Tullis Wedding 2016 - Part 1 (heavy photo post)

While I've been sharing photos here and there on facebook and instagram, I thought it might be nice to corral some of my favorite photos here on my blog where we can enlarge them to take a closer look and have them all in just a few locations. This blog post, then, will focus on the events of Kelsey's wedding day before the actual ceremony. Some of the photos are mine, but many of them were taken by her photographers for the wedding. You can locate them on instagram - @jenniefowler and @gracesummar.  I hope you enjoy taking a look at my girl's very special day with me.

Kelsey began her day with a massage by the wonderful Haley that we both visit regularly, then we grabbed her a quick bite of breakfast at Panera. I drove her out to the wedding venue, and she enjoyed an hour or so of yoga out on the deck with her bridal party. Her bridesmaid, Laura Beth, is a yoga instructor, so this was a perfect start to her most perfect day.

I was running around like a crazy person getting the luncheon materials and completing last-minute tasks for Kelsey, so I was thrilled to see that the sign to the wedding was up and ready by the time I returned to the venue for the final time about noon.

The bridal party luncheon went well, I think, but they ate almost nothing. Part of the food ended up being served at the reception, and I brought home the rest of it.

Her bridal party seemed to enjoy their little gift bags. In each one, the bridesmaid (or bridesman) received a lavender handmade bar of soap, a lavendar hand-stamped sachet that I made, 2 handmade lavender bath bombs, and some chocolate. Kelsey also bought each person a small piece of jewelry and made each a tiny canvas with a special message painted on the back. The flower girls had slightly modified gifts; they received bath bombs, chocolate, a flower girl book, a wedding coloring/sticker book, crayons, a tiara, and a pack of plastic necklaces. All in all, I think it worked out well.

After the luncheon, we all did some last minute decorating, but I want to wait and show you the decor in the next wedding post. For now, we'll skip ahead to the most important part of the day - getting the bride ready for the ceremony.

Kelsey had two colleagues come in to do hair and makeup for the bridal party. Alex worked primarily on Kelsey for the afternoon, but she also did my hair for me a bit later.

Jake didn't have much getting ready to do, so he had some time to skateboard a while and relax before the ceremony.

At least one of the groomsmen also was subjected to a bit of primping before the ceremony.

Once everyone was ready, we waited in the living room until it was time for the bridal party to make its way to the ceremonial area.

And, let's be real, it wouldn't be my daughter's wedding if I didn't take a few selfies. Let's have the selfies finish out the post, shall we?

Here I am posing with Adam (left) and Billy (bridesman, right) and Reagan (bridesmaid, behind) before the wedding. Adam and Billy entertained me at both the rehearsal dinner and the wedding; it prob seem strange to others, but we became fast friends almost immediately. :)

This is my niece, Alexa, who co-officiated the wedding.

And a selfie all by myself...

And a quick shot with Kelsey's maid of honor, Carrie. Aren't these young women gorgeous?

I have so many more fabulous photos to share with you from the wedding ceremony and the couple photo shoot and the reception. I hope you'll stop back by my blog to check them out in the next few days.