wrap yourself around me, cause I ain't the way you found me

as promised, here are a few pictures from our wedding day!

they were taken and edited by the lovely Adam & Andy of w.scott chester photography. they did such an amazing job, we are SO happy with the results. we always knew the photos would get the biggest part of the wedding budget; I always say, good photographers can make anything look good!

and they certainly did.

wedding dress- Alita Graham for Kleinfeld (!!) // groom + groomsmen attire- Le Chateau // groom's tie- Hugo Boss // bridesmaid dresses- Alfred Sung // 

lace gloves- vintage // bride's jacket- Modcloth

this is just a veeeeery small selection of all the gorgeous photos they took. you can see a few more here, on w. scott chester's blog, and here on 100 Layer Cake. 

we have tons to choose prints from, but we don't get the digital prints till March, so be prepared for another giant wedding post then! 

Brando and myself got married on March 26. seems like a weird date choice when you live in Newfoundland (and it did turn out to give us some trouble) but our dating anniversary is on March 23, and we wanted to keep the two together. that way not only our wedding anniversary, but our original anniversary will be celebrated! 

I also hated the idea of having the typical summer wedding. it seems so over done, and it just wasn't us. we wanted something that was really about us and St. John's- colourful, quirky, fun, and a little bit retro. 

although many, many things were to go wrong (I nicknamed it the Murphy's law of weddings early on), the day really did turn out fabulously. we had a short ceremony in a beautiful church- necessary for someone who gets stage fright, like me- and left a lot of time for photos before the reception. I think the photographers we're excited about that. it was absolutely freezing outside and very windy (again, very St. John's!) but the photo-taking was so much fun. and totally worth it. 

the reception was at one of our favourite restaurants, the Yellow Belly Brewery. it has this gorgeous rustic feel, with red brick walls and wood beams. it went great with the retro vibe we were going for, and the food was amazing! we had tomato bisque to start, poached salmon with hollandaise sauce, sweet potato wedges, and vegetables. yummm. too bad I couldn't eat any of it because I was a bundle of nerves! 

best of all, we had a great band and danced the night away with our best friends. everyone said they had so much fun, and I'm so happy to hear that. after all, no matter what I noticed that was wrong, as long as the guests thought it was great, that's what matters! 

but since it was sort of the perfect storm of wedding troubles, I do have a few tips to share, in case any of you plan on getting married sometime soon! 

1) make sure there is someone besides yourself who knows exactly what you want! on the day of the wedding I couldn't run around making sure everything was getting done right, and neither could anyone else because I planned the whole thing myself. Brandon was already in Scotland, and our parents were 5 hours away. definitely find someone NOT in the bridal party to go through your wedding plan with you. that way what happened to me won't happen to you; I showed up at the reception and it was decorated infinitely different than my decorator and I had discussed. I don't mean small, bridezilla changes- I mean completely not what I had been told I was getting. 

2) leave lots of time to chill with your bridesmaids before the ceremony. I thought we had done this- our ceremony was at 2- but turns out we were rather rushed after hair and makeup. the one thing I wish I had done differently was spend more time and get more pictures with my best friends. 

3) while we absolutely loved our band, and it does create a great atmosphere to have live music, everyone had just as much fun dancing to an ipod during the breaks. with ipods you can pick every song you love, and people can easily make requests. I think it would be even better than a dj! 

4) either have your programs/menus and such done locally, or order them way in advance! there were five snowstorms in the week leading up to our wedding day. five. I ordered our programs & menus from this adorable little shop on etsy, and they were supposed to arrive a week before the wedding. the five snowstorms meant they did not. now the girls at Baumbirdy, the shop we ordered from, were kind and thoughtful and wonderful enough to send a rough template to a local printer in St. John's, so we did have simple little ones, but they weren't the gorgeous programs we received in the mail one day too late. 

5) it helps if your cake baker speaks english, haha. the cake tasted like perfection- hands down the best cake I've ever tasted- but it was supposed to be square with white decor. it was neither. it really wasn't a big deal, but its always a relief to know you're understood! 

ok, that's it! there's a list of vendors and such on the 100 Layer Cake blog entry, if anyone's curious. and despite all the issues and mini-crises, it really was a wonderful day. now I just have to find an excuse to wear the dress again...

♥