Gotta Get That...

I've written before about how much I love music, specifically music that takes me back to a particular place in time. Last night this song came on the radio:



And suddenly, I was in the backseat of my friend Leah's car, blindfolded, dancing to this song and on my way to the Melting Pot as part of my Bachelorette party.

Boom Boom Pow: Bachelorette Party 2009 Theme song. Love it!

A Year Later {7}

Part {1}, {2}, {3}, {4}, {5}, {6}


I have a confession: I hate quiche. And chicken salad. And pimento cheese. And I generally don't love any of the types of food that were in our budget to serve at our reception. And we had a huge guest list. 426 to be exact. And that's just people who were ON the guest list. There were more that got verbal invitations. Don't go all Emily Post on me at this point--Carter is on staff at our church. Our church of 4,000 members. For our youth group of 300+. We didn't really know who would want to be there and who couldn't care less, so we just sort of told the regulars that they were welcome to come. My guess is that actual attendance was somewhere around 350--at least that's what I've been told. I don't really remember :)

So, back to the food. I like dessert. Of all kinds. Carter does, too. So that's what we served. There were cupcakes:

Four different varieties: red velvet with cream cheese icing, strawberry with cream cheese icing, chocolate with chocolate icing and spice cake with cream cheese icing.

The miniature cake on top (which we cut) was white cake with caramel icing. YUM! I'll let you know after Sunday if it's any good a year later...

There were also chocolate mint brownies and lemon bites.

And the best sugar cookies ever. They are even more amazing because they are from Kroger (a grocery store)!

We also had miniature key lime pies, miniature cheesecakes with different toppings, and Oreo truffles...better known as "O Balls"...and the O doesn't stand for Oreo. True story. (Random fact: the girl in the black and white dress and the boy behind her are now engaged! I'm so excited for them! The two girls are sorority sisters, and the boy is in our brother fraternity. I loved sharing my wedding day with such important friends!)

So yes, our reception was a diabetic coma waiting to happen. And it was awesome! We also had bowls of Chex Mix at each table. My mom made the Chex Mix (her recipe is the BEST. EVER.) and the O Balls. She worked so hard on this wedding, which made it even more special!

Carter & I cut the cake:

And I made this ridiculous face the whole time...

Or else I was super-concentrated:

And we fed each other cake, the classy way:

It was really good cake:

We danced:

And I danced with my daddy:

And I made that ridiculous face some more:

My dad made a toast:

There was a garter toss:

And a bouquet toss (this is my favorite series of pictures from the wedding day):

And I've bombarded you with enough pictures for one day...

Next up: Details, details

A Year Later {6}

Part {1}, {2}, {3}, {4}, {5}


When last we left, I'd managed to make it down the aisle to my groom. From there, things went a bit like this:

Guests were greeted and gathered
Carter & I declared our intent to be married
My parents presented me to be married (my dad did not give me away, per se, but he was asked who presented this woman to be married to this man. we view this less as an exchange of property, but more a blessing of our union.)
One of Carter's oldest friends blessed us by reading Scripture.

Brandon, on the left, read from Philippians 1:6-11. He, along with Caleb (on the right), were ushers.

I am sure that God, who began a good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again.
It is right that I should feel as I do about you, for you have a very special place in my heart. We have shared together the blessings of God, both when I was in prison and when I was out, defending the truth and telling others the Good News.
God knows how much I love you and long for you with the tender compassion of Christ Jesus.
I pray that your love for each other will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in your knowledge and understanding.
For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until Christ returns.
May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—those good things that are produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.

Our pastor, Micah, prayed.

We then exchanged vows. I Corinthians 13 is an important passage of Scripture to us as a couple. Before either of us said "I love you," we each prayed this Scripture, seeking to discern whether or not we should utter that sentiment. We knew if we said it we wanted it to mean what it does in I Corinthians 13. That we would seek to be patient, kind, not proud or boastful or rude...that love would last forever. So we felt it was only appropriate to use these words as we pledged our lives to one another.

Our vows:

I, Carter/Ashley, take you, Ashley/Carter to be my wife/husband.
Living after the example of Christ,
I vow to treasure you with a love that is
patient and kind;
not jealous, boastful, proud or rude.
My love for you will not be self-seeking or easily angered;
it will keep no record of wrongs.
I will rejoice with you in truth,
and triumph with you over evil.
My love for you will always protect,
always trust,
always hope
and always persevere.
Our love will never fail,
even when all else does.
This is my vow to you
and to the One who gave you to me.

Next, one of my other dear friends, LeRae, read a passage. LeRae is my little in our sorority, which means she is Julie's big. She is another person I wanted to be as involved in the wedding as possible. She was such a wonderful and huge help--I don't know that I would have held it together as well as I did without her!!

LeRae was the Virginia state champion in extemporaneous speaking the year we graduated from high school. She's pretty awesome. (Extemp is part of the Forensics competition system.)

She read from Beyond Words: Daily Readings in the ABCs of Faith by Frederick Buechner

They say they will love, comfort and honor each other to the end of their days. They say they will cherish each other and be faithful to each other always. They say they will do these things not just when they feel like it, but even—for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health—when they don’t feel like it at all. In other words, the vows they make could hardly be more extravagant. They give away their freedom. They take on themselves each other’s burdens. They bind their lives together…the question is, what do they get in return?

They get each other in return…There will always be the other to talk to, to listen to…There is still someone to get through the night with, to wake into the new day beside.

They both still have their lives apart as well as a life together. They both still have their separate ways to find. But a marriage made in heaven is one where a man and woman become more richly themselves together than the chances are either of them could ever have managed to become alone.

We exchanged rings.

We opted not to have a unity candle. It just didn't feel like something we wanted to do. I don't necessarily have a "good" reason, other than it felt a little too cheesy for us. We still wanted to include our parents in our ceremony though, so we decided to have them come up during the special music, to lay hands on us and to pray for our marriage. It was a beautiful moment for the 6 of us and our pastor to share.

Our special music was "Love is Not a Fight" by Warren Barfield.

Next we had a response from our families and congregation, confirming their support for us in our decision to marry.

Then we were declared married, presented as husband and wife, and we sealed it with a kiss!

And we were married! And incredibly happy about it!! 

And now for the reason we didn't use "Joyful, Joyful" as our recessional. You see, we'd heard this song. And we knew it was perfect. 





 Knowing this was the perfect song for our recessional, we decided to use "Joyful, Joyful" as the processional. 

Did I mention that we were happy about being married??

Next up: Why people on diets should have avoided our reception all together.  

A Year Later {5}

Part {1}, {2}, {3}, {4}

You may not know this about me, but I have aspirations to be a print/graphic designer. This means, of course, that I designed all of my wedding stationery. I plan on showing you all the invitation suite soon. But, to start with, take a look at the programs!

Our ceremony truly was our favorite part of our day--we worked in several elements that are very "us." And, after all, the ceremony--the actual process of pledging your life and love to another human being--is the reason we did any of this anyway!

I'll take you through the ceremony:

First up: Music. Carter is a musician. Music was VERY important to us. We wanted the music to reflect who we are. We were (and are!) so very blessed to attend a church FULL of talented musicians. They gifted us their time and talents by providing music for our ceremony. It was truly wonderful! They played various selections of contemporary Christian music for the prelude. I honestly don't know what they played, as we just trusted them to make it awesome! And I was told it was :)

These are my sorority sisters and lifeblood of my college experience. If it wouldn't have been absolutely RIDICULOUS, I would have had them all as bridesmaids. But as that was a little unreasonable, I instead had them process in, together, to take their seats as special guests. (Can you spot Julie?)

Julie is my grand-little (my little sister's little sister in our sorority), and I love this girl something FIERCE (just like her!). Carter & I agreed to have 4 attendants each, and I simply hated to not have Julie honored in some way. This girl is important! So, I asked her if she would lead the procession of sisters, of special guests. She was gracious enough to oblige. And isn't she gorgeous in that dress?!?!?!

Each of the women of Delta Omicron Pi carried a single white rose, our sorority's flower. They walked in to "Bless'd Be The Tie That Binds," which is a very special song to our group. I simply loved being able to include these phenomenal women in this way.

Next came the entrance of the grandmothers and mothers. I promise my dad was more excited than he looks in this picture :) My mom actually cried when she tried on this dress. She knew it was the dress she'd wear on the day I got married, and she's sentimental like that! She, Carter's parents, his two grandmothers, and my grandparents on my father's side, came into the sanctuary while the band played "O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing" -- David Crowder Band style. 

After the mothers and grandmothers were seated, the bridal party made their grand entrance. Carter, his brother/best man, and the pastor came in together. Then, each bridesmaid and groomsman entered, in pairs. The sanctuary at our church is quite large. There is a center aisle, as well as an aisle on either side of the center aisle. There is also a horizontal aisle across the middle (I told you it was huge!). The girls started down the far left aisle, the boys down the far right, then they walked to the center aisle via the horizontal aisle, and finished the walk together down the second half of the center aisle. I'm sure that's clear as mud :) My sister/MOH walked in by herself, straight down the center aisle.

My cousin was the flower girl. She was about 18 months old! She is carrying the same basket I carried in my aunt Denise's wedding when I was 6 (except we spray painted it). My mom made her dress. She's too stinkin' cute! The bridal party walked in to "Beautiful One" by Tim Hughes.

Then it was my turn to come in...Carter had eyes only for me. His brother, on the other hand, was more interested in what the photographer was doing :)

Yup, that's my dad. Crying. I get my emotional side from both parents! My processional song was "Joyful Joyful." We just asked the band to make it fun and upbeat. This is a party, after all! It was very important to me to have this song featured in my wedding ceremony. My mom and dad used it as their recessional song in 1977, and my sister and brother-in-law used it as their recessional in 2006. So why did I use it for a processional? We'll get there in a second.

Well, we'll actually get there a little later. This post is long enough! I'll have more for you soon though, don't worry!

A Year Later {4}

Part {1}, {2}, {3}

Carter & I elected to do a "first look." There are plenty of arguments for and against a first look, but for us, it just made the most sense. We wanted our first moments together on our wedding day to be private. I knew that if I was in any way nervous or apprehensive, seeing Carter would help me relax. It made sense for us to take pictures before the ceremony. I am glad we did a first look--I don't think we lost any magic in our ceremony by doing so, and my nerves were definitely calmed. Plus, we got those pocket squares turned around the right way...

{Our photographer had us stand on either side of this wall and hold hands before we saw each other.}

{I totally tried to peek, but I promise I couldn't see around the wall.}

{This is one of my favorites.}

{Smoochies}

{The whole picture.}

Next: The ceremony that was so very "us."