After some crazy miscommunication and a little bit of panicking (we were almost an hour behind schedule!), we all piled in to a few cars (photographer and videographer in the back of the SUV – totally illegal), and made it to the Public Gardens.

Love the reflection in this shot

The second “oops” was that, because there was no parking, one of our ushers had to stay by the double-parked car, and thus missed out on all the garden shots. We had 3 groomsmen/ushers, and then 2 regular ushers, so he wasn’t standing up with Hydrangea Dude as part of the official wedding party, but we still wish he had been in some of the shots with all the men. This is where we wished we had better planned for a friend NOT part of the wedding to be available to drive/monitor cars during the Public Gardens photo shoot. Lesson learned: plan all transportation – timing, who will be there, etc. We treated transportation as an afterthought since our entire wedding was all in once place (except the photos).

The rest of the time in the Public Gardens was great. We got lots of great shots, from all over the park, and all the passer-bys congratulated us, took our pictures, and wished us well. It was like we were famous! It was so much fun, and the pictures couldn’t have come out better! We did photos with our wedding party and immediate family. We somehow got through all the important shots, at about 4 different locations within the park, with about 20 people (including 4 kids) in a little over an hour. We totally made up the time and got all the shots we wanted! Warning – I posted a ton of photos!

Outside the Public Garden

First group photo location, in front of fountain:

The Bridesmaids and me

Hydrangea Dude with his sister (the groomslady), Best man, groomsmen, and ring bearer

Us with all the men (this is where our other Usher should have been in the photo!)

Second Group Photo Location:  In front of pond. This area was fun because we had Swan boats driving by us and people were waving and shouting congratulations to us.

Our immediate famillies: My brother and mother, us, his parents and sister

Our wedding party jumping for joy!

The kiddos – too cute!

The Junior Usher, Ring bearer, and flower girls - aren't they the cutest?

Just us:

On the bridge

An archway of foliage

Kissing under the Willow Tree

My favorite photo:

This one is my absolute favorite!

One little tidbit from that part of the day that I have to brag about: There were about 5 other brides taking pictures in the park that afternoon. As we were walking to another photo location, two girls passed us and they commented that they liked my dress a lot better than one of the other brides who they had just passed! I did a little fist pump in my head. Score one for me and the Filene’s Basement Running of the Brides!

After we headed back, we took a few more photos in front of the hotel, and then Hydrangea Dude and I went our separate ways until meeting up again at the altar.

Who are those crazy kids in the middle of the street in Downtown Boston?

Up next: The Ceremony