If you were observant in reading the last post, you would’ve noticed a wedding invitation on the tabletop in the photo. That’s my cousin Diana’s wedding, which took place yesterday at the Marbella Country Club at San Juan Capistrano, which is truly a beautiful setting. And of course Mr. W forgot his camera, so I was the weenie taking photos with her cameraphone. Again. You can bring out captions by resting your mouse pointer on the photos.

I was on reception table duty, so I got there a bit early, and ran into the happy couple taking their pre-wedding photographs. That was what we did to reduce the time that guests would have to wait between the wedding and reception, which is the traditional photo-taking time. So I guess all four of us are more practical than superstitious about the groom seeing the bride in her dress before the wedding.

Ever the it’s-all-about-everyone-else gal, my cousin said as I walked up, “Wow, you look beautiful!” And I was like, “ME?! Have you LOOKED in a mirror today?!”

They talk about radiant brides, but wow, she had some glow going on! It was like she swallowed some stars and was now walking around illuminating everything around her. That included her almost-husband, whose eyes softened every time he looked at her and it seemed he could not stop touching and kissing her. Of course it could be stage directions being called by the photographers, but I’d like to think it was cuz he truly appreciated the moment.

~ THE SCENE ~
A shot down the aisle:

Overview of the ceremony set-up:

The altar (and yes, that IS a water trap with a waterfall at the golf course):

They don’t appear to have one theme color, but instead embraced all the rich jewel tones of the autumn: golds, burgundy, browns, oranges. Their decor was beautiful.

~ THE PLAYERS ~
Their aisle walk pairings were unique. Here is the groom with the bride’s paternal grandmother.
Doug & Grandma (nai-nai)
The groom’s father and mother. Wow, these two LOVE their new daughter-in-law. I’d never seen anything quite like it.

Bride’s sister (and maid of honor)’s fiance, Brad, walking bride’s mother. If he looks familiar, it’s because Brad welcomed guests along with my cousin, his fiance Jennifer, at my wedding’s reception table.

My aunt was so cute, she was all smiles and waved at everybody at the bride’s side on her entire walk down.
The best man, Russ (groom’s brother) and the maid of honor, Jennifer (bride’s sister).

And then, the flower girls, the daughters of my cousin Olivia.

The parents of the flower girls, my cousin Olivia and her hubby Eric.

Whoa, wait, who’s that? Who’s behind there?

All stand for the bride (with her father)!

Awwwwwwww! She’s beautiful! *sniffle*

Walking her to her almost-husband…

“Thank you, daddy.”

I swear, I was not this teary at my own wedding.

~ THE CEREMONY ~
So my uncle hands off his elder daughter…

…to be entrusted into the care of this waiting man.

On top of the world. Listening to their officiant tell everyone the story of how Doug proposed.

My cousin Jennifer was so happy for them.

My mom and dad. Awww.

They exchanged vows. He spoke touchingly of how much she meant to him.

She did the same, vowing to honor him forever in a quivering, emotion-filled voice. Both of them had to wipe at their faces up there. But they recited their vows without a hitch.

They also did a rose ceremony, honoring their parents by presenting each with a rose and a hug.

And then, for his parents.

Seriously, look at the way her new father-in-law is looking at her. To Doug’s parents, she’s already their daughter. (During the reception, Doug’s father gave a speech talking about the first time he met Diana, and how he knew within 5 minutes that she was someone very special and she was the one for his son. “I don’t know how long it took DOUG to figure it out,” he joked. And then he talked about calling Diana on her cell phone shortly after their engagement to get a hold of his son, since he knew that Doug never picked up his phone [the audience laughed knowingly], and recognizing the phone number, Diana had answered the call with, “Hi, Dad.” He said he was surprised and it threw him off for a moment, and after a pause, he realized and said, “I really like the sound of that.” Tears, man! All over their wedding.)

The ring exchange.


And the epic moment, the you-may-now-kiss-the-bride seal on the wedding vows:

Presenting, the new Mr. and Mrs.!!!

Walking away into the sunset. Or pretty blue cloud-laced sky, in their case.

See what I mean about the sky? It was the PERFECT day, and it RAINED that morning, too!

~ THE COCKTAIL HOUR AND RECEPTION ~
Upstairs in the cocktail area…

…a handsome man awaited me, too.

My dad chatted inside with his eldest sister while behind them, Mr. W…uh…I was gonna write that he was waiting for me, but now that I look closer at the photo…*looking closer*…I think I need to finish off this sentence with, “while behind them, Mr. W checked out some blonde chick’s back and legs.”

That girl was everywhere in my photos. It seemed that every time I changed direction to get a shot, she’d move in front of it.
This is a Chinese girl, so this is Dress #2, a pewter sparkly ballgown:

The flower girls playing with their mom, my cousin Olivia, and their cousin, as their dad looks on:

And then all of a sudden they all ran away from each other. What a strange game. =)

Everyone had a great time at the cocktail hour.

You know it’s a good wedding when I’m buzzing before dinner’s even begun. I had champagne, chardonnay, AND a lemon drop on an empty stomach. So I ate a couple of hors d’oeuvres. Their food was amazing.

At the reception, we were at Table 3 with the maid of honor and her fiance, and the bride’s parents.

The sweetheart table was right next to us…

…which made for great photo ops. Too bad I didn’t have a camera (aside from the cameraphone which took all the photos you see here).

I’d like to point out the loving looks my cousin Jennifer’s fiance is giving my cousin here. They’re getting married late next year. 🙂
The couple listening to a speech before dinner:

This happened a lot:

They had one of those storybook classic weddings where everything was beautiful and touching and loving and there were happy tears everywhere. You feel your heart swell to be a part of it, like you’re truly, to borrow a quote from Friends, “in the presence of love.” Made me almost feel bad for demanding that our wedding be all happy-happy-joy-joy and tearjerker-free. At the time it seemed like a great idea to have a unique non-traditional wedding style and I just told people that if I’m spending that much money on makeup, they’d better not make me mess it up with crying. I actually just am not that comfortable with being emotional with witnesses… Oh well.

During the cake-cutting, my mom, the bride’s mom (my aunt), and Mr. W thought it was BRILLIANT to take the photos from outside to get a truly unique angle.

Until we realize how crappy lighting was.

That was dress #3, the red Chinese dress. It was too darkly lit by this time to get a good shot of it, but she looked beautiful in it. This is Dress #3 during the dancing part of the evening, when the bride took photos of people dancing at her own wedding. Silly girl.

I don’t know HOW this picture happened, but it’s to my advantage. Now we can see the bride’s dress!

It was rumored that there was a Dress #4, but when I asked her about it, it was while we were already dancing the night away and Mr. W’s gold dress shirt had turned into a brown washcloth, and my cousin said that she couldn’t imagine how she could possibly peel the Chinese dress off her at this point and was thus bypassing the fourth dress.

And THERE’s my photojournalistic wedding story of my cousin Diana’s wedding to her new husband, Doug. Congratulations to the happy couple! 😀