{Giveaway Winner!}

I'm so excited to announce the winner of my giveaway for an $80 gift card to Nordstrom!

source

The winner is…

Jeska!

Jeska, if you'd like a physical gift card sent to you, could you email me your full name, mailing address, and phone number? If you'd prefer a virtual gift card all I need is your email address! You can contact me at lauras07@ku.edu.

Thanks to everyone who entered!

You Make My Dreams Come True: Ceremony Part 1

David and I knew from early on in the planning process that we wanted a ceremony that reflected who we were as a couple. Our faith is a huge part of who we are, both as a couple and as individuals. It was really important to us that we had an officiant who knew us, believed the same things we did, and was willing to let us personalize the ceremony. I absolutely loved how it turned out. From here on is the exact text of our ceremony. 

David, Laura, this is a holy moment. This is a moment in your lives that is set apart. It is different from every other moment. For at this moment you have come to formally recognize that God has called you first to Himself, and then to each other, forever in Christian marriage. For all that can be observed and said about marriage, we must note that the very concept of marriage originates not in some arrangement of society or in cultural convenience, but in the eternal, providential design of the God of the Christian scriptures. The very notion of marriage; the idea that a man and a woman should be paired for life and for living has its beginning, its root, its very origin revealed by God to us in His Word. For in the beginning, in the account of creation itself, we read that the two shall become one by God’s decree.

Genesis 2 reads as follows: “Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all of the beasts of the field and all of the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all of the livestock; the birds of the air and the beasts of the field, but for Adam, no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he was sleeping he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man and he brought her to the man. The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man.’ For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.” This, then, is where the very idea of marriage has its origin. In the being, the mind, the heart, the design of God himself.

Let’s pray. Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for your wisdom in creating us the way that you have and for designing and ordaining the very notion of marriage. But Lord, this day, we come to celebrate that you have brought David and Laura together to be one, to live all of life, Lord, for your glory. We celebrate this day. We pray that this service would be a time that we would reflect on the blessings and the glories of marriage and the joy of seeing you bring David and Laura together. Thank you, Father. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

I speak to you now as a congregation. Each of you is here today because you have, in some way, had an impact on David and Laura’s life. Some of you have known either one of them or both of them for years, and some of you may be meeting one of them for the first time today. But whether you are an old friend or a new one, you have a special place in their hearts. You also have a special purpose. As beloved family and friends, it is you who they will turn to in coming years, both in joy and in sorrow. It is you with whom they will share their happiness and bring their pain. You’ll watch as their marriage matures and as their love deepens and as their children grow. And when hard times come, and the loving support of family and friends like you is needed, David and Laura will be able to turn to you just as they turn to each other. Do you pledge to support and help strengthen their marriage by upholding them with your love, prayers, counsel, and concern for today and always? If so, please answer, “we do.” 

Congregation: “We do.”

Now David, please state your intent. Do you take Laura to be your wife in Christian marriage? Do you promise to love Laura? To cherish her as your wife, to love her in sickness as well as in health, to love her by your actions and your attitudes regardless of the circumstances that surround you? Do you promise to provide for the spiritual, emotional, and material needs of your home as God enables you? And David, do you promise to be faithful to Laura as her companion in this life until God calls you home? If you agree to these promises, David, please respond by saying, “I do.” 

David: “I do.”

Laura, do you take David to be your husband in Christian marriage? Do you promise to love David and to cherish him as your husband? To love him in sickness as well as in health, to love him by your actions and your attitudes regardless of the circumstances that surround you? Do you promise to support and encourage his leadership, as he by God’s enabling, provides for the spiritual, emotional, and material needs of your home? And Laura do you promise to be faithful to David as his companion in this life until God calls you home? If you agree to these promises, Laura, please respond by saying, “I do.”

Me: “I do.”

Who gives this woman to be married to this man?

My Dad: Her mother and I do.

 

*All pictures in this post were taken by Brandi Coldwell of Lola Jo Photo Design*

Need to catch up?

 

We started on Thursday.

We decorated Friday morning.

We rehearsed.

We got pretty!

I put on my dress. 

We had our first look!

The guys had their turn.

The girls stole the show. 

We got some fun bridal party pictures. 

We took bride & groom portraits.

We took care of the formal portraits.

We took pictures with the kiddos.

We spent time hanging out waiting for the ceremony to start.

The grandparents and parents were seated.

It was finally time for the processional.

A step back to the playing of the slideshow.

**Happy Friday! Don't forget my giveaway ends Sunday evening! 

You Make My Dreams Come True: The Slideshow

I was watching the video of our ceremony so that I’d have the text for the next few posts (and heck, because I love watching it) and I realized I was so excited to recap the processional that I totally forgot to post about our slideshow. I’ve said multiple times that I’m a huge picture person, and it was a big deal to me that we had a slideshow as part of our ceremony to look back at how we got to where we are today.

We played it right before my grandparents and our parents were seated and had it start right at 4:30 so that anyone who was a little late could still find a seat and not feel like they were interrupting. I wish I could’ve been somewhere where I could see and hear our guests’ reactions to it, but several people told me afterward that they loved it.

This was another project that we definitely waited until the last minute on, but I have to say David had a HUGE part in making sure it happened. He knew how much it meant to me, so he spent hours scanning in our pictures and then attempted to even put them in the slideshow chronologically. It saved me so much time and it meant the world to me that he put so much effort into it.

Anyway, enough talk. Our slideshow:

Need to catch up?

We started on Thursday.

We decorated Friday morning.

We rehearsed.

We got pretty!

I put on my dress. 

We had our first look!

The guys had their turn.

The girls stole the show. 

We got some fun bridal party pictures. 

We took bride & groom portraits.

We took care of the formal portraits.

We took pictures with the kiddos.

We spent time hanging out waiting for the ceremony to start.

The grandparents and parents were seated.

It was finally time for the processional.

You Make My Dreams Come True: The Processional

While the grandparents and our parents were being seated, the bridal party was getting lined up.

 

Finally it was time to really get the ceremony started. The song that I had known for over a couple years that we’d use for the processional started and everything became so real. Definitely play the song as you look through the pictures!

Get this widget | Track details | eSnips Social DNA

First was GM J, David’s friend since kindergarten, and BM S, my friend and roomie from school

Next was GM J, one of David’s best friends since preschool, and BM M, one of my best friends from high school

GM M, my ‘little’ brother, and BM R, my older sister

 

They looked so cute in both I couldn’t choose – This is David’s best man K, his younger brother, and my MOH A, my best friend

 

David’s other best man, his older brother J, and my other MOH, my older sister A, along with our ring bearer who insisted on walking with his mom and carrying a soccer ball – Hey, at least it went with our colors :) 

Our Jr GM M, my nephew, and our Jr BM K, David’s younger sister – He looks a little solemn because his arm that she’s holding was broken. Poor kid fell off a rope swing the day before our wedding and no one realized how badly he was hurt (and he never said anything!) He was such a trooper for our pictures and ceremony!

 

And lastly, our flower girls R and A made it ran down the aisle

It was finally my turn. The music had been timed perfectly. The moment I’d imagined of my dad and I coming through the door right as the music swelled was perfect. He looked at me and asked if I was ready, I smiled and nodded and that was it! I was off to marry the man of my dreams and my best friend.

(Be sure to go to 3:47 in the song to get the full effect for these next few.)

 

I had hoped so badly that David would cry. I figured I’d be crying the whole way, but it wasn’t until I looked at him from down the aisle and saw him biting his lip and his shoulders shaking.. Tears welled up in my eyes and I realized how insanely special that moment was. It was the moment we’d waited years for and a moment we’d never get to relive. 

 

 

This was it - We were in front of all of our family and friends finally about to publicly make a promise that we'd already made to each other years before. We were minutes away from becoming husband and wife!

Tip # 11: Go with the flow. Your ring bearer wants to walk down the aisle with your MOH and then screams when he can't follow her up to her spot? Oh well. He's adorable and no one will remember that with all of the other beautiful, touching parts of your day.

*All pictures in this post were taken by Brandi Coldwell of Lola Jo Photo Design* 

Need to catch up?

We started on Thursday.

We decorated Friday morning.

We rehearsed.

We got pretty!

I put on my dress. 

We had our first look!

The guys had their turn.

The girls stole the show. 

We got some fun bridal party pictures. 

We took bride & groom portraits.

We took care of the formal portraits.

We took pictures with the kiddos.

We spent time hanging out waiting for the ceremony to start.

The grandparents and parents were seated.

{Giveaway!}

I'm sure most of you who visit a fair share of bride blogs have seen similar giveaways going on right now and I wanted to wait until I got to 250 followers, but this one is just too exciting! I don't know anyone who wouldn't want one of these:

source

Yes, that's right, an $80 Nordstrom gift card!

It seems like the process of finding a Mother of the Bride dress is one of the most stressful items on the to-do list for brides. This surprisingly difficult task is made infinitely easier with the resource of DesignerApparel.com. They've designed a page specifically for brides-to-be and their mothers to find perfect Mother of the Bride Dresses. They offer brands like Adrianna Papell, Tadashi, and Eileen Fisher among others! 

DesignerApparel.com is an incredible resource! Can you imagine how much easier and more enjoyable your shopping experience would be with their site? They partner with retailers like Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdales, Bluefly, Zappos, and Nordstom and they have helpful tools like price comparison, sale notification, and free shipping notice!

So how do you enter?

First, comment and tell me about your experience looking for a Mother of the Bride dress.

For additional entries:

• Become a follower or let me know that you're already one (in a separate comment.)
• Become a follower of my new blog!
• Follow me on Twitter and tweet the following: Check out this #giveaway for an $80 Nordstrom giftcard from @les852 and DesignerApparel.com! http://bit.ly/ac3DP4

The giveaway will close on Sunday, September 12th at 7 PM CST and the winner will be announced Monday morning! Good luck!

You Make My Dreams Come True: And So It (The Ceremony) Begins

While we were back in the bridal suite our guests were signing our ‘guestbook’ and being seated.

I loved that my cousins (our guestbook and program attendants) all wore black, white, and pink without me saying anything!

As soon as they were seated the seating of the grandparents began. Unfortunately, all of David’s grandparents have passed away and my grandpa (my dad’s dad) I guess didn’t want to be seated individually (since my grandma has passed away). This left just my mom’s parents to be seated during this time. We/I chose to play ‘Canon in D’ for their seating since it would be a song they would all recognize and appreciate.

Once they were seated it was time for our parents to be seated. We used ‘Love Never Fails’ by Brandon Heath for their seating and the lighting of the unity candle. Click play to get the full effect. :)

David really wanted to be the one to seat his mom, so he did that and then entered again with our officiant after the unity candle was lit.

Both of my older brothers seated my mom. You can finally see the mom’s bouquets – I think they turned out so cute!

I love how happy they look after lighting the candles!

Once they were seated and David and our officiant were in their places, it was time for the bridal party to enter.. Someone looked a little anxious:

You’ll have to wait until next week for that, though. :) Tomorrow I’ve got a pretty awesome giveaway for you, so be sure to check back!

Tip # 10: Make sure you talk with your grandparents (especially if one of them has lost their spouse) and ask if they’re comfortable with being escorted down the aisle. It’d probably be even better if they could be present at the rehearsal.

*All pictures in this post were taken by Brandi Coldwell of Lola Jo Photo Design*

Need to catch up?

We started on Thursday.

We decorated Friday morning.

We rehearsed.

We got pretty!

I put on my dress. 

We had our first look!

The guys had their turn.

The girls stole the show. 

We got some fun bridal party pictures. 

We took bride & groom portraits.

We took care of the formal portraits.

We took pictures with the kiddos.

We spent time hanging out waiting for the ceremony to start.

Exciting News!

If you follow me on Twitter you know I've been working on my post-wedding/newlywed/life blog so I can pretty much switch over once I'm finished recapping our wedding. I'm pleased to announce that it's finally up and running, complete with its first post! ;) 

You can go here to check it out. And please let me know what you think!

A recap of the start of our ceremony is coming tomorrow - Be sure to check it out!