Borman Wedding Blog: Wedding Bales: Looking at Forever

First and foremost, huge shout out to my girl Border Collie as she gets married to her love today. SO excited for you!

Ok, so, the debate about whether to peek or not has been widely debated over the last few years as more and more couples are taking part in a "First Look". Whether it be for logistical reasons, emotional ones, or simply to create beautiful photographs, there are a lot of people who decide this is the route that works for them. We were one of those couples. We knew that we wanted to take part in our cocktail hour and we didn't want to have to spend the entirety of it taking photos.

Stepdaughter K was first up to see her daddy because she wanted to witness the first look between her daddy and me. She got herself all ready and Mr. Farmer got into position. While she was doing her first look, I was devouring a sandwich and attempting to keep calm. I succeeded for the most part until she returned and I knew I was up. Anyways, back to looking.

Mr. Farmer turned around and this was his reaction:

He told me that he was so shocked when he saw her, he exclaimed "HEY" because he was so blown away he didn't know what else to say.

Big hugs for her daddy! It was at about this time that Mr. Farmer couldn't take it anymore and the emotions and waterworks started for him. This photo was the photo sweet K used this past weekend in a lovely IG post to honor her daddy's birthday. So special (I am such a sap)!

Since Kyle is a one man show he was only able to capture Mr. Farmer's reaction, or at least that's what I thought when I first saw these photos. At first I thought it was odd that he didn't get any of K's face, until he later confided in me that K didn't want her face shown. Apparently as soon as she started walking outside with Kyle she started crying and told Kyle she didn't want him to photograph her reaction and he respectfully agreed not to.

She did however approve an after photo. Even with red and puffy eyes she is still beautiful.

K came back to the room to get me and left her daddy waiting in his spot. Well, K came back just in time to help me into my dress, however nobody told me that Mr. Farmer was still outside waiting. So poor Mr. Farmer ended up waiting a good 15 minutes instead of the 5 he thought he would. He started to get a little curious and told me that he was getting a little nervous. Whoops!

photo personal

It was pretty magical entering the gardens. The Florian Gardens had the most beautiful music playing through their sound system and it only added to the experience. Kyle had me stop halfway so he could capture a picture and just as he did a gust of wind came up from behind me. Mr. Farmer said he could tell I was behind him because he caught a whiff of my perfume and could smell me. He told me he started to get butterflies knowing that I was so close and that he couldn't see me. So, I got as close as I could before I couldn't take it anymore and made him turn around.

Surprise! I love you guys so I zoomed in so you could get a better look at his expression since it's so perfect.

Mr. Farmer said he was speechless. K was so excited to capture the moment. She had been talking about our first look for quite some time and it was one of the things she had been looking forward to the most.

Clearly Mr. Farmer's emotions were quite high because he started crying again. I teared up a little bit but I was so excited to see him all put together and to just BE with him that I was all kinds of giddy. The moment I saw him, it was like everything just got better. I was excited but not in the nervous way I had been before. Having him around just calms me down, so I was glad we decided on the first look.

He pulled himself together and it was all smiles by everyone. We had quite the audience, which I hadn't even thought about when we decided to do a first look. We knew that K wanted to be a part of it, but besides her we hadn't given much thought to anyone else. Almost all of my bridesmaids were standing behind me and a handful of Mr. Farmer's groomsmen wanted in on the action. After our moment of shock and awe, everyone started to cheer for us and it was only appropriate that I asked him, "Ready to get married?"

I will say, it was nice to have all our friends and family there, because one of my favorite pictures from our first look was captured by Fluff.

When I asked Mr. Farmer about this picture he told me, "You took my breath away". As a bride, I don't think I could think of a more perfect reaction to seeing each other for the first time.

Which camp were you in - first look or down the aisle? What was your fiance's reaction to seeing you for the first time?

*All photos courtesy of Kyle Zempel Photography unless noted