THE Wedding Post

Ok, so here it is, exactly 18 days after the big day according to my trusty ticker above:
THE wedding post.

I actually wrote this post yesterday but somehow, it disappeared when it came time to post. So, for about 24 hours I've been sulking but I'm chalking it up as a test run and now I'm ready to write the real version.

Last I left off, all my precious bridesmaids and I were sitting in the bridal room at First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica where Aaron and I got married. We had just taken some pictures (all the pictures that we could take without Aaron and I together) and we were ready to go! Some of my very favorite memories of our wedding will be remembered from those few minutes before. I smile thinking about my bridesmaids clearing out the restrooms so I could go without being seen, Savannah sitting in a floral chair in the corner looking adorable in her dress, and two of my bridesmaids checking on the reception room to make sure that it was perfect without me knowing and thus, freaking out that it wasn't quite as I had wanted it (I knew that was what you were up to, Sarah Kay and Kate but thank you for not telling me!). As we left the safety of the bridal room to go line up for the processional, I remembered thinking, "Wow, here we go!" I think that I was probably the most nervous to see my dad because I knew that we would both be emotional. It went really well and was just this perfect, special moment that I will remember all of my life. I was so happy and pleasantly surprised to see that Matt had caught some of these moments on film for me to treasure. I remember standing in the back and peeking through this tiny hole in the door to watch my mom and Terrie light the candles and then again to see Dean Gash, Aaron, and the boys all come out. And then I just remember standing there with Dad and the girls and as they went one by one, I was trying to take it all in and focus on just being in that moment...those moments. As Dad and I got ready to walk down the aisle, I was just so thankful for everything; for my Dad and his composure, for my girls that had just paved the way for me to walk down the aisle, for our friends and family that filled those pews, for every single thing that had led me to this moment from the florist delivering the arrangements for the church on time to God bringing Aaron to Pepperdine for us to meet. It was an awesome, out of body experience that I can't think of any other word to describe it than perfection.

As Dean Gash began the ceremony, I was thankful again for this amazing mentor and friend that we have in him. He is the Dean of Student Affairs at the Law School and it is the perfect job for him. He has such a genuine concern for all of law students and his entire family is so generous and loving. It was an honor for us to have him marry us. And he sure didn't let us down! His message was centered around the fruits of the Spirit and he went through each fruit and gave us a little gift as a symbol of each. Throughout his presentation, he injected bits of information personal to both Aaron and I and it just made it so unique, special, and memorable. I was grateful for his mixture of humor and sweetness because it kept me from crying...more:) After that, we took our vows, exchanged rings, kissed, and recessed to Randy Travis' "Forever and Ever Amen" (which is also what I had Aaron's ring engraved with and the date).

After that, we signed our marriage certificate, exchanged lots of hugs and kisses, took family photos, took bridal party photos and headed into the reception. Our bridal party was introduced and then Aaron and I came in and began our first dance to Zac Brown Band's "Whatever It Is". A few weeks back, Aaron and I tested out a few different song options but we eventually decided on this one because it was fun, upbeat, sweet, and we could two-step to it! (and we sure did!) Here are a few other details from our reception:

Decorations: We kept it simple with navy blue linens and white hydrangeas in clear mason jars with aqua ribbon around the neck of the bottles. On the tables were also littler mason jars with fabric from our cake (more on this later) with pens in them. The pens were for guests to fill out postcards we had printed with one of our engagement pictures. We also pre-addressed them (to us) and prestamped them. We thought that this would be an opportunity for people to write more personalized notes to us and it was really fun to come back from our honeymoon to all these sweet messages.

Drinks: Because we didn't serve a meal and just had a cake reception in its place, we wanted to make sure that we did cake and drinks right! So, we served sweet tea, unsweet tea, water, coke (Aaron's favorite), coke zero (my favorite), and diet coke (LA's favorite?). We also had coffee and hot water for tea.

Favors: Aaron and I have huge sweet tooths so we decided to have a candy buffet. Mom found us these great candy jars from Williams Sonoma and I had stickers made with our names and the date in our wedding colors to put on the bags. To seal the bags, we had little heart stickers. We had 12 candy jars (with scoops) so we served 12 kinds of candy! Snickers, Sour straws, Peppermints, Haribo gummy bears, Runts, M&M's...to name a few!) I think it was quite a hit with our guests!

Groom's table: My "bonus mom" Terrie did a great job with making this a special table to honor Aaron. Instead of a groom's cake, Terrie had buttermilk pies made at a local bakery using Aaron's Grammy's recipe. She found these emblems to put on the pies of the Red Sox logo and the Longhorns logo. She also served the fresh strawberries from the Farmers Market and a pitcher of sweet tea was on A's table too.

Dress: Much to my groom's surprise, I changed dresses after we cut our cake. It was a fun little suprise and it was much easier to move around in!

Cake!: Our cake was a 4(?) tiered cupcake cake from Vanilla Bake Shop in Santa Monica. It had a 6 inch cake on the top which was the one that Aaron and I cut. We chose two flavors, Southern Red Velvet and Vanilla Bean but you couldn't tell they were different until you looked close because we had white frosting on both flavors. The cupcake stand has panels that can be covered in fabric and so Aaron and I found a navy and white damask pattern that we liked and gave it to Amy, the owner (this is the same fabric in the mason jars that held the pens on the tables). The decoration on the 6" cake was a monogram and so each cupcake had a little "E" on it to match. It was perfect in every way except that I didn't eat anything besides the piece Aaron and I shared ceremoniously!

After lots of picture taking, visiting with friends and family, bouquet tossing, garter tossing, (and I can't forget Dad's sweet toast), it was time to leave. Everyone had a chance to grab a little silver bell to ring us out. My now brother in law was sweet enough to load our luggage into the car and so after some quick good byes and THANK YOUs to both of our parents, we were out! It was a windy, but sunny Southern California afternoon and as we rode off to our hotel near LAX we both looked at each other, exhaled, and smiled thinking about all we had just enjoyed and just how lucky we both are.

If you've read through this entire long post, you sure do deserve this link to our slideshow and photos! We could not be more thrilled with them and how they capture every detail of our special day. Matt did a wonderful job and we were so happy to have him and his wife, Erin there as our photographer and friend.

Up next: the honeymoon post!

The verse read at our wedding:
"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Colossians 3:12-17