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? :)

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!


;)