I’m going to do something a little different when blogging about Mike and Christina’s wedding. I’m going to blog the wedding in stages. I’m usually far too busy to do this. But, as it happens, I’m now on Christmas break and have a little more time on my hands. And, I think it is very interesting to see what goes into making a wedding happen – and happen well. What better wedding to showcase than the wedding of Christina and Mike?

For those of you who haven’t been reading my blog on a regular basis, you may not know the relationship I share with Christina. I have known Christina since the day she was born. I took dinner to her parents the day she came home from the hospital. The very first time she ever spent the night away from home, she stayed at MY house. I have loved Christina (and her sister Adrienne) since they were babies. So, their weddings have been labors of love for me. Christina and Adrienne are very different – as most sisters are. Christina is by far the more emotional of the two. She gets that from her father – but that will be another blog entry. When Christina and I hugged goodbye as I was leaving her reception, we both sobbed. She is very, very special to me.

But back to the business at hand. It always makes me happy when I can start the day shooting pictures at the salon as the bride and bridesmaids prepare for the wedding. Christina chose Shear Magic as her salon. She and her bridesmaids met at 8:30 to start the long process of getting beautiful for the wedding. Friends provided breakfast and the girls had a wonderful time being pampered, eating, and bonding. Merry is a tremendous stylist, but even she can’t make a silk purse out of a sou’s ear. Christina is absolutely gorgeous when she rolls out of bed in the morning with messy hair and no make-up, so Merry didn’t have to work too terribly hard to make her into a ravishing bride.

Here are a few pictures of Merry at work.

I love it when my brides have their make-up professionally applied. Merry knows exactly what it takes to make a bride photograph well. You can certainly see the transition in the pictures above. And now take a look at the finished product.

Isn’t Christina just gorgeous?

You know, life really isn’t fair. Even though Christina is exquisitely beautiful (and I’m not a bit prejudiced), it took her quite a while to get ready for her wedding. Now, here’s Mike.

Isn’t Mike a very handsome groom? He really did look superb. I don’t know this for a fact, but I bet he rolled out of bed, took a shower, hopped in a tux and was ready in less than an hour. See what I mean. Life just isn’t fair!

But, when Mike watched Christina walk down that aisle Saturday afternoon, everything she did to get ready was truly worth it. Here is Mike seeing Christina for the first time. Can’t you tell by the expression on his face that Mike knows he’s one lucky man? His smiles says it all.

Check back for more on Mike and Christina’s wedding. This is going to be a fun week!