Brea's Wedding 25th May 2009

On the big day, Brea awoke at 6am, full of adrenaline and announced to me (her roommate and bedmate for the week) "I'm going for a run!" I vaguely remember rolling over and thinking she was absolutely nuts, but hey, she was excited! I had to wake up shortly after anyhow to shower and do my hair before we went over to the Mary Prentiss Inn at 8am for hair and makeup appointments to start. Ginger was the first one with a 5:30am hair appt (!) which did make me appreciate that I was not only saving money by doing my own makeup, but precious sleep as well.

Hair and makeup was being done in one of the rooms at the Inn, and although it wasn't one of the larger rooms, it was fun to be all together, bustling around with the other girls. Brea had 7 bridesmaids, so we were at least 8 in there at a time.


Hair and makeup done, we took a photo on the staircase in our "getting ready" tank tops, each colour corresponding with the colour of the sash we were wearing in the wedding.

Bride and Maid of Honour, dressed and ready!

One of the practical things Brea and Nathan decided was to see each other before the ceremony. I am sure they wanted to anyway :) but it allowed us to get most of the formal photos taken care of before the wedding, so we wouldn't be holding up the guests too long at the reception site. I didn't manage to get many of my own photos at this point, because I was in several of them and the photographer (rightly so) didn't want our flashes combating with his.

Onto the church at 11:30am, where the entire bridal party took more photos in the church, and then we hid out in the lower level while the guests arrived. We had a light lunch of sandwiches and fruit, and we generally socialised, checked our makeup, and prayed in a group for Brea and Nathan before the ceremony started.

The ceremony went well, but of course, I also don't have pictures from it because I was up on stage right next to Brea, but one of the best parts was right before the pastor announced them husband and wife and Brea was so excited she was bouncing every so slightly like a little kid. It was very cute.

We all took school buses to the reception site, a 40 minute drive to Sudbury, MA. While the guests started on the open bar and taking pictures in the photo booth, the bridal party took a few more informal snaps around the property of the Wayside Inn, the oldest operating Inn in the country since 1716. Here is a great one of Brea and Nathan (minus the photographer's fingers; I don't have a good photo editing app at the moment).


The reception was tons of fun, but went very quickly. Maybe I felt that way because I was so often getting up to "do" something (photo opps, carrying the back of Brea's dress, the usual :) but either way, everyone had a great time. The photo booth was a hit, and here is a picture of Bernard and I after we came out of it:


And here is me with the Irvine boys. Now, I know I am short, but I really look like a midget next to these guys (and I am still in my 3" heels!)


The wedding day was a huge success, and you could tell how happy Brea and Nathan were to be married to each other. Brea is now Brea Ashcraft! They spent the night in a Boston hotel before driving out to the Cape for a 4 day honeymoon. I stayed at Brea's another day to help organise and clean up after the post-wedding chaos, and then I flew out on Wed to DC. The wedding was a lot of work, but totally worth it. I am so glad to have had the time to be a part of it in such detail, and I am so happy for Brea and Nathan.