Hello ladies! Some of you may remember me; if you don't that's okay, I've been gone awhile! I was originally planning a June 2012 wedding but the army disagreed with our plans so we changed the date. We planned a wedding in 10 days and got married on December 28, 2011. I'm so happy with it! I don't have pro pics yet, but I will later so I will share those when they come. We got married in MI (we live in CO) where my sister lives, and she was my coordinator. SUCH a lifesaver! She did everything. We got married at a small chapel which had three huge stained glass windows. My mother walked me down the aisle, my sister was my maid of honor, my brother in law carried my 6 month old nephew as my ringbearer, Greg's brother was our accompanyist as I walked down the aisle (Pachelbel's Canon) and Greg's best man, his sister videotaped the ceremony, his dad officiated, and both his parents sang "From This Moment" (Shania Twain) during the ceremony. The only other people there were his two grandmothers.
My favorite part was something we integrated into the ceremony. We purchased Bibles for each other before the wedding, and we composed our own vows and wrote them in the covers of the Bibles. During the ceremony I read my vow from his Bible and he read his vow from my Bible. Afterwards we had something we each said about how knowing and following Jesus' words is building a foundation of stone, so in order that our marriage be built on a strong foundation we are exchanging these Bibles and charging each other to stay strong in God's word. We got the same versions, so now while he's overseas we can open our Bible and see what the other person promised to us as well as read God's promises, and if we send references to each other we know we'll be reading the exact same words.
He wore his dress blues, which was especially meaningful to me since the military had a big say in when our wedding day was! He's so handsome.
I had already chosen and purchased my gown; we just had to rush alterations. Greg said I looked beautiful, so it was perfect.
This is one of my favorite pictures. This is my ring bearer and his daddy (BIL). Behind me you can see Greg's big smile, and behind all of us there's my mom looking gorgeous and my new in-laws. Look - everyone has huge smiles. That's why it's perfect!
My sister decorated the dance studio for our little reception. We had to have at least a few dances! Our song was "Faithfully" by Journey. The cupcake tree is compliments of my boss, haha. The cupcakes are in our colors, red and lilac, with red roses reminiscent of Beauty and the Beast. There are little Butterfly picks in each one to bring through my original butterfly theme, even in the dead of winter.
Sharing our wedding "cake".... there was so much frosting!
I love this too! My sister and I used to do civil war dancing with our friends. During the reception we taught my new brother and sister, and my sister's sibling-in-laws, to do the Virginia Reel! Haha. It was hard in my big gown but a fun memory. On the girl's side, the closest on is my SIL, then my sister's SIL, then my sister. In the middle is my BIL and I. On the other side the closest one is my sister's BIL, then her husband, then my Greg.
A lot of things were not as I'd imagined - I didn't have time to get fit or tone up at all, so being at my all time heaviest weight I felt flabby and un-pretty. It was kind of hard to have a party mood with 15-20 people (my sister's in laws came to the reception but not ceremony) so it was a short and calm reception. I wasn't planning on my dad walking me down the aisle but I ended up not inviting him at all because 15 people was just not a big enough crowd to drown out the animosity between him and the rest of my family and I didn't want him to poison the waters. The conversation I had with him over instant message before the wedding confirmed I wouldn't want him there on my special day, but that is so sad and makes my heart hurt. We had two nights at a bed and breakfast instead of a week in Hawaii. I didn't have time to even get excited hardly because there was so much rush and uncertainty and craziness!
But I didn't regret anything at all and it is a beautiful day in my memory. I want to encourage each of you that your wedding day isn't going to be ruined if you can't tone up that trouble spot or if the cake is the wrong color or if you don't get the venue you want. Heck, I never even saw our venue until rehearsal! Haha. Truely, the important part is the meaning of the day. Ours was so beautiful and meaningful to me. We are so happy together and I love being married to this man. Every day I think of something that makes me more grateful that we are together. As his deployment comes in the next few months (and a month of training pretty soon where I won't get to visit) I'm going to miss him terribly but I'm so glad that we get to spend this time as husband and wife and strengthen our bond that way instead of waiting until he gets back.
