Wedding Week - Before the "I Do's"

The time has finally come - I have wedding photos, and I am ready to share! I'm going to have to break it up over a few days to squeeze everything in, and today I'll start with the earlier part of the day - getting ready.

To give you some background, we were married on Saturday August 24th at MacKechnie House Bed & Breakfast in Cobourg, Ontario. We could not have asked for a more beautiful day, or a more perfect location. We had our rehearsal dinner at the venue the night before, and I spent the night at the B&B with all of my bridesmaids. The next morning we lingered over a lovely breakfast until the hair stylists and makeup artist (Melanie Sivitilli) arrived. It was the most perfect day and we were so lucky to have our photographer Katie from K. Thompson Photography capture the whole thing!

The necklace that I wore belonged to my Maternal Grandmother. She passed away about 6 months before I was born, and my Mom gifted it to me in the week leading up to the wedding. It was the perfect piece for me to wear to remember her by.

Since we were trying to do our wedding on a budget, one of the areas I chose to save on was flowers. We were getting married outdoors so we did not require flowers for decorations, and I made my bouquet myself, and made the girls bouquets with the help of my Matron of Honour. Do I regret not getting real flowers? Not for one second. I loved the personal touch of my handmade flowers, and received so many compliments on my bouquet! 

While we were getting ready upstairs, the guys were downstairs preparing for the day...

It was during this time that I sent Halle on a mission to her Daddy with my wedding gift to him. I am so, so pleased with the photos Katie captured of B opening my gift.

When we were both ready, we met for a first look. I'm so glad that we opted to do it. It gave us a moment on our own (with the exception of our photographer of course), to just be happy and excited. 

Our first look was also the perfect opportunity for both of us to see our wedding bands for the first time. Up until that day we had only seen the other person's band. We decided to do finger print wedding bands, custom made by Brent & Jess. My band has B's finger print wrapped around the outside, and he has mine. On the inside, we each wrote the other a special little message that has a special meaning to us. They were a nice added surprise for us to each read that day.

Finally, before we made our way outside, the girls and I popped a bottle of pink bubbly and made a little toast to friendship. I couldn't have imagined four better girls to have beside me on the day I became a Mrs - they made the day extra special in every single way that they could and I love each of them so much! 

Make sure you come back tomorrow for more photos from our ceremony and some of our pretty portraits. I can't wait for you to see our ceremony location and more details of the lovely venue!