Wedding Pictures

Last week, my photographer sister sent me all the photos she took of my wedding and the week before it. I figured this would be an appropriate time to post a few of my favorites, for those who either 1) do not have Facebook, or 2) do not feel like looking through the EIGHTEEN JILLION PICTURES I uploaded onto there. So here are some of the ones I was happiest with.

This is not a wedding-specific photo, but I love it. It's mine and Jacob's dog getting super excited as I make a sandwich. She jumped in the air the entire time I was making the sandwich, hoping I would give her some of the lunchmeat I used. I did not.

My beautiful bridesmaid Dani helped me order these button-and-fabric bouquets and then spruced them up with lace and ribbon. They looked even more incredible by the time she was done.

My mom, bridesmaid Jessica, and matron of honor Lisa pulling stuff together for our wedding feast. Lisa took charge over all the food, and she did an incredible job - the meal was so delicious.

According to my photographer sister Elizabeth, this was during the church decorating time. I had been rather seriously discussing lights and trees and decor things with people around me, and then I saw Jacob, and I did this. She showed it to me later and was like, "THAT WAS REALLY CUTE." It makes me happy - it was capturing one of those genuine moments of "oh gosh, I really like this guy I'm about to marry."

My mom and dad at the church while we were decorating. A friend of mine commented on this photo on FB saying, "Kate, you and Kevin are just so awesome, precious, and inspiring. I love how you love each other." I really could not have had a better example growing up of what a healthy, loving marriage looks like. I love you, parents :-)

A group of us at my quasi-bachelorette party, all making confetti and paper streamers and pom-poms. I love all the people in this picture a lot.

My three littlest brothers were my ushers, and they each dressed up as one of the latest incarnations of the Doctor from Doctor Who.

My wedding hair, as done by the wonderful Breana, who used to do my hair for me in most of the shows we did together in college.

Mom zipping up my wedding dress.

Just about ready to go here. This one has my sister's photography business watermark on it, because she edited the photo before she uploaded it. That's why I'm a little glow-y. I love it. :-)

Jacob and I met up for some just-us time in the church sanctuary before the ceremony began. I told Elizabeth she wasn't allowed to be there, but she could take pictures through the door.

Me and my beautiful girls. From left to right: my wonderfully funny NLDC friend Jessica, my online friend and sister-at-heart Dani, my former roommate and BFF Lisa (and then me, but if you weren't sure which one I was, you might not have been paying attention), my sweet sister Bethany, my college friend Breana who is good friends with both Jacob and me, and my faithful NLDC friend Carissa. These girls are my very favorites.

I wanted individual pictures with all of my girls, but I think this is one of my favorites. I have no idea what Lisa and I are laughing at, but we're clearly having so much fun and being so happy.

Actual ceremony pictures: My father and I walking down the aisle together.

 

Jacob and me reading the vows we wrote for each other.

Unity Play-Doh! We combined two different colors of Play-Doh (yellow and red) to make a fun orange, representing the new family that is us, and then we made a dinosaur. Or we tried. It was a lot of laughing and conversing and saying, "Does he need a tail? Does he need more horns? We have some left over. Let's make a tree."

Le kiss.

What? What are you talking about? I didn't trip on my dress as we were leaving the ceremony. Doo doo doo...

Mr. and Mrs. Keefer, leaving the ceremony.

The entire Megill+ clan - me, my siblings, my parents, and Jacob!

"So, um, guys, we're married now. We have these rings and everything."

Just us. Bein' married. And stuff.

I really enjoy these photos, because there's no chance I'm ever going to look this photogenic again...

I really love this picture of Jacob and his sisters.

Our first dance (to "Skullcrusher Mountain," one of our favorite songs). Neither one of us are dancers at all, so it might possibly have been the most awkward thing ever, but, hey, we had fun with it. :-)

After I danced with Jacob, our wedding flower boy came up to me and whispered, "I wanna dance with you!" It was completely adorable.

And me and my father during our dance. I chose "You Ruined Everything" by Jonathan Coulton as the only sweet-but-not-disgustingly-cheesy father/daughter song I knew. It worked out quite well.

For much of the dance portion of the evening, I was bombarded by these young girls, none of whom I knew, who all wanted me to dance with them. (One told me, quite seriously, "I am going to dream about you tonight." I suspect she is yelling at me in this photo to follow the moves she's making up for the song.)

It was weeeeirdly difficult to cut the wedding cake. The cake and the plastic did not meet where you would expect, so we definitely cut into the plastic base a bit.

I really love this picture. Me, my sisters, and my mom. (The one in the middle is the one who did all my photography.)

Getting our marriage license signed, whooooo! Makin' it official!

A couple friends put a Star Wars-themed "just married" message on our car. (One side says, "Once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away..." the back says, "We got married!" and the other side says,"This is our Millennium Falcon.")

I kept forgetting about it and then we'd get people honking at us as we drove and I'd be all, "WHAT DO THEY WANT?" and Jacob would be like, "Um, they're excited we got married," and I'd be like, "Oh. Well, that's cool."

Bouquet toss! My friend Ashley caught it - go her! :-)

Loved seeing some dear online friends I hadn't seen in a while - so glad these Rinkies made it to the wedding!

Us leaving the ceremony. Clearly having confetti thrown at him was Jacob's favorite part. :-)

My Wedding Playlist

Well, by the time you read this, I will be married and my wonderful new husband and I will be off on our honeymoon in New York City.

Jacob and I opted to not have a DJ or a band. Instead, we put together our own ceremony and reception playlists, which we're playing from an iPod over the speaker system. I figured I'd share our playlist and what we ended up with. Have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of appropriate love songs I had (seriously, I thought I'd have like... 30) and was pretty happy with the final order of things.

So, without further ado, here are all the songs and playlists we used:

Songs Used During the Ceremony

1. In My Life- The Beatles (my bridal party walks in)

2. Everything Changes But You- Groovelily (I walked down the aisle)

3. The Next Ten Minutes- The Last 5 Years (during our unity ritual - instead of a unity candle, we did unity Play-Doh)

Recessional/Post Ceremony Playlist As People Are Leaving

1. God Only Knows- The Beach Boys

2. I Do- Colbie Caillat

3. Accidentally In Love- Linda Eder

4. I'm Your Moon- Jonathan Coulton

5. I Wanna Marry You All Over Again- Derek Webb

6. 1, 2, 3, 4- Plain White T's

Reception Background Music While We're Off Doing Pictures and People Are Milling Around There

1. Kiss Me- Sixpence None the Richer

2. The Reason- Hoobastank

3. The Promise- When In Rome

4. Someone To Watch Over Me- Allison Iraheta

5. On the Street Where You Live- My Fair Lady

6. Can't Help Lovin' That Man- Ella Fitzgerald

7. I'd Give It All For You- Jason Robert Brown & Lauren Kennedy

8. Teenage Dream (Acoustic)- Darren Criss

9. Still Love- Brendan Milburn & Valerie Vigoda

10. All You Need Is Love- The Beatles

11. Falling Slowly- Kris Allen

12. To Know Him Is To Love Him- Amy Winehouse

13. Anyone Else But You- The Moldy Peaches

14. I'm Yours- Jason Mraz

15. The Longest Time- Billy Joel

16. Love You I Do- Dreamgirls

17. I Want You For Real- Groovelily

Reception Dinner Time

1. Chocolate & Ice Cream- Plumb

2. I Gotchoo- Bowling For Soup

3. Must Have Done Something Right- Relient K

4. Happy Together- Simple Plan

5. Katie- James Marsters

6. I Dare Say I'm In Love- Groovelily

7. Free- Sam Harris

8. Someone Else's Clothes- Jason Robert Brown

9. I'll Cover You- Rent

10. Under the Sea- The Little Mermaid

11. Ain't No Mountain High Enough- Marvin Gaye

12. You and I- Lady Gaga

13. Feeling Good- Adam Lambert

14. Come What May- Moulin Rouge!

15. I Love You Because- I Love You Because

16. I Will Follow You Into the Dark- Death Cab for Cutie

17. Marry Me- Train

18. Your Song- Moulin Rouge!

19. My Funny Valentine- Constantine Maroulis

20. At the Beginning- Donna Lewis and Richard Marx

First 2/3 of Reception, Before Cake Cutting

1. Footloose- Kenny Loggins

2. Valerie- Amy Winehouse

3. Walking On Sunshine- Katrina & The Waves

4. Take a Chance On Me- ABBA

5. You Make My Dreams Come True- Hall & Oates

6. It's Not Unusual- Tom Jones

7. Hey Soul Sister- Train

8. Dog Days Are Over- Florence + the Machine

9. Time Warp- Rocky Horror

10. It's Your Wedding Day- The Wedding Singer musical

11. Love Song- Blake Lewis

12. I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing- Aerosmith

13. Can't Take My Eyes Off of You- Jersey Boys musical

14. Let's Stay Together- Elise Testone

15. Come Rain or Come Shine- Danny Gokey

16. L-O-V-E- Nat King Cole

17. Fly Me To the Moon- Frank Sinatra

18. Stepping Out With My Baby- Tony Bennett and Christina Aguilera

19. Sway- Dean Martin

20. I Wanna Be Like You- Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

21. Memphis Exorcism- Squirrel Nut Zippers

22. You Can't Hurry Love- Diana Ross & The Supremes

23. Find the Beat Again- Sugarland

24. Love Today- Mika

25. The Safety Dance- Men Without Hats

26. Let's Hear It For the Boy- Deniece Williams

27. All For You- Sister Hazel

28. I Want To Hold Your Hand- The Beatles

29. My Life Would Suck Without You- Kelly Clarkson

30. You're Still the One- Roper

31. I'm a Believer- Smashmouth

32. Raise Your Glass- Pink

33. Sadie Hawkins Dance- Relient K

34. Take On Me- A-Ha

35. The Power of Love- Huey Lewis & The News

36. Those Magic Changes- Sam Harris

37. The Way I Am- Ingrid Michaelson

38. Smile- James Marsters

39. Someone To Fall Back On- Jason Robert Brown

40. I Only Have Eyes For You- Art Garfunkel

41. What a Wonderful World- Louis Armstrong

42. The Best Things Happen When You're Dancing- Danny Kaye

43. When Did You Fall- Chris Rice

44. Silly Love Songs- Wings

45. Dancing Queen- ABBA

46. Billie Jean- Michael Jackson

47. Friday- Glee Csat

48. Dragostea Din Tei- O-Zone

49. Caramelldansen

50. Gangnam Style- PSY

51. White & Nerdy- Weird Al Yankovic

52. Never Gonna Give You Up- Rick Astley

53. You Can't Stop the Beat- Hairspray

Last Bit of Reception - LATE NIGHT DANCE PARTY WHOO

1. Get the Party Started- Pink

2. Live While We're Young- One Direction

3. Tonight Tonight- Hot Chelle Rae

4. ABC- Jackson 5

5. September- Danny Gokey

6. I Feel Good- James Brown

7. I Got a Feeling- Black Eyed Peas

8. Blow Me (One Last Kiss)- Pink

9. Living On a Prayer- Bon Jovi

10. Don't Stop Me Now- Queen

11. The Ballroom Blitz- Sweet

12. Hey Ya!- Outkast

13. Gettin' Jiggy Wit It- Will Smith

14. Moves Like Jagger- Maroon 5

15. P.Y.T.- Michael Jackson

16. Marry You- Bruno Mars

17. I Wanna Dance With Somebody Who Loves Me- Whitney Houston

18. Don't Stop Believing- Journey

Since I wrote this ahead of time, I have no idea how any of this went over. Maybe everybody hated my songs. I have no idea. I'm sure I'll write an actual wedding update sometime next week to let you know how everything went. But in the meantime, enjoy this.

7 Wedding Planning Tips That Seem To Be Working For Me

So I'm just 3 days away from my wedding now. As a non-decorator, non-girly girl, non-anything-that-makes-planning-a-wedding-easier, this planning process has had a lot of weird moments. I'd like to take a second and offer the few things I have learned throughout this process... some good ways to keep your sanity that have worked for me so far.

1. Delegating is AWESOME. I did a lot of saying, "Hey! You are good at [X thing I am not good at]! Would you like to take care of that?" And it saved my sanity. Being able to hand off the food to one bridesmaid, the flowers to another, decorating ideas to a third... it lifted so much of the stress off me. And since I hardly ever have any opinions on girly things, it was awesome to be like, "YOU handle this! Do whatever you want!"

2. Work closest with the ones you love. This is going to be a stressful time, so surround yourself with people who are good for you during your stress and will never add to it. People who are high-maintenance drama queens the rest of the year are not likely to take a week off for your wedding, so think about whether you want to deal with that. At the height of your stress, are those working with you in your wedding going to ease your stress or make it worse?

3. Make sure you get some couple time with your guy the week of. It looks like in the latter half of the week, there could be seventeen people all staying in what will be Jacob's and my home. We've already determined that we're going to have to be intentional about spending some time together, whether that means walking the dog together in the morning or late night chats in the back yard or running errands separately. It'd be easy to get swept up in the friend-filled chaos of the week and hardly get to spend any time together at all, but I know it's going to be really important for us to spend time together so we can, in a way, center ourselves, calm down from the craziness, and just enjoy our time.

4. Don't ever browse wedding etiquette boards online. Seriously. I haven't a clue about wedding etiquette, so I browsed some of these, and saw comments like, "I thought it was very rude that the bride didn't personally address her save-the-dates" and "If you don't have a DJ your reception will be awful" and "I can't believe that bride chose summer-colored bridesmaids dresses for a winter wedding!" Suddenly, I felt like everyone would hate me if I goofed something. When I stopped reading them, I felt much better. The less you know about hugely ridiculous etiquette expectations that somebody somewhere might have, the happier you'll be.

5. Take as many pictures as possible. I am not good with photos, so I know I'll look back on this time and think, "I wish I had gotten more pictures." I have therefore instructed my sister Elizabeth (also my photographer - check out her Facebook page here) to pretty much follow me around the week leading up to the wedding and capture everything she can. I'd far rather have too many pictures than not enough.

6. Make it personal. Jacob and I have worked to incorporate as much of us into the wedding as we can, from our music choices to our board game centerpieces to our Doctor Who ushers to the Adventure Time figurines his wedding party is wearing to our decision to do unity Play-Doh instead of a unity candle. We wanted to make this day specific to us, so that anybody who went to our wedding would come away thinking not just, "That was a beautiful wedding," but, "That wedding was so them." Having so many reminders of our nerdiness and our favorite common interests really makes the day more about us and our love, rather than some abstract concept.

7. It's your wedding. Seriously. Do whatever you want. When it comes right down to it, this is the phrase that calms the wedding stress for me. If that means we're ignoring wedding traditions or etiquette or advice, so be it. Which means any of you wedding planning chicas out there can also ignore this whole post if you want. :-) In the end, this is my special day and Jacob's special day, and we're allowed to be a little selfish about it. We can include whoever we want, set it up however we want, and celebrate however we want. Nobody's allowed to get huffy or upset that we didn't do it the way they would have. This is our day. And we're going to do what we want with it, dang it! (Sometimes I really have to be that forceful about it in my mind before I can let go of the many "But what will people think if..." fears.)

So, yeah. It's going to be a good day. :-)

My Wedding Planning Experience

A friend mentioned to me that she hoped I'd blog a little about my experience planning my wedding for this summer, so I thought I'd do just that and share some of the details.

First, let it be known that I am not design-minded or decor-minded. I was never one of those girls who cut out pictures from magazines or saved pictures in a "wedding" folder on my computer or used Pinterest. (For anything.) I also didn't go to a lot of weddings, due to a combination of not having a lot of friends, the few I had living far away or not getting married at all, and rather disliking parties.

But I absolutely want a wedding for myself, for various reasons that I won't discuss now. Maybe in another blog. Not necessarily a fancy wedding, but I want one.

Here's the thing: Seeing as how I am not design-minded or decor-minded and have not been present or observant at very many weddings, all the little trappings that go into a wedding just kind of leave me dumbfounded. To me, how something looks decoratively has so little to do with what's going on at the actual event that I frequently don't even notice. (I could not tell you the decorations or look or theme of any of the weddings I have attended in the past, except for the two I was actually in, and then only because I helped to set them up.)

I picked a set of wedding colors, but to be very honest, I'm still not really sure what one does with wedding colors, aside from the fact that the bridesmaids' dresses match them. (Another fact I learned from the weddings I was in and the outfits I pulled together for them.) After I chose them, I discovered that your colors are supposed to match the time of year in which you have the wedding, and I rolled my eyes and said, "Forget that. I picked some colors. What more do you want of me, etiquette, huh?"

Flowers are apparently important. I guess people have flowers at weddings. If they'll enhance the experience for others, I'm happy to have them. I just don't understand them or notice them.

Besides flowers, other decorations probably should happen at some point. I am delegating that entirely to a couple of my friends, because I haven't the faintest idea what would an appropriate sort or amount of decorations. Ooh, those probably go with my wedding colors, huh? Yes! Another use for them!

Even things like picking out wedding invitations is difficult for me, because it constantly comes down to these questions: Are they pretty? Do I like them? And my constant answer: I don't know, and I don't know.

Fortunately for me, the design part is what other people around me seem to be most excited about, so I've been able to say, "You! You like stuff and ideas for prettifying things. Will you prettify some things for me?" and they say, "You'll let me help?" and I say, "YES PLEASE." Because if all of this was up to me to plan, we'd get married in a blank, mostly empty room and play board games with everybody for awhile afterward and snack on chips and soda and maybe some cake. I would be just fine but everybody else would be sad, or at the very least confused, and I probably shouldn't make people travel from several states away just to play board games with me and eat chips.

So I rely on my friends around me to make my wedding look nice. I'll make the executive decisions when they ask, but I'm trying to conserve my wedding energy for these two most important aspects of the day:

1. The music. Instead of a DJ or a band, we're just doing iPod playlist, and I will have that thing figured out down to the last note of the night.
2. Most importantly, figuring out how to get this to work so we can do it at the reception. Because if it works, then no matter what happens the rest of the day, I will win at weddings. (Strong language in that clip.)