Spinelli’s Wedding: I just adore Allie and Rick. I feel like I’ve said that before but I really do. They’re so cute together, I can’t even handle it. You can read some of their story on their engagement session post, but long story short, Allie is my sister-in-law’s bestie. So I’ve known her for a few years.
Allie had been waiting a long time for her wedding day and they lucked out and got a gorgeous August day for their big celebration. We started at Allie’s parents house where all the girls were getting ready. Allie and Rick both have big families including lots of sisters so it was a jam packed estrogen filled house…and Allie’s dad, haha. Her childhood home was a really special place for Allie to get ready at. She put her dress on in her parents room with the help of her mom and her sister-in-law while her dad waited downstairs to see her for the first time. When she started walking down the stairs, he turned around and wrapped Allie up in a big hug…bringing us all to tears. Honestly I cried a lot during this wedding because of Allie and her dad just having a really sweet bond and her being the first daughter to get married.
A big white trolley arrived to bring everyone to the church for the ceremony. Once again, tears when Allie and her dad walked down the aisle. AND THEN Allie had the nerve to grab her grandmother halfway down the aisle and walked with her up to the altar where Rick stood. C’mon Allie, stop making me cry!! I also really loved seeing all of Rick’s sisters smiling at him as they walked down the aisle, some giving him a thumbs up! A big group of Allie’s students came to the ceremony too! A true testament to how great of a teacher she is.
One of the most amusing parts of this wedding day is that we took most of the formal photos and portraits in a giant cemetery. You can’t really tell since they’re mostly flat graves in the ground and I removed them for the most part but it still makes me laugh. It’s so pretty there and it had more outdoor space for this large wedding party.
Then the trolley took everyone to Spinelli’s for the reception. It’s a huge gorgeous space and the perfect party room. Once again Allie’s dad has us all crying during his toast telling us a story about Allie getting the courage to jump off a rock into water when she was a little girl. And held up a giant printed photo that a stranger took of that moment. He also told the story of Allie & Rick meeting for the first time, Rick introducing himself to Allie and her responding with “cool.” HA. And how Allie gives her students positive sticky notes to leave on kid’s lockers. See, don’t you just adore them too??
And the father daughter dance to Fix You by Coldplay after stating “I have to let you go, but I’ll get my dance.” Both of them crying, everyone crying. This has somehow turned into a post about Allie and her dad instead of Allie and her now husband Rick, bahaha. Rick is fantastic, we love Rick!
