smiley face.

This one got married. 

My beautiful Californian friend Ellen got married.

She was crazily calm, her hair was gorgeous, her skin was flawless, her earrings were glorious, and her veil was perfect. A very, very beautiful bride.

Of course I took photos... this was my first-ever time taking photos at a wedding. But I had to lurk around with my monster lens to stay out of the way of the real photographers. :)

All the bridesmaids wore different styles of black dresses, with colored heels. I was having way too much fun taking pictures of all the shoes...

Ellen is my hero--she wore shiny red heels.

Lovely bridesmaids...

She got married in a seriously adorable, Mexican-esque church.

This is Andy, one of the groomsmen. He is Ellen's basically-brother, even though he and his family lives up in Oregon, (we go to church with them and have known them forever).

Juli's red shoes. :)

And Juli's head. See! I don't always take pictures of just shoes! Aren't you proud?

I can't get over how awesome these shoes were...

My mama and my sister. Very important people. :)

Me.

Dress via JCPenney, photos by Bethany. :) Not the Quintessential Red Dress mentioned in my bucket list... (still on the lookout for that one), but it is comfy and I like it.

Bethany is not a huge fan of posing... Me: "Bethany, stand with your hand on your hip and your shoulder kinda dipped down."

And this is what happened. ;)

But she's gorgeous. Even if she's not a poser.

I didn't really take any photos during the ceremony, because I didn't want to disrupt, there were a bunch of heads in the way, I wanted to appreciate it camera-less, and/or I was weeping pretty much the whole time.

The finished result--Mr. & Mrs!--at the reception. ♥

Us. Bethany, Juli, Sam, and I. Friends and neighbors and related-cuz-our-siblings-married-each-other. I never particularly wanted a little brother when I was a kid, but now I basically have one and it's awesome.

History was made at the reception--I caught the bouquet! I wasn't even going to go out there, but the brave girls made all the not-brave girls come out. I just like reached up and grabbed it. Being tall does rock sometimes.

Sam + Andy + awesome formal clothing = my camera must be wielded.

They are some of the most genuine, awesome, down-to-earth, hilarious boys I know, and both being younger than me and grown-up-together types, they are the easiest and most fun to hang out with ever. :)

Me & my bodyguards. By the way--have I ever talked about my Bodyguard Scheme? There should seriously be a Bodyguard Agency, where people can hire out strong young guys to protect defenseless females who want to gad around New York City/go to the grocery store/have a jerk-free life. The tagline: for the girls with no brothers on hand at all times to beat the living daylights out of creepers.

 Yeah, everyone tells me there would be issues. But still. I think it would be pretty awesome. I mean, crime would go down, girls could do more awesome things safely, and guys would have an outlet for their aggressive, protective instincts.

Anyways.

Ice cream: because after weddings when you're hot and exhausted and emotional and starving, it's exactly what you need.

No, I did not eat all of it, despite what evil big brothers may report. (see Evil Brother below).

P.S. They're getting married in less than two and a half months! gah. Let's just say that sitting through Ellen & Jason's wedding and knowing that pretty soon I would be standing up there watching these two promise to love each other forever made everything much more emotional. HOLD ME.

P.P.S. The title--the only constant theme in this post.