Let's Fall in Love: A Little Help from Our Friends, part 1

After getting the business of formal family portraits out of the way, Mr LikesIt and I joined the rest of the wedding party (and their dates) aboard the trolley to head off for photos.  We had expected it to be a party, but the lack of music sort of impeded on that.  Nonetheless, the two-block drive from church to Old State Capital was still a pretty nice ride.  There is nothing I love more than having all of our friends in one place.

 

Now downtown Springfield is not a very large place, so I mean it when I say it didn't take very long to get from point A to point B.  We made our way to the Old State Capital, and I barely had time to down my champagne before we arrived.  However, we were not in time.  Remember when I said our extra time spent with confetti, trolley send-offs, and extra family pictures would result in a disappointment?

As we disboarded and prepared to go inside, we realized that it was just past five o'clock, when all historical sites (of which there are many) in Springfield close for the night. 

Our friends looked on as Mr LikesIt begged, pleaded, and even attempted to bribe the staff to let us in for a few quit shots - he had listened to his wife talk for months about the amazing staircases and architecture inside the building - but alas, the staff would not budge, not even for a bride with a thing for Abe Lincoln.

Since Mr LikesIt is a bit of a rebel, and since nothing would bring him down, he suggested the next best thing.  If they wouldn't even let us inside the building, we'd just take photos outside of the fence.  Take that, Historical Society!

The rest of our friends joined us by the gates for group photos and portraits.  I had told Matt beforehand that it was important to me that they were relaxed and not super-posed.  It turned out to be a good mix of both, especially our portraits, which were very spontaneous.

Somebody's excited to marry me.

And because I know you love outtakes ...

Huzzah! On to the next location!

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.  There was a first First Look. I shared my Somethings.  The boys made the most of trolley-time. And did their thing on the Capital grounds. The girls took photos at the hotel. Everyone arrived at the church. We walked down the aisle. We declared our intentions and my cousin preached. We exchanged our vows. Our hands were blessed. Mr LikesIt put a ring on it and kissed his bride. We were pronounced Mr and Mrs! We left the church in a blizzard of confetti, and took a "just-married" trolley ride. We made it legal. We took pictures with our families.