September 19th - Chris and Suzanne - Official!
We did it! - all wedding photography by Jenna Wren Photography
Most people who know us, know that this has been a long time coming! We have been together for 10 years, engaged for 8, but 100% committed regardless of a piece of paper. We had planned to tie the knot in 2020, but with all the other things going on in the world, it had been pushed to a back burner. One relaxing August evening, we were talking about life, and stuff, and decided, what the heck are we waiting for? We had always planned to just have our immediate family present this time around, and that’s all we would be allowed right now anyway, so why not make it official! One month later, we were at the gardens, surrounded by our family, and making it happen!
Partially for my own selfish reasons, I wanted to create this recap blog of our day, but I also want to share it with anyone who is interested! This day was a day that was truly so very special to us all. I can’t emphasize just how much…but I will try.
This, was our journey!
We chilled in the room, had dinner in the hotel restaurant with Chris’s parents, and I made my bouquet!
That night, neither of us slept worth anything. I guess we were excited or something. lol We had planned out everything on our own, and even though it was an intimate event, we really wanted our kids/family, to have the best day ever, and a memory that would never leave their minds! It took a lot of organization but it all came together beautifully!
We got out of bed at 6 am Saturday morning, showered and walked to find an open Starbucks. We picked up our addiction, along with breakfast, and headed back to the room, Farron met us there, as she was going to help me with my hair, and my lashes, something that I was absolutely NOT capable of doing myself! :-) We all got ready and headed to the Botanic Gardens to meet our photographer and get this show on the road! We may or may not have been a few minutes late, on arriving to our own event. lol
We arrived at the venue, carted our stuff to the Solarium, and met EVERYONE else who had managed to not be late!! :-) I left the group, along with the girls to go get my dress on, while the boys all stayed behind to put out the champagne toast and our table cloths and flowers!
Gabby, Farron and I left the room where I got dressed, and met our photographer Jenna Wren Photography downstairs. We would make our way back to the location, for a “first look”. Even though we had already seen each other, I am so glad Jenna convinced us to do this, as it was a really nice special moment of calm between Chris and I, before we had to go be on the spot! Gabby came along to record the moment! (thank you Gabs!)
Jenna found a secluded area, where we could have a moment to ourselves and she could be a fly on the wall and capture the exchange.
These three images may be my favorites that Jenna got of me, the entire day. She did a beautiful job!
Ok, ladies and gents, here we go! I will tell the story in the captions of the photos!
Chris spoke first, and for the record, I knew (as did everyone else) that the moment I opened my mouth the tears would flow.
We took turns speaking, my parts were always focusing on our kids. Can you imagine now why I was in tears? My kids, our kids, mean the world to me and to us. Their presence, and acceptance, has been so heartwarming and made my job of deciding what to say easy, but hard to deliver with my sensitive nature!
Well, we did it! We made it through the whole 10 minutes of words lol, and tears, and moved onto the champagne toast!
Ok I messed up, we signed the wedding license first lol…Oops!
The kids went to get the box lunches (because #covid) and we took some final photos before we wrapped up and headed back to the hotel for the dinner event! Can I emphasize how amazing the food was at the gardens??? Pleasant surprise!!
Ok, NOW I can relax!! The next event, I want to show you all the cool theme rooms that the kids had, and then the big event, dinner!!!
Pretty cool huh? We thought so!!
Now, what we have been waiting for…onto dinner!!! We had too many to seat inside, so we took the party outside to the private terrace! We had dinner served, the food was amazing, and a bar tender so drinks would never run out!
I think it’s safe to say we all had a phenomenal time!
So, if you are still here lol… I’m flattered!! This was a lot, I know. I had to get it all down somewhere, and share the highlights, of which there were many.
The best part of the day, was having the undivided attention, for about 9 hours, with our 5 grown kids, their really outstanding significant others, and of course Chris’s parents. A private location, plenty of food, plenty of alcohol, no place to be but here, and a safe place to rest there heads just a few floors away. It could not have been a better day. Chris and I kept saying that to each other all night, amid laughter and jokes, quick wit and silliness. We had our family. Our world. We were officially united although have been that way unofficially for years.
Thank you for staying here to share in our experience. I appreciate you all, and hope you enjoyed the journey!! It was fun to relive it all, for the blog!
Health and love to all…
<3
One last image just to commemorate the times….
