there's a reason she smiles so broadly...

she's getting married!

no... this is not me.

it's my twin sister, angela.

remember her?

she's the one i write about from time to time...

or whose sweet little chihuahuas i have blogged about before...

or whose place is so gorgeous that i love to take photos of it and post them...

or who i have written happy birthday posts to every year...

or who i have collaborated with in photography over the years since i have been blogging.

and at thirty-nine, she is happily engaged to a man

that i am excited to meet this coming monday!

they met a while back,

and though he lives in nashville,

they have come to know each other through the wonders of skype

and travel

and letters.

and they found each other to be THE ONE,

so they just couldn't wait any longer,

and now they are getting married!
{they got engaged just a couple weeks ago.}

i have to admit,

i had a really difficult time with it at first.

of course, i was so happy for her.

but with baby-b just one month away from being born

and her possibly getting married just a few months later...

and not only that, but moving to nashville, too...

i was feeling sad... like she was going to miss out on the life
of my first {and possibly only} child.

plus, i knew how busy and overwhelmed i would be

with the last month of pregnancy

and the first few months of raising a newborn...

especially at my age after never having done it.

and i though that might keep me from being involved

in the planning and celebrating of her wedding/marriage

like i would like to be if i wasn't pregnant and about to have this baby.

just as i have waited for so long to have this baby,

she has waited for so long for the right man to come along.

but if she has waited that long,

that means, i too, have waited so long with her... for her.

it's a big deal to me, and i wanted to be a big part of it.

when i got married ten and a half years ago,

she was my one and only bridesmaid... my maid of honor.

we were a lot closer than,

and i was thrilled to have her be such a big part of it all.

she threw me the most beautiful wedding/bridal showers

and stood up for me in the most beautiful dress.

i will get to be her matron of honor.

and i plan to help throw her a beautiful shower.

and i have already begun to take part in the helping/planning

{which the photos below will show},

including doing some internet research/planning and info gathering for her

while she is busy at her full-time job.

but i must admit,

i am overwhelmed at all that i currently have to do in my own life,

and how much life will change when the baby comes...

so much so, that the whole time she is planning this wedding event,

i will be tied up with a new baby and just getting through

that initial adjustment period.

perhaps if it were twenty years ago,

i might not be so concerned.

but at almost forty years old,

i wonder where i will find the energy for it all.

so, as you can see, i had a hard time at first

grappling with the timing of it all.

so i prayed and asked God to help me not be bitter

or skeptical

or even questioning of His timing.

He knows best.

and this is her time.

so after not making it last saturday to the bridal boutique

to look at wedding dresses with her

because of my own difficulty in swallowing the pill of this news,

i finally came around by monday,

and i drove out to surprise her at work.

she was so glad to see me, and i her.

we left her work early

after a nice engagement celebration luncheon that some of her employees threw for her

and drove to the bridal boutique that she went to on saturday.

since i am so large and it is awkward for me to get around like i used to,

i have not been seen much lately with my big bulky camera in hand

like i always was pre-pregnancy.

and thus, i did not have my camera with me on monday.

i wish i had.

but you know what?

with the wonders of photoshop actions,

sometimes you can even make plain old disposable camera photos look lovely.

{or as lovely as possible...}

so i was happy when i learned that my sister had a disposable camera with her.

i took the shots below of her in the dresses she tried on.

and i must say, when she tried on this first dress

tears formed in my eyes.

this was going to be "THE DRESS".

but then i convinced her to think twice or more about it

and try on some other dresses.

so she did.

like this one.

she had tried it on last saturday when i was not there, too.

but it didn't make it into her top picks.

i adore this one

and as we talked about it more,

it began to grow on her more than the first time.

i'm not saying it's "the one"...

in fact, she's already found another dress online

that is completely different from these.

and i know how these things go...

one of two ways.

she'll either go back to her "first love"...

the dress she first fell in love with...

after trying on many, many more.

or, she will try on many more and anguish over the choices

{which i can see being the case

because she has such a beautiful figure

that she looks good in every single style dress she puts on}

and then finally make a choice on a dress

far from the original one she fell in love with.

either way, she can't go wrong.

we had so much fun,

and i enjoyed doing something that i have waited to do with her for years.

i marveled at how God has brought us both

our heart's desires in 2011

and has been gracious and merciful to us both.

this girl and i... we have been through a lot.

we have had many hardships in our relationship...

some brought on by ourselves...

some just because of the nature of being so close as twins...

unlike any other sibling relationship.
some because somewhere along the line, we grew apart... or different.

i truly am sad that she will be moving to nashville...

and a little jealous...

if you have been reading here for a while,

you know how long i have wanted to live there.

but i will try my best to revel in this time left

that i have her here... baby or no baby.

i just pray she is not too busy with wedding planning

and getting ready to move severals states away

to enjoy the first few months of her new niece or nephew.

that would make me sad.


after dress shopping,
we stopped at the starbucks next door
and sat out in the sidewalk cafe to sip iced coffees
and talk of all things wedding.
{with a little baby stuff thrown in there, too}


then we drove to the walgreens in between the coffee shop and wedding boutique
and took the last few shots on the camera while sitting in my car
so we could use it up and take it in to have them processed.
who says you can't get good memories from a disposable camera?
in fact, there will probably be many of these very cameras
at the wedding for guests to use, as is often the case.
and you can be sure i will have my camera, too.
it'll be a sight... baby in one arm,
camera in the other.
=)

anyway, congrats, miss angela... bride-to-be!

marriage is not easy.

even the easiest of marriages are work.

they are commitment to the nth degree.

take it from a "veteran".

=)

but i trust you will know that from the examples you have had in your life.

and i trust that you and r. will work as much as it takes

to have a great marriage.

i'm SO happy for you!

CONGRATULATIONS!

{looking forward to seeing you walk down that aisle.}

love,

"jugular vein"