Katie & Andrew: Pre-Ceremony

DSC_0401, originally uploaded by jermandjessvess.

The bridesmaids work vigorously at fastening each tiny button on the back of Katie's wedding gown.

Katie & Andrew had a beautiful wedding ceremony in Wake Forest, at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. With Andrew in his military attire and Katie in her gorgeous princess-like gown, it seemed like a fairy tale wedding in the historic chapel.



Special thanks to Chi Wang, my second shooter throughout the day's festivities. The rest of the event will be coming soon. Here are some shots of the preparations leading up to the big moment.

i heart brooklyn

brooklyn, originally uploaded by jermandjessvess

I just got back from a week in NY, visiting with my aunt and sisters. I always enjoy myself up there. It's like going to a different world. And that's a nice thing to do sometimes. ;)

I flew up Friday morning with my youngest sister, Rachel, from Roanoke, VA. Friday night we all celebrated (my aunt) Jacquie's 30th birthday (and yes, she's my aunt - not my cousin). The rest of the trip was, of course, spent eating out. This trip we had lots of food from their neighborhood in Carroll Gardens in Brooklyn: ny pizza, take-out chinese, mexican, brunch at a french cafe. And we also hit some restaurants in the city, Landmark being my favorite. We even stopped in at a few bars: at camp we played a few rounds of guitar hero, at another brooklyn establishment we got to play some old school pac-man, and at a sports bar in the city we watched the stanley cup playoffs and battled each other on the Wii. I found it interesting that video games were the main entertainment at each bar we visited.

You can't go to the city without seeing a broadway show. And they are usually pretty pricy. So if you are ever in town and on a budget, but want to hit broadway, I recommend Broadwaybox.com. They have better deals than TKTS and you can print off the coupons and take them right to the box office the day of the show. Anyway, we ended up seeing Mel Brook's Young Frankenstein. Sadly, being such a fan of the movie, I have to say that it was a disappointment. All the punchlines were the same. No new jokes, really. The songs weren't very funny. But I will say that the part of Igor was played very well! And the scenery was amazing. They spared no expense on the sets, that's for sure. But next time, I will fork over the extra money and see Wicked.

My favorite part of the trip was probably taking a trip in the Dance Cab. (Or, so we dubbed it.) You see, in NYC, even visiting a Target store is a major hassle. After waiting at customer service for over an hour for our items, we have to figure out how to get 2 miles home carrying a kitchen microwave cart and a window unit air conditioner. A cab is the only option. So, we walk out of Target with our heavy products and right away a gentleman appears asking if we need a cab and carries our items off to the trunk of his 90s Volvo. I was pretty suspicious. But since we outnumbered him 4-1, I figured we were safe. It ended up being the best cab experience I've had to date. Half way through the trip, he started flipping through the radio stations and landed on "With You" by Chris Brown. And when you are a Dumas/Yeager/Vess, a song cannot come on the radio without dancing and singing to accompany it. So, here we are riding in a cab, singing and dancing all the way home. We also jammed to Mariah Carey's "Touch My Body" and ended with a classic Michael Jackson dance tune. We had a blast. So, if you are ever in NY and a guy in a Volvo wants to give you a ride, you might want to consider it. You never know, it might be the Dance Cab.

We tried to go to a preppy roof party, but we didn't make it in time. Unfortunately, we still had to walk around the city dressed preppy for no reason. Ha.



Poor Rachel ended up catching mono somehow, so she was sick for much of the trip. So, we didn't do a ton of sight-seeing. But it's always fun to see my sisters and aunt, no matter what we're doing!!!