Let's Fall in Love: The First First Look

Dressed and ready.

It had been a whirlwind of a morning.  Dresses and make up were properly applied.  I was in my dress and the transformation to Bride was nearly complete.  Glancing at the bedside clock in the hotel room where my girlfriends and I crowded together, pulling at the layers of tulle under my dress, the boys were on the trolley and on their way for the first round of photos at the church.  The trolley would be back for us shortly.  My nerves had calmed temporarily, flowing into pure giddiness for the time being.  My wedding countdown, having been counted in years, then months for so long, was ticking down to minutes, really.  Just a short time until I got to see my groom.

*happeeee*

Mr LikesIt and I decided early on in planning to keep to tradition and not have a First Look.  He is a romantic, old-fashioned guy, and was adamant that his first sight of me to be when the church doors opened.  But Mr LikesIt was not the only man waiting to see me, of course.  A very important reveal was reserved for the first man I ever loved. 

And I made him wait a really long time.

My mom called him over.  The anticipation was killing me.  My dad is a quiet man, quick to laugh or make a joke, and slow to get upset or angry.  He's not one to get overly emotional, but I was dying to see how he would handle seeing his youngest all done up in wedding finery.  He was touched when he saw me try on my mom's veil months before, but I wasn't sure what to expect.

I should have known.

 After knowing him for 27 years, I can tell you that there are few things truer to my father than this. We have family albums FULL of photos just like this.  Nerd.

He might have made faces and cracked jokes, but I still saw tears in his eyes.
Busted, Daddy-O.

We had a family moment. He may or may not have told another cheesy Dad joke.

He wouldn't be my Daddy-O if he didn't.

See?  Kate thought it was funny.

It was time for Mom and Dad  to head to the church and make sure everything was set for guests to start arriving.  But first, I needed Mom's help for one more thing, putting on my veil.  Her veil?  Our veil? THE veil!  I was more excited to wear it than any other item on the wedding day.

 When I was little, my mom had this thing she did with me.  After every bath-time, clothes-changing, and face-wiping, she would smile down at the little cabbage patch face smiling up at her from its surrounding towel, jammies, or peanut butter sandwich and she would say "There's my Meagan."  I have no idea if she did this just for me, or if she had something like it for my sister too, or if she even remembers doing it time and time again. 

But then she helped me put the veil on and said, "There's my Meagan."  I don't know if she even realized she said it.  It made me infinitely happy to hear it on my wedding day.  Sort of full circle, no?

With the dress on and the veil in place, it was time for the girls to get ready for our pre-ceremony portraits.  But first, just one more first look.  Up until now, everyone had a chance to see me in my finery.  My hair and make up were perfect.  Mom's veil and Grandma's necklace were in place.  Everyone in the room had a chance to see the whole package ... except for me.

As everyone shuffled their things together and got ready to go down to the hotel lobby for photos, I put on some of the perfume that Mr LikesIt had gifted me earlier.

Most of the maids were on their way down the hall towards the elevators, making sure our path was groom-free.  I had a brief moment to myself, and I planted myself in front of the mirror.  I had dreamed of this moment since I was a very little girl, of what I would look like as a bride on my wedding day.  I felt like I was playing dress-up all over again. 

Meagan likes it.

In case you missed it ...

I bought a dress and completely changed it.

We had a marathon final week of engagement.

I giggled my way through our rehearsal.

Mr LikesIt got grilled at our rehearsal dinner.

The groomsmen ran amok in downtown Springfield. 

The girls got gorgeous. 

We exchanged mushy wedding-day gifts. 

The guys got fancy and then got dancy. 

I became a Bride.