The Ceremony:

I blogged and blogged about our letter in a wine box ceremony that we were doing. So here it is:

The box: (from Home Goods)

The inside of the box with the glasses (Crate & Barrel, engraved at Things Remembered), the wine and our love letters:

The box with the ribbons for our Celtic tying the knot ceremony:

When I first starting to take the walk down the aisle I was nervous. I was nervous because I don't walk well in heels and my shoes were high! I was nervous because 140 people were staring at me and I was nervous because about half-way through my walk... there were 3 measly steps I had to take. Steps UP that is...


And I tried to take those steps. But... I got stuck.


As in, I LITERALLY couldn't move. My dress wouldn't allow my legs to bend. :) So my daddy had to lift my dress for me. And when I got to the top I sighed a huge sigh of relief -- comic relief that is... and it came at a perfect time because my Groom... well, he was losing it. :) But after my little "incident" he smiled.


While we were standing up there, it was weird to me that I hadn't gotten a chance to greet our guests yet! I had been hidden, remember? So, I found myself making eye contact with guests and smiling and mouthing "hi!" but then I thought... hmm, this is a little serious "LET'S FOCUS". haha. Our officiant was amazing and the reading we chose was perfect -- and something I'll definitely share, but in another post.

We said our vows (and neither of us stuttered)... and exchanged rings:


And after that (literally it was like 20 minutes, maybe shorter...) and a couple "I do's" it was done:


And we kissed:


I took my flowers back... aren't they pretty?


And this time, my HUSBAND had to help me on those steps:


And then came the formal pictures during cocktail hour.

I won't be blogging the formal pictures because those are shots I'd rather wait for our professional pictures to share. So tomorrow will be the start of the reception and the beginning of all my DIY projects. Are you pumped? :)

The Aisle Music.

I thought long and hard about song choices for every part of the ceremony: while guests were finding their seats, the procession songs, and our exit song for after "I do".

I chose songs that had meaning, "lovey" lyrics, or classic tunes. And I was so excited about them.

And you know what? I didn't even get to hear them. :)

Not because they weren't played... or because there was some mistake. No! Of course not. Things went extremely smoothly and if they didn't I haven't found out yet.

No, because it never even occurred to me that while all my hard-thought out songs were played I would be locked inside the bridal suite... hidden away.

I never thought that I wouldn't be able to see Sean walk his mom down the aisle, or our grandmothers walked down... or our bridal party. It never even crossed my mind that I wouldn't be able to watch. How dumb!

But songs were still played... and these were our picks:

Prelude Songs while were guests finding their seats:

Better together - Jack Johnson
Wonderful tonight - Eric Clapton
More than anyone - Gavin Degraw
Here comes the sun - The Beatles
Hey, soul sister - Train

Procession - Sean, parents, grandmothers:



Unchained Melody - Righteous Brothers

Procession - wedding party:



Earth Angel - The Temptations

Bridal Entrance:



Bella's Lullaby from Twilight

Recessional (or the first song heard as a married couple!)



Higher and higher - Jackie Wilson

:)

I'm a Mrs.!

We're married! It was amazingly perfect. More to come later! :)

25 days and counting

Last week, I went to the mall to buy wine glasses. You see -- along with our handfasting ceremony we have chosen to do a love letter & wine box ceremony. Have you heard of it?

Well, if you haven't -- it's pretty neat. I swear!

Basically, you get a box, 2 wine glasses, a bottle of wine and you each write love letters to the other (about how you fell in love, why you fell in love, the beginning, sweet things, you know... love!) and seal the letters! You shouldn't read them. Put everything in the box, and when the officiant is marrying you, he'll explain to your guests about how you've written these letters to each other and how you're about to seal the box...

"The Wine Box should be opened on your 5th wedding anniversary.

There is only one other reason the box should be opened before your anniversary. If there should come a time when you hit a bumpy road in your relationship, before you give up or make any irrational decisions, open the Wine Box. The hope is that there will never be a reason to have to open the box except on your anniversary!

Hit a rough spot in your relationship? Sit down together, open the box, uncork the wine and unseal the envelopes that you wrote for one another before your wedding, go to separate rooms and quietly read the love letter.

Even if you are not seeing eye-to-eye at that very moment, it will remind you of all the reasons you choose this person as your partner and all the things that helped shape the life they've created together. Never take your blessings of being together for granted."

I love the idea so much!

I went to Crate & Barrel to get wine glasses and they were on sale for $1.94! I bought two and went to Things Remembered.

I walked in, pretty sure of myself and my decision to have a D engraved on each glass (D for our last name, get it?). Well, the woman working there apparently didn't get it because she blurted "um, can I ask WHY you want a D?!"

So, I quickly changed my mind and told her that I guess I wanted Mr. & Mrs. engraved instead. Then she told me I couldn't have script writing because of some crazy reason... even though all the glasses on their shelf had script writing...

I was annoyed. I left the store and complained that I didn't want the glasses to say Mr. & Mrs.

My mom told me I should go back... Sean told me I should go back. So, after some lunch, I went back and told her that I only wanted a D... and she quickly said "yeah, fine, but it's still the same price".

So rude.

But, I picked up the glasses on Monday and even though they aren't the font I wanted... they're pretty. And I like them a lot. I swear. ;)

Here's my to-do list:

Monday AKA today:
1. Go to the mall to pick up our engraved wine glasses for our wine box ceremony and have my name and wedding date embroidered on a piece of fabric for my dress and look for a rehearsal dinner dress
2. Spray paint all the table frames, add some sparkles and make "The songs requested at your table are" signs (which reminds me I still have to show you all our invitations...
3. Try to buy easels for our table numbers
4. Email our officiant and make sure things are set - tell him our readings and vows
5. Reschedule our final dance class since we can't go on Friday
6. Finish our love banner

Tuesday:
1. Write thank you cards for gifts we've been receiving
2. Order escort cards pictures
3. Call the photo booth company and order the plastic sleeves for the photo strips
4. Make small labels for said photo booth plastic sleeves THE PHOTO BOOTH COMPANY DOES THIS FOR US ;)
5. Burn our ceremony music onto a CD
6. Make our photo booth, guestbook and card box signs
7. Blog about the fiasco that was the engraved wine glasses

Wednesday:
1. Crop pictures and create escort cards
2. Wrap bridal party gifts
3. Meet with our DJ and finalize all our song choices
4. Paint Mr. and Mrs. and Thank and You signs
5. Get our marriage license
6. Assuming we hear back from the people we've contacted because we haven't received their RSVP - finish our seating chart
7. Blog about our invitations

Thursday:
1. Write names on escort cards
2. Alphabetize and make master lists of the seating chart for the venue
3. Get some frames and print some engagement pictures
4. Blog about any DIY projects (hopefully they'll be done!)

Friday:
1. Finish anything that didn't get done
2. Manicure and pedicure
3. Get hair cut and colored

Saturday:
1. Finish anything that didn't get done

Sunday:
1. Last dance class
2. Hair trial

Handfasting Ceremony

Some things Sean and I talked about early in the planning process regarding our ceremony was that we want it to be short (sorry!) and we want it to be meaningful (right?).

Neither of us are religious. A Catholic mass is out of the situation since we weren't confirmed and I just thought it would be easy for the ceremony and the reception to be in the same place. So it was decided.

Next, we met with our officiant who brought lots of different ideas to us about stuff we could do during our ceremony. I love the rose ceremony, and the sand ceremony and all those different things couples do but I wanted to do something that I've never seen done at a wedding.

So, when he mentioned the Handfasting ceremony we knew we needed it at our ceremony.

If you've never seen it done, or heard about what it is -- it's the ceremony that is the origin behind the phrase "tying the knot".

image

I found this website: My Spiritual Wedding. Basically they sum it up perfectly.

"The Handfasting Ceremony is an ancient Celtic tradition symbolizing the joining of two people in marriage. There are many versions of this gesture illustrating the union of husband and wife and is the origin of the phrase "tying the knot"... First, the officiant asks the couple to hold hands or place them side by side, then places the handfasting ribbons around the hands and wrists to "join" the couple."

I mean, come on! We need this because it's amazing and because we're going to Ireland for our honeymoon. It just fits!

You can pick the ribbons you want to use and each color ribbon represents something special you want in your marriage.

• Red: passion, strength, lust, fertility
• Orange: encouragement, attraction, kindness, plenty
• Yellow: charm, confidence, joy, balance
• Green: finances, fertility, charity, prosperity, health
• Blue: tranquility, patience, devotion, sincerity
• Purple: Power, piety, sanctity, sentimentality
• Black: strength, wisdom, vision, success
• White: purity, concentration, meditation, peace
• Gray: neutrality, canceling, balance
• Pink: unity, honor, truth, romance, happiness
• Brown: earth, grounding, talent, telepathy, home
• Silver: treasure, values, creativity, inspiration
• Gold: energy, wealth, intelligence, longevity

I thought about making our own ribbon kit... just going to stores and buying ribbon but time got away from me. And honestly, I don't want to choose the colors. Maybe, I'm greedy but I want ALL this stuff in my marriage. Wouldn't you?!

So when I found the website My Spiritual Wedding and saw that they sell the Handfasting ribbon kits for $20... I bought it. I turned away from DIY... and I'm proud.

I placed my order Wednesday and got it on Friday. It's perfect... it came with a sweet note and suggested readings that go along with the ceremony, a guide to all the colors and it came in a cute little mesh bag. It's amazing. And I'm so excited!


;)