Wedding Graduates

One friend went on hike and her baby saw his first deer. Another group of friends sneaked onto a boat in the lake to cause mischief. Children and grandparents played on the swing sets together… It was a very great day…

Kirk sang me down the aisle to ‘The Way I Feel Inside’ by The Zombies. That was a wonderful moment for me, walking towards the man I love as he sang soft and sweet just to me.

Find a way to know that not everything will be perfect [and it shouldn't be, isn't the beauty in life in the imperfections?]. And remember what it is about, your getting freakin married! Awesome!

The fact that you’re giddy at the thought of being with that person, and you can make them grin like a fool with your mere presence? This is what makes me a successful bride and wife, and I wish you all my kind of success.

…but when I looked to our family gathered so close around us I simply reached out and both my mom and his mom – standing there, side by side – reached to take the flowers from me.

While meshing our aesthetic styles together was sometimes stressful (The Great Black Dress Debate). Her style is neo-victorian Gothic. My style includes more sunshine yellow and butterflies, but we made it work.

The biggest savings we got were by hosting the party at our house- no corkage, no rental fees, no insurance or other sneaky fees. Plus we had no time limit at night and carried on until 2am!

We held the ceremony on a bit of open space land overlooking the Continental Divide (free), and then went into town to the Gold Hill Inn (an old miners’ cafeteria that is now a restaurant) for the reception.

My husband stepped on my dress and tore it. He said, “I’m just doomed, aren’t I?” I laughed and told him it’s just a freaking dress and it’s coming off in a little while anyway. That seemed to cheer him up quite a bit.

We feel that our love of hospitality comes from God’s own hospitality towards us, and for us it was such a deep pleasure to see all our dearest ones enjoying one another with good food in community.

My husband and I planned our wedding like a big garden dinner party with family and friends. We wanted to keep things personal, super-informal, and with a sense of movement throughout the afternoon/evening.

When Patty and I decided to get married, it wasn’t legal. But it didn’t matter. Since I didn’t have many models of weddings {like mine} to draw inspiration from, I really let go of all “wedding expectations.”

I was afraid that I was going to cry and not be able to say my vows properly. But I stood there looking at my husband thinking, “Oh my God, I’m getting married right now, this is the coolest thing ever!”

Our wedding was held on my family’s land in Wisconsin. It is someplace I have planted trees on as a child and ridden horse across. Our guests said that our wedding made them feel as if they’d gone back in time.

When you have suffered a loss, like the death a mother, taking the time to savor & hold up an occasion of joy becomes a beautiful thing. Bringing our families together to celebrate life & love was our main focus.

William and I knew we didn’t want 5 hours of dinner and dancing! We wanted a time after our ceremony where we could hang out with our friends and family. This was the perfect low-stress way to celebrate.

Don’t listen when anyone tells you that you simply have to spend this much on something. You don’t. In fact, you don’t have to do anything that does not feel right to you, or that makes you feel financially uncomfortable.

I approached our wedding the same way I approach my life, like one giant design project. Spending my Saturday night tying ribbons on programs was a perfect Saturday night. Making birdseed packets, a joy.

My husband and I were planning a wedding for 2010 when the economy tanked. As a result, we planned a mini wedding in three weeks, taking place two days before our law school graduation.

The words we spoke to each other multiplied my love exponentially. I. Was. Gobsmacked. And feeling the warmth everyone’s love all at once? It was like the first time I broke through the clouds in an airplane.

A group of so many people important to us will probably not gather again until the last party that ever gets thrown for anybody, but we probably won’t remember that one. That is the magic of a wedding.

It turns out that the thing that will shape your wedding day the most is free: your attitude. If you are joyful, present, and relaxed your guests will follow your lead.

When my matron of honour stepped on my train and I heard a huge “riiiiiip,” shrugged my shoulders, and proceeded to gather my raggedy train in both my hands and dance the night away.

Because of the politics of marriage and the injustice that forbids some people from marrying the people they love, I expected to be underwhelmed by the words and the sentiment. I wasn’t, they did matter.