Our Wedding: The Ceremony

Posted on December 14th, 2010 by Tonia 4 Comments

All photos were taken by Joe Dickie of Generation Photography and should not be stolen off my blog!!  I will hunt you down!!!

Leading up to the wedding, I will admit that I was mostly excited about the party aspect of the whole deal.  In our planning, we focused heavily on the reception and left some of the ceremony details until the last minute {it was still very thought out & came together perfectly, though.}  We’re party people, it’s in our blood, I’m sorry!  However, as it turned out, the ceremony was actually my favorite part of the day. 

It was a fairly chilly day at first, but at exactly 2:30 PM when the ceremony was scheduled to start, the wind died down, the clouds rolled away, and the sun became warm and delightful.  It sounds crazy, but literally the change in weather happened the minute I walked out my cabin door with my dad to head down to the ceremony!

I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was outside…after weeks of obsessively checking weather.com, it was such a relief to know Grandma wasn’t going to freeze!  If you’re thinking the sunshine was Divine intervention, I’d have to say I completely agree.

Babes!!!  Their different colored tights and shoes make me happy.

Look at Mike’s mom’s beautiful dark red hair.  Fingers crossed that our kids get that.  Mike’s dad is an artist and he drew a beautiful oak tree on our programs, which our Junior Bridesmaids Clare and Libby {two of my younger cousins} handed out as people arrived.  Their pretty silk dresses were made by Clare’s mom!

My cousin Maggie played her flute as people were being seated by the ushers {two long-time friends of ours who both traveled from very far away for our wedding.}

Emma needed a little encouragement to get down the aisle due to some last-minute shyness, so Libby walked with her.  Emma remembered her job to toss the rose petals {collected and dried by my mom and her three close friends} and totally stole the show with her crazy cuteness.

Poppy looked amazing.  He walked me down the aisle to “Don’t Be Shy” by Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam, played and sung by some very close friends of ours.  I’m definitely one of those girls who has been dreaming of this exact moment for years.  And it was better than I ever imagined it would be.

Whether you’re a spiritual person or not, and no matter what religion you identify with, there’s no denying the powerful feeling of love- human and Divine- that encompassed us all during that hour.  God, nature, our guests…we were all connected…united in the emotion of the moment.  I’m usually a person of easy, plentiful words…but there’s no way to describe what happened there.  I feel so blessed, humbled, and grateful that of all the people in the world, God chose Mike and I to be together, and surrounded us with this amazing support system of wonderful people.  Neither of us deserved this perfect day, or His authentic and holy love…but we were given it anyway.

Our long-time Pastor and friend, Tim, married us.  Because he knows both Mike and me very well, the words he spoke had deep and intimate meaning to us.  He told the story of the upper room, which teaches of loyalty, friendship, and selflessness {three elements we wish our marriage to have}, while we washed each others feet.  The pitcher we kept the water in was handmade by close friends.

Look at our beautiful friends and family…everyone has that end-of-summer glow.

WE DID IT!!!!  Woooooah!!!  Married!!!!  Time to hug everyone…

And now on to the party!!!  If I can just stop crying long enough to continue…

4 Comments

  1. I enjoyed everything, even the potluck dinner. Did you ask people what to bring for that? I would like to see a picture of your hair with those flowers. I would also like to know how you made those flower hair pins too.

    Thanks!

  2. I love your blog, it´s AWESOME!!!i´m come back again!!

  3. […] unpacking all our belongings and finding spots for them in our new home, unwrapping and cherishing our wedding gifts, visiting with old friends and making new friends in our new town, and sitting cozily around […]

  4. […] so much has happened since we said our vows under the cedar arbor you made. That arbor now stands rooted out in our back field. We planted […]

Leave a Reply