our wedding pics...for real

I am so excited to share these pictures with you.  We were so incredibly blessed to have our infinitely talented friend Mark McCall photograph our wedding.  Out of the nearly 900 pictures he took, I have chosen my 100 or so (okay...150 or so) favorite.  And that was an absolute chore because there were so many good ones.

Our friend Emilie wrote a blog post (which you can read here) about our wedding that is so touching to me as well as fun to experience our wedding from a different perspective.  It is honor to be loved by her and her family and call her family.  (Emilie also got married this summer, just 5 weeks after we did!  Her wedding was gorgeous and perfect in the most quintessentially Maine spot on Mount Desert Island.  It was definitely the summer of love!)

There are so many things I still recall about the wedding that I had forgotten.  Like how Sandi and I did rock, paper, scissors to see who would walk down first.   Like how when the owners of the house made a second, very unwanted and very long visit inside the house and I said I was going to go give them a piece of my mind,  two of our family members said, "Oh no you are not!" and made me go sit down.  (Is that not love?)  Like sitting on the rocks with Sandi and having Reed come down with his guitar to serenade us.  (I think it was a jazzy version of "Twinkle Twinkle".)

Regarding the pictures, at first I was like wow, that is too many pictures to post and then I was like they are too incredible not to post.  So here is our wedding album.

We hired Mark to come for an extra few hours to make sure each family got to have a family portrait taken.  It isn't too often that people get all gussied up and we wanted to capture everyone for their own living room walls.  Are these not beautiful people?

Matt, Ange, Beckett, Anna and Brady

Emilie, Tim, Skyler and Reed

Brian, Kathryn, Braeden and Michaela

Kristi, Michael, Makenna and Brevan

Trish and Brock

I swear we didn't set out for a cry fest.  It just sort of happened.

Oh this kid...  And Ella yawning in the background...

Sure they are exchanging rings, but have you SMELLED THIS THING?!

Ella was cold so Dwight very lovingly gave her his vest.   I think he just wanted to tie some charcoal into our ivory/black theme. 

There you have it: our entire guest list. 

Thank god for sisters.  I cringe to think of where we would be without these three amazing women.

Maya gave Mark no small amount of material to work with.

Mark told us to change it up a little. I was posing and asking him if this is what he meant and Sandi was holding her hand out to him saying, "Now, careful what you ask her to do..."

We kind of have a thing for beautiful food.   I love that Mark seems to as well.  A thousand thank you's to our friends and family for making this food so stunning and delicious.

Caprese sticks

For the kiddos: crudités with spinach dip in bread cups.

Apple, beet, cheddar tarts

lobster salad

Just the right number of cooks in this kitchen. 

Reed really, really, REALLY wanted us to cut the cake.  He kept coming and asking, "Is it time to cut the cake?"

Yes, Reedo!  It finally is!!!

First Reed...

Then each other...

There is never a family gathering where a child doesn't get swung around.  Our wedding was no exception.

One of my personal highlights of the evening was singing "Wagon Wheel" with Matt.  I was especially psyched when Trish, Maya and Robbi came and joined us for some harmony.  I never hear that song now that my whole heart isn't filled with happiness. 

I was reflecting right before the wedding how wonderfully unusual (although perhaps not so much in this day and age) it was to have our children be such an integral part of our wedding.  Different than second marriages and blended families, this was their wedding too, with their parents marrying each other as opposed to a step parent.  Their presence and excitement, their ownership over this event and their own hard work and contribution to the campaign that allowed marriage to be a possibility added a depth that is hard to catalogue.  In the weeks, and now months, that have followed, they say things like: "That was the best day of my life" along with a soft, contented sigh. 

These are my two favorite pictures of Sandi.  I think she is simply stunning and captivating in every way. 

And there you have it.  We are blessed, this we know.

Thank you Mark.  Seriously... thank you.