And I need you more than ever.
And if you only hold me tight,
Then we'll be holdin' on for ever.
"You weren't kidding!"
These are the sounds that woke me up at 3:10 a.m. on my wedding day. Before we had gone to sleep, I told the girls what I use as my ringtone. When it went off, Kate voiced her belief, only after she heard it for herself. :)
I ran (well, stumbled) up to Mrs. Darlene's hotel room with Emily, finding that my mom and Liz had beat me there. The beautification began as Emily brewed coffee for us- an obvious necessity. Though at such an unusual hour, getting pampered by Mrs. Darlene and Anna was quite relaxing! After my mom and I were ready, the beautifiers headed down to the girls' room to get everyone else fixed up. In the meanwhile, Liz took me down to the hotel lobby to take some shots of me.
Here's a nice wedding memory.
A man who looked to be in his late 50s or early 60s walked up to Liz and me in the lobby and struck up a conversation about our wedding. Thinking that this may be a relative of Caleb's, I gave up more information than I should have about where the ceremony was to be held. (Looking back, I know very well every guest we invited. I wasn't thinking so clearly). The man asks, "Where's your ol' man?" "He's getting ready, I guess," I offered. "Well I'd like to bring him a gift at the ceremony. It's all right if I come, isn't it?"
"Uhhhhhh......" is all I could come up with.
"Actually, she's having a private ceremony. But I could meet you beforehand and get your gift to the groom," Liz responded.
Whew. I'm glad she handled that. If she didn't intervene, I very likely would have said, "Yeah I guess that would be okay," just to avoid hurting his feelings.
Only a couple of weeks ago, I found out that he ended up driving around the parking lot near the place where our ceremony was held. Between Liz, Shannon, and Darwell, they took care of it. I'll put it that way. Problem avoided!
After my portraits, I went to my parents' hotel room and waited with my dad for the text from Shannon telling us to come on down. We watched out of the window as all of our guests walked to their cars and head to the harbor. We spent a special few minutes together, chatting excitedly about the day's past and future events. When I got the text, we rushed to the 'Stang.
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| My cousin Chris snapped this shot of us on our way out. I love this moment! |
The music started. I marched down the aisle. When asked the dreaded question, Daddy gave a hesitant and delayed, "I do." :) The service was perfect. Before the vows, Michael read a short piece from each of us, written about the other. I would share, but Caleb way outdid me. His words describing what he loves about me were eloquently written, and something I will always cherish! This was such a special part of our wedding. Michael had us promise to embody six characteristics of love, as described in the Bible: compassion, mercy, slow to anger, filled with unfailing love, faithfulness, and forgiveness.
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| Love this shot, both of my parents holding hands, and of Anna's priceless smile! |
One of the few decisions on which Caleb had an opinion was the music. Here is what we decided on, and a picture of one of our singers. :) The instrumental portion of each song was acoustic guitar, except "We Shall Assemble," which was acapella.
We Shall Assemble
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| Actually, Riley picked out the last song. He said, "If you let me sing Queen at your wedding, you'd be the coolest person ever!" |
After we left the altar, I just remember lots and lots of hugs and smiles!
Liz took pictures of the wedding party and family, then stole Caleb and me away for a few minutes for some shots of just the two of us. Now here's an encounter with a stranger that was much less creepy than the one earlier that morning. A man in his SUV stopped as Liz was taking our pictures, and he gave us a little book about family and congratulated us. It was touching!
We had a wonderful reception. Wonderful people, wonderful food, wonderful cake, a couple of wonderful dances with my two favorite men. It was National Dance Day, after all. :)
Here is another shot that Chris took at the reception. Too good not to share! She commented, "'My shoes are killing me!' was never uttered at this wedding. Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Baze for the sandy carpet."
With a ton of help from my parents, grandparents, bridesmaids, and so many other people, I truly had the wedding of my dreams! I am so thankful for everyone that traveled so far to be there for us. A gigantic special thanks to my parents for paying for my dream wedding, and for supporting me every step of the way. I love y'all!
Take a look at some of our lovely guests!
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| The best in-laws I could ever dream of! |
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| Classy "Dance Moms" ;) |
How blessed are we to be surrounded by people who love and support us? The world frowns on getting married as "young" as we are. But God has given us so many encouragers, so many people that are just beyond excited for us. We have been told time and time again that we are being prayed for. What better feeling is there than to know you are in someone's prayers? My prayer is that we can be truly affected by the beautiful marriages that surround us- our parents', our grandparents', Michael and Kathy's, and so many more from the three congregations of which we are a part. I also pray that Caleb and I will use our experiences, our difficulties, our joyful times, to encourage others. If I didn't know the love of Christ already, I do now. It's beautiful that God can use us as instruments of His love. I pray that I be an instrument to show Caleb His love.
We love you. This wedding was magical. We were so blessed to be part of it.
ReplyDeleteWe were blessed for y'all to be a part of it. :)
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