Elena + AJ's Louisville Wedding

From the Bride: Working in the wedding industry alongside wedding planners myself, I've learned to expect the unexpected. For whatever reason I thought I'd be the exception to that rule but it turns out I couldn't have been more wrong. When our wedding day finally came around we had everything planned down to the minute. I, of course, couldn't sleep the night before and skipped breakfast due to being so excited to see what a year and a half of planning would turn out to be. All nine of my bridesmaids arrived to get ready at my hotel room at 7am sharp. Most of my bridesmaids I've known for 15+ years. We've been through all stages of life together and this milestone would be no different.

Leading up to our ceremony, I was truly numb with joy. The day was completely about AJ and me and knowing that we would soon be surrounded by our family and friends, who have supported us from the beginning, was so humbling. Before the ceremony, AJ and I shared a first look. From there, we took photos, hopped on our trolley and headed to the church to relax until it was time to walk down the aisle. Our ceremony was a full Catholic mass complete with multiple readings, vows and communion. When we knelt down for the blessing of communion, everything changed. I suddenly felt light headed and dizzy. Everyone has seen those horror stories on YouTube where someone in the wedding party passes out at the wedding. Except for this time, it was the bride, at the Cathedral, in front of 280 people. Luckily, my groom caught me, I drank some water and we were able to proceed with the rest of the ceremony. We now refer to it as the day I fell completely head over heels for my husband. The best part? AJ had a microphone on so the audio was all captured and is now a highlight in our wedding film!

Once the ceremony concluded, we got back on the trolley and took our bridal party photos. By the time we were ready to enter the reception, I was still feeling exhausted from the rush of the first half of the day. We did our grand entrance, listened to my dad's welcome speech, let the priest bless the food and then AJ and I decided it was best to hide away during dinner and re-enter once I felt up to it. Of course our guests were concerned and questioned where the bride and groom were during a time where we'd traditionally be making the rounds to thank everyone for coming. Some guests even left the party thinking we would not return. We instructed the band to start playing and the party to get started. A little while later, we were ready to join everyone. The band stopped their set and we were welcomed by our guests chanting our names with their arms in the air forming a tunnel to the dance floor for us to finally have our first dance to “Everything” by Michael Bublé . This was by far the our favorite part of the day. We felt the love from everyone and were so thankful that our band kept everyone entertained by playing the best music and that our guests stuck around to dance the rest of the night with us. We couldn't have asked for a better day, despite all of the unexpected set-backs.

Bride’s Advice: I wish someone had told me to slow down and really appreciate the "engagement" season of our life. Even though we had a longer engagement, it flew by. Every day we were engaged, I was counting down until the wedding instead of taking in the short engagement time. When you look at the grand scheme of things, you're only engaged once, so take it for what it is and enjoy the transition while you can.