Wedding: First Look and Portraits

First. I’m going to Comic-Con in San Diego! I bought the tickets a few days ago for Rob, our friend Sebastian, and me. YAY. We originally wanted to go on Saturday but I procrastinated and tickets sold out before I could buy them. So Friday it is! It’s not until July 24 but I am so excited.

Second. CHECK OUT THE NEW HARRY POTTER TRAILER! It looks awesome. I cannot wait for July — Harry Potter on July 15 then Comic Con on July 24. WOOT.

So… more wedding recap anyone?

Rob and I decided beforehand to do a “First Look” before our wedding ceremony. I know it’s tradition to wait and see each other for the first time when walking down the aisle but to be honest, when we were developing the timeline of our day, I just could not fit in enough time for photos. The only time was during cocktail hour, which did not sound appealing to me. I mean, what if the ceremony ran longer than expected? How would we gather everyone needed for the photos? Is it too much to ask of our bridal party to miss out on cocktail hour? And selfishly, what about my hair/makeup? After all the crying I was sure to do, I would have crazy face and that is not cool. So when Angel mentioned the idea of a First Look, I knew it was a great solution. We’d have the time to see each other in a more calm and relaxed setting before the craziness started and take care of photos all at the same time!

I set aside an hour and 45 minutes for photos (both with and without our bridal party) and honestly, if I could go back and do it again, I would bump up the time to AT LEAST 3 hours. That’s probably my biggest wedding regret. Seriously. You cannot have enough photos.

Anyway, on to the First Look!

All photos taken by Apertura unless otherwise noted. Please feel free to click for bigger.

Our photographers staged our First Look at the bottom of a staircase at our beloved venue, the Grand Newport Plaza. I loved that it felt very private (even though we had an audience!) and it was away from the flurry of wedding preparations going on all around us.

Here I am sneaking up on Rob…

Seeing each other for the first time. I know it sounds so cheesy but it really felt like the rest of the world fell away and it was just the two of us. Awww.

Showing off my pretty pretty dress (or at least *I* think so).

Our audience.

Portrait time… I had no idea how hard it is to “model.” I pretty much suck at it, lol.

With our awesome bridal party. We’re totally normal! Really!

*Kissy kissy.* Hee.

The boys being boys.

Showing off their awesome pink and brown socks!

And the amazing girls. I adore this picture of us.

Another one of my very faves! We’re at the top of one of the center staircases that overlooks the courtyard where the ceremony would take place. I love the candid… almost sneaky feel of this.

The coloring of this picture rocks.

I particularly love these last two… they’re kind of unexpected as far as wedding portraits go but they totally work. SO MUCH LOVE.

Next up: Walking down the aisle…