Heather and Jonnie - The Wedding!

I loved this wedding. Nope, I lurved this wedding. Heather - you remember her AH-mazing bridals - has fantastic taste. The whole event had so many little details and infusions of her vintage style... I loved it. Photographers DIE over details, and this day was a dream. Heather and Jonnie are seriously too stinkin' cute for words. Again, I find myself with a beautiful bride and a groom either currently or previously a Marine. Seriously, about 85% of my grooms are current or former Marines. I don't know how it happens, because I am NOT the picture of physical discipline! Anyways, Heather and Jonnie are adorable. Their wedding party was made up of their awesome friends who had me rolling all day and fighting the urge to dance all night. Heather has been the sweetest person to work without throughout the planning phases - she even invited me to bring my husband along and enjoy the food!!! The friends that Heather and Jonnie surround themselves with are a great indicator of the types of people they are. Just awesome peeps. They chose to do a First Look - yay! - and had all of their friends witness it, just as they had when Jonnie proposed. Such a tight-knit group that all helped each other out, danced with each other, laughed with each other... this day was not just about Jonnie and Heather, it was all about family and the family you make with your friends. GREAT people, like I said.
So anyways, this post is going to be ginormous. Not just because of how much I LOVED the wedding, but also because of the holidays and the amount of work I'm about to bury myself back into. More weddings - yes, plural - to finish and countless family sessions await completion for Christmas cards, so I'll leave you with a giant post... I'm sure Heather won't mind. :)

Okay, so there's always a point during the day where a bride hands me something beautiful to photograph, but I had been dying over these earrings since Heather's bridal session, and let me tell you, it was not easy to hand them back.

I.... love... these.... shots.
(And FYI, the record was of "their song"!)

A penny Heather's mother gave her from the year she was born... 1985... a good year. :)

This was a pin Heather carried on her bouquet, which held photos of grandparents who had passed away. Yeah, I wasn't kidding about the awesome details.

Those lucky bridesmaids had Heather's awesome vintage-y style to thank for the amazing jewelry they sported! One of her bridesmaids, Lauren, created all of the hairpieces worn throughout the night (Heather had 2! I love this girl!). Her amazing handmade pieces can be found here.

Yep, a foosball table. Ladies may get the bigger room, but guys get the bigger toys!

Oh, this is so perfect. Every single one of Heather's girls were so helpful, and just there the whole day.

As I said before, Heather and Jonnie chose to do a First Look. This serves a number of purposes, the two main ones being to calm any nerves before hand by seeing the love of your life, and to get as many photos as possible while the light is still good, there's not as much of a time crunch to get to the reception, and your makeup hasn't been cried off. It's always a special thing to get to witness, let alone capture. All of their friends stood to the side and watched silently, again being a part of the biggest moments in their lives. For those of you who are on the fence about the whole First Look thing, let me testify the groom is still speechless and blown away when his bride comes down the aisle. It's really special to get that moment twice.

LOVE it!

SUPER mega laser FAVORITE!!!

I was trying to get a shot of them interacting with each other, but "accidentally" got the gorgeous sunset behind!

Reflection!!!!

Okay, another cool detail. Instead of a traditional guest book, Heather and Jonnie ordered vinyl records of "their songs" and had guests sign them, later to be mounted at home! By far one of the coolest and most unique ideas I've seen.

Come on in, the party's hoppin'!

Do you see the way he looks at her?

While the little ones may have stolen the dance floor for a bit, the real stars of the night were the suspenders. You'll see what I mean in a bit.

You mean Jay Novacek didn't give a speech at your wedding?
When a glory-days Cowboy takes the mic, you'd better show some respect!

Good thing he was funny!

So this guy and myself got into a bit of a photo war/dancing shoot-off throughout the night. I claim victory.

And the suspenders make their debut...

Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark", as performed by the best man.
Quite enthusiastically, I might add, and much to the delight of everyone!

"Don't stop... beliiiiiieeeeevin'...."

"I think he's doing the dice thing too much."

At this point the party was in full swing, everyone was having a great time, the Black Eyed Peas were playing (whom I firmly believe formed with the sole purpose of creating awesome wedding reception songs), and things couldn't get any better. Until....

A glass broke on the dance floor! NOW it's a party!!!

I like to amuse myself with celebrity look-alikes.
Featured with Heather and Jonnie (a bit of a Jared Leto himself) are Ashlee Simpson-Wentz, Ryan Gosling, and 30 Rock's Jane Krakowski.

Double suspender action!

I love this.
Heather's face says, "Aren't you having fun at our wedding?!"

Heather and Jonnie, I had a BLAST with you guys!!! The love that you have for one another and the people in your lives is more than evident. I am so happy for you both and just know that life is going to be a wonderful ride for you two. Aside from the fact that you're both just too cute and your scrunch-up-your-nose laughs, you are just great, sweet, wonderful and fun people. Thank you so much for letting me a part of your big day, and congratulations a million times over!