Since the wedding, Aaron and I have had several conversations. And, in every conversation, we go back to the same topic: how thankful my husband and I are that Aaron convinced us early on to take our pictures prior to the ceremony.

You see, I have a touch of OCD. I am a touch organized and had already prepared myself for having things not go quite as planned on the day of my wedding. What I did not expect was that I would be running late!

But I was running late for the “First Look” session that my husband, Aaron and I had arranged at the time of our booking. When I was through getting ready, my husband was in the bar of our hotel with his friends having a drink to “get the jitters out”. We decided (through Aaron) to meet there, so Aaron cleared the rest of the guys away before I came down. My husband was waiting for me at the hotel bar (it’s more romantic than it sounds, really). I tapped his shoulder. He turned to look at his future wife for the first time, and our moment then and for the few minutes after that will lie in my heart forever. It was the first time that day that either of us had a chance to just relax and take it all in. We were about to become husband and wife, and we had waited so long for this day.

The one fear that I had from the beginning was that it would all be just so surreal. And, honestly, everything after the ceremony truly is a blur. But I was “there” for everything prior to that, which I owe completely to Aaron and his advice about our “First Look”.