Portraits

So this is where things get a little out of order. Some portraits (like the ones you’ll see at the top of Brian) occurred at the very beginning of the day, while others were just before the ceremony and even more were during reception. But just like any good super hero movie, we’re here to mess with a perfectly decent timeline all in the name of looking good!

Brian’s first portraits in the library parlor were taken while Grace was getting ready - mostly since he showed up looking pretty spiffy already and she needed to manage over a dozen buttons on a dress. We affectionately call some of these shots Brian’s “author headshots” or “realtor business card” photos. I think you’ll understand why.

After Grace was ready, both moms, honorary mom Aunt Rita, the bridesmaids, and honorary bridesmaid Charissa watched the bridal suite photoshoot. Tom clearly had fun getting Grace to pose, and Grace was in her element following his lead. The pictures turned out rather nice despite the fact that the boning and corseting in the very snug wedding dress made things like bending and lounging difficult - being pretty is tough! A special shout-out to Alex for doing our make-up. It was perfect and we couldn’t have asked for more. Also, a very heartfelt thank you to Tom for capturing a great picture of Bill’s ring. For some context, Grace’s dad Bill (not Brian’s dad Bill - very confusing) passed nearly a year before the ceremony so he’s honored in a few special ways throughout the day. One of those ways was being Grace’s “something blue” in more ways than one. The first, seen here in Grace’s initial portraits, is through his sapphire and diamond pinky ring, which fits ever-so-slightly loosely on Grace’s ring finger. It was nice having a piece of her dad with her at all times throughout the day. The second, which can be seen in later portraits and through some of the interior decoration, is the “dad bear”. Gracie’s cousin Tricia made two dad bears out of Bill’s Bradley flannels, and Grace was firmly determined to get her dad in a suit at her wedding. She even bought him a flower! Tom made sure to capture both, and we’re forever grateful.

A note on the wedding party group photos: we either look like a mob family or an absolute band of hooligans. Tom and his crew did an absolutely awesome job posing and editing us to look awesome, but clearly we all have two facial modes: very serious and ready to brawl or very silly and ready to cause mischief. Tom started out by posing us all by the reflecting pool before moving us to the hill behind the house. The reflecting pool was very full of water, everywhere has huge, dry leaves, and the hill was rather steep. That may be why you can see Gary guarding how Grace’s dress lays in the reflecting pool shots, some leaves in the girls’ skirts, and the genuine blooper shots of the wedding party falling over each other. Long story short, when a bridesmaid leans on a groomsman, he might lean on the ground. When a bridesmaid leans on the bride, she’ll lean on the groom. When everyone is leaning on each other, someone is bound to fall forward. It’s like a bad rip-off of “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie” where everyone is wearing expensive outfits and people are trying not to rip fabric before the big ceremony.

Our portraits took us all over the Philander Chase Knox Estate and its grounds. After our “first look” and wedding party portraits, Tom and his crew took us behind the estate to a small field full of talk grass and burrs, then down a path to a creek and massive wooden bridge, then to another field on the other end of the bridge, then a barn, then a chicken coop, and back again. At the first field, Tom kept telling us to move closer to the edge of the grass which worried us because they were covered in little hooked plant parts, but the photos were impressive. Then we walked to the bridge and Tom worked some magic. One crew member stayed up with us, helping our annoyance as people kept walking past as we were posing. Oblivious. Tom, meanwhile, was practically laying in the creek about 200 feet infant of us to get these stellar shots. Then, wee went to the next field and Brian performed what we called the “flick” for an awesome veil shot - no wind was around so we had to improvise! We were able to sit in a barn and Tom even convinced us to climb into a very dilapidated chicken coop, giving Brian a very heroic-looking shot. The photo session ended as we rushed back to the estate for the ceremony. Unsurprisingly, lots of guests beat us there are were shocked to see us ahead of the wedding! If Grace gave you attitude in that instance, she’s very sorry. This was the typical example of her saying “guys… we need to get back, we’re going to be late” and the boys being really caught up in photo ‘what ifs’ and not keeping a solid eye on the time. But that’s okay - all in the past! We’re just happy we weren’t too dirty and sweaty after our hike!

Also included in this section are some various shots that Tom and his team captured of guests during cocktail hour. He didn’t get group photos of nearly everyone, but did get them when asked. If anyone sees a photo of themselves or their loved ones and ones a copy, let Grace or Brian know through the various direct means of contacts available to friends and family alike, and we’ll get them to you. The rest of the cocktail hour shots are included in the “Reception” section - don’t ask us why they’re broken up this way, we have no idea!

Some of the photos at the end of this section, namely the parent-and-couple group photos are very, very crooked. Yes, we’re aware. This is a little bit of correction magic gone awry. You see, these photos were taken on that massive hill in between the estate building and the ceremony area, so everyone is standing on a slant. The photos were corrected to remove the slant, leaving us all looking a little off kilter. They’re lovely nonetheless.