My Wedding Day and What I Learned From It
Since my and my husband’s anniversary has just passed, I thought I’d share about our beautiful wedding day 2 years ago.
April 25th, 2015 was destined to be a momentus day. First, Nicolas and I chose that to be our wedding date. Second, the weather stations were calling for thunderstorms resulting in tornadoes all day. Needless to say our whole church was praying for divine intervention!
I awoke apprehensively that morning and immediately went to check on the weather. I saw a foggy morning, but no rain. As the day wore on, it turned beautiful. The only issue was the grass was wet when we took pictures after the ceremony and my dress got mud on the hem (making memories!). But it was an absolutely perfect day, with the sun shining brightly between the clouds, the warm April air breezing on by as we got ready to walk in the sanctuary, and smiles all around.
Nicolas and I had been preparing for months for this day, and it was finally here. Unlike most wedding days where everyone is busy getting dressed and taking pictures, we were getting our reception area decorated. It would have been an extra couple hundred dollars that none of us had by that point, so instead of paying for 2 days for the reception hall (that would’ve given us another day to decorate) we payed for 1 and did it the day of. Needless to say we barely made it to the church by 2 o’clock.
But we did! Poofy dress and all, and with no wardrobe malfunctions! It’s funny how, when looking back, it seemed so chaotic at times, with no direction, no seeming beginning or ending of any moment but all just running together so quickly as if the day had to end in a hurry before it really even began. Often when I think of our wedding day, and even honeymoon, I see blurry images as if we were moving so fast through it all that when my mind went to snap photos, all I got when they developed was streaks of colors on the paper. Thankfully a member of our church video taped our ceremony and we were able to go back and watch it and remember how we felt and what we were thinking during the whole of it.
The ceremony wasn’t perfect. The processional song for the family, which was “In Moments Like These”, ended up being played for my bridal party as well, which wasn’t planned. My sister, who was my Maid of Honor, did get the song “A Thousand Years” performed by the Piano Guys for her 30 second walk, but it worked out because it sounded as though I wanted to make her walk toward the altar different from everyone else’s. My song was “You Are My All In All”. Actually, looking back, I’m glad “A Thousand Years” wasn’t played much. The other two songs were spiritual and it would’ve taken away from that aspect of the ceremony. God knows what He’s doing!
Our candle lighting song, “The Prayer”, was supposed to play through its entirety. Our sound person ended the song about 15 seconds after we had got back to the platform – I am pretty sure I gave him the look of death about that during the ceremony, but it ended up ok. I’m not one to have things drawn out with lots of attention on me anyway.
My daddy gave me away after the most beautiful and moving speech I’ve ever heard. He described me as a child and then growing up into a young woman. He described the change he and my mother noticed in me. Where once I was content with their presence, I began to long for a different sort of companionship. He described the change in me again after I met Nicolas, and the glow on my face when I told my parents about him. He described the changes in me when he moved from Texas and I would pace the floors waiting on him to pick me up for church or for a date. And then he described Nicolas, and that not only was he the man of my dreams, but the man of my mother and my father’s dreams for me. I’m telling you, there wasn’t a dry eye in the place, including my photographer’s.
The pastor who married us did a beautiful job describing marriage, describing the first marriage, our marriage, and the ring ceremony. He took our rings and made a circle, from me, to him, to Nicolas, and vice versa to represent that the unity and commitment of marriage involves not only me and my husband but God as well. We made our vows that day to commit to each other through thick and thin, to love one another on the mountain and in the valleys, to pray for each other, walk beside each other, help each other, and serve the Lord together. Sometimes looking back on it, I wonder if we didn’t have more of a church service than a marriage ceremony. It was powerful and I don’t think anyone who heard the message wasn’t moved to examine themselves in their life with God, married or not.
When we were pronounced “Man and Wife”, the exuberant joy I felt kissing my Nicolas for the first time as his wife and him as my husband is uncomparable to any earthly joy I’ve had thus far. It’s truly an amazing thing, especially knowing you’re in God’s will for your life. Leaving on a happy note (literally) to “Dancing Cheek to Cheek”, we all headed outside to take some pictures. Following are just some of my favorites!
Our reception was held in Chickamauga at the Gordon Lee Mansion, in a little building that greatly resembled a church on the inside. Our food was from Thatcher’s BBQ, which is a little shack off of Highway 41 with the best customer service and the BEST BBQ for your money! It is so delicious that my cousin used them in her wedding as well. Our cake was made by a coworker at the time and was yummy! We had cheesecake with various toppings for Nicolas’s Groom’s Cake. We also served ice cream, which is Nicolas’s absolute favorite dessert of all time. I’ll be honest, I didn’t eat much. I think we ended up stopping at McDonald’s once we started towards Gatlinburg. There was too much to do to eat, with visiting each table (which I don’t think I got a chance to see everyone), cutting the cake, drinking the sparkling grape juice, taking more pictures, bouquet toss, frisbee toss (we opted for a frisbee instead of the garter), and more pictures with friends!
The below pictures make me laugh because of how hard the girls were trying to get the bouquet and how much the boys were trying to be disinterested in catching the frisbee!
Perhaps the real life pictures, those moments captured without anyone knowing are my favorite. They share the true emotions and moments that I didn’t get to witness because I was so busy with everything. I am so so glad that my photographer captured these types of pictures rather than just sticking to the usual pose pictures.
My beautiful girls were in the Night At Paris dress from Dainty Jewell’s (daintyjewells.com). This dress was gorgeous on every girl – and they were all different shapes and sizes! I loved the delicate lace, the modest neckline, and the paste blush color that somehow complimented all of their coloring.
My dress I bought from Prado, a beautiful ivory tulle and lace dress, with corset bodice and sweetheart neckline. Since I did want to be modest, I had the dress altered – my sweetheart neckline was filled in with lace from the cap sleeve tulle jacket that came with the dress. This made the dress look completely different to me, but even more beautiful! I ordered my jacket through eBay and thankfully it matched perfectly (even though it was tiny)! My veil I also bought from Prado. I definitely wanted to be traditional, so I got one that would cover my face. I love traditions, and this is one I always wanted to do since I was a little girl. Hilariously enough- I forgot to take down my train from the bustle for our after reception pictures! Ah! My train was absolutely gorgeous, and I hate that I forgot that. But oh well! I can still go look at my dress any time I want! 🙂
Was my wedding perfect? No. Would I make some changes if I could do it again? Yes. Am I happily married despite all of the setbacks? Yes! This is what I’ve learned from this wedding:
- Roll with it. Nothing’s going to be perfect unless you have hired someone. If it’s a diy wedding, then just roll with it as you go! It’ll all work out in the end.
- Take LOTS of pictures before the wedding. This not only saves on time but also on your sanity. Plus, you aren’t worried about taking pictures later!
- Do whatever you want. It’s YOUR (in this case MY) wedding. Do what You want to do. Don’t worry about everyone else’s opinion or competing with anyone else’s wedding. In the end, ask yourself if you are the one who’s happy about everything?
- Meet and greet EVERYONE. I know several family members I wasn’t able to say hello to that let me know about it later. Make time for your guests! They traveled to see you, so make sure you at least let them know you appreciate that effort!
- Eat. By golly if you pay for the food, then eat it! At least get a take home plate you can have on the way to the honeymoon!
- Enjoy it! The actual ceremony went by so fast. I was so nervous the first half of the thing that I couldn’t enjoy it. By the time I settled down, we were headed out the door. Take a moment to breathe, look around, and thank God for His blessing this day.
I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! God bless you!