a wedding fit for a princess

So our road trip began with our first stop in Tana-See, but the real reason for this escapade was to get to Conneticut for our friend Michele & Will's wedding.

Technically, we did have one small stop in between Tennessee and Connecticut, but it was just for one night so we wouldnt have to pay for a hotel. We decided that we would stop in New Jersey at my Aunt & Uncles house and leave before lunch the following day to make it in time for the rehearsal dinner.

It was a relatively quick visit and really only consisted of a bite to eat down by the jersey shore, some ping pong games, and a little bit of ring toss at my family's picnic facility up there. As I said, we had to get back on the road the following morning to make it to the hotel in time for the rehearsal dinner. Surprisingly the trip from NJ to the hotel in CT was only about 2.5 hours (relatively short compared to the 16hours we drove the previous day).

So the wedding festivities began that night with a buffet style rehearsal dinner and of course a few glasses of wine. The bride and groom were nice enough to also make us some absolutely appropriate munchies for later on that evening (aka popcorn, m&m's, and marshmallows in a cute little bag) that my husband kept on stealing from all the tables to take with us.

You might notice that all the wedding festivities pictures will start to look sooooooooo much better in quality. This might be because I kinda stole the newlyweds brand spankin new DSLR camera they got from the in-laws. Let me tell you something. They almost didnt get this little puppy back after the wedding, I think I might have fallen in love again (sorry babe).

The next morning (or shall I say afternoon for those of us who drank a lil too much wine) is when the bridal party starting getting ready for the big day. Although I was not in the bridal party, Michele had plenty of girls (8 to be exact) who would be standing by her side up at the alter. Ironically, when I went to go check on her all the ladies had disappeared to get their hair done at a local salon and Michele was left by her self to get her makeup done. So what did I do? I whipped out aforementioned stolen camera and started snapping away.

Once her makeup was done, the bridal party started to slowly trickle in. Mimosa's were poured. Dresses were put on. Smiles were shown on all. And it seemed like everything moved pretty quickly from there.

Isnt her dress gorgeous? Once the bridal party was on the bus, and the beautiful bride was in her limo, all headed to the castle (yes you heard me, they were married at a castle) for photos, it was time for the rest of us to get ready and head to the ceremony. There also might have been a few pre-graming shots of baby Guinness and of course a lil bit of Captain.....

Isnt my hubby handsome? Everyone kept saying you could for sure tell he was one of the Floridians, as he sported his Sperry TopSiders with his suit.  He thought he was a stud, Id have to say I didnt disagree ;) Sorry, of topic, back to the ceremony. As mentioned, they were married at a castle, St. Clements Castle to be exact. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous, and the ceremony had a to-die-for view overlooking a waterway with mountains. Truly, it was like it was right out of a childrens story book; a princess marrying her knight in shinning armor (Ill share their story of how they met in my next post, and youll totally understand where Im getting that form).

I do have to admit, although I think I captured the entire ceremony beautifully through the camera, I feel kind of like I didnt get to actually watch them get married. I dont know, maybe other photographers feel this way too? Or is it just me? Like I was there, but not really there. I was behind the camera capturing the moment, but not in the moment.

So, I think thats enough pictures for today. Im going to save the actually wedding reception for another post because literally I think in total I snapped like 450+ photos with this camera. (I wasnt lying when I said I fell in love, babe; this is your subtle hint, new camera wink wink)