A Woodside Wedding: Traffic Woes and Hiding From My Groom

After getting into my dress it was about 2:15 in the afternoon. But not everything was going smoothly. Bridesmaid H had just gotten word that the guys were all dressed and ready to head out to the venue, however the 2 groomsmen who had left early with the Uhaul were stuck in traffic from a wreck, on the way to the venue!

(Isn't she pretty? And I love how the earrings Bridesmaid H borrowed from me pop in this picture.)

Yikes, not good, because once you’re stuck on the main road up to our venue, there’s no real way to turn around. The groomsmen and all of our wedding decor was at the mercy of the traffic jam! And with a very tight set up schedule, them arriving at the venue late could mean a late start to our ceremony. :(

I didn't have too much time to dwell on it though, since it was out of my control, so I quickly told my bridesmaids to take another route up to our venue, shoved a new map with the alternate route and an envelope of cash for the cab at them, and focused on the next matter at hand: getting to our first look.(Me, with one of my many back up maps and driving directions)

I conferred with our photographers for a minute, and it was decided that Mr. Cola would ride with our primary photographer in his car (the photogs needed to have their equipment with them), and he headed down the hall to grab Mr. C. Meanwhile, I grabbed my emergency bag, purse and hanger with my veil and garters, and headed out of the suite with our second photographer.

I peeked down the hall and didn’t see anyone, so we ducked into an elevator. But when we got out of the elevator, I realized I wasn’t 100% sure where my groom was—what elevator did he take, which direction were they exiting the hotel, and why didn’t I pause in the room for a few minutes to avoid this potential ruining of our first look?

So, heart pounding, I dashed down a side hallway and gave Mr. Cola and our other photog a few minutes to safely get out of the hotel. Our photog took advantage of the time to take a couple more photos.

Once we knew the coast must be clear, we headed out to the lobby, where the limo was waiting to take me to our first look location, at a park about 15 minutes away. On the ride there I took full advantage of the air conditioning (did I mention yet that it was a crazy-hot day for June? It was.), called our DOC to let her know about the wreck delaying the Uhaul truck, and repeatedly checked the mirror to make sure I didn’t look like I was melting in the heat. I also had paparazzi snapping photos of me on our ride to the park.

At one point he told me to look serious, but it wasn’t easy! I was anything but serious at that point, more like a mix of calm, excited, relaxed, and giddy, and feeling very glam all dolled up and in my dress! I couldn’t wait to see Mr. Cola at our first look!

Some tips:

#1 If there is any travel involved on your wedding day, make sure you have extra maps and directions on hand. And some alternate routes mapped out. You never know what traffic could be like due to wrecks, weather, etc!

#2 If you're planning to do a first look, have a solid plan on how you, your groom and photographer(s) will be getting to your first look location, not just how to execute the first look itself (which was all that we had planned in advance). Bumping into each other in the hotel lobby would have been a bit of a let down for us, especially considering how much I LOVE how our first look pictures in the park turned out! Stay tuned, because those are coming up in my next post!

Miss any wedding week details? Catch up here:

- I packed an emergency bag that saved my dress
- We had a crazy 4 days prepping for house guests and stuffing favors
- Shopping for a ton of wedding flowers to arrange ourselves
- Mr. Cola drinks a 40 and I have a night out on the town for our low-key bach parties
- A day of DIY'ing flower arrangements
- I kicked off our official recaps with my #1 wedding tip
- We began the weekend festivities with a sunset cruise for our wedding party
- We rehearsed our quick and easy ceremony
- I panicked, but we got our rehearsal dinner decorations set up just in time
- Our families met for the first time at our rehearsal dinner under the trees
- What went wrong on our wedding day, and my tips for future brides
- My bridesmaids and I got our hair and makeup done in the hotel suite
- I put on my wedding dress and became a bride
- The guys watched the World Cup, then got ready in 10 minutes

(All photos in this post were taken by the very talented photographers of Shoot Me Now Photography)

A Woodside Wedding: The Guys Veg Out, Then Get Ready in 10 Minutes

After Mr. Cola left our hotel suite the morning of our wedding, so the ladies and I could get ready, he met up with the guys in another room down the hall, and they spent the morning watching the World Cup and doing who knows what else.

Of course, there are no pictures of their morning, since “they had no cameras” (and my pointing out that if they had cell phones, they had cameras was apparently lost on them). All I know is that it was reported partway through the morning, when a bridesmaid ran down to their room to get something, that it smelled like “testosterone” in their room. Meaning lots of sweaty, stinky boys crammed in a room, getting riled up and yelling at the TV, no doubt.

At about 1 in the afternoon I texted Mr. C that it was his half hour warning until the photographers were arriving, so they should think about starting to get ready. And once the photographers arrived, they captured these photos of the studly guys putting on their own finishing touches! They sure clean up good, if I do say so myself!

Groomsman P was the official tie tying instructor!

I love that it looks like Mr. Cola is getting some serious advice from his brother in this picture.

But Mr. C claims that it was all good times, joking and laughter in the hotel room that morning, and that this is a better representation.

Mr. Cola had his own photo shoot next to the window.

This is one of my favorites!

Some of the groomsmen gifts made an appearance.

After one final mirror check, Mr. Cola was ready.

Once the guys were dressed and ready to impress, they headed out by the pool for a few more photos. First they tried to play it cool.

Then took a few of the adorably funny jumping photos I’d wanted to badly. They didn’t disappoint! :)

And a few of Mr. C with his bro.

Then two of the groomsmen had to head out, to drive the Uhaul truck with all the decorations up to our venue. The rest of the guys went back up to the hotel room to gather their things, and waited for their cue to head out as well a few minutes later. And it was almost time for Mr. Cola to leave for our first look in the park!

Miss any wedding week details? Catch up here:

- I packed an emergency bag that saved my dress
- We had a crazy 4 days prepping for house guests and stuffing favors
- Shopping for a ton of wedding flowers to arrange ourselves
- Mr. Cola drinks a 40 and I have a night out on the town for our low-key bach parties
- A day of DIY'ing flower arrangements
- I kicked off our official recaps with my #1 wedding tip
- We began the weekend festivities with a sunset cruise for our wedding party
- We rehearsed our quick and easy ceremony
- I panicked, but we got our rehearsal dinner decorations set up just in time
- Our families met for the first time at our rehearsal dinner under the trees
- What went wrong on our wedding day, and my tips for future brides
- My bridesmaids and I got our hair and makeup done in the hotel suite
- I put on my wedding dress and became a bride

(All photos in this post were taken by the very talented photographers of Shoot Me Now Photography)

A Woodside Wedding: The Finishing Touches

When our photographers arrived at the hotel suite, we were just breaking out a bottle of champagne, while waiting for my hairstyle to come together. I had wanted to be completely ready, except for having my dress on when they arrived, but oh well!

(Cheers!)

(We totally rocked the champagne in Solo cups!)

Instead, my hair running late gave one of our photogs time to take some pro shots of my accessories, while the other headed down the hall to take photos of the guys getting ready, which you’ll see in my next post.

My dress:

Shoes and dress:

I swoon every time I look at these pictures of my shoes!

Our wedding bands with one of my "something old" items (a little bear I gave one of my grandmothers when I was 3 years old that she carried around in her purses for 20 years, and my grandpa gave it back to me after she passed).
And our bands with one of our DIY invitations. I love how they captured the laser cut text so well!

Our hotel suite door sign:

Then it was finally time to put on my dress!

I never thought I’d be a “dress bride.” You know, the bride who is head over heels in love with their dress, loved shopping for it, tried on a million dresses, and felt like a princess when she put it on; I always just cared way more about my shoes and the DIY details of our wedding. I had struggled to even get excited about dresses at first, had some disappointing shopping experiences (including rudely being told I should lose weight), but finally found a gorgeous gown that was perfect for me. And while I wouldn’t say I felt like a “princess” when I put on my wedding dress on our wedding day, I did feel gorgeous and really did love my dress to pieces. It made me so very happy; putting on my dress meant that the day was really and truly finally here—I was a bride, and about to marry my best friend!

I slipped into my dress in the downstairs bathroom in our suite, and then came out to get laced up by my sister, who had taken off her bridesmaid dress so the bust line could being sewn closed by her boyfriend (A guy who can sew? Now that's a keeper!).

While my sister was finishing lacing my dress, one of my other bridesmaids helped me put on my jewelry, because I couldn’t let go of the stairway railing for long, or I would fall over—my sister was doing a great job of cinching my corset super tight so "the girls" wouldn't fall out!

Then I was ready to slip on my flip flops (I wore those to our first look, because I didn’t want to tire out my feet with my 4 ½ inch heels until the ceremony), put on my lipstick, and posed for a couple of quick shots next to the window and with my bridesmaids. We were still running about 20 minutes late, and couldn’t spend much more time on the finishing touches!

Next up, the guys get ready!

Miss any wedding week details? Catch up here:

- I packed an emergency bag that saved my dress
- We had a crazy 4 days prepping for house guests and stuffing favors
- Shopping for a ton of wedding flowers to arrange ourselves
- Mr. Cola drinks a 40 and I have a night out on the town for our low-key bach parties
- A day of DIY'ing flower arrangements
- I kicked off our official recaps with my #1 wedding tip
- We began the weekend festivities with a sunset cruise for our wedding party
- We rehearsed our quick and easy ceremony
- I panicked, but we got our rehearsal dinner decorations set up just in time
- Our families met for the first time at our rehearsal dinner under the trees
- What went wrong on our wedding day, and my tips for future brides
- My bridesmaids and I got our hair and makeup done in the hotel suite

(All photos in this post were taken by the very talented photographers of Shoot Me Now Photography)