Show Us Your Life: Weddings

One thing I was set on while planning my wedding was making it unique. I am not an entirely traditional person and neither is my husband, so I wanted our wedding to really reflect us. My wedding colors were red, white, and black, and lots of unexpected things were polka-dotted (more on that in a minute). For the seating of the mothers, we went traditional, with my soloist singing "A Mother's Prayer" by Celine Dion. My wedding party entered to "100 Years" by Five for Fighting, an instrumental version by my pianist, and I walked down the aisle to "Falling in Love," a beautiful instrumental song by The O'Neill Brothers. It deserves a listen if you've never heard it. On the YouTube clip, I walked through the doors at about 20 seconds.

This picture is the first one taken immediately after our ceremony.

Like Kelly's sweet daddy, my father is my minister, so he performed my ceremony. However, my mother is my dearest friend, and she walked me down the aisle and gave me away. This is the only picture we have of that, and it's not a very flattering one, but it was one of my favorite parts of my ceremony, and it was very special to us.

Instead of flowers for my bridesmaids, we used candles. I had a night wedding, and the candles put off a romantic glow...and they were cheap! The bouquet was mine, and it was way big!

My wedding party grew as the wedding was planned, but I knew I wanted polka-dotted dresses and tuxedos without tails. Also, my best friend is a guy, so I had a man of honor. He wasn't my husband's best friend, so I didn't feel right about chunking him over with the groomsmen, and I didn't feel right about making a random friend my "maid of honor" just because it's traditionally a girl role. So, Patrick was my "man of honor," and he proudly wore his polka-dotted tie to match my girls. Here he is...

Here is our entire wedding party...excluding us:

This is my favorite picture of some of my bridesmaids, shaking their behinds at the reception. After spending roughly over $1000 on bridesmaid garb for weddings I had been in that year, I decided to pick a cheap dress ($49) that my girls could hopefully wear again. I know everyone always says that, but I loved the way they looked.

This is my flower girl (my wonderful niece) and my ring bearer (my cousin).

As far as the rest of the music went, after we lit the unity candle, we played a slide show of photos of us from children to now while we played "My Best Friend" by Queen. Because I have always been very involved in directing/facilitating Children's Church through the years, after my father prayed the final prayer, my Children's Church kids, past and present, came to the front of the church (decked out in red, white, and black) and sang "Shine On Us" by Phillips, Craig, and Dean. They had practiced for weeks, and it was really beautiful. After we were pronouced husband and wife, we walked back down the aisle to "I Got You, Babe" by Sonny and Cher, to the surprise of my husband.

To date, my wedding has been one of the greatest nights of my life.

My Christmas Fairy Tale Dress

As mentioned in the previous post, I have "blog stalked" shamelessly for a while now, and during this time, one of my favorite blogs to read has been Kelly's Korner. I have enjoyed watching Harper grow and loved touring bloggers' homes virtually through the "Show Us Where You Live Friday" tours. I was always a little sad on Friday because I didn't have a blog, and I didn't have a large, fully decorated home to share. This week, I got excited, because I do have a wedding dress!

I was married to my husband on December 29, 2007. Since I was a little girl, I have always dreamed of a "Christmas wedding" complete with lights and trees and the wonderful spirit that surrounds Christmas. My husband knew better than to mess with a childhood dream, so he obliged my every wish when it came to our wedding.

My wedding dress is not the first one I slipped over my head. It was actually probably number eleven or twelve at the third or fourth boutique, but as soon as it was all laced up, I felt like I was "smack dab" in the middle of a fairy tale. This picture is of my mother lacing up the back of my dress on my wedding day.

I can't seem to find my wedding CD with my portraits on it right now, and I just freaked out a little when I realized that...but, here is a photograph of my portrait we displayed at the reception hall. It now hangs on my husband's side of our bed.

Here is another of my portraits. I apologize for the poor quality. I ganked it from my husband's beside table and threw it in the scanner before he knew what happened.

I'm not sure who the designer was for the dress, and I'm not really the type of girl who cares. The dress was a light ivory, halter-top style gown with a pick-up skirt and a long train. The bodice had a beaded design with crystals and pearls, and it was beautiful. Somedays I want to put it on and just wear it around the house, but I'm afraid my husband might have me committed.

This picture is us walking into the reception. For some reason, it distorted horribly, but it shows the back of my dress.

And this. This is my most favorite picture from my wedding, and I absolutely adore it.

This is my first post with photos, and I now have a new appreciation for those of you who post photos frequently. It is time-consuming. Maybe I'm going about it the wrong way? Any suggestions?