister got married!! Jim and Laurel have been planning their wedding for over a year now and in my sister's own words "the crazy thing about all this is that it's ALL GOING TO GO BY SO QUICKLY"
She sure was right!! We're now home here in Atlanta and I'm completely exhausted from dancing all night long till my feet turned black and my toes were a-aching but in true form I plopped down on my couch, pulled out the laptop, and couldn't help but get some pics ready to share before they leave for their honeymoon to Hawaii tomorrow AM.
It was so awesome seeing my little sis walk down the aisle (for real... not like we used to pretend when we were little girls!!) and see so many of my family and family friends all in the same place at the same time. Since I was IN the wedding, my duties were more along the lines of a) sister and bridesmaid, b) part-coordinator to help out mom and real coordinators with logistics and details, and c) being an "uncle bob" for the first time ever and taking lots of pics even though I wasn't the official photographer. LOL.
Sara and Shyla were the OFFICIAL photographers and we also flew in a video crew from Georgia and from what I've seen so far they did an AWESOME job. I can't wait to see more! Of the ones I remember from last night...they got shots of everyone tearing up at the ceremony, hilarious photos of the kids at the ceremony too, and some of my parents dancing... which they have NEVER done in the 27+ years they've been married! Priceless!!
Well... without further ado... I'll let some of my "uncle bob" pictures tell the story and report back soon when I can link up the REAL pics that Sara and Shyla got ;)
One of my favorite shots of the day... we had a ball shooting her in her hot-pink shoes (her signature color) and hoop-skirt.
The Dress!
Check out our super-hot-pink bridesmaids bouquets!
In true fashion, my sis did BOTH mine and Ashley's hair (pictured here) for the wedding and also put a single Orchid in all our up-dos including the flower girls'.
Here's Laurel all dressed and her beautiful bridal bouquet:
The Shoes
My niece Sophia was one of the flower girls -- as Laurel pointed out "she's gonna make all the boys cry she's so gorgeous!" Hehe
Had to capture a few pics of Sara and Shyla!
Isn't she a gorgeous bride? I think all of us started to cry when she came down the aisle. My mom was balling in the front aisle right close to me and I didn't have a camera to hide behind like usual during the ceremony.
Laurel was presented with flowers from Jim's grandma's garden (she passed just shortly before they met years ago) and it was quite an emotional exchange. They put the petals in the flower baskets for the flower girls to toss during the processional.
All married!! Mr. and Mrs. Jim and Laurel Pleva!
My brother and dad strutting their stuff down the aisle after portraits in the church
After some quick family portraits, we all jumped into the limo and went around town to take pictures. The only problem was that the limo blew a fuse and there was no air conditioning. I think a quote book of some of the hilarious comments made during this unbearably sweltering few hour trip is in the works as we speak.
Some behind-the-scenes of us shooting in a park...
More of the newlyweds!
Back at the hotel, we cooled down in the hospitality suite and while Jim and the guys kicked back...
....the bridesmaids came to the rescue, fixing a broken bustle:
The reception was held in Akron, Ohio and they did such a great job with the details and light that we couldn't believe it was the same hotel ballroom we'd seen a month earlier when we were up to visit...
The gift table, napkins.
The cake was a mix of tiramasu layers and this orange-pop inspired flavor. VERY different.
The first dance
The toast
My dad and sister for the Father-Daughter dance
My adorable second-cousins watching the festivities. Little Andy there is my cousin Brian's son who was named after my cousin Andy - he was such a ham on the dance floor and throwing up his own toast. Here here!!
The cake-cutting
There were plenty of other "Uncle Bobs" with their cameras too so I had to get them all in on this pic too! Haha.
Then it was time to get a little crazy...
They did the garter toss and my nephew Sal and second-cousin Andy got in right up front and got their spot with the rest of the big boys:
My parents got down on the dance floor and everyone started grovin':
The Pleva's started a push-up contest towards the end of the evening..to the beat of some song I can't even remember now. What was REALLY crazy is when Jim's sister Lauren jumped down there and started doing push ups and kept UP with her brothers, father, and uncle!! (In a bridesmaids dress nonetheless!) You go girl!
And to end the evening, while Laurel pretented to take a swig straight from the champaign bottle, I caught Shyla minutes later getting persuaded to dance with the best man (her first time dancing at a wedding she's shot! Yeah!), the father's geared up for a congratulatory romp around the dance floor together, and Jim partied it up with the guys :)
The happy-to-be married couple :)
Again, there are soooo many other (I'm sure better, more comprehensive) pics from the OFFICIAL photographers... so I'll post some up soon and/or links :) Thanks gals for coming out and doing such a great job. Also, a special thank you to my darling fiance , Mikey, who was our "pack mule" and "errand guy" about right up to the reception time. He even helped get me home today while I was experiencing a nasty migraine in the airport before our flight.
I really thought my parents would want to take a break before starting to plan my wedding now... but I think they had such a great time (as did everyone else) that they're still excited for the next (and possibly another if my little bro ever finds a gal!! hehe)
Thanks Laurel for being the "ginney pig" of the family and trying out this whole gettin-hitched thing first!! It was such an honor to be part of your big day and Jim I'm proud to call you my brother officially now :) I know we'll all have lot more fun celebrating during the holidays and such and hope you have an amazing time in Hawaii. Love ya all and CONGRATS!!!
