This weekend I had the honor of witnessing the wedding of my friends, Michelle and Nick. I’ve been in many weddings and attended even more. The magic never wears off.
It was even more special for me this time having spent the last six years of my life being so close with Michelle — both of us sharing in dating disaster experiences and wondering so many times if we would ever find the right one.
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| Insanely cute flower girls! |
A sunrise wedding at 6am in the Outer Banks, North Carolina was as beautiful as Michelle dreamed — and the sunrise over the ocean made the moment even more magical than normal.
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| Michelle walks down the “aisle” with her Grandpa. |
A big group of us rented a beach house down there and spent most of the week hanging out and excited that our friends were finally having their big moment.
I know that Michelle had some stressful moments (what bride doesn’t?!) but all that mattered was that she and Nick stood before God, their friends and family and looked into each other’s eyes and said “I do.” I even caught the moment on video (unfortunately didn’t flip the phone sideways, though):
After the simple but beautiful ceremony, we did professional photos on the beach and then headed back to Nick’s family’s beach home for a mimosa toast, delicious donuts and time to relax after a very early morning! (I got up at 4am to head over and be with Michelle until go time.)
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| Darcie, Me, Ari. Michelle didn’t have bridesmaids but we were playing them anyway 🙂 |
Of course we got some girly photos and some silly ones as well:
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| Nick’s friends giving him a hard time post-ceremony |
Michelle’s wedding ring complements her engagement ring beautifully, making it all the more sparkly and gorgeous! I kept saying, “Michelle — you’re married!” I can imagine it feels kind of weird when you’ve been waiting for it for so long! I was and am truly happy for her!
After the wedding and brunch, most of us took the day to sleep a little considering the night before wasn’t big on the sleep. It was insanely hot this weekend (as I’m sure you all know) and being outside was absolutely horrendous unless you were within 3 feet of a pool or the ocean.
Later, we headed out for a night of hanging out at some beach side bars and what turned into some sweet dancing. We kind of created our own wedding reception dance floor at the bar we chose. That’s a great idea by the way, much cheaper than a real reception 🙂
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| The bride and I |
There was something about having all the time in the world and not being back home that made this whole week a lot of fun. When you are home doing these activities, there’s always the thought of your house and all your things in it but away from home with friends, you really do get to bond and just chill out together.
Getting the beach house was a great idea. It’s been so long since I did anything like that and everyone was in such a great mood the whole week.
So…they did it! Thanks for having your wedding in the Outer Banks, guys, we all appreciate it 🙂 Congrats!