So yeah, I'm finally making the *BIG* picture post on the Handfasting. :D Sorry it's taken me a while to get this done. The last houseguest just flew out yesterday morning, and I've had 350 great pictures to cull out of the 950+ taken by various people in attendance so it's taken me a while to get things organized. This post is going to be long and image heavy, but hopefully you'll forgive me. *shy smiles* It's a wedding - you gotta share lotsa pics, you know? Given I am only subjecting you to 37 out of the best 350 of near 1000 total, I don't think that's too bad. :)
Anywho, the festivities started Saturday night once everyone was in from all over the eastern seaboard. :) Dave picked up Olga from the airport and I picked up Caitie, and not long after Irene, Akuma and Baby Liam arrived from North Carolina. I'm so glad they decided to come; they were just the sweetest little family. :) Even though it was the first time any of us had ever met them, they fit right in with the little tribe of my friends I'd gathered seamlessly. And Caitie got some awesome pics of Irene breastfeeding which she was quite excited about (Caitie adores doing photo essays of pregnancy and young motherhood), so I think I'll start with the pics here. :)
( Irene and Baby Liam. )
( And Daddy and Liam. )
Saturday night we did the little rehearsal here on the back deck and took everyone out for Italian. Then it was break out the liquor and party time. :) We all had a blast, but still managed to get up around 8 the morning, believe it or not.
The next morning everything took longer than I had anticipated though. We were just barely starting to get things set up when guest started to arrive. So we did the whole event backwards. As in we did reception type stuff (eating, party and woohoo) first as we continued to prepare, and then we had the ceremony. One of my very favorite pictures of Dave from that day is a candid shot Caitie got of him studying the ritual notes.
( The Groom. )
( The Not The Flipping Camera Again Face... )
( Another Pre-Ceremony Favorite Shot. )
And here's one of my cousin Amber and I.
Amber stepped in and saved my butt last minute filling in as my handmaiden of air. Sarah was supposed to do it, but about 36 hours before the ceremony she felt she had to back out. :( Then Caitie was supposed to fill in, but the bees were just too intense. There were bees frickin' EVERYWHERE that day, and people were getting stung, including myself. (I got stung during the ceremony itself no less.) Poor Tiff got stung four - Yes FOUR - times! And given Caitie is deathly allergic to bees, she was kinda scared shitless all day long. We decided having her as a handmaiden was probably a bad idea, as she needed to be able to be free to move away from the bees when they got near, so she served as photographer again instead, as was originally planned before Sarah backed out. I'm just really touched Caitie braved out the day for me. I know it took a lot of her to do that too. It's one of those actions that speaks volumes I think. You know someone really cares about you when they spend a day in the face of one of their biggest life and death fears just so they don't hurt or disappoint you. Wow - you know?
Here's one of my favorite pics of Caitie (aka
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
lovecraftienne) and I from the day. :)
We also abandoned the flower order trying to do everything we could to keep the bees at bay for Caitie's sake. The ceremony was supposed to begin with Kim sprinkling black salt around the circle and Sarah (the flower girl) sprinkling rose petals, but instead she sprinkled little red torn up bits of streamer. There was more than one incidence of thinking on the fly and improvising like that that day. :)
( The Flower Girl Sarah. )
( Kim and I, and One of Her Family. )
So after Kim and Sarah sprinkled the circle, the Ceremony itself started with the High Priestess Olga smudging the circle. And let the pics of the ceremony begin... :)
( 9 Shots - The Very Best Ceremony Pics. )
And last but not least, jumping the besom.
Right after the Ceremony itself came all the Cake Cutting fun. Gotta include pics of that. :)
( Mmmm Cake. : )
Cake Face. :)
I'm glad I didn't have my face painted before Dave smashed cake all in it. :)
( My Face Paint. )
Not long after the cake cutting things started to wind down. Guests trickled out slowly, and we took a leisurely pace packing back up. There was also dancing as we packed, which I loved, loved, loved. :)
( Happy People Dancing. )
So all in all it was a wonderful day. Really gorgeous weather, most everyone I love all gathered together for a special day, marrying my love once more - what more could a girl ask for? :) The next big event of this ilk we plan to throw will be a wiccaning. A few people are so excited about the prospect of doing it again, they're telling me I should start planning NOW and we don't even have a baby yet. I guess that's a good sign people really enjoyed themselves. :)
And in closing, just a few more shots I really loved.
( This pic of Irene and Liam was just way too cute not to share. : )
( Some Guests Dug the Whole Fairy Wing Thing. )
( Kisses. )
( And Last But Not Least, Fairy Dog. )
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