Reflections of Our Wedding Day

Is anyone else as thrilled by a wedding website, blog, TV Show, etc. as I am? Long before my own wedding day and 6 months after, I still love them all. Sit me in front of a wedding photographer's website (like the amazing Allison Lewis photography at allisonlewisphotography.com) and I will be content for hours. Yes, I am one of the guilty ones who recorded Kate and William's royal wedding and my heart often swoons for any beautiful girl in a big white dress.Weddings sure do appeal to many of my senses, but I have to sound the alarm that, at least in my personal experience, this love can soon be totally marred by sin if you allow it to be. 

Most of my struggles when planning Ryan and I's wedding were not the countless to-do lists, coming up with the guest list, planning the ceremony, etc. By far, it was so difficult to NOT become consumed by the what the world tries to sell every young bride concerning their wedding. There are sites and sites dedicated to informing you what your wedding should look like if it is going to be beautiful. When, on the contrary, biblical marriage is already the most beautiful thing ever if you ask me. God designed it, He enables you to be married, and He created it is such a way to bring Himself glory....obviously He is a big fan. (Genesis 1:27-28; 2:24-25). Marriage is so wonderful because it provides another opportunity to display God's glory through you and your husband's lives together. Ephesians 5:31-32 says that marriage is patterned after Christ's covenant with His church. Christ is the bridegroom of His church. He paid a high price to redeem His bride. Your husband has the unique opportunity in marriage to love you as Christ loves His church, and you have the unique opportunity to submit to your husband as to Christ. You were created with separate needs that fit perfectly in tune with Christ's design of marriage. Men were created with a need for respect and you were created with a need to be loved. "Marriage is patterned after Christ's covenant relationship to his redeemed people, the church. and therefore, the highest meaning and the most ultimate purpose of marriage is to put the covenant relationship of Christ and His church on display. Staying married is not mainly about staying in love then. It is about keeping a covenant. This is why divorce is so horrific in God's eyes, it is not merely that it involves covenant breaking with the spouse, but it involves mis-representing Christ and His covenant. Christ will never leave His wife. Ever. Christ keeps His covenant forever, marriage should be a display of that. Keeping  a covenant with our spouse is as important as telling the truth about God's covenant with us through Jesus Christ. Jesus died for sinners. He forged a covenant with us. He made an imperfect bride perfect through his blood and covered her with the garments of righteousness. He said He will never leave us nor forsake us (Matt. 28:10). Marriage is meant by God to put this gospel reality on display to the world. That's why we are married." (John Piper; This Momentary Marriage).

For the world who does not embrace this reality and the purpose that Christ brings to marriage, it is no wonder that they clings so tightly to the wedding celebration itself. Why wouldn't you try to have the biggest, the flashiest, spend the most money, impress the most people, etc. if your wedding's only purpose is to celebrate yourself. So, if you are a Christian preparing for your wedding day, this should bring you a lot of hope. The wedding day pressure is off. You are free from what the world tells you to do or to have. Create a celebration that will bring God the most glory and will be a lovely day for you and your husband to look back on and recount the blessing and responsibility of marriage. What is going to go on that day is already going to be God-ordained beautiful-ness. It is already going to have great purpose. This should be the message that you proclaim to your guests. You don't have to prove that you are the best wedding planner ever by filling their tummies with the most scrumptious food, or providing the best atmosphere for them to get down on the dance floor, etc.

I have tons of other observations and advice based on the things I did right and did totally wrong, so message me for details or lets grab coffee:-)

Ok, the point of this post was to showcase some of my favorite wedding pictures, but as you can see I am making a quick habit of rambling, so here we go. 

Disclaimer: This day was not as perfect as it may seem through pictures. Heck, my pictures aren't even perfect. I have to daily keep my perfectionist self in check from not picking apart my pictures. You may see beautiful, but my eye always seems to find the dress hanger tag that came out during Ryan and I's first dance, the strand of hair that came out after the ceremony, and the bulging vein on my forehead shining so brightly in most of my pictures outside. You probably would never know that I had major breakdown the morning of my wedding after a sleepless night and a no-show make-up artist. I spent a lot of time creating an outdoor garden game area that was never used, my caterer overbooked and sent the "rookie" staff to cover my wedding, and my photographer forgot she had ever met me prior to the wedding day morning. But ya know what? Nobody probably noticed, cared, or thought twice about it. I am the only one who can ruin the memories that I have by dwelling on the small and insignificant details. Way more went right than went wrong and I often fail to give those things the credit they deserve. We had an absolutely incredible day! The gospel was presented through our ceremony, family and friends gathered to support us as we made a covenant in marriage to one another and to the Lord, we danced the night away (Yes, even some of the Baptists), and I was able to drive out of the church parking lot that night married to the man who surpasses my fallen dreams. He is truly evidence of the Lord's undeserved and unmerited blessing in my life and I am so blessed to be his wi-Fee's. Hope you enjoy these pictures as much as we do. 

We waited one year to see if we could be married here! It was definitely love at first site when we stumbled across this beauty. Since we were non-members, we had to wait 6 months before we could book with them. I called the church January 9 at 8am and everything ended up working out!

Would love to remember what I was thinking here...

This picture turned out so organic...Love!

My Grandmother made home-made peach preserves as our wedding favors...such a sweet and meaningful touch.

I understand nothing about architecture, but this is just cool:-)

I may be a little biased since these are my new precious cousins, but these could be some of the cutest flower girls ever!

Those are some handsome fellas'

Will is not the cooperative child when it comes to photographs...good thing he has a cute serious face!

My parents blessed me with an amazing wedding day! I could never repay them for all that they did, but thankful that I had the opportunity to give them a little token of my appreciation before I walked down the aisle.

Ryan opening his gift from me before the wedding. We decided Our parents decided that we would not see each other before the wedding, so hearing from each other in these small ways was comforting.

Finished product.

  

Beautiful.

My grandmother's pie chest + our grandparent's old wedding pictures = a great way to display Ryan and I's legacy

One of my favorite wedding day elements....turned out better than I envisioned!

Ryan made a photobooth for the wedding and here were some of our props! Thanks to the amazing photography skills of Allison Lewis; this turned out to be a huge success.

On the way to meet my groom...

I love this. I feel like it depicts how I am walking away from the life I know and into a new chapter of my life...cheesy I know.

These turned out so much better than expected! Lauren Benion from Sorelle Printing did a beautiful job!

Instead of unity candles, tying ropes, or pouring sand...I opted for this!

This was a requested photograph. Ryan's grandparents have a timeless photograph of them walking down the stairs of the church they were married at in NYC and I had to have my own version.

The Kiss!

Clearly excited about what just took place...

So blessed to have all these folks stand beside us in support on our special day!

Seems very wedding-y!

Walking into our reception.

First dance to "Unfailing Love" by Jimmy Needham.

There are not many pictures circulating in the world of my dad smiling this big, so this one's a definite keeper!

Finally married!

I can say this now because he is my husband, but he pretty freakin' SEXY  and he is all mine!

"How Sweet it is to be Loved by You"

I know my dad was nervous and a little apprehensive about giving his speech, but he did an amazing job. We really appreciated his kind words.

World's best-best man speech ever!

Pi Kappa Phi's rose song!

If you know how much I love to dance, then you know how much I love this picture!

Ryan's "Nanny Jane" and one of my mother's best friends provided our assortment of pies for our pie bar!

The rain thankfully held off the entire night, but the lightning sure did make for a pretty picture!

All the single ladies...

I wish this picture could have sound attached to it! If it could, you would be hearing R. Kelly's "Bump N Grind"...priceless.

Pure Joy

We were able to share one last intimate dance after everyone was ushered out of the reception hall...such a sweet moment. Would recommend this to anybody!

Thanks to Ryan's wonderful parents...we were able to drive away in this baby!