Bride Pulls Prank on Groom for 'First Look' Photos, Sends Brother in Dress Instead
Your wedding day is supposed to be one of the happiest days of your life. Filled with warm memories and lots of cake, a wedding is meant to mark the beginning of “happily ever after.”
But not everything always goes as planned. Couples spend months preparing for the big day, only to find out the flowers weren’t delivered or the rings have been misplaced.
There are plenty of things that can cause hiccups leading up to the ceremony. Often someone gets nervous. After all, everyone’s eyes are on you and the one you’re about to wed.
Nerves can turn a bliss-filled day into one that can’t end soon enough. And this is exactly what happened to Arizona groom, Val Zherelyev.
Val’s bride, Heidi, noticed her husband-to-be was “a ball of nerves.”
“His palms were sweaty. He was trembling,” the bride shared.
That’s when she and her friend, Chelsea, decided to play a prank on Val. Heidi hoped it would calm her groom’s jitters, and maybe even make him laugh.
Nichole Cline of KevinChole Photography was all for the idea. Wedding day photos come once in a lifetime, and Cline wanted to capture those photos with an at-ease groom.
“The dress fades, the cake is eaten, the flowers die. I love what I do,” Cline explained. “Those moments are frozen in time and that lasts a lifetime.”
So the ladies went to work, but the prank wouldn’t be complete without Heidi’s brother, Eric. The first-look photo moment was fast approaching, but Heidi would not be the one greeting Val.
Not yet, anyway. Instead, she and Chelsea sent Eric down to meet the groom. To make the prank even funnier, they dressed Eric in Chelsea’s old wedding dress.
“When we were zipping him up, everyone was laughing,” Heidi shared. I’d be laughing too if it were my brother.”
Thankfully, Val found it funny too. When he found Eric in Heidi’s place, he couldn’t help but loosen up and crack a wide grin.
“He was already smiling when we did the actual first look. We were able to have a very intimate, special moment because he wasn’t so nervous,” the bride said.
Their photos together are stunning, and it’s obvious Val’s nerves had vanished. The two shared a perfect day at The Gathering Place in Pinetop, Arizona.
As for the photos, I’m sure the newlyweds won’t soon forget the hilarity that led up to those special moments between just the two of them.
Just as Cline hoped, these frozen memories will last a lifetime. Congratulations, Heidi and Val. And Eric? Props for being a good sport on your sister’s big day.
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