Grace and I spent the morning of our wedding surrounded by our respective wedding parties, first getting ready at the Westlake Village Inn for hair and makeup, and then driving up to our venue for finishing touches and to get into our wedding attire.
There is an old ranch house at our wedding venue with two wings for getting ready, so Grace and I each had our own space with our bridesmaids.
The day before our wedding, I gifted each of my bridesmaids with a Plum Pretty Sugar robe to wear the morning of the wedding. I chose an all-white robe for myself and it was very festive and exciting to see everyone decked out in matching robes in the morning!
To be honest, I was much more jittery on our wedding morning than I had expected to be. I have a feeling others who have been married can relate to this, but it absolutely wasn’t jitters about marrying Grace—it was just a sudden realization of how many eyes would be on me, and as an introvert, feeling the pressure of the spotlight suddenly had me shaky. But thankfully, one of the perks of having a huge wedding party was having lots of people to calm me down.
Grace was pretty nervous too (or so I heard, since we didn’t see each other before walking down the aisle), so I was thankful that she had all her best friends to make her laugh and help her get polished for the big day!
Jitters aside, our wedding morning was SO much fun. Babies were passed around, sweet moments were shared, pre-festivities drinks were sipped (but not for me because my stomach was way too weak/nervous before the ceremony, haha!), and it was just such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have all of our best friends in our place. It was also so magical peeking out the windows and seeing our reception area coming together and floral installations going up.
Grace’s sweet parents!
When it was time to get into my dress, it was so sweet to have a few very special people help me:
My mom and sister got me into my dress
My best friend, roommate of 2 years, and round-the-world travel companion, Anna, put in my veil
My sister put on my grandmother’s bracelet that her husband (my grandfather I never met) gave her as an engagement present in the 1950s
And I put on my own shoes!
I also helped my mom get into her dress.
Before I knew it, it was time to walk down the aisle!
All photos are by Jesse Marble and Jimmy Marble for Our Labor of Love