The bad part about doing bridal portraits is the agony of waiting to post them until after the wedding! Ahh…I can finally post these of this GORGEOUS bride. If you’re interested, I have to tell you a little story about this one. Warning: this is mushy.

So, when we did their engagement session back in September, I had lots of fun. They are young and sweet and high school sweethearts, just like my husband and I are. I had a blast, and it was fun to reminisce about when we were getting married at 21 years old. Fast forward to beautiful Olivia’s bridal session in January. The second I saw her, I instantly thought of my daughter. Olivia’s grace and loveliness and youth overwhelmed me and sorta smacked me in the face.

Hello, I’m not 21 and getting married. I’m 35 and a mom and far closer to being the M.O.B.

I couldn’t help but think that my own precious baby will be in her own wedding dress far too soon. As I was working on a silly post about my daughter’s haircut last night on our family blog after shooting the wedding this weekend, it finally dawned on me why I’ve been emotional since January about Birdie growing up (I was sort of worried that it was pre-menopausal hormones. Scary, right?!) That’s when we did these pictures. This beautiful young lady before me reminded me that my own baby’s childhood is fleeting. I’m worried that I’ll blink and we’ll be at her wedding.

Olivia, I only hope that she’ll be as graceful and ladylike and as sweet as you. Your parents truly must be so proud of you; again, I got teary-eyed when I took a picture of them dancing watching you both at the reception. Sheesh. I can’t even talk about it. Thank you for sharing such special moments with me, and sorry for being overly emotional. You, too, will be 35 one day.