Five Years

This weekend Matt and I have been celebrating five years of wedded bliss! It's hard to believe five years have gone by already. When I think back to a mere two years ago, I was just starting my time abroad in Hungary, and Matt had just deployed to Afghanistan. He felt so very far away on that day and it didn't help that I felt like a very lost lamb, having newly arrived to Debrecen. I could never have imagined all the wonderful things that would lay in store as those two years passed, and now here we are, settled back into "normal" life and expecting our first little one!

I love reminiscing about our wedding day. I know it sounds oh-so-cliché, but our entire wedding day was like a fairy-tale-come-true for me. It's funny, too, because I had never been one of those girls who had planned out wedding details in their minds years in advance of meeting Mr. Right. Yet after Matt proposed, it didn't take long until I knew exactly what I wanted our day to look like. {And thankfully I had the most wonderful fiancé ever--Matt was willing to pretty much go along with whatever I wanted!}

Here are the things I knew I wanted:

1. To have our reception at the Hertitage Center in Saint Joseph, Michigan. I have always loved the building and knew the interior would be a gorgeous place for a reception. The venue was already booked for a Saturday and a Sunday wedding the weekend we wanted, but they were free for a Friday evening reception. That of course meant our wedding day would be on a Friday, but the day of the week was no matter to me, plus I really loved the idea of having an evening wedding ceremony {6 pm to be exact}.

2. To be married in the church where I grew up: First Church of God, Saint Joseph, Michigan. I also knew I wanted to use lots of ivy and have it lining the aisle. I knew I wanted sea green for my bridesmaids gowns {my favorite color} and my bouquets to use lots of roses in the palest shades of pink. I also knew that hiring live wedding music wasn't an option because I wanted to use Celtic music throughout the ceremony {one of my favorite genres and also befitting my red hair!}. Matt loved the Celtic music idea and approved all my song choices beforehand.

3. To have wedding pictures taken at the beach {St. Joseph is home to some of the most beautiful beaches you'll ever see}, preferably at sunset. The beach pictures all turned out better than we ever could have dreamed!

We sailed through the entire wedding day without the slightest hiccup. My mom really should go into wedding planning because I kid you not, this woman thought of ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING. The most minute of details was covered. The wedding party all received ten-page packets at the rehearsal, and though it may have seemed over-the-top initially, it indeed ensured that every single person knew his or her schedule to the minute, had directions, contact numbers, and knew the odd job he or she was responsible for. For example, my mom had assigned a bridesmaid the task of gathering up my things post-ceremony and transporting them to the reception hall {a groomsman did the same for Matt}. Then we knew exactly who to ask when we needed our things for freshening up and later changing at the reception.

Because we knew everything had been so thoroughly planned out, Matt and I were able to truly relax and enjoy our wedding day to the fullest. There was no stress, no frazzle--it was simply able to be what it was: the single best day of my life.

Here are some more pictures for you:

Since our wedding ceremony and reception would be taking place in the evening, we had no choice but to take all of our wedding photos during the day. {I actually LOVED this idea anyway...I didn't want to have to mess with many photos after the ceremony. I just wanted to celebrate!} Matt and I still had a very special, private moment where we saw one another for the first time. It was so lovely.



Love LOVE this photo!

Our flower girl: my niece, Krista.

Isn't she the cutest? She did her job perfectly, too!

I adore this photo because it captures me smiling at Matt just before my dad hands me over to him.

I felt as if I was in a dream the entire ceremony.

While the guests headed to the reception hall down the road, we drove to the beach {five minutes away}. We arrived just in time for a gorgeous sunset! {Praise the Lord for fabulous weather that day!} In the twenty minutes or so that we were there, our photographer got the most amazing shots.

Our favorite.

We went back to the reception hall and snapped a few more pictures outside while the guests had hors-d'oeuvres inside. {Our caterer brought out some for the wedding party while we waited for our grand entrances}.

Matt was good-humored enough to let me have the Indiana Jones theme song playing while we made our grand entrance to the reception hall.

Krista totally wore me out on the dance floor!

The only downside to the day was that we weren't able to invite nearly as many people as we wanted. The reception hall only fit about 165 guests comfortably. I know 165 sounds like a lot, but remember that Matt and I are both pastor's kids, so we had many, many people we were very sad not to be able to include.

Not only did my mom do the most fabulous job of planning the entire event, we had so many other people help out with the details, decorating, setting up, and tearing down. From friends who served as wedding coordinator and my "personal assistant", to all the family who helped out as well, thank you from the bottom of our hearts to each and every one of you for making our wedding day the most beautiful and unforgettable day we ever could have asked for!