I love my couples! And I'm very proud that I can say I have a great relationship with them before, during, and especially after their event. At least once every wedding season I meet a couple and everything just clicks. You feel like you've known each other forever and become instant friends. Mark and Maria are those kinds of people!
Since I now consider Mark and Maria friends, it only makes sense that I would use them as guinea pigs to roll out something new, right? So here's the idea. This year I featured a little Q&A with my couples on the blog before the wedding so you could get to know them a little better. Well, I decided that a little Q&A after the wedding might be fun too! This focuses more on the actual wedding and how things went so hopefully it can help some brides-to-be out there. Kind of a "don't make the same mistake as I did" type thing. I'd love to know what you think! Also if there's a question that you think might be helpful that I didn't ask, please let me know. I may include it next time!
MARK:
- How does it feel to finally be married? It feels great to be married, but being married doesn't feel any different if that makes sense. Maria and I keep saying that "We're married!" It's been a great 3 weeks so far and we are loving every minute of it.
- What did you do the night before your wedding? I was at the bar at the Holiday Inn with some of my family and a few of the groomsmen. We were just having a few drinks and catching up on things.
- What are you planning on doing with your gown? (Selling it, storing it, doing a trash-the-dress, etc) I'll leave that one to Maria.
- What was the most stressful thing on your wedding day and how did you handle it? For me there wasn't too much stress. The thing I worried about the most was that my groomsmen would get to the hotel in time. Once they were all there I was alright.
- Sometimes your wedding day can be a blur. Name one thing that you remember most about your day. Actually, I remember a lot about the wedding day. I can remember waiting in the church, watching Maria walk down the aisle, the ceremony is a little of a blur. I remember a lot about the reception too....other then what guest I talked to and what I actually said to them.
- Is there anything that you would do differently? Not too much. Maybe schedule a little more time for pictures (because they turned out so awesome!). I would have liked to danced with Maria a little more, but talking to all of our guest just took up so much time.
- Now that your big day is over what one piece of advice would you give to other brides/grooms-to-be? Two pieces of advice. 1) Start planning early. 2) At the reception, take a few minutes to be alone with your new spouse to take all of it in and enjoy the reception. The last piece of advice is very difficult because everyone wants to be around you but it's important that you try to do that.
- What thing about the wedding would you like to do again? All of it! I enjoyed every aspect of the wedding. Some of the decisions we had to make were a little overwhelming and a few of them didn't matter to me. But I let Maria know about those and she took the lead on them. Was just a great experience, but it goes by really fast.
- If I may...talk a little about your Jaci Clark Photography team and how that experience was for you. Jaci and Sohail were fantastic. Sohail spent the time with the guys before the wedding and did an awesome job. He got us together for a few pictures outside of the hotel and in the limo. He was able to dish out some jabs with me and the groomsmen and was able to take some too! At the church and getting pictures afterwards he had some great ideas for pictures and was really a great guy to work with on our wedding day. As for Jaci, what can I say.....she was perfect! She was everything we wanted and needed as a photographer. From the engagement sessions to the wedding she did a fantastic job capturing amazing pictures of us. We enjoyed every minute we spent with her (and her family) and look forward to seeing them again soon! Jaci, you made the entire process fun and exciting, I can't thank you enough for what you did for Maria and I. We are so happy that we chose you to help celebrate our new life together...THANK YOU!!!!!!!
P.S. The 25 pictures we have to choose for our book.....yeah that's going to be a very very tough decision.
MARIA:
- How does it feel to finally be married? It feels great to be married! With all that is happening now, completion of our new home, preparing to move, etc. if almost doesn't seem like we're really married sometimes! But once we move into the new house, I think that married feeling may finally hit! But I do like that Mark doesn't have to drive back "home" to Ravenna after the weeked is over- we just live together in the same apartment now and neither of us leaves to go back "home" anywhere else!
- What did you do the night before your wedding? The night before the wedding, we met at the church for the rehearsal and went to dinner with close family and friends who were in the wedding party. We gave our bridesmaids and groomsmen special gifts and when it was time to leave, Mark and I gave each other personal gifts: mine was to open when I got home before I went to bed, and his was to open before the ceremony the next day. He spent the night in the hotel and I stayed at my parents house.
- What are you planning on doing with your gown? I plan to store my gown- I just wish I could have worn it more than just the one day!
- What was the most stressful thing on your wedding day and how did you handle it? The most stressful thing about the wedding day was running late getting to the church! I was so frustrated because I planned everything out so well with the timing of where I had to be when, and how long things would take before the ceremony, to be running late becuse the girl who was doing my makeup was running behind, was extremely frustrating! The situation was handled by my dad speeding to Youngstown so we could arrive as soon as possible! After arriving and having an emotional moment in the church basement, I felt much better knowing I had gotten there and everything was going to be alright.
- Sometimes your wedding day can be a blur. Name one thing that you remember most about your day. The day went by so fast and was such a blur! My clearest memory is walking down the aisle with my dad. I remember seeing so many people in the pews and feeling such love and support from all of those in attendance who love us and who took the time to be there to see us get married, it was an overwhelming feeling of happiness. And words cannot describe the feeling of walking down to aisle to meet my future husband with my father, who has always been the man I've looked up to, my hero, at my side.
- Is there anything that you would do differently? There's nothing i would do differently! I just wish the day could have lasted longer! Maybe just requesting that the reception go on until midnight so we could have had an extra half-hour to celebrate! There just wasn't enough time to celebrate with everyone!
- Now that your big day is over what one piece of advice would you give to other brides/grooms-to-be? I would advise brides/grooms to start planning as soon as possible and to not save things until the last minute, mistakenly thinking that there is plenty of time left to get things done. The days and weeks fly by and luckily, my mom and I had used our time wisely and I'm so glad we did! I know it saved us a great deal of stress. Also, I would say to be respectful and courteous of the people assisting you with the big day- whether they be vendors or friends and family. These are the people helping the day run smoothly and making sure details are taken care of! A little kindness and consideration goes a long way. At the same time, you shouldn't let people walk over you. If you have an opinion, speak up and say what's on your mind. Nobody will know what you're thinking and what you want if you don't say it. Maybe I should be a wedding therapist? :)
- What thing about the wedding would you like to do again? I would like to do the whole day again, just because it was such an awesome day- the best day of my life! Regarding the ceremony, I would like to walk down the aisle again. It was such a beautiful feeling and I'd like to share that moment again with my dad. Even with that long aisle to walk down, it still wasn't long enough for us! As far as the reception, I wish I had more time to see everyone there! I missed seeing some guests and would have liked a little more time with everyone to give them a hug and thank them for coming. And more time for dancing!
- If I may...talk a little about your Jaci Clark Photography team and how that experience was for you. The Jaci Clark Photography team exceeded my expectations. Every bride has an idea of how she wants her day to turn out and the photographs are the only way to capture those wedding moments forever. Jaci Clark and Sohail were able to capture all of our special wedding day moments and then some! I truly felt that they used every minute to their advantage and were so observant to photograph little nuances and special touches throughout the day that many people would never have noticed, had it not been captured on film! The whole day was a very personalized experience and choosing Jaci Clark was one of the best choices that we made for our wedding! I highly reccommend Jaci Clark as a photographer who will capture life's most special moments and turn them into memories for a lifetime!
I'm so grateful for everything along the way, Jaci! And Mark and I are so happy that we've made a new friend by working with you!
I feel the same about you guys!!! Big thanks to Soahil for assisting me on this wedding! I was glad to have the opportunity to work with him! Now check out some of the amazing moments from their day.
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| A little fun with her hair extensions. LOL! |
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| Make-up |
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| Hair and make-up finally done. Gorgeous! |
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| Getting dressed |
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| One from Sohail of Mark getting dressed. He looks so ready!!! |
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| Maria and her dad, Paul. |
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| I adore this image of Mark and his best man when Maria first appears. Great job, Sohail! |
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| LOVE Mark's expression here! |
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| An emotional hand off. I was weeping!!! |
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| Some of their gorgeous details! |
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| Maria suggested a couple of shots in front of this window! LOVE it! |
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| Bridal party in Christman Hall. |
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| My favorite windows! |
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| Maria and her girls. |
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| For their thank you cards. |
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| Gorgeous light. |
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| Love this one Sohail captured of the guys. |
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| First dance. |
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| Don't they just look so happy! |
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| Father/daughter dance. |
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| Mark's mom was so emotional during the mother/son dance. Again, I was weeping! |
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| Mark and Paul surprised Maria with a little skit performed to My Girl. I LOVE her expression here! |
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| The dance floor was packed for the anniversary dance. |
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| The winner of the anniversary dance was Maria's grandparents who, I think, were married for 63 years! Maria presented her very surprised grandma with the bouquet. Priceless! |
Cheers,
Combine one dolphin trainer with a military man and what do you get? A perfect match!
