Flashback Friday: Our Wedding

 I am participating in another Flashback Friday.  If you would like to participate or visit the host of this awesome weekly event, then go on over to Christopher and Tia.

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Our Wedding

In honor of our 4 Year Wedding Anniversary coming up this week, I decided to do a Flashback Friday of our wedding.  I briefly mentioned our wedding in an earlier Flashback Friday - A Love Story, but this one will just be about the wedding.  So, allow me to take you back four years to a time before my curly-haired toddler and baby weight, and when I was much younger.  Gosh, it seems like it has been a lot longer than four years since I married my best friend...but in a good way, you know? (Well, sometimes it feels like a lot longer than four years in a I'm-going-to-rip-my-hair-out-or-push-you-off-a-cliff-sort-of-way too, but that isn't as often :)).  

John and I were high school sweethearts and best friends, and if you want to hear the story of how we fell in love, then click on the clink I provided in the previous paragraph. It's long, but it explains the whole long confusing process. :)  We were engaged in December 2005, only six months after our high school graduation.  Many people are often surprised that we got married so young, but I honestly often forget how young we are now or how young we were when we got married...I guess it is because we have always been really mature for our age, and even at eighteen when we got engaged, we were sure that we wanted to get married.  But not in a way that didn't take into account the realities of marriage - we knew it was going to have its ups and downs, but we were ready to travel that journey together and have our adventures intertwined.  For better or worse.  And we've definitely done that. So anyway, we were too eighteen year old college students in love when we got engaged in December 2005 and we had seven months to plan a wedding.  

My bridal shower was a couple of weeks before the wedding and it was a lot of fun!  My mom and her friends planned it and there was a scavenger hunt that led all of the women throughout my small hometown, other games, gifts, and lunch food.  It was laid back and classy, but also fun and included games I enjoyed.  I think my mom knows me really well and did a great job with the bridal shower. Instead of bachelor or bachelorette parties, we decided to have a combined BBQ and campfire down by a lake near John's parents' house with our friends.  This was mainly because we both have the same friends -  a really close knit group of guys and girls from high school.  And we both wanted to celebrate with the whole group.  Also, neither of us were into anything that is traditionally associated with those sorts of parties.  I think a campfire down by the lake was definitely a reflection of things we enjoy regularly.  We cooked up some burgers and hung out and played board games with our friends and then we had a campfire and s'mores.  This was a few days before the wedding.  The night before the wedding we had a rehearsal and a rehearsal dinner which John's family put on, and we had BBQ ribs and chicken from an awesome local joint that we love.  Afterward John, myself, and my family stayed at the reception hall to decorate for the wedding.  We were up late, but it was fun and so worth it in the end. :)

The wedding itself was in mid-July 2006 when we were both nineteen years old; exactly three months to the day after I was baptized into the Catholic Church.  So we were able to have a Catholic wedding with a wedding mass, which was amazing, but as our guests can attest to, longer than a typical wedding ceremony. :) We both have big families and we had most of both of our families and lots of our friends at our wedding (even though we were all scattered across the United States for college).  Our goal was to keep the wedding simple, frugal, and as family-centered as possible.  We wanted our wedding to be a celebration of our blessed union but also of all the people we care deeply about and who care deeply about us.  At the end of the day, I think it ended up being just that.  

It wasn't an over-the-top wedding, but it was simple and very beautiful, just like we wanted it to be.  I have very little regrets from our wedding.  If I could choose any it would be that we didn't get any photos with our grandparents at the wedding - it was on the list, but somehow got lost in the chaos and busyness of the wedding and reception.  We didn't have a professional photographer either, but rather a really good friend with a nice camera that took photos for us.  Sometimes, when I look at the fancy wedding photos of friends, I feel a little twinge of regret that we didn't do something similar, but honestly in the large scheme of things, I don't.  We saved a TON of money and our good friend was awesome and took some great photos.  I'm so very grateful to him for doing that for us, especially since it was the first wedding he had ever photographed.  And for me, all I wanted from my photos were brief images that are captured the moments and mirror my memories of one of the best days of my life.  And that doesn't take an expensive professional photographer to capture.  Not to mention we probably couldn't have afforded a photographer if we wanted.  So, yeah, sometimes I have little twinges of regret or we-should-haves associated with the wedding, but I have to say that I honestly think our wedding couldn't have been better. :) 

The photos that I'm including in this blog post are just some of our favorites from the wedding, not all of them (nowhere even close) and while most of them are from our friend's camera, some are from family members who were generous enough to give us copies of photos they took at the wedding as well. Also, please keep in mind that most of these photos are physical photos that I scanned onto my computer, so the quality is not going to be as good on the computer as they are in real life (and now that I'm looking at them at a decent size, I'm realizing that my scanner had some dust on the glass too, so they are scanned with the photos *sigh*).  Seriously, all the many many photos I took hours to scan onto my computer turned out really grainy looking...which is really weird because they are bright and vivid and beautiful in real life.  So, just imagine that they look that way on here too! Please? :) I just don't have digital copies of a lot of these photos, unfortunately.  None of these photos have been edited either.  They are just candid photos of the happiness of our wedding and I hope you enjoy them! 

The Night Before

For some odd reason I don't have photos of the rehearsal dinner or the rehearsal the night before where I can find them right now, but here are a couple photos of John and I after the reception decorating the reception hall in our parish building at our church.  We were decorating late into the night with my parents and my brother and then had to get home and get sleep before the big day.  It was really gratifying to plan and execute the wedding ourselves.  I really like these photos though because I'm busy putting up decorations and John is behind me playing with balloons.  Typical of all stages of our relationship, let me tell you. I'm definitely the busy bee and the control freak while he is the laid back playful type.  Somehow that complements really well...maybe because you can't have two control freaks in a relationship? :)

 

Before the Wedding

These photos are of us getting ready and setting up before the actual ceremony, which started at 2pm.  My mom and I had gotten our nails done the day before and the morning of the wedding we went and got my hair done.  We ended up hitting really bad construction on our way back to our house to pick up some things before we had to head to the church.  That was really aggravating.  When I finally arrived at the church, my maid of honor Katherine was just getting there, and John and his best man and cousin Zac were setting things up in the reception hall. To keep things simple for the ceremony and everything, we only had a maid of honor and a best man; it would have been too hard to include all of our close friends because we both have a good-sized group of close friends that we both were part of in high school.  It just made it simpler to have a maid of honor and a best man and then just have all of our other best friends at the wedding to celebrate with us. :)  These photos are of the guys setting things up for the reception and all of us getting dressed for the ceremony.  

They were only setting out the appetizers.  The real food wasn't set out until the reception.

John's mom putting his boutonniere.

Oh yes, my maid of honor had to hold onto me while my mom tied up the back...it was rough business getting into the wedding dress because there were so many lace ties in the back - but it was worth it!  The dress was so beautiful! My favorite flowers are lilacs, so the colors for my wedding was lilac purple and white, which was also on my dress. :) 

We made all of our own flower arrangements from fake flowers, which turned out great!  You couldn't even tell they were fake, especially my bouquet, unless you were holding them.  Best of all we made them weeks in advance - one less things to worry about! :)

The guest sign-in table when they entered the reception hall - we had a guest book for them to sign and leave us a message. We still have it in our wedding keepsake box. :)

The Cake

Our cake was amazing!!! It was one of my favorite things from the wedding. :)  My cousin's wife makes cakes from her home for people and she offered to do my cake for my wedding as our wedding present.  That was an awesome offer because we got a fantastic cake for free and it definitely turned out how I envisioned for my wedding.  The really great thing is that when she asked me what kind of cake I wanted, all I told her was that I wanted the cake to be chocolate and it would be neat if she could incorporate the wedding colors or purple flowers into it.  I also wanted something traditional, but unique.  Other than that, I told her that I trusted that whatever she came up with would be beautiful and I let her be creative.  I was expecting amazing, but I don't think I knew how amazing it would end up being.  She made a vegan (she is vegan) chocolate cake with raspberry filling and the outside was made with frosting that resembled a weaved basket.  Then she stuck real purple flowers into each level of the cake and then placed the cake on a real sheet of slate rock.  The pictures don't even do it justice - this cake was freaking unbelievable!!  When I first walked in and saw it before the ceremony, I thought someone had put a basket of flowers on the cake table before I realized that it was THE cake! I absolutely loved it and I don't think she could have done any better cake that suited me and my tastes more than what she did.  The only unfortunate thing was that with as many family and friends that we had at our wedding and us making the rounds to talk to everyone, the only cake we had was the little bit we "fed" (read: smashed) each other when we cut the cake. It was delicious too!

   

 

 The Wedding Party

We took some photos of the wedding party before the actual wedding ceremony outside of the church.  It was a really hot and sunny day, so without sunglasses, it was a little hard to keep our eyes from squinting, but I still think they turned out great!  The only unfortunate thing and my only true regret was that we didn't get photos of us with our grandparents and we didn't get any posed photos with just John and I (kind of silly, I know).  We had planned to do other group photos later after the ceremony, but we got so caught up in celebrating with family and friends that it never happened.  We did get photos of just the two of us in the ceremony and the reception at random times though, so we do have photos of us, just not posed portraits.  And none with our grandparents.  Those are my only true regrets from my wedding, and I would have made sure that they were taken if I could go back in time, but I can't, so I just love what I have and don't fret about the rest. :)  

  

The Ceremony - A Catholic Mass

The ceremony began at 2pm.  John's parents walked him down the aisle to the altar first, and then both of my parents walked me down the aisle to the altar after them.  The tiny church was packed with tons of family and friends and the priest witnessing the mass and the sacrament of marriage was the same beloved priest that John had grown up with since he was twelve, had brought me into the church, later baptized Johnny, and is still considered a dear friend to us.  The ceremony followed the same structure as a regular mass, only with some added parts.  We chose our own readings from the bible - ones that dealt with marriage.  My favorite reading was 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, which is the reading that I read.  John read the Old Testament reading, and Fr. Jack read the Gospel reading.  We played non-traditional songs during the wedding mass: At Last by Etta James and Let It Be by The Beatles.  :)  During the mass we had to light a unity candle that we still have to this day.  Our wedding rings were blessed and we were Eucharistic Ministers to the guests.  It was a very humbling but beautiful wedding mass, and I will will never forget it.  We didn't write our own vows, but that doesn't mean they weren't any less powerful.  I teared up during the vows.  We shared our first kiss as husband and wife.  It was all so joyous and it definitely felt like it flew by! 

John waiting for me to come down the aisle

  

John and the 1st Reading

 During the Psalm reading - "Let it Be"

Giving the 2nd Reading: 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Lighting the Unity Candle

 

The blessing

The vows and rings after the rings were blessed

 

Our first kiss as husband and wife

Consecration

Helping Fr. Jack minister the Eucharist during Communion

John ministering the Sacred Blood during Communion (to his mom in this picture)

The recessional - we were laughing because we couldn't even see with all the cameras and flashes going off :)

Signing the marriage certificate after the wedding - it's official!

 The wedding party, including Fr. Jack, after the wedding ceremony

The Reception

Once we were done signing our marriage certificates and taking pictures in the church, we went over to the parish/reception hall where everyone was already waiting for us.  I had made our own playlist for the reception onto CDs and John's only song request was Best Friend by Queen.  :) We had our first dance, we danced with our parents, I danced with my brother and my grandpa, we made the rounds and made a point of talking to all of our family and friends, everyone stuffed themselves on food, we served sparkling cider (no alcohol at our wedding - we were only 19!), there were toasts, we cut the cake, we laughed, I tossed the bouquet and all the girls tried NOT to catch it, and we celebrated with family and friends.  It was an awesome reception - we had so much fun! 

Our first dance as husband and wife - we danced to "our" song, "You & Me" by Lifehouse

Best Man and Maid of Honor dancing during 1st Dance - Katherine is silly :)

Dancing with my daddy :) "Forever Young" by Rod Stewart

 

John and his mom dancing

Dancing with my little brother :)

Dancing with my grandpa :)

 John's cousins dancing :)

The food table 

  

Mr & Mrs!

My mentor and my best girlfriend

One of our friends...shockingly, this was one of many photos where people made really bizarre faces :)

John and his cousin Zac

A group photo with some of our friends (some friends weren't able to make it to the wedding, sadly)

My daddy and me

My mommy and me

Hehe - I love that John has a lipstick kiss on his cheek and it isn't from me (no lipstick!) but from my grandma :) Super cute! 

My baby brother and me

We had sparkling cider instead of alcohol - we were only 19! :) We had many many bottles of sparkling cider to accommodate the couple hundred people

Best Friends :)

Cutting the Cake (somehow our engraved cake utensils were misplaced and we never could find them...sad)

 

Smashing John with the cake ;) hehe

 

A few of the awesome people who helped out sooo much with our wedding - my mom and her two friends Eileen and Melissa who spent the entire day making food items. Our wedding wouldn't have been the same without them! 

Phil - our dear friend and photographer - he did a super job and we are eternally grateful to him!

My friend Heather :)  Remember her from this post and this post? 

About to toss the bouquet

My friend John who took this picture probably said something ridiculous, which would explain this face 

 The bouquet toss...normally the girls TRY to catch it.  My friends went to catch it and when they realized they might catch it, jumped out of the way and let it fall to the ground. *sigh* ha! I guess it worked because not one of them is married to this day, which is how they want it. :)

 A few of my friends

The Model T

We left our wedding reception in style.  A Model T.  Yes, a Model T.  Can you say AWESOME?!  One of John's family members owns several Model Ts and other older cars and restores them and he offered to drive us away from the reception in his Model T and to the lake where John's parents lived so we could get our stuff together before we headed to our hotel.  The drive around the lake in the Model T on a sunny day in our wedding clothes was incredible!  Everyone in the small town in which we lived were staring at us or would honk in their cars as we drove by in it and it was truly an amazing experience.  I love that Model T! I think it was a great ending to a really amazing wedding. :)

Next Flashback Friday - our honeymoon down the Oregon Coast! :)

 ***And yes, I realize this is being posted on Saturday not Friday.  It took me way longer than expected to write this post.  Oh well, hope you still enjoy! Better late than never, right? :)