Sommerbryllup av Pepper Nix Photography

KLASSISK & MODERNE FRA UTAH

Her kommer et klassisk og moderne bryllup fra andre siden av dammen.  Meredith og Kyle giftet seg 26. juli 2012 i Sandy - Utah, og hadde ikke mindre enn 400 gjester. Bruden endte opp med en helt annen kjole enn hun hadde sett for seg, men som bildene viser ble det et godt valg, og da hun fikk leke askepott med Capitol sine majestetiske omgivelser, var alt perfekt. Pepper Nix Photography fanget den store dagen for dette skjønne brudeparet.

BRUDEN FORTELLER:

- Location, location, location: Our ceremony was at our parish church, St. Thomas More Catholic Church. Our reception was at Magnolia Grove. While looking for reception centers, we had to keep in mind that ours wasn't a small wedding. Both sides of our family are fairly large and we have a lot of friends too. We sent out around 600 invitations and about 400 people came! It was wonderful to have so many people, but it narrowed our options for reception cites. We loved Magnolia Grove because it was a beautiful building and also had a large outdoor space behind it. They set up tables on the grass and we actually spent most of the reception outside because we were lucky enough to have beautiful weather for our day!

- Wedding Planner: My mother. We never considered hiring anyone to plan our wedding. My maid of honor's mother introduced me to Pinterest just after I got engaged and my mom and I planned with the help of some fantastic ideas on the site. Thanks to my incredible mom I had a pretty stress-free time planning my wedding. I couldn't have done it without her!

- Cake: We had two. Both were done by One Sweet Slice (where I started working about 6 months after my wedding!). Janell Brown, the owner, helped us with everything. We came to her with some vague ideas from a bridal show and she helped us create the perfect cake. Our main cake was five tiers with our wedding colors, blue, green, and ivory with silver accents. She even took the motif from our invitations, a detailed flourish, and iced it around two of the layers. We also had a groom's cake. My husband didn't have many requests for the wedding, but he did want a funfetti cake. So we got him his own: a Captain America Shield (his favorite super hero) that was a funfetti cake!

- Band or Musicians: The Joe Muscalino Band! They were fantastic. I read online that having a band perform your first song can be chancy because it won't sound the same as you're used to, but it was perfect. Our first dance was to "Lucky" by Jason Mraz and Colbie Callait.  If you look through pictures you can see how giddy I am during my Husband's dance with his mother. They used to dance to "Blueberry Pie" by Bette Midler when he was little and it was so sweet seeing the two of them dancing! Not to mention later on, the band insisted my dad play with them (he always has harmonicas stashed in his car). We had everyone dancing until it was time to leave!

- Dress designer: Cotin Sposa. The dress I wound up wearing was a complete turnaround from what I thought I wanted. I took my mom and my mother-in-law-to-be with me. We had a girl's afternoon and went to three different shops. I knew I was only going to do this once so I tried on some dresses I thought I might like with at least one outrageous one in each shop. It was such a blast! We went to Danielle's Bridal in Holiday second. We were talking about my Italian heritage when Janet, our lovely saleswoman, mentioned the Italian dresses. I picked one of them out and it wound up in the pile in my dressing room. I barely looked at it as I pulled it on in the middle of several others that were beautiful, but not what I was looking for. When I stepped out in front of the mirror, my mom actually gasped and started crying. I could hardly say anything either. Even fitting me as loose as it did, it was so perfect. The dress was made of silk organza so even though there were probably five layers of skirt, corset boning, and intricate beading, it was light as a feather. I loved the fact that the sleeves were off the shoulder, that the back was low and the beading on it made it seem like something out of a fairy tale. It wound up being one of the most expensive pieces of our wedding, but it was absolutely the right choice. I absolutely loved my dress. Not to mention the fact that Pepper indulged my fairy tale fantasy in taking pictures of me running down the stairs at the state Capitol building with one shoe behind me. I loved every second I spent in that dress and I wouldn't have felt anywhere near as incredible in anything else!

- Shoes: It took a long time to find the right ones. I knew I didn't want to wear heels. I fall over standing in them and the only reason I would wear them would be for Kyle. But with my dress so long I opted to be comfortable over sexy. I finally found shoes that looked just right in Dillards. The brand was Report. Simple. Perfect.

- Makeup Artist: I actually went to Bare Essentials in the mall and had them help me! I'm not big on make up so they helped me with some basics and that was it!

- Ring designer: I don't trust Kyle with picking out my clothes, but he has excellent taste in jewelry. After dating for about five years I knew I trusted him to pick out a ring on his own. I couldn't have been more right. He picked out my engagement ring on his own. He went to every jewelry store to find the perfect one and found it at Shane Co. After wearing it even for a few days I knew I didn't want any other ring, so my engagement ring turned into my wedding ring. I think it's a fairly new tradition to have two rings that compliment each other so I think this makes me a little old-fashioned, but I'm perfectly okay with that. I still look at it every day and think to myself, "this just proves how well he knows me." It's a fairly small ring with a tear-drop diamond in the middle with two tear-drop sapphires on either side. We actually got his ring through JVL Jewelry. We entered into a drawing when I was trying on wedding dresses and wound up winning free rings! They were a little limited but Kyle isn't a big jewelry wearer. I'm so glad he wears his ring now but he wasn't sure if he would when we were getting it. He got a simple ring that I'm very glad was free. He tends to take it off and play with it and has nearly lost it so many times!

- Jewelry: I didn't wear a necklace since my dress was so detailed, but I got my earrings from PearlyJaneBridal on etsy. The only other accessory I had was a silk organza flower from mignonnehandmade. It matched my dress perfectly and I wore it after the ceremony once I took out my veil.

- Brides maids dresses: I am so proud of my brides maids! They are each from a different walk of my life. One of my brides maids has been my friend since fourth grade. My maid of honor is one of my best friends from high school (who actually dated my husband for a week in high school just before me!) Another of my brides maids was from the two-year women's college I attended for my freshman and sophomore years of college, and my last bridesmaid was from my two years at the University of Utah. I could not love those girls more! As for their dresses, I wanted them to look GREAT. I knew I wanted them in dark blue and found the perfect dresses on ModCloth.com. The dress was called "Blueberry Iced Tea" which I actually made for the girls (it was terrible!) and they posed for pictures in their dresses with the tea. They send me pictures sometimes when they wear the dress to parties, etc. Two of the girls actually wore their dresses to the same party! It makes me so happy that they still love to wear their dress and that they think of me when they do. I'm glad I had them wearing something that made them feel good! And as for their shoes, I just wanted them to be silver. They got to choose their own. I didn't want to be too demanding on my girls. I wanted them to have a good time and not be stressed out over silly things like their nails or their hair.

- Other wedding party people: The best man has known my husband since they were in first grade together! He also dated or was interested in all of my bridesmaids at some point in time. He was even engaged to one of them! Crazy, right? One of Kyle's groomsmen was actually his Grandpa. He and his grandpa are very close and Kyle wanted him to stand up with him when he got married. It was even more important to us since his wife, Kyle's grandmother, passed away two weeks before the wedding. It meant a lot to have him standing up on the altar with us. The other two groomsmen were my brother and another of Kyle's good friends from high school. They were all wearing tuxes from Tuxedo Junction.

- Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, did you follow that tradition and if so, what did you use? I did use the tradition, if a little loosely! My something old and something borrowed were the same thing, my grandmother's garter! I didn't wind up wearing it because it was actually really tight when I put it on. (My grandmother was tiny when she got married!) My something new were my earrings and my something blue was my ring. Of course I had to wait until Kyle slipped it on my finger for it to be there. My toes were painted blue too, so I guess that counts!

- Did you do a First Look before the ceremony?  (Or a separate bridal session with your groom?)   If you did or if you didn't have your groom see you in your dress before your ceremony, what influenced that decision and how do you feel about it now that the wedding is over? Kyle was very adamant about not seeing me until I walked down the aisle. I had seen a lot of first look photos of the bride and groom and really wanted to do something like that, but Kyle is quite the old fashioned guy. (He did ask my dad for my hand before asking me!) So instead of seeing each other, we decided to do something a little different. In the building next to the church there is a little chapel. My bridesmaids put two chairs back to back and sat Kyle down before me. He kept his eyes closed as I came in. My eyes were closed, too. We had both written letters to each other and exchanged them sitting back to back and holding hands. My bridesmaids and my Dad watched for a while, their reactions are some of my favorite pictures of them! But we also had a moment alone. It was wonderful to get to talk to him before the ceremony and have that moment of quiet together. The reception was such a whirlwind and I feel like I spent more time seeing family and dancing with friends than really dancing with Kyle! (I know he actually ate at some point. I think I had a meatball and two strawberries that my cousin brought me before a family photo!) I'm glad I got to spend that time with all the people who flew or drove in for our wedding, but I'm also so glad we had that moment together before the wedding.

We also spent a little time with just Pepper between the ceremony and the reception. We drove to La Caille and took pictures of just the two of us and it was a great way to wind down before going to see all of those people! I am SO glad we decided to do that. Some of my favorite pictures came from that time in between.

Moments you loved, cried, laughed or giggled at:

- Loved: My friends from the women's college who flew in and all my bridesmaids had a big sleepover in my old bedroom-turned getting-ready-room. We all slept on the floor in big piles and it was lovely to spend that time with them. Pictures at La Caille with my brides maids before the wedding. Kyle and my letter exchange. Our photo shoot with Pepper in between the ceremony and the reception. Letting Kyle pick our first dance song and knowing it would be "Lucky." Dancing with my Dad. Seeing my family enjoying themselves and dancing all night.

- Cried: For someone who can cry over nothing at all and does so quite frequently, I didn't shed one tear on our wedding day. I was too happy! I nearly cried as I was saying my vows. I know my voice cracked, but I was determined not to cry! I know that crack in my voice set off every single one of my bride maids, though.

- Laughed or giggled: Winding up stranded in my bedroom because the groomsmen were out in the house and my brides maids had all disappeared on me! Stuffing myself into a car in my dress! Everything our priest said. Just look at the pictures, I laughed through nearly the entire ceremony! Pepper forgetting my bouquet at La Caille! Kyle dancing with his mother. It just made me so happy to see them dancing! Having the girls from my college prank Kyle and I with a song that they didn't get a chance to while we were at the school. My dad playing with the band. Dancing with so many people I love who had come to celebrate with us!

- What you would have done differently, if anything: I think I would have done my flowers differently. Gone with something lighter! My bouquet was so heavy! I also think I would have spaced out the ceremony and reception more. We were pretty cramped on time and I wish we would have had more.

- Any advice you have for future brides? Don't stress. Your wedding day is the start of the rest of your life with your best friend. It shouldn't be stressful. It should be fun and happy. If little things go wrong, who cares? You're still on your way to having your best friend by your side forever. What's more important than that?

- Any particular photo you really loved? My "theme" for our wedding was more or less a "happily ever after." This picture fits that perfectly for me. It isn't the best shot of our faces or of my dress, but we're smiling and our hands are clasped and we're walking into the sunset. To me, that was  our "happily ever after" shot.

Also, even though it wasn't part of our wedding day, I LOVED the pictures from my bridals in which I'm running down the stairs at the Capitol. I had so much fun that day and I would do it again if I could!

LEVERANDØRER: Bryllupsfotograf: Pepper Nixon Photography // Blomster: Skyline Floral // Location: Magnolia Grove // Brudekjole: Danielles Bridal // Bryllupskaker: One Sweet Slide // Band: Joe Muscolini Band // Seremoni: St. Thomas More Catholic Church // Makeup: Bare Essentials // Smykker: Shane & Co. // Brudgommens Antrekk: Tuxedo Junction // Brudepike/forlover kjoler: ModCloth