Our Ceremony

Hey guys! Today I'm bringing you part 2 of my wedding day series! I've been kind of slow with uploading these posts but I'm getting there! Today's post is about our ceremony! I'm so excited to share it with y'all so let's go!

Our ceremony was super important to us (obviously). We wanted it to be a very Christ-centered because we strive to have a very Christ-centered relationship. My cousin, Zola, did all the scripture reading because I really wanted her to be involved in the wedding even if she wasn't a bridesmaid. We didn't want the ceremony to be too long because then people start to lose interest and we didn't want to be standing up there for a long time...and honestly we just wanted to be married! The bridesmaids walked down the aisle to "When I Say I Do" by Matthew West. I heard this song at another wedding and I absolutely fell in love with it. I didn't want generic songs for our ceremony either and this song was one that I hadn't really heard many other places. I fell in love with the song "I Get to Love You" by Ruelle prior to our wedding and I knew that had to be the song I walked down the aisle to. It summed up everything I feel for Joey and it was perfect.

As I walked down the aisle, I got way more emotional than I thought I would. Thank goodness I was wearing waterproof mascara! Y'all, I really thought all the pictures of me coming down the aisle were going to be awful because I was crying. Luckily, my photographer got me at some good moments when I wasn't ugly crying ;) I thought my dad was going to cry all the way down the aisle but he held it together really well...later my mom told me he was blubbering like a baby the whole ceremony!

For our vows, we had traditional vows and we also wrote our own vows. I always wanted to write my own vows because I just feel like they're more personal. Actually one of the best parts of the ceremony happened when I was repeating the traditional vows and our officiant accidentally said "Joey, I take you to be my wife." OH MY GOODNESS the whole room died laughing. In our personal vows, I thought it was funny because Joey and I both referenced how we were Chandler and Monica from Friends. That was one of the first things we bonded over actually...our love of that show.

To show unity and to show the two of us becoming one, we wanted to take communion. Some people braid rope, some people pour sand...but honestly, I don't really like either of those options. I just think they're cheesy. And what am I going to do with a braided rope or a container of sand? So we decided on communion. So we took 2 minutes to take communion just the two of us and pray. And the best part about communion was that we actually did it with wine. I loved that touch. To finish off the ceremony, we chose "Everything" by Michael Buble for the recessional. We both love that song and it was perfectly upbeat and lighthearted.

For the decor, I didn't want it to be too decorated. I made a point of making sure our wedding didn't look like Pinterest exploded all over it. I wanted the decor to be simple, and it was. We did blue and white Hydrangeas to match the reception flowers mixed with Italian Ruscus and various other flowers on the arbor and mimicked on the welcome board as well as a bunch of Hydrangeas on the program table. I was a bit bummed to have to have our ceremony inside because it was pouring but I loved the fabric draped through the pavillion. It went with our decor perfectly.