Erin + Derek are married!!! (THE REAL DEAL HOLYFIELD)

Okay, so for this story, anytime you see the words, "holla," "holler" or anything that resembles them, you must imagine it either being said with an echo, orrrr said quickly and repeatedly (i.e. "holla" becomes "hollahollahollahollaholla") because although Missy Elliot isn't as popular as she was when she coined that phrase (I think it's because she abandoned that big huge black trash bag outfit), and Dave Chappelle has been jaded by the fortune and the fame, but didn't completely fall prey to the game, they have transformed a rather ordinary word into quite the opposite.

But I slightly digress.

The night Derek and Erin met, they were both dead set on not going out. Erin's cousins dragged her out of the house. Meanwhile, Derek also was dragged out of the house by his friends and ended up in the same spot that evening, a hole in the wall (as my father would say) in downtown Baltimore.

When Erin first laid eyes on Derek, she was like "HOLLLLLLLLLAAAAA," (in her mind), but alas, she was out with a few friends, and one of them happened to know Derek. Said friend walked up to Derek (with Erin in tow) and said his hellos, and Derek replied by saying 'I think this girl (Erin!) is trying to holla (hollahollaholla) at me.' The friend took the hint and kept it movin.

After a memorable night of laughter at the docks in Fell's Point in picturesque Baltimore, Erin felt the HOLLLLLAAAA explode in her heart, and the rest was history. Two years later, in that same spot on the docks in Fell's Point, Derek fell to one knee and popped the question.

Erin is really in touch with nature, so the venue, Celebrations at the Bay, in Pasadena, was a no-brainer. With the foamy Chesapeake water licking the porous black rocks and the GORGEOUS sunset we were blessed to have towards the end of the night, we were in landscape heaven.

Did I mention that Erin's a creative GENIUS? She put her personal touch on everything, from the wedding favors, to the starfish the Ring Bearer held, to the shells that lined the walkway to the altar, everything had a seascape theme to it.

Val and I took about 50 GRILLION photos, as usual, which is why it's taken me so long to whittle it down. I'm toying with a different slideshow software, so I'm sure if i get frustrated enough I'll go back to my old trusty one :)

Anyway, onto the photos!

Erin's father passed away when she was a baby, and he was in the military, so Erin tucked his dogtag into her bouquet, and wore her mother's pearls:



Since this was a family affair, we had to get all the ladies' dresses in one shot.



Fly shoes for a fly girl!



Macayla had some fly shoes as well :)



Val and I went CRAZY with the makeup photos, as you can see:



Val is AWESOME:



Mom what's going on?



QUITE the arsenal:



Another favorite:



The makeup artist brought out Erin's natural beauty, and her reaction once she got a look of herself in the mirror was PRICELESS:





Nerves:



He's going to be a HEARTBREAKER:



Maddy was anxious to get the show on the road!





Like I said, this was more of a coming together as a family, so the whole family poured unity sand into a vessel to symbolize it. Derek's holding Macayla, and partially hidden behind the awning, and I feared that I would plunge into the Chesapeake if I took one more step (I was balancing on a rock for this shot!)



HOLLLLLLAAAAAAA!!!



At the end of the ceremony, they released some lovey-doves into the air:





Bubbles are GREAT:



Beautiful layout in the reception area:





Okay! The food. Shut. The. Front. Door.

Erin reserved a spot for me and Val at a table with the guests (she even made placecards for us, which I will keep forever and ever in my backpack :), and we got our GRUB on. Lobster tails were DELICIOUS!

GORGEOUS cake:



SERIOUS BLING:





The sunset was GORRRRRRRGEOUS:







:)



Val and I were lucky to meet both Erin and Derek at Evelyn and Tim's wedding, and I can honestly say, the love they have for each other and their girls (Maddy and Macayla) is so beautiful. We felt SOOOOOOO honored to be a part of your special day!

The slideshow is HERE


hollahollahollaholla (I couldn't RESIST)

Posted by Marlene at 8:50 PM 1 Comments