Fab Friends: Michelle and Nick

It is that time folks...another Fab Friend Friday!

Allow me to introduce you to my friends Michelle and Nick

Nick and Michelle are our friends from college and were married in July of 2006 in Virginia Beach. They had a church wedding and then a reception at the Cavalier Golf and Yacht Club.

We spent the morning getting ready and relaxing, before helping Michelle to get beautiful

Michelle is a crafter and makes beautiful cards and invitations in her spare time, and picked a vibrant color palette for the day; dark turquoises, oranges and purples

They saw each other before the ceremony, not only in order to take some lovely pictures, but also so that they could greet their guests as they arrived. Here is the lovely bride waiting to be revealed to her groom

and one of my favorite photographs of the day, the bride getting ready to walk down the aisle. I don't think there is any moment quite like that one at a wedding ceremony, whether you see each other ahead of time or not

After the ceremony we headed to the Yacht Club docks to take group photographs...you know how I love a dock photo.

Michelle and all the men, except her husband - scandalous.

Found him!

Michelle was kind enough to send along this picture as well, which we were unaware that the photographer had snapped

{hey, they look familiar...}

Then we all headed inside for a fabulous party!

An emotional sorority moment

and they were so cool that they had a getaway boat
{an idea we may very well steal...so thanks for thinking of it}

What a fun time!

Nick and Michelle have since bought a house, a dog, and had a beautiful little girl named Blair Ann. We always love to stop over and spend time with their family when we get back to Virginia. Thanks for letting me feature your special day lovies :)

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Fab Friends: Jessica and Adam

You know these Fab Friend photos will be g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s, because this friend was, believe it or not, in the top ten of the Miss Virginia Pageant before getting married in the Summer of 2005!

Allow me to introduce you to Jessica and Adam:

Jessica and Adam had a beautiful wedding in Virginia Beach/Chesapeake Virginia. Look at these pictures of the bride getting ready

{if the young lady holding the mirror in the middle picture looks familiar, it is because she is actually the bride from this previous fab friends post! I told you we were close :) }

The wedding took place at Atlantic Shores Baptist Church in Virginia Beach, where the couple first met, and where after a stint in Charlottesville, Virginia and Peabody, Massachussets, Adam has now returned to be a Youth Minister! As soon as the doors swung open to reveal Jess, every woman in the church burst into tears...including me, which is saying something!

After the wedding, the bridal party and newlyweds snuck over to Regent University to snap some more beautiful photos...

{Part of the "Bridal Army"...Jess and Adam had 16 'adult attendants, and 9 children attendants! Here are some of the kids playing around, minus the flower girls from the getting ready photo above...}

{aren't they cute???}

While the bridal party was taking photographs, the rest of us guests headed to the Chesapeake Conference Center to enjoy a fabulous cocktail hour.

The bride and groom entered and had their first dance to "Making Memories of Us" by Keith Urban, which again had almost every woman in the room in tears...{it was a very emotional day}

and if THAT didn't have everyone in tears, when Jessica's little sister Anna, her MOH, made her toast, that certainly got the rest of us. She intertwined her speech with singing the Shania Twain song "Forever and For Always", which was not only original and brave for such a young MOH, but brought down the house.

One of my favorite parts of Jessica and Adam's wedding, however, was that they took the time to honor the Jewish part of Jessica's heritage. Who doesn't want a picture like this one?

They definitely threw an amazing celebration:

And as alway we made sure to get one awesome friend shot in before their exit:

{$10 to anyone that can help me discover a spray tan that can help me from glowing like I am in this photograph for my own wedding...I am almost translucent!}

And the evening ended with the bride and groom exiting to a secret location, secret to everyone besides the groom and his father that is, to keep well meaning and hilarious friends from sending them large orders of pizzas and other obnoxious distractions

They had such a beautiful celebration to start such a beautiful life together. They just celebrated their three year anniversary this summer and live thier lives in such a gracious model of love and support for one another...even across college rivalry lines (as Jess went to and is a fan of UVA and Adam is a die hard Hokie...they are even able to attend games together, a feat which not many such couples can claim).

Thanks for letting me share your pictures guys!

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Fab Friends: Lindsey & Darren

Sorry for the lateness of this post, but hey, it's still Friday!

This week's featured friend is the latest to get married...just this past April.

Meet Lindsey and Darren!
{This is the lovely Lindsey who won me free calligraphy at the Not Wedding! Thanks again Linds :) }

While neither of them live there anymore, they met and fell in love at the College of Charleston, so they decided to celebrate their wedding in the lovely and historic city of Charleston, South Carolina.

The photo from above was taken shortly after their first reveal at the Cistern {a college landmark}. We got ready in a college building and took photos before the ceremony all over the beautiful campus.

{Ooooh la la!}

We took these girls-only shots, before the big reveal!

{That is real laughter...at a sneeze, I think}

Then we headed to the ceremony site... The First Baptist Church of Charleston.

We snuck upstairs to wait for our call and the photog grabbed this gorgeous shot

{Here we go!}

After the ceremony, there was a promenade, complete with strolling musicians, down the block to the reception site - the South Carolina Society Hall.

Shot of the beautiful decor, before the guests arrived...

{this decor was courtesy of our friends' moms, the greatest volunteer planners ever.}

Food was eaten and much fun was had...

{this shot has, believe it or not, almost all of my best friends in this world in it...a must at our own wedding}

and before we knew it, it was time to go!

What an awesome time! Can't wait to see the album guys!
{You know, once it gets back from Italy}

{All photo credit to Ed Coyle of Ed Coyle Photography}

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Fab Friends: Megan & Mike

For my first Fab Friend Friday Wedding post, let me introduce my friends Megan and Mike!

They were married in November of 2005 and their anniversary is next week, so I thought they would be the perfect couple to kick this off! They were married in Corolla, North Carolina (on the Outer Banks). It was one of the most lovely and fun celebrations that I have ever attended. We got to stay in this amazing house...

Where we all, including the bride, got ready that day. She wore a dress that she got on sale, and had altered to suit her style :) It was originally a zipper back, and she had a corset back put in so that she could put pink ribbon through, and added a pink crinoline skirt underneath. Here she is taking a page out of Scarlett O'Hara's book:

{A sidenote on the bridesmaid's dresses...$20 on sale from Old Navy, simple khaki sheath dresses with lovely pink cardigans. I still wear mine...how often do you hear a bridesmaid say that?}

We got her ready in time to meet her love on the shore...

There was a huge and fun loving bridal party! Megan even had two 'bridesmen' that you can see at the end on her side.

Another shot of the whole crew, post ceremony:

The bride is vegan, so her family and her made every last bit of food at the wedding, including the cake! Some of the bridal party even helped make Virginia and Texas shaped vegan cookies {for where the bride and groom are from}.

The groom's cake said "To a Whale of a Husband" an allusion to a Simpson's episode, and I think matched the whales on his tie.

After all the fun wedding activities, first dance, cutting of the cake, eating and having a fabulous time, we all headed back to that 'cozy' beach house for an awesome after party.

They are such a loving and happy couple, and have since added a little one to the mix! Congrats on three years of wedded happiness guys!

{All photo credit goes to one of the Maids of Honor, Andria, and a couple other assorted guests whom I have forgotten since I have had these photos for so long! Let me know if one of them was you :) }

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