So after we were dressed and ready, we headed outside for our first look. We decided to do a first look because we were following the Polish wedding tradition where the bride and groom receive their parents’ blessing before leaving the brides’ house to go to church for the wedding ceremony. Since we were going to see each other before church, we wanted the first time we see each other on our wedding day to be special and private, so we decided to do a first look. It was crazy how quickly our nerves were eased once we were together.

I absolutely love how these photos turned out, especially the contrast of us all dressed up against the red, industrial, graffitied wall.

After a few minutes alone, we headed back inside for the blessing.

Then it was time to get married!

We got married in the church where we both grew up. We both went to the parish elementary school, and made our first communion and confirmation in this church. We were also supposed to be married by the former pastor who we grew up with, but he passed away before the wedding.

Even though it was our wedding, the kids stole the show.

Our ceremony was a full Catholic mass, and we alternated between English and Polish.The priest who married us was excellent, and even though we only met him a few days before our wedding, he did a great job making the ceremony special for us.

The photographers caught some great candid shots of the kiddos.

And just like that we were husband & wife!

We took some pictures exiting the church, then returned inside to take a few posed shots.

After that, we all piled into the party bus to get the party started!

Part 3 coming soon!

The post We’re Married [Part 2] First Look, Blessing and Ceremony appeared first on Frolic Through Life.

My wedding day sta rted bright and early at 6:30 AM. The hairdresser and makeup artist were both going to arrive at my parents’ house 7 AM to get all of the ladies glammed up.

Meanwhile, Tommy and Alex were getting ready in our apartment.

Don’t be fooled by how put together Alex looks in these pictures. We must’ve tucked in his shirt at least 500 times before we even made it to church.

Finally, it was time for me to put on my dress. My dress is from Maggie Sottero in the Emma style. I bought it from Paisley Bridal, a local wedding boutique. If you live in the NYC area, check them out. Nicole, the owner, is a pleasure to work with and was super helpful every step of the way!

My mom wanted to make sure that the veil did not come off! Haha.

My earrings and bracelet were from Tejani Jewlery on Etsy.

My shoes were from Betsy Johnson Blue and TOMS. I needed a good comfy shoe for all the dancing we would be doing later that night and the TOMS totally did the trick, while still being pretty enough to wear with a wedding gown.

After we were dressed and ready to go, we exchanged gifts and had our first look.

Part 2 coming soon!

Linking up with Thinking out Loud

The post We’re Married! [Part 1] appeared first on Frolic Through Life.

we got ENGAGED!

It was a total surprise and I almost ruined it (as usual), but we are so happy. Tommy was also sneaky and got the resort photographer to sneak up on us on the beach and catch everything.

After I said YES! the photographer took some fun pictures of us around the resort.

I plan on sharing some of our wedding planning adventure on the blog, but I don’t think we will be doing much in the area until later this summer. For now, I have to work on remembering to call Tommy my fiance!

The post We’re Engaged! appeared first on Frolic Through Life.