A Woodside Wedding: We Arrive!

After taking bride and groom pictures while our family and friends were setting up our venue, we headed up the mountain to the venue ourselves.

We started out sitting next to each other.

But it was seriously way too hot to cuddle next to his suit jacket for long, so I scooted over and we talked the whole way up; wondering if the venue would be ready, or how far behind the set up was, because the Uhaul with all the decor had gotten stuck in traffic on the way to the venue earlier.

We totally didn't follow the "bride and groom give their cell phones to someone else" rule on our wedding day! Hey, I'm the master contingency plan maker, if something was going to go wrong, I wanted to know about it first!

(We received like 60 photos of us in the limo...but they all pretty much looked like these, so I'll spare you all. You're welcome.)

Along the way to our venue, the limo driver took a wrong turn, making us a little more late, but after a half hour in the limo, we finally arrived. And yeah, getting out of a car in a wedding dress is NOT easy! Sitting and moving in my wedding dress was something I probably should have practiced ahead of time.

Our DOC met us at the limo, helped us unload my emergency bag, veil, and garters out of the trunk, and led us inside.

There we were greeted by our family and wedding party, and we showed off our wedding day attire to those who hadn't seen us yet.

(Photo by my mother)

I had a quick look around from the deck, and was so thrilled to see how beautifully set up everything was. I was so amazed to finally see all our hard work the past 15 months pay off--our wedding decor had come together so nicely! After that, I suggested to my sister that we go unbustle my dress for the ceremony, and we discovered that my train was super dirty, and everyone rushed to clean it.

While my mom, bridesmaids and I were off cleaning my dress, the guys hung out in the bar area, just inside the lodge.

By now it was about 15 minutes until our ceremony start time. The ceremony location across the meadow was ready and waiting, all the little details in place.

Guests started to arrive and our guitarist started playing background music.

During the set up time my dad had waited patiently in the shade in his wheelchair. And right before the ceremony was to begin, my mom helped him to his seat in the last row with his cane, where I would meet him and he would walk me down the aisle.

With about 5 minutes to spare, my dress was cleaned and dried, and it was time to go line up to walk down the aisle!

Coming up next, the ceremony begins!

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
- Traffic delayed our decorations getting to the venue, and I almost ruined our first look
- We got to see each other for the first time on our wedding day at our first look
- We took some time for bride and groom pictures in the park
- I gave you a behind the scenes look at our family, friends and DOC setting up our venue

(Unless otherwise noted, all photos in this post were taken by the very talented photographers of Shoot Me Now Photography)