wedding wednesday: the gents

Ah, guys preparing for a wedding. It doesn't really take all that long--no day chocked full of appointments to get beautified. Since The Hubby doesn't get to see these guys very often as they're pretty scattered across the country, I wanted him to have a nice hang out place the day of the wedding. We booked a room at a nearby hotel that they would use to get dressed in during the day and that we would spend the night in that night. The hotel ended up upgrading us so the room was NICE.

Too bad I can't show you any more pictures... Due to some lack of communication and then some miscommunication, the guys didn't really take many pictures there. Oh, well. Bygones. Regardless, I think they enjoyed hanging out and playing the Wii.

To give the guys equal time, I'll show you their formals in the next post. A few informal boutonniere pics. First the parents, then the groom. While most of the flowers held up reasonably well in the Texas heat, the groom's white rose barely made it past the ceremony. At least there's photographic proof that I didn't make him a measly little bout.

We wrote our own vows (more on that later). Here he is posing with them and his best man.

And finally, gifts. One of the things I did for my ladies was embroider handkerchiefs for each of them. I used an antique pattern and monogrammed their first initial along with some flowers that went with our color scheme. They turned out really well (although I have no photographic proof) so I embroidered one for the groom as well.

What? You can't read that? It's an excerpt from our upcoming ceremony postlude (by Ray LaMontagne):

Baby, we've come a long way, baby
You know, I hope and I pray that you believe me
When I say this love will never fade away
Oh, because you are the best thing
Ever happened to me

And he got a pair of cuff links to wear for the big day. I have to admit that these were one of my first wedding purchases (I may have even picked them out prior to our engagement):

And here they are close up so you can admire their wittiness (courtesy of weddingbee):

And there was a third, private gift given. Some artfully done and nicely post-processed boudoir shots... No pics of those for the blog. It's a family program...

Up next? The guys work it for the camera.

(Pics from Monique Montoya unless otherwise noted.)