Throwback Thursday: Bridal Edition

We are created in order to love, as a reflection of God and his love. And in the marital union man and woman fulfill this vocation through their mutual reciprocity and their full and definitive communion of life. 

--- Pope Francis

On this day four years ago, Will and I tied the old knot. The day was indeed a total blur. A combination of the whirlwind of activities and the fact that my contacts were perpetually foggy because I cried the. entire. day. nonstop. Such a shame I didn't have this blog to over-document the event with a five-part series. (Ahem . . . Pregnancy and birth story, anyone?) I have the pictures and the marriage license to prove it happened, I suppose. I thought it would be fun, in order to pay homage, to link-up with Stephanie over at Captive the Heart to talk about my "special somethings." I'm totally breaking the rules on a couple of these, but what are link-ups for if not for really pushing it with the rule interpretations? 

When it came to the minutiae of wedding planning, I was what you would call a hands-off bride. Our engagement was during my first year of law school, so I was way more concerned with Rule 12(b)(6) and making law review than I was with picking out wedding decor. I was in Florida, the wedding was in Maryland. I did manage to keep screenshots of photos from theknot.com on my computer to send to my wedding planning team (my mom, stepmom, and family friend). Had Pinterest been around, I likely would have flunked out of law school, just putting that out there. And had Etsy been what it is today, I would have gone broke. Anyway, I would send my mom photos from The Knot I liked, then I would get photo texts of options for flower arrangements, venues, cake, etc., asking me which ones I liked best. Will and I did as much as we could remotely, but it was kind of a scramble at the end to get the final touches in place. Things old, new, borrowed, and blue were no exception. 

Something Old. Basically I bought the most horrid, uncomfortable heels for the wedding (more on that in a sec) and so I wore my old, scuffed up Chucks to the reception. Yes, the bottom of my dress dragged everywhere, but I didn't care. 

I could cut a rug in 'em.

My dress kind of got dirty anyway when this happened:

Something New. Well, everything else was new, obviously. But let's talk about the newest of all the things: the shoes. 

I went into the final week of wedding prep without a pair of heels to wear on the big day. They were the last thing I needed to buy, and yes, that also means that my dress had not been altered. I arrived in Maryland and was immediately sent to the mall to find heels so that my aunt could get to work on the alterations. I really thought this would be no problem, but it's wedding season and all bridal shoes everywhere are sold out. (I don't know. This still baffles me.) Basically, I find one pair of decent-looking enough shoes that fit:

Barely. They were a little snug. 

I did not realize the HOURS UPON HOURS of standing that a bride does between dress alterations and photos. C'est la vie.

Something Borrowed. I'm sort of cheating here. Delays rendered the parish building we were supposed to get married in under construction up until our wedding day. A couple of months before the wedding, I was presented with two choices: have our ceremony in the dungeon-like basement of my home parish or move everything to a neighboring parish (same priest would say the Mass). I truly considered having the wedding in a basement because I didn't want to be difficult, but I changed my mind at the last minute. So, our church building was a loaner.

Something Blue. I truly had no involvement with this one. I think I showed up to my dad's house to get ready and this garter was sitting in the room with all my bridal gear.

And thank goodness because what would my life be without this picture?: