I'm so glad we did a first look. It was really wonderful. Rob stood in a little clearing of trees just away from the house, our family and wedding party lined up near the door, and I passed by them on my way to see him. The whole thing was surreal.

I was so grateful for the time we had to see each other and hug and kiss and laugh and get passion eyes before the ceremony. It calmed me down so much before walking down the aisle in front of everyone, and it also gave us a chance to get a ton of group photos (I'll show you those later!), which meant we got to enjoy a lot more of the reception with our guests. It was like a win-win-win situation, and the first look was one of my favorite parts of the day (that's not saying too much, though--everything was one of my favorite parts of the day).

All of our wedding photos were taking by sweet Ashley of V.A. Photography.

In case you missed it, I shared some details and shots of us getting ready right here.

In a (probably feeble) attempt to not bombard you with wedding stuff for the next week straight, I'm going to try really hard to only post a few things at a time. I don't know if that's better or worse, dragging it out like that, but we'll just go with it, okay?

A few of my bridesmaids and I ran cross-country together in high school, so we had a big sleepover the night before and started the day bright and early with the Market Run, which is what we called the little practice course we would always run the day before a race. It goes around downtown Roanoke and ends in the perfect spot for us to get coffee at our favorite coffee shop, so it seemed like the perfect way to begin the morning. Our cross-country coach even came all the way out from his home about forty minutes away to do it with us. It was so special.

And then we got ready! The guys headed to Jack's salon downtown for shaves and snacks before getting ready at the hotel, and we went to the venue for hair and makeup and a few glasses champagne. (We had snacks, too.)

I wore my mom's dress, which barely even needed any altering! I had someone take a bit of fabric away from the back (it was the same style as the sleeves and covered up all that lace!) and bustle the train up so it wasn't so long, but other than that, it looks the same as it did on the day that she wore it.

I also wore my grandma Angelica's watch and pinned my grandma Eileen's Celtic knot broach to my bouquet. It was nice to have a piece of each of them with me on such an important day.

A few more from the guys:

And a few more of the girls:

I gave each of my bridesmaids a pair of Acute Designs' new Swarovski stud earrings and a fun Anthropologie candle, and Rob gave his groomsmen black Michael Kors ties to wear for the wedding and monogrammed tie clips from JLynnCreations. Monica Wakefield did my hair and I totally loved it.

My "something old" was the watch and pin; "something new" was the headpiece I wore (also made by Regina of Acute Designs); "something borrowed" were my earrings, lent to me by Emma; and "something blue" was my perfume. I really enjoyed putting together our wedding party gifts and all the other little details that ended up coming together so well.

That's it for now! I'll share some photos from our first look and wedding party with you next. Thanks for following along!

All of our wedding photos were taken by the amazingly talented Ashley of V.A. Photography, who has seriously become one of my favorite people over the past twelve months. I love her and I can't recommend her enough.

We're back! We're married! We had the best long weekend in Virginia for our wedding and then loved honeymooning all week in the Dominican Republic, but after two weeks away, it really feels good to be back. I have so many photos to sort through and zero groceries in our refrigerator, but I couldn't wait to share our wedding video with you already!

My friend and former co-worker Jarred did such an amazing job shooting and editing the following video and I seriously can't stop watching it. I already treasure it so much. Hope you enjoy!