For the past several weeks I’ve been sitting on our pro-pics and stewing. I’ve been having an exceptionally difficult time figuring out how to begin sorting through over TWO THOUSAND images to find the choice few to share with you.

After several revisions and one massive dump into Flickr (which I will share with you after I am done with recap posts so you can see the rest of the photos), I think I have finally narrowed down the best photos enough to begin with my “Official” Wedding Bee recap. As a forewarning, each of the following recap posts will probably contain 15-30 photos. I figure that I’d better err on the heavy side rather than risk tossing out any favorites or destroying the story.

For this recap, I’ve decided that the best place to begin was the beginning, and with a bit of a narrative tone. Let’s allow the balmy day of our reception, Friday, September 5, 2008, to set the stage and provide some atmosphere…

Join me on the way to Polebridge, Montana. We’re headed to the edge of the mountains…

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Filed under: Photos, Recap, Venue on February 9th, 2009 | No Comments »

After showing you all those guest pictures of our wedding recently, it seems only fitting to share with you a few more photos that I took, afterward.

The day after our wedding (which was Sunday, 9/7) turned out to be sunny and amazing. It was a bit of a letdown to see clear skies after the intermittent rain on our wedding day, but mostly it was invigorating to be able to get outside in the sunshine.

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Filed under: Photos, Recap, Venue, Weather on December 8th, 2008 | No Comments »

What better way to finish my guest-photo posts than with some photographs of details from the day!

First, to set the mood, a shot of the Polebridge Mercantile, home of the Polebridge bakery (responsible for our cake and tartlets). This sight greets guests as they drive into Polebridge. You can see our tent in the field behind…

Our ceremony site was also set back and to the left of the mercantile, along the banks of a small creek and overlooking the peaks in the Northwest corner of Glacier National Park (hidden by clouds in the photo below)…

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Filed under: Ambiance, Flowers, Handmade, Photos, Recap, Venue on November 28th, 2008 | 2 Comments »

It’s hard for me to really remember anything about our wedding day. That’s how I get when I’m overwhelmed and overstimulated, for better or worse. I think it’s a coping mechanism, but it sure is obnoxious.

That’s one of the reasons that photos are so important to me on momentous occasions such as these. I’m not only reliving our wedding through them, I’m honestly recalling my wedding through them. Where I was, how I felt: it all comes back when I see a photograph.

And that’s why, as of yet, I still have a really hard time remembering the morning of our wedding. I’ve seen photo proofs of the rest of the day, but nothing of us getting ready except this photo of me on the Lake McDonald Lodge lobby balcony, taken right after my mom finished buttoning my dress:

When I get the pro pics back, I’m sure I can tell you more, but what I remember is this…

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Filed under: Ceremony, Photos, Recap, Venue on November 14th, 2008 | 3 Comments »

And now, back to your regularly scheduled guest-photo recap. Pardon me if I pack a LOT of action into this post – the best way to replicate how I felt the day before our wedding is to completely overwhelm you with details.

Last you saw us, we were stuck bickering in a 2-man tent. Now, it was time to REALLY get ready to get hitched… and THIS is the location for which we were headed:

Thursday before the wedding was a whirlwind: driving back from Many Glacier to West Glacier, welcoming guests, having dinner with twenty of Justin’s extended family, frantically trying to press my dress, and making sure everyone was prepared for tomorrow’s rehearsal. It all went by in a panicked blur. And despite the welcome packets we’d put together that the hotel staff was gleefully handing out to our guests, no one seemed to know what was going on! RAAGH!

But there was no time to worry; only time to ride the wave. So that’s what I did, existing in a state of mock-serenity that carried me through Thursday evening and into Friday morning. I woke up drained, exhausted and feeling completely unprepared to get married in just over 24 hours.

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Filed under: Pre & Post-Wedding Fun, Recap, Venue on November 13th, 2008 | 2 Comments »

This evening’s webcam image of Lake McDonald. Forecasts for the week are in the upper 80s and will start cooling toward month’s end. Four weeks and we’re on our way!

Filed under: Venue, Weather on August 4th, 2008 | No Comments »

You may have noticed that when I posted the final layout of our invitations, I listed “Bowman Lake” as our ceremony location and provided directions.

Bowman Lake is beautiful and peaceful, just 8 miles past Polebridge inside the remote Northwest reaches of Glacier National Park. It’s also flat and accessible, with plenty of parking and restrooms. We figured it’d be a perfect place to hold the ceremony, with a reception following in Polebridge.

Well, at the time I posted those invite proofs, I was operating under the assumption that our permit to wed in the Park at the lake had been approved. Two days later, I found out it had been denied.

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Filed under: Venue on June 16th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

I’ve finally posted photos from my Super Wedding Weekend in my gallery. I haven’t been able to blog about the trip over at the here or Wedding Bee but I am planning to get around to writing a detailed rundown… Unfortunately, work and home life is particularly overwhelming at the moment. Sufficed to say, it was a very productive and enjoyable, if exhausting trip. It was beautiful to see Montana in the Springtime. Everything was so GREEN!

For now, please enjoy the Montana Spring 2008 gallery and these trip highlights:

Trialing wedding vendors! (Page 1 and 2)

Enjoying a massive tire blowout! (Page 3)

Exploring Polebridge and Bowman Lake! (Page 3, 4, 5, and 6)

Cycling Going to the Sun Highway! (Page 6 and 7)

Photographing an awesome barn! (Page 8)

That’s all for now. More tomorrow and thereafter.

Filed under: Travel, Venue, Wedding Madness! on May 28th, 2008 | No Comments »

Late last week, my mom decided that she’d like to join me on my trip to Montana for my Super Wedding Weekend. At first, I was a little worried about my mom being there. It meant that couldn’t have any “secret single behavior” time on my grand solo adventure.

I don’t know what “secret single” things I imagined doing out there in a secluded cabin, but I don’t get to spend a lot of time alone, so I was looking forward to it.

Anyway, after about five minutes of selfish wheedling, I realized just how great it was that my mom wanted to come. She’s been very busy and somewhat detached from the wedding planning process so far, and I’ve gotten used to that. On the one hand, I’ve been happy that neither she, nor Justin’s mom, nor any other relative tried to take the reigns from me. On the other hand, I’ve felt overwhelmed by the planning at somewhat alone in my enthusiasm for the wedding a lot of the time.

I’ve been so used to going it alone that it didn’t even occur to me to ask her to come with me. Once I realized that this would be the perfect way to get my mom involved in the planning process, I was really psyched. We’d get to do wedding stuff… together!

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Filed under: Travel, Venue, Weather, Wedding Madness! on May 14th, 2008 | 5 Comments »

Next Thursday, I’m taking the train to Montana for only wedding-related visit before we’re married. So much has changed since our August 2007 trip, where we made the preliminary steps toward our upcoming Montana wedding. The thing is, I hadn’t planned to go at all. I thought it would be prohibitively expensive and time consuming and I figured I’d just let Katalin, our wedding coordinator, take care of the details on our behalf.

Katalin told me that she was going to make the trip from Bozeman to Polebridge at least once before the week of the wedding to work with our venue and vendors face-to-face. Once Polebridge was no longer buried under record snowfall, she set the date for May.

She said she’d like to meet me and asked if I’d come, but I didn’t think there would be way I could make it. Because I would be going alone (Justin is chained to graduate school and work), I didn’t want to brave the 10-hour drive or sink the cost of a hotel along the way. I hadn’t planned on flying, so I didn’t have the funds for plane fare and a rental car. I thought about taking the train, but this early in the season, none of the shuttles into the park are running and that would leave me stranded at the gate!

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Filed under: Venue, Wedding Madness! on May 9th, 2008 | 4 Comments »