Anthony and Marta's chilly May wedding is one that will go in the books for me. There are usually one or two things that go wrong on a wedding day, but for the most part, they're minor details that you just kind of say, "oh, that kind of stinks, but oh well" about and move on with the day. But what happens when your party bus is an hour late?!?! Read on to find out!

Marrrrrtaaaaa!! I can't get over how cute you are!!!

Oh man, you guys, this first look...

So here's what happened: After 30 minutes of waiting in the hotel lobby, we found out the transportation was going to be an hour late to pick us up from the hotel. By the time the bus would have gotten to us, we wouldn't have had any portrait time. None. Zilch. Well, NOT IN MY HOUSE, my friends. We came up with a quick Plan B with the videographers (Brian and Molly from Barrett Videography) to take Anthony and Marta in one of our vehicles to the portrait location while the rest of the wedding party waited for the bus. The downside was that we had already lost time waiting the initial 30 minutes, which meant we would only have 10-15 minutes for the full wedding party pictures. The plus side? I had about 30 minutes of alone time with Anthony and Marta, which is actually more than I get at a typical wedding! And I can't really complain about that! Also, A&M are pretty much the best kind of people in existence and were so wonderful about the whole situation. This is something that really could have put a damper on things, but they didn't miss a beat! I mean, look at them!

Once the wedding party showed up, we had to kick it into high gear and make the most of those 10-15 minutes. Not to brag or anything (okay, I definitely mean to brag), but am I good, or AM I GOOD? SHABAM! ;) If I'm being completely honest, though, this whole group was incredible and for all my experience with crunched time, if we weren't all on the same team, these images wouldn't have happened. They love Anthony and Marta so much and really banded together to make these images in record time. Thank you all for your amazingness!!! Virtual hugs and fist bumps to all!!

After a few deep breaths, it was time to get our wedding on!

A&M had a reverse candle ceremony. With that, everyone in the congregation gets a candle. After the bride and groom light their unity candle, they walk down the aisle lighting the candle of each person at the end of the each row, who then light the candle of the person next to them, and so on until every candle in the congregation is lit. It added such a romantic element to their wedding, and was a sweet way to allow their family and friends be a part of their ceremony.

Boom! Married!

After the ceremony we headed over to Onion Pub and Brewery and thankfully had a few minutes to grab a couple more wedding party pictures before heading in to the reception.

Anthony's sister Christina (great name, btw ;) ) gave a beautiful speech that had all of us in tears.

The dance floor was soooooo much fun!! Here's just a sampling of the festivities (including some Greek dancing!)!!

Anthony and Marta, thanks for rolling with the punches! Congrats again, and blessing to you both!

Big thanks to Gisselle for her second shooting skillz once again, and for grabbing some behind the scenes images!

Hair & Makeup: Total Image Bridal

Florist: Mayfield Flowers

Wedding Dress: David's Bridal

Bridesmaid's Dress: Bill Levkoff from Catherine Simms Bridal

Suits: Men's Warehouse

Getting Ready: Hampton Inn & Suites

Ceremony Location: Cary United Methodist Church

Reception Location: Onion Pub and Brewery

DJ: Alan Robb, Accent Events

Videographer: Barrett Videography

Invitations: Made by bride and her sister

Favorite wedding day memory:

Anthony: My favorite part of the wedding day memory was leaving the church and being bombarded with the cheers of friends and family, and maybe some aggressive bubble blowing by some...I had not actually looked at who was in attendance during the ceremony as I had my eyes fixed on my (now) wife! It was almost a shock to see many of the people I care about all in celebration for our newly minted marriage.

Marta: It's hard to pick just one favorite memory! I loved walking down the aisle and seeing Anthony's expression. It was such a sweet moment and unexpected for me because I thought we got all our tears out when we did our first look!

Is there anything you would have done differently?

Anthony: Danced more with my wife!

Marta: Danced more with my husband! I got so caught up with getting around to all our guests that we only ended up dancing just a few times during the night. Other than that, I'd say it was a perfect day!

Best piece of advice for brides and grooms?

Anthony: For the grooms (if they read this) would be to get involved more. There was so much stress on my wife and for a while I did not pick up the weight off her shoulders, mostly because I didn't know how. I figured out by just picking whole categories of things to handle helped. Although my contribution was a drop in the bucket to the amount of planning my wife did, it did help. Also by helping it got me even more excited for the day. Along with general planning, I did a woodworking project that I think turned out well which was really fun and I would recommend for people to do crafts if they have the time.

Marta: It's easy to get caught up in all the details of wedding planning and making sure everything is perfect and that everyone is happy, but I'd say pick a few details that are really important to both of you and focus on making those few things really special and personal to you two as a couple.

Where did you go on your honeymoon?

Buenos Aires and Mendoza, Argentina. It was fall (since it's in the southern hemisphere) and the leaves had started to turn. Buenos Aires felt like a European city with opulent buildings and Italian styled architecture. We went to a few art museums, toured a lighthouse inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy, went to a Tango show (with horses, fire, and a quadruple accordion battle), went to an opera that the president was at, and ate lots of steak and drank a lot of wine. We spent a few days in Mendoza which is seated at the foothills of the Andes Mountain range, and it is wine country. Any Malbec you have drank probably comes from this region, and there is this interesting dichotomy between historic and new vineyards. We went on a wine tour and it was one of the most beautiful places either of us had ever experienced.

Final Reflections:

Anthony: Try to sleep more before the wedding. If your transportation is an hour late, you can count on Chrissy to have thought of another plan before it becomes a fiasco! :-)

Marta: Enjoy every moment of the day. It goes by way too quickly! I only wish there were more hours in the day so we could've celebrated for longer!

Onion Pub and Brewery Wedding Photography | Anthony & Marta