The celebration with family and friends after their wedding ceremony started out slightly chaotic – all because of the rain. ….

We had to have a lot of the portraits taken in the same place as the ceremony AND the reception, which made it noisy, and busy and distracting …. but once the portraits were taken care of and dinner was served …. all that was left was the party!

And with this many family and friends, you KNOW it was a blast …

(the head table – not actually large enough for the HUGE wedding party!)

(so many nieces and nephews and cousins running around. Chris has a big extended family!)

(parents of the groom)

(keep an eye on Camille …. she adores Chris and Nichole, so she stayed close. But that’s not the only reason)

And they lived happily ever after ….

OK, actually, they went to Cancun and Nichole sprained her ankle as soon as they got there  …. but still.

In spite of everything – the rain, the cold, the chaos – I know Chris and Nichole both consider it the best day of their lives and I’m so grateful they asked me to share it with them….

xo

Chris and Nichole chose not to see each other until the ceremony, but we had plenty of time before hand to do photos of the groomsmen and bridesmaids individually …

Because of the rain and the overcast sky the light for the portraits was just lovely …. couldn’t really ask for anything better. ….

Here’s a series of photos that just make me laugh …. couldn’t do it with a bride, of course, but with a groom who has 10 groomsmen? …. just take a look ….

All Chris knew is I was taking his photo with the boys in the background … and then ….

nieces of the groom as the flower girls …

and then of course some photos after the ceremony ….

Nichole and her mother …

[they're both so pretty!]

Final post coming to finish up their story ….

Before I forget – special thanks to my brother-in-law Daniel for shooting with me (he doesn’t yet have a website for me to link to!)

First photo below is Daniel’s …

So, unfortunately, somebody had to make that hard decision to move the wedding under cover (from beach front to cement). Sad…. but ultimately it worked out. The rain was off and on all afternoon, and even changed its mind during the ceremony … (you’ll see) …

Dainty little flower girls dodging rain drops as they make their entrance:

Chris’s mom officiated …. and she even made it through without crying!

About 3/4s through the ceremony was to be the sand ceremony …. which ended up being set up on the beach! …. so, since it had stopped raining (for the moment), Chris and Nichole led their guests down the 50 or so yards to the beach for the last part of their wedding ceremony ….

More to come …

As I mentioned, they were to be wed on the beach overlooking a lake in Post Falls, Idaho. Although that didn’t quite work out, Nichole put a lot of thought and work into her beach-themed details to really mark the day as unique and representative of Chris and her.

Since they have family in Southern California (us!) they come down to the beach all the time … in fact, somewhere I have pictures of Andrew and Chris surfing from years ago. …

They made these boutonnières for the groomsmen … so creative!

They also decorated these baskets for the flower girls …

The reception tables were decorated with sea shells throughout ….

And the gave leis to all the guests …

more to come!

As I mentioned, the intention was to have the ceremony overlooking the lake at Q’emiln Park (in Post Falls, ID), with the reception at a pavilion also in the park.

But it rained on and off all afternoon.

Chris and Nichole reserved a couple of rooms (next to each other) at the Red Lion Hotel – almost right across the street from the wedding location and right on the river.

The rooms were the perfect spot for Chris and Nichole’s HUGE wedding party to get ready all in the same place …

(in the boys’ room next door)

As I said, the rooms were next door to each other (girls in a 2-room suite). And both opened out to the back-yard area overlooking the river. Such a relaxing place to hang out, socialize and get ready for a wedding!

(Nichole and her maid-of-honor)

More to come ….