Our Wedding Day: April 15th, 2020

The only thing I’d change about our wedding day is that it could’ve lasted a little bit longer.

My last post left a lot of uncertainties. There was a lot up in the air when it came to our wedding thanks to Covid. We weren’t sure if we’d postpone to next year, wait until the fall, or get married in our front yard. As a wedding photographer, the one thing I wanted was pictures… and I wanted to feel like a bride. So the front yard idea wasn’t doing it for me, but we also didn’t want to wait any longer to be husband and wife! Roman and I have been engaged for two years so we were more than ready. After about a week of going back and forth, and with the help of some amazing friends and family… we came up with what will live on as our wedding day!

The Details

There were a few key details of our day that really made the whole thing come together! The first thing I began to work on was an announcement suite. Did I make these solely for detail shots? Yes. I’m a wedding photographer and I LOVE photographing the details. So I did it because I could, and because we were in quarantine and my creative juices were flowing! I found a template on Pinterest, filled in the details, printed it on card stock, and watercolored the rest! For the colors of the suite, I took inspiration from our florals made by our lovely friend Amy.

I added the initials card and the bouquet card to spice it up a little, and because when you have your watercolors out, you keep painting until you can’t paint no mo’!

As you can see above, Amy made me a hair piece and Roman a boutonnière as well as a bouquet! The amazing thing about this set of florals is that almost every piece was dried, meaning they won’t change much over time!

For the location, we reached out to a family friend of ours that lives less than five minutes down the road from us. They have a gorgeous property, as you’ll be able to see in the pictures! Our house is still very much in the works, and we’ve ignored the outside more than anything. We would have had to get REALLY creative for pretty pictures in our yard.

Our officiant, Tony, agreed to marry us with less than two weeks notice. Tony worked with Roman and I at the theater where he and I started dating. Tony and his wife, Angie, have some of the biggest hearts of anyone we’ve met! He provided us with a beautiful ceremony complete with TEARS guys. He even waited for us when we lost track of time and showed up 30 minutes late… We love you Tony!!!

Tony helped us navigate how in the heck to get a marriage license in the middle of a pandemic and the courthouse is closed to the public. We ended up calling in from the parking lot, where a lady met us at the front door to take our paperwork and payment. We had credit cards ready to pay the fee only to be told they preferred cash… and all we had was $30 in quarters. Yes. We paid for our marriage license on the front step of the courthouse in loose change. She had to fill up her pockets to get it all back inside.

And then there was our photographer!! My sweet Ryleigh Ann spent pretty much all day with us capturing every special moment and even the in between ones. We joke that Ryleigh is our daughter because we love her so much :,) She even agreed to take the pictures and give me the memory card so my controlling butt could edit them myself. I really wanted them to match my style and my feed. Thank you endlessly Ryleigh for capturing our day so so beautifully! Check out her Instagram account @rlistonphotos to see her insanely creative work!!

Finally, we were able to swing the cutest little wedding cake from Ellyn with Fat Rabbit Cakes. She made us a chocolate layered with olive oil cake complete with a caramel drizzle… not only was it delicious, but it was BEAUTIFUL, and Amy’s flowers complimented it so beautifully!

Getting Ready

The morning began with a quick trip to Richmond (about an hour away) to pick up our flowers and cake. That way we knew we’d have fresh cake and fresh flowers! The morning was gloomy, a little chilly, and drizzly, but we kept out fingers crossed for a beautiful sunset!

We got home and had breakfast like normal. Had a few quick FaceTime calls with friends. My dad and stepmom stopped by to drop off some jewelry to match the necklace my grandma gave me for “something borrowed, something blue.” At that point is when it began to sink in that this wasn’t just a normal day… this was our freaking wedding day!

I frantically started to get ready after realizing how late it was, and Ryleigh came over to document the process. I didn’t want Roman to see me until our first look at the ceremony spot, so we stayed apart. At one point he asked me to iron his suit for him, in which I responded much to his dismay, that I could not.

Roman spent some quality family time with his big brother and his momma downstairs while Ryleigh and I listened to Hall & Oates and got ready!

Heading Out!

Roman left with his brother to get to the ceremony location. As I watched them get in the car with the cake from the second story window I shed a widdle tear. He just looked sooo handsome!! As soon as they pulled out of the driveway, we snagged a pic with the cat and jumped in the car to follow behind them. At this point we were running a half an hour late because Ryleigh was doing such a fantastic job taking portraits of me!! By the way… the sun had come out and it warmed up to a BEAUTIFUL 65ish degrees! A real wedding day miracle!!

On the car ride on the way there, Ryleigh played that one song by Bruno Mars that everyone walks down the aisle to, and when normally I can’t stand it, I will admit… it made me really happy at that moment! It felt like it was just for me. And now I get why everyone uses it. It just hits different when you’re the one getting married.

The First Look & Our Simple Ceremony

We pulled up and I’m realizing that this is it and I started SWEATING!! Roman was about to see me as his bride for the first time, and I HATE to be the center of attention. At the same time this is the moment I had been waiting for for years and my emotions were everywhere. Ryleigh picked the picture perfect spot for our first look and I walked up to him and called his name and it was the sweetest thing ever. As soon as that was done, we were ready to be married!

The ceremony was quick, simple, and so very us. Tony said a prayer just for us and it was just beautiful.

And just like that, WE WERE MARRIED!

Cue “Home” By Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros and let the frolicking photos begin!

Cutting The Cake

After pictures we cut the cake! I would say that we fed each other, but it was more like a cafeteria food fight you’d see in a movie. Just scroll to the end to see those.

Arriving Home

While all of this was happening, my mom, dad, and stepmom were at our house decorating and showering us with gifts, dinner, and champagne! We knew my mom was dropping off dinner. We couldn’t go out for a fancy dinner date because everything was curbside only!! But we had NO idea they were all planning on decorating the crap out of our house! It was the sweetest surprise. There could not have been a more perfect way to come home after such a long day. The aftermath of our wedding looked a lot like two little piggies scarfing food out of a trough, taking one sip of champagne, and then passing out at 9.

Mr. & Mrs. Eppig

We want to thank every single person who helped make this day amazing from start to finish. We have not felt love and support like that in our lifetime. Although we’ve lived together since we were 18 and 19, marriage is truly a commitment that means a lot to us. It’s a decision we never took lightly. In six years of dating, Roman never once made me question his love for me. We’ve spent many years getting to know each other, teaching and learning, loving and fighting, but always choosing one another at the end of the day. I know that for the rest of our lives we will continue to reach obstacles and milestones that define us, and to be able to do that with Roman is so exciting. He’s my best friend, my biggest supporter, my partner in crime, and eventually the father of our children. To finally be in this position together is so rewarding, even if our day to day didn’t change much.

Enjoy these pictures of the best day.

Photographer: Ryleigh Liston (Edited by me)

Officiant: Tony Nicosia

Venue: Friends & neighbors

Cake: Fat Rabbit Cakes

Flowers: Amy Marie Events

Dress: Here & Now Bridal

Suit: H&M

Hair & Makeup: Me!

Announcement Suite: DesignBundles.net user EighteenWeddingStore (Watercolor by me)

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