Three Years Ago Today

Wanna hear about our wedding?? :)

We chose our wedding date because we knew we wanted it to be "soon," so we were looking at September or October. We chose the weekend of the 5th/6th when we decided to go to NY to see the Yankees play...that weekend Boston was in town. So we planned on the 6th, but the pastor couldn't do that day, so we moved it up to the 5th, in the evening (Friday night).

We got married at my parents' church...a small, sweet church. Nothing too fancy about the building, but since my church met in a school auditorium and Josh's was in Buffalo, we chose Calvary Assembly.

We didn't want a big party. My sister Katie was my maid of honor (it had been a longstanding joke that the first one to get married would have the other as her maid of honor, and the second wouldn't have the first as a matron of honor. Sure enough, she asked her best friend Carly to be maid of honor, and I was a bridesmaid!) Brad, Josh's cousin, was the best man, and Justin, my youngest brother, who was 3 1/2 at the time, was the ring bearer. My sisters were too old to be flower girls :)

I had planned on a blue dress for Katie, since we wanted the wedding to be blue and white, but they had a beautiful wine dress that looked stunning on her, so we added wine to the colors of our wedding.

I picked out my dress the day Josh picked out my ring. I borrowed mom's diamond so I looked like I really was engaged, though I'm sure David's Bridal didn't care...they were still getting my money!

I got the third dress I tried on...it was perfect. Not too fancy, but beautiful. It's ivory (so I didn't look too washed out) without a train...pretty beadwork on the top and partially off-the-shoulder sleeves. The headpiece was exactly what I always wanted (I didn't have my dress picked out, but I had chosen my veil): a wreath with a veil down the back. It cost almost as much as the dress but it was worth every penny.

We had dear family friends do our pictures. They did Katie's, Daniel's and our weddings, and did a fabulous job. They have a huge family too, so weren't at all intimidated by the family size in the family portraits. Beautiful, beautiful pictures. We had someone from my church do the videotaping, and they did a great job but it took months before we got the tapes.

After the wedding, we intended for people to go downstairs for cookies, but at the last minute Josh's mom suggested we should have some non-sweet munchies too, since people might not have had time to eat on the way. Josh's cousin, a caterer, took care of that, and made fabulous hors d'oeuvres.

The ceremony was short and sweet. My friend Joanna (who's been my friend since birth) played piano for us. I walked down the aisle to "Joyful, Joyful." Perfect words, I love Beethoven...and it was what my mom walked down the aisle to as well.

We had two pastors doing the service. The pastor of the church I was going to until we got married did the vows, and the missions director of my former church did the sermon and communion.

During the rehearsal, the pastor mentioned not letting the rings drop: "They roll!" Josh almost forgot, and nearly dropped my ring, but caught it in the nick of time (which he is always doing...he almost never lets anything fall. He really should play baseball) Everyone laughed, and that is the moment everyone remembers from our day.

The pastor thought it might be helpful to put a red sticker on the floor for Justin, so he would know where to stand when he got to the front of the church. Justin took his job quite seriously, and stood with both feet on that little red dot. When Katie tried to turn him so he could watch the ceremony, he had to do it so that his feet didn't get off the sticker. I couldn't have asked for a better-behaved ring-bearer.

When we took communion, Daniel, my brother, played "The Wedding Song" (I know, but the words really are amazing. There's a reason it's played all the time. I love the symbolism of the Marriage Feast to come!) We used a communion plate and cup that was my dad's from early in their marriage, that he had recently given to Evan, I think. Simple and beautiful.

After the wedding was the receiving line, meeting all of Josh's extended family and the friends that hadn't come to the shower, introducing him to my side. We had just over 100 people there, which was perfect. No more could have fit in the church!

Then we cut the cake, and had a hilarious moment when Justin stepped forward, just as we were ready to feed each other, and asked for a piece. Everyone cracked up. He got some as soon as we fed each other (nicely).

Brad gave a toast, which everyone enjoyed (the photographers enjoyed it more than anyone). Very fun and sweet.

And then we left. I had Katie help me take off my veil and the thousands of bobby pins holding it up...I couldn't have done it by myself, and Josh wouldn't have been comfortable with that. We stayed dressed up, and went to the hotel.

One more funny story: we were at the hotel parking lot, and Josh accidentally locked the keys in the car, but thankfully the trunk was open. So he climbed through the trunk to get into the car. Someone pulled up and told me there were better ways to spend our wedding night :)

Oh, and the kids all decorated our car. We didn't have time to get it clean before we left for NYC, so we didn't...and it sat in my brother's apartment parking lot for a week. So the chalk kinda cooked on. It took some serious washing to get it all off when we got home!

You can see pictures, as well as the story of how we met, here.