Lemur L'amour: The Day Begins

I'm officially writing my recaps! AHH! I can't believe time has gone so fast, and I'm thrilled to be able to relive the day a little bit through pictures with you.

After such a crazy wedding week culminating in an awesome but tiring welcome dinner, you would think I would fall asleep immediately. After writing a few thank you notes and making sure I was all organized for the next day, I crawled into bed at my aunt's house in a room with my two sisters expecting to be out like a light. Instead, I laid awake...and awake some more...and awake some more.

I don't think I mentioned this, but I had woken up Friday morning with an awful cold. With the help of tons of Sudafed, Advil, and Vitamin C, I made it through the day, but I was definitely congested. That plus stress plus anticipation of the next day led to a tough night of sleep. After I FINALLY fell asleep, I woke up every twenty minutes, anxiously checking my phone to see if I could get up yet...

At 5:30 my alarm went off and I got up and got in the shower. A friend of ours who was doing my hair arrived around 6:30 and my sisters began to stir and get ready themselves. My aunt brought me fruit and orange juice for breakfast and K curled...and curled...and curled my hair.

Personal photo

I have a lot of hair. Generally when I curl it the effects of the curl wear off after about an hour—less if it's humid. Spoiler alert though: My hair for the wedding was magical. It was seriously my dream hair. K was a wonder worker!

When my hair was curled and pinned, it was time to head out to the venue. But first...

Personal photo

Seriously, would any girl's wedding photos be complete without a documented stop at Starbucks? Grande non-fat Chai to go, please.

Once at the venue, Niki arrived and began taking pictures while K touched up my hair. Gah, looking back on these pictures makes me wish I could have someone do my hair every day!

*** All photos after this point by Niki Marie Photography ***

Pinned, hairsprayed, and teased within an inch of my life. But it worked. Rain, humidity, and all—my hair didn't fall throughout the entire day. Also, I don't know why I looked miserable in these pictures! Note to brides: If you want good-looking getting ready pictures, smile the whole time! I was stressed and wanted everything to go perfectly, but I was in no way unhappy, despite the look on my face.

K moved to curling Sister E's hair while I did... I don't actually remember. This time is all somewhat of a blur. I remember touching up my makeup way more times than I needed to and pacing back and forth, waiting for my mom to arrive so I could get dressed.

Oh, can you tell how cold it is by how warmly all of us are dressed? It was freezing! The girls did their makeup and I sneaked out to say hi to Mr. Lemur—which was far and away the most comforting thing I did all morning.

I was still waiting for my mom to arrive to get dressed, but my parents were running a little bit late. Not a problem—we were still on time for the 9:30 start of couples pictures!

How early did you get up on your wedding day? Did you sleep well the night before?