Wedding Wednesday, The Ceremony

Jon and I did not do a first look. I love looking at pictures of other couples who have done it but it's not what I wanted. I wanted Jon to see me for the first time as I was walking down the aisle to him. I wanted to lock eyes with him. And that's exactly what we did... or what I tried to do. My eyes were filled with tears. You see I'm pretty much an emotional mess. I'm the kind of person who cries when I see someone else cry. 

{The view walking into the ceremony}

{Our unity candle table}

{The memory table- full of photos of loved ones who have passed}

{My sweet cousins handed out the programs}

{Jon's niece, Emma greeting guests}

My dad, bridesmaids, and I waited in a room while the groomsmen escorted the mothers and our Pastor made a very warm welcome for our guests. One of my sisters was joking around and started asking who thought my dad would cry. I looked over at my dad and he had his head in his hands... I thought he was joking and acting like he was crying. We were all wrong... he had tears in his eyes and soon enough all of us girls got worked up too. We started wrapping tissues around the handles of our bouquets so we would have them during the ceremony. I was already nervous and running on adrenalin. My wedding coordinator took the bridesmaids to line up and my dad and I were left in the room alone. It was a special moment I'll never forget but it left me emotional to walk down the aisle.  Before I knew it they were motioning for my dad and I to start walking so we did and I fought back the tears all the way down the aisle. And all I have is pictures with an ugly cry face to show for it haha at least I can laugh about it, right!?

{Ring bearer pillow and bouquets set up in the room for us}

{Jon and our Pastor}

{Jon's brother and best man escorting his mother}

{My mom and Jon's mom lighting the unity candle}

{Angelena, my best friend and bridesmaid}

{Lauren, Jon's sister and bridesmaid}

{Brandy, my sister and bridesmaid}

{Jessica, my sister and maid of honor}

{Logan, Jon's nephew and ring bearer and Londin, my niece and junior bridesmaid}

{Can you see the ugly cry face?}

{My dad giving me away}

To be honest it's all a blur to me. All I remember is holding Jon's hands, sitting towards our guests as our Pastor preached, Jon's aunt and my cousin did very touching readings, we lit our unity candle, and then it was time to say our vows. I took those very seriously (obviously) and I wanted to make sure that Jon could feel each word I said to him in that moment. And so the water works made an appearance again. But I quickly recovered and was able to say all of my vows clearly. Next was a prayer, the rings were on, and we were walking out as husband and wife.

{Bridesmaids}

{Groomsmen}

{Our Pastor preaching}

{Jon's Aunt Gloria with the first reading}

{My cousin Kristin with the second reading}

{Unity candle ceremony}

{Exchanging of the rings}

{Praying. Probably my favorite picture}

{We are now husband and wife!}

Finally a sigh of relief! I felt like I could finally relax and enjoy the rest of the evening. To the porch we went for a champagne toast and hors d'oeuvres with our bridal party! Stay tuned because next week I'll share all about our picture session during cocktail hour :)

XoXo