The Wedding: Family Portraits

Niki found the perfect shaded spot under a huge tree next to the church, and I’m so happy to have such wonderful family photos from our wedding! It’s not often that you get a lot of these people together in one location, and it’s just very special for us to have these photos.

While people were still being rounded up, Amanda and I took a sisters photo together. :) I absolutely love the rosewood color on her–doesn’t she looking stunning? My sister was so very supportive of me throughout our engagement (and let’s be honest, my WHOLE LIFE). She planned an amazing bridal shower in Tennessee for me all the way from California and was always there to listen to me and help me think of ideas.

Then, it was time for the whole family (oops–sorry I posted our Christmas card photo, Mom! Haha)

I love this photo with my parents. We are such a close family, and they have supported me and Erick so much during our relationship and engagement period. They did SO much to help us plan this wedding, with both of us being so far away from where it was taking place. My dad researched tons of travel arrangements and got us the (free) pallets for our decorations, and basically ran the show the entire weekend–with everyone from out of town, we had way more events going on besides the wedding, and my dad always had it all organized. My mom–I can’t say enough about how much she did, from going to a gazillion churches and sending me photographs, to Skype-touring me around the farm IN THE RAIN, to listening to my woes about flowers and invitations and everything else. She came down to Tennessee to help me find my dress, sewed my veil, poured hundreds of olive oil bottles, tied tons of bows on everything and just was AMAZING from start to finish.

Now onto the Quinoneses! Here we are with Erick’s parents–such wonderful people. I’m so thrilled to be a part of this family, and I know these two are responsible for how amazing of a family it is, and especially for how great Erick turned out. I love them both so much! Very happy to have a second Mom and Dad!

Erick’s sisters are awesome. All of them were so supportive during our engagement and I felt welcomed by them into the family even before we were engaged! Ellie was also planning her wedding for the majority of the time we were engaged, and so we bonded quite a bit because of that, despairing over flower budgets, food choices and getting everything done in time!

Oh, and the two oldest sisters have pretty great husbands, too. :) Here is the whole family!

Now just the parents…

And here is my beloved Grammie. That gorgeous dress I’m wearing is thanks to her and my late Grandpa (he was alive at the time they gave me the money for the dress, so I feel like he had a special part in the day, too). My Grammie flew across the country for the first time in over a decade to make it to my wedding. I’m so happy she was there for our special day. We had a great week together.

And here is my AWESOME Aunty Joyce. She came all the way from Germany (!) to be with us, and we had a great time with her as well.

With both the grandmothers.

And here is Erick with his Grandma, a wonderful woman who also traveled all the way from California!

The whole bunch–plus sponsors!

Speaking of sponsors, Erick and I were so blessed to have so many of our sponsors attend our wedding. We love and respect this group of people so much, and look up to them as our mentors for our future marriage!

While not exactly family, he’s pretty near–we were thrilled to have our close friend Jon Remitera be our officiant. Jon also spoke for church the previous day, and he was the emcee at our reception as well–he did an amazing job at everything, and we were just so grateful to have his help that weekend.