Our amazing wedding photographer, Tarah Coonan, sent us our official photos last week - I can't tell you how happy I was to get that email! Jon and I got married on August 24 and I was back in the States less than a week later and, just like that, we slipped back into the now-normal routine of being in a long-distance relationship. Nothing much has changed from a day-to-day standpoint, so it's easy to forget that we really did celebrate our wedding! It's almost a shock to remember. Sometimes I'll see a flash of gold as Jon gestures with his left hand on Skype or I'll refer to "my husband" in conversation with someone and it will hit me, but otherwise I have often felt like our marriage won't start until we're together again for good.
Happily, these photos put that silly idea in its place! I looked through all 626 photos in the online album and, by the end, I had a pile of tissues next to me and my face hurt from smiling. The pictures brought me right back to that wonderful day and I haven't left it since.
We've shared more than a year of Wedding Wednesday posts so I won't elaborate too much further on our choices for the day, but here are a few details that I'd left out before:
readings: Reprise (Ogden Nash), an excerpt from Emma (Jane Austen)
music: O Lovely Peace (Handel) sung by two of my best friends and accompanied by the Gainsborough Quartet, who provided all of the music for the ceremony
first dance: Somewhere Beyond the Sea (Bobby Darin), DJed by Giaco Bridgett
Of course, you're certainly welcome to ask any questions in the comments, dear readers, and I'll be happy to answer them! Our wedding was so much more than I could have possibly imagined - it's been such a joy reliving all the memories with these photos. I hope you enjoy this small selection as much as Jon and I do!
photographer: Tarah Coonan
venue: Bruisyard Hall
flowers: Love Blooms
caterers: The Movable Feast
cake: Vanilla Patisserie
bride's dress: Velma Lee (email me for contact info)
veil: Ciao Sposa
hair: John Olivers
bridesmaids gowns: J.Crew
suits for the groom, groomsmen, and fathers: Moss Bros
Beautiful photos! Such happiness. The location and decor and everything looks perfect :)
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you had quite a beautiful wedding! My eye was drawn to that stack of cheese wheels and the beautifully simple cake! Congrats again and hoping for your sake that you are both soon reunited! :)
ReplyDeleteit all came together so perfectly - the team was amazing!
ReplyDeletehaha the cheese was our non-negotiable. if we had had to sacrifice the real cake to have cheese, we would have done it!
ReplyDeleteI'm not a cry-over-weddings type of person (LIES!), but I'm feeling a little choked up at the idea of using Beyond the Sea as a song for a long-distance relationship. I know the song so well and yet had never thought about it that way! Beautiful!
ReplyDeletegorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!! the picture of you and your sister getting ready is so wonderful
ReplyDeleteOh, I definitely would have sacrificed cake for cheese if I had to as well!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! Everything turned out so lovely! I love that last picture -- so much happiness :)
ReplyDeleteI stole the idea from Gillian, who endured her own transatlantic debacle! she gets the credit :)
ReplyDeleteUm did you have a cake made out of cheese for your wedding or a cake that looks like cheese? Either way, you are my new favorite person. Why didn't I think of that?
ReplyDeletewe had a cake made out of rounds of cheese AND a cake made of vanilla sponge with different fillings! double the fun :)
ReplyDeleteBetsy! I love everything about these photos... so much love and joy captured in one blog post! Everything about your wedding was perfect: the ceremony, the reception {those chairs!}, the colours, the food, the cheese cake, the finger food :) I love it all. Best of everything is the happiness radiating from you and Jon though. So so happy for you two.
ReplyDeleteHow beautiful!! Getting the photos was such a relief, I was so scared I wouldn't like any! Yours are just gorgeous, and so so so happy!
ReplyDeleteSo exciting to have your photos back and to be able to remember everything about your wedding day! Proof that your marriage has most certainly begun! :)
ReplyDeleteThis looks so intimate and beautiful. You are making me want to actually plan a wedding, and that is one thing that terrifies me!
ReplyDeletehaha YES my job here is done :P
ReplyDeleteTarah is a magician - that's all there is to it!
ReplyDeleteoh man, I feel so RIGHT in having made a great photographer a financial priority. trusting Tarah felt good :) thank you!
ReplyDeleteYAY thank you! there were definitely things that didn't go to plan, but the day could not have been better :)
ReplyDeleteThese are so beautiful! So happy for you guys <3
ReplyDeleteThese are just DIVINE! I love absolutely everything.. that reception room!(!), the flowers, those candid moments, and that last picture is THE definition of happiness if I ever saw one.
ReplyDeletePlease refrain from looking at these at all moments during the day. Ok, ok, I take it back. Continue on, that kind of self-restraint doesn't exist ;)
Yay! They are gorgeous. So thrilled for you.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite pictures--the one of you and Jon up with the officiant where you are both smiling/laughing and the last one dancing. Other favorites in general--your flowers. So so beautiful. Then the cheese cake for obvious reasons. :)
Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteSo incredibly beautiful! you and Jon both look radiant. I also really appreciate that the (grooms cake?) is a cheese platter in disguise! x
ReplyDeleteit is cheese! it is a cake made of CHEESE! wheels of cheese on top of wheels of cheese. HEAVEN. and the bears were made by Jon's granny and topped his parents' wedding cake, too :)
ReplyDeletethe officiant was AMAZING. we weren't sure - we'd never met her before and she performs hundreds of weddings a year, so would ours be special to her? but she made it so magical and joyful.
ReplyDeleteI love that you involved the bears. That's the type of wedding tradition I can really get on board with! x
ReplyDeleteSo, SO beautiful, Betsy. It all looks elegant and enormously fun and full of love. And there's cheese. Perfect.
ReplyDeleteOh, your photos are gorgeous, as are you. It all looks so beautiful and filled with so much love.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm so curious, what excerpt did you use from Emma? I just finished studying it at university for the second time, so it's on my mind :)
YAY thank you :)
ReplyDeleteThe excerpt was from the end of the book, and Jon's cousin Rose read it with perfect humor:
The wedding was very much like other weddings, where the parties have no taste for finery or parade; and Mrs. Elton, from the particulars detailed by her husband, thought it all extremely shabby, and very inferior to her own.—"Very little white satin, very few lace veils; a most pitiful business!"—But, in spite of these deficiencies, the wishes, the hopes, the confidence, the predictions of the small band of true friends who witnessed the ceremony, were fully answered in the perfect happiness of the union.
oh yay thank you! what could be bad when there's cheese?
ReplyDeleteAll of them are gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteThat's fantastic. And I love that you choose Emma! That's pretty unique for a wedding ceremony. (Right? I actually don't know that much about wedding ceremonies.)
ReplyDeletewell, we weren't allowed to have anything religious - that ruled out most of the usual options. and Emma is one of my favorite books in the whole world!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely beautiful photographs. It looks like such a lovely, happy day :) <3
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely stunning! I saw your photos on Pinterest and just had to click over to check them out. They are beautiful. Congrats!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous, just gorgeous. More importantly though, you two look so in love and so happy! Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteGORGEOUS! Oh my goodness.
ReplyDeleteSo stunning! Congratulations again. Beautiful ceremony and beautiful smiles.
ReplyDeleteYour pictures make me smile! Your wedding looks absolutely stunning. :)
ReplyDeleteEeeeee you're married! that venue is absolutely gorgeous, and I love all of the joy that is present on everyone's faces :) happy almost 2 months of being someone's wife!
ReplyDeleteSo beautiful! The setting is gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteOh this makes me smile so much. Your pictures turned out INCREDIBLE and that makes me so happy for you. I've seen too many friends be unhappy with their professional pictures and yours are so so so good! And yes, YOU ARE MARRIED!!!! Now, I must go browse these pictures again. :)
ReplyDeleteI decided my fave is the last one of you two dancing. You both are just beautiful with happiness. :)
ReplyDeleteYES SOCIAL MEDIA WTF! haha thank you - and welcome :)
ReplyDeletewe were - we are! thank you :)
ReplyDeletethere's another dancing photo of us doing the tango thing where your arms are clasped straight out to the side and you're marching in that direction - do you know what I mean? - and we both look SO SERIOUS. haha!
ReplyDeleteSo beautiful! The whole event just looked like it was filled with love and happiness. Gorgeous all around- especially those flowers!! Congratulations again!!
ReplyDeleteThese pictures are stunning. That venue is exactly what I dream my wedding venue would be like! Congratulations :)
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely beautiful photos, Betsy! I can see why you spent so much time browsing through them! So many congratulations again!!
ReplyDeleteOh wow Betsy! It looks like a beautiful dream! What a gorgeous day, everything looks like it was absolutely wonderful! Thanks for letting us in on it :) x
ReplyDeleteGorgeous photos!!!! I still look back at our photos and think, "did we really get married?" haha
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to you both. A wonderful selection of pictures from a wonderful day. I hope you enjoyed your English country wedding and hope to see you back at Bruisyard Hall again soon.
ReplyDeleteHang on, is that a wedding cake of cheese?! Best idea ever.
ReplyDeleteThese are all so gorgeous - so fun to look through. I feel like it's cliche to say you were glowing, but you really were!
Everything looks so lovely!! You and Jon look so happy and over the moon. Congratulations all over again!
ReplyDeleteGORGEOUS photos! I can't get over how beautiful your venue was!! Love your dress, bridesmaid dresses, flowers, etc. too!! What a happy day!
ReplyDeleteWhat beautiful photos!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful wedding, Betsy!! Congratulations again!
ReplyDeleteSO beautiful and charming! You look so happy and beautiful!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful wedding! I love those flowers and all the little details. =)
ReplyDelete