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MY SISSY GOT MAAAARRRRRIED! okay, okay, so it was like 2 months ago… aaaand i’m just now blogging it. BUT! good news, internet, it also happens to be Laura’s birthday today so it seemed right to blog it today as a surprise (okay, again, it’s almost midnight but technically it’s still her bday).

now, on to the details of the big day. being the matron-of-honor i obviously didn’t take the getting ready pictures/wedding party/family/ceremony/etc. and that’s where my fab friend, Lori, stepped in. her friendship means so very much to me. i really can’t put into words the crazyhugegiant blessing she is to me and was even more so on this particular day. i am ever so grateful to her for so beautifully documenting the parts of Laura + Nick’s wedding that i couldn’t, due to being in the wedding. anyway, these pictures (outside of the ceremony pictures) are my version of the day. and what a beautiful day it was.

side note/worth mentioning:  Demon Waffle played all the music for the ceremony and it was super rad. some seriously awesome guys.

below are a few portraits of dear friends+family that i snagged throughout the evening. these people are killer. blessed to know them.

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this post would not be complete without the infamous sibling picture – so here ya go…

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Lolly + Nick, i love you to the moon and back. i miss you dearly. and i’m so so proud of you both. xo.

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heading towards D.C. to visit and check out their new place. yay! hopefully i’ll stay the night as long as irene doesn’t kick me out.

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It’s obvious I adore my sister + Nick’s elopement pictures but having them featured on the lovely Whimsical Wonderland Weddings blog was just icing on the cake! So, so honored! Check it out, if you haven’t! Happy Thursday!!!

6 siblings:

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You guessed it!! Laura & Nick are all married!! Friday, July 8, 2011 was just an incredible day! I have SO much to write about their wedding. Oh.my.gravy. do I ever have a TON to write. I also have a few other weddings and engagements to post! So look for some serious goodness to hit this blog SOON! But for now, I wanted to share this picture of me and my six siblings (in order by age) because when I saw it I about burst into the worst ugly-cry session known to man. It’s a very special picture to me.

It’s so incredible to watch friends and family rally around in times of need. Makes me feel incredibly blessed and ridiculously undeserving. I don’t know if it’s a “Southern” wedding thing or what, but I’ve noticed that at a lot of weddings I photograph (most of which are in the South) it never fails that there’s a bunch of family and friends helping with each wedding. I love this! As I’m photographing the details of the wedding day prior to the ceremony I often see friends and family running around doing anything and everything to make sure the wedding goes off without a hitch. I often overhear these same lovely people talk about how they remember when the bride or groom were younger and how they can’t believe they’re old enough to get married now. I won’t lie. It melts my heart.

Only one day until my sister marries her Navy boy and moves to Washington, D.C. Can’t hardly believe the day is already here. All the friends and family coming into town! Gonna be a fun time! As I was sending emails to people like crazy a couple days ago making sure everyone knew the time line and when to be where, I started feeling ridiculously blessed by all the people involved in making this wedding a success. One of my favorite friends who also happens to be a crazy, awesome photographer is coming in town to help me photograph Laura’s wedding so that I can still be a Matron of Honor and stand next to my seester during the ceremony. This means the world to me. It really leaves me speechless when I think of the generosity of those who are giving of their time and talents to make this wedding happen. I’m truly grateful beyond words.

Did I mention THE WEDDING is TOMORROW???!!!

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A little snippet of the story, as told by Laura…

“On June eighth we made it to the courthouse to be married, or as I say ‘getting the paperwork done,’ because our ‘real’ wedding will be held in July. The only person we wanted to be there was our photographer, which incidentally, is my amazing wedding photographer sister, Anna Hedges. Life just works out sometimes, what can I say? I had ordered a beautiful J.Crew dress and Nick wore his Navy ‘peanutbutters’ and we found ourselves standing in front of the Sullivan County Court House. Because I didn’t have Nicks finger size, I did not buy him a ring! Instead we tied our best friends bracelets (that we had worn for years) on each others finger as rings when we said ‘I do.’ No amount of planning could ever prepare someone for that moment when you finally say you will be completely committed to another person, and realize that they are your family, your home.”
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Pretty PRECIOUS, right?!? All those letters are the letters they wrote each other while Nick was away at boot camp. so.adorable. This is surely one of my favorite weddings to date, but understandably so. It’s my SISTER!!!!! And I couldn’t be more excited to add another brother to the collection. I completely adore Nick. I just do. He’s perfect for Laura. So, so, soooooo excited to see where God will take them next… together.
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With all the love and appreciation in the world, I’m thrilled you two allowed me to share these sweet memories with you and document your day. As cheesey as it sounds, they truly are moments I will treasure forever. xoxoxoxoxo!

 

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Laura’s Little Black Dress themed Bridal Shower!! Let’s be honest. Cake, LBDs and fabulous friends… how could an afternoon be better?

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Since Laura chose a white dress, cool neutrals were the way to go. I had to kiss my dream of yellow Christian Louboutin heels goodbye but believe it or not I’m okay with this because he makes silver sparkly ones, too. I’ll be getting those. Right after I sell my house and car and first born child. As for bridesmaid dresses, Laura and I both adore J.CREW so naturally it was the first place we went looking. What’s that? A number of different gray/neutral shades on clearance? Caaaaan do! We were throwing dresses up on my Pinterest left and right while frantically calling all the girls, “Listen you HAVE to buy this dress RIGHT.NOW. before it gets sold out!” I can proudly say we were successful and we have a lovely mix of cool neutral colored dresses in different styles. Saweeeet. Done.

Money $aving Tip: Laura and I are HUUUUUGE clearance sale (and thrift store) shoppers. If you’re not super particular about an exact shade/color you can find incredible bargains on dresses for your bridesmaids at places like J.CREW (my fave!!!), anthropologie, Ann Taylor or ModCloth. Best part? Since you saved so much money on your dress you can spend more on SHOES! Here’s an example of this awesome kind of math: I got a $225 J.CREW dress for $41.99 which means I get $183.01 extra for shoes. tahdah!

P.S. I got these color swatches off JCREW.com. For real. Their wedding section is truly divine.

laura-nickOne of the things you’ll soon figure out is I have five siblings (yup…there’s six of us). We’re all pretty much two years a part in age and we’re all pretty much awesome. My sister closest to me in age is Laura. We shared a room for 18 years. We’re kinda polar opposites in personality but the older we get the more we seem to morph into each other. Don’t worry, we think it’s freaky, too. I adore her. I would do anything for her. And there’s probably no one (outside of Joel – my hottt hubby) who knows me better.

So, Laura’s getting married this summer to a pretty fantastic boy named Nick (they’re in the picture above). But since Nick is living in Washington, D.C. my sister commissioned me to be her wedding planning slave side-kick. The next few months are sure to be full of laughing and crafting. Two of our favorite things! I hope to post all the DIY projects we attempt and any other things we find that might be useful to other brides. I hope these posts don’t get extremely boring. My main motivation for blogging our adventures is so we will remember it 40 years from now. It’s gonna be too good to forget.

I asked my sis to introduce herself to all of you lovely blog readers.  (hi, mom!)

 

Hello friends!

My name is Laura Lee, one of Anna’s three sisters, (as if I needed to tell you. haha!). My life changed when I discovered art was a formidable field to study and when a curly-haired boy named Nicholas Holmes walked into our brick house. My favorite things stem from God’s generosity-the feeling of being loved, individual gifts in people, as well as identifying what sets them apart. Other things include the color (or non color) black, styling clothes, textures, music and electric blankets.

I cannot yet wrap my head around the fact that I will become a Mrs. in a few months, I never thought my little sister’s drum teacher would become the  man of my heart.

Nicholas and I have shared a few years now of wonderful memories filled with making that last gallon of gasoline last the twenty extra minutes to the others’ house to sharing a banquet of Bojangles after a long day of school. Besides teaching drums and his real passion, studying the guitar, Nick joined the Navy and was sent off to boot camp where he graduated on March 11 – the day he asked for my hand.

And now here we are, planning for our day together, excited for what is to come. With mine and my sister’s perceptive eyes and inherently creative brains we might be able to pull this day off as it will be one of the most beautiful moments of our lives.

Thank you for looking in and being a part of it.

Laura Lee

 

So what’s a girl to do when she get’s engaged? Find a dress, of course! Here’s a few photographs from our day at the bridal shop. By the look on Nick’s mom’s face, I’d say THE DRESS looks okay.

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Bless your heart if you actually read all of that. Wow.