On the big day, we got to our venue early in the morning, and thanks to a tremendous amount of help from our family and friends, everything was set up in no time.

Once the furniture was arranged to our liking, Chet was holed up in a basement kitchen for most of the day. He lovingly prepared a gumbo (and a vegan gumbo, too!) for our guests. Feeding people is a strong love language with this one.

In no time at all, we were ready to put on our wedding duds!

We claimed an upstairs ballet studio, and my mom arranged my hair into a beautiful up-do. Although we had gone through several practice-runs on the hair, this was her best one yet! And for the finishing touch, tiny white flowers pulled from the previously mentioned Trader Joe’s bouquets. (Great value, if I do say so myself.) Finally, I whipped my gorgeous dress off the hanger and slid it on. So excited to finally debut it! Spoiler alert: I changed my mind.

Meanwhile, Chet was getting dressed in the studio next door. So handsome!

As if she hadn’t already gone above and beyond in making my wedding a dream come true, my mom also gave me this gorgeous diamond necklace. She had it made from one of the diamonds in a set of earrings my dad gave her as an anniversary present. Since my father has passed, she wanted me to have a piece of him by my heart on my wedding day. I was so honored by this special gift and will cherish it forever.

Chet and I chose to see each other before the ceremony so we could brush off the nerves and take some photos. When we finally met up, dressed in our wedding attire, we hugged and spent a little time fawning over each other…

…before capturing a few snapshots in this remarkable ballet studio (that arch!) with our friends and photographers Carrie and Ganer.

And with one final touch…

…we set off for a whirlwind photoshoot in Downtown Lexington. More on that tomorrow!!!

(My dress is from ModCloth and my necklace was made by GDA Jewelers. Chet’s suit is Joseph Abboud. The ballet studios are home-base for The Lexington Ballet, a company I studied with for many years.)

(Photos by Sur la Lune Photography.)