Wedding Photographs!!

I am so excited because we have received photographs from our wedding back from the photographer!! Each image brings me back to that special day when my husband and I celebrated our marriage with our friends and family. So many silly faces, so many smiling faces-- so much happiness and joy! Please enjoy looking at a few select photographs from our wedding, November 23, 2013.

Pre-Ceremony

Upon entering the church foyer, a table invited guests to "sign" our non-traditional guestbook. Our guestbook was a scrapbook with envelopes glued to pages. Guests wrote their names and a little note on a card, and placed the card in an unoccupied envelope. Looking through the envelopes a couple of weeks after the wedding was a treasure!

My bouquet and my husband's boutonnière. My maid of honor (and step sister-in-law) made these for us, as well as most of the other decorations for the wedding. She did beautiful work with the wedding! I loved it!

Our theme was an Irish Garden wedding. Originally, the wedding was to be held at a lovely park. Irish weather caused us to relocate the wedding to our church at the time. The church was so gracious to allow us to use several of their artificial trees, "park" lamps, and tulle to recreate a soft and simple garden. Also, I did not have a flower girl. I opted instead to have petals already lining the aisles. So gorgeous! 

My mother-in-law helped me get my dress in order before the ceremony.
I bought my dress and veil off Craigslist for $70. MAJOR blessing!

My handsome husband with his father (middle) and younger brother (left).

Ceremony

I walked down the aisle to an instrumental version of "Red is the Rose"
and the reading of Proverbs 31:10-31 by an elder and respected woman of the church.

My husband took me at the end of the aisle.
(I tried to get as few as pictures as possible with people in them since I do not have their permission. If you are in this photograph, and you would not like to be-- please let me know!)

I thought this image was such a lovely picture of my husband and I.
He is the love of my life!

Although only two ministers can be seen here, we had three ministers conduct the ceremony: my pastor, my husband's pastor at the time, and a very loved minister/elder at the church we previously attended (and were married at).

Our bridal party consisted of two bridesmaids: my maid of honor and sister-in-law (far left), a dear friend (closest to me) & three groomsmen: my husband's best man and older brother (male closest to husband), a close friend of my husband's (middle man), and my husband's brother. My sister-in-law was walked in by one brother and walked out by both brothers, which I thought was very special! Our other friends are a married couple, which was a requirement for our bridal party! I did not want to separate husbands and wives & have someone's husband walk with another woman (or vice versa). Thankfully, they are dear friends to us and are married to each other!! haha

My husband reading the vows he wrote to me. We wrote our vows the night before on our phones at IHOP over hot chocolate. A funny fact: Not all of my husband's vows to me were written down on his paper, so he only read part of his vows to me! Eekk!! haha :-) 

I am reading the vows I wrote to my sweet love.

In place of a unity candle, my husband and I chose to have a unity rose ceremony. My husband's mother walked down the aisle with two roses, which she laid on the table. My mother was not able to be at the ceremony, so she had two roses lying on the table to represent her. (A picture of her was also supposed to be on the table, but it was placed on the wrong table!!) My husband and I combined the roses into a vase while "Mo Gra sa Mo Dhia," a beautiful love song to the Lord, played in Irish.

I appear to be smiling in this image, but I was actually crying.... This part of the ceremony is about uniting families, and my family could not attend due to distance. (My family lives in Idaho.)

We finished the arrangement very quickly, and the song was about four minutes long. I was also trying not to continue crying, and so we could not figure out what to do. We decided to leave the table early in hopes the song would be faded out (it wasn't), and we could continue with the ceremony.

The song wasn't faded out, and so, as we stood waiting for the next part of the ceremony... I began crying again. It really was a very, very sad part in the service. I think most of our guests knew that my family could not come (they were on Google Hangout; I waved to them after I walked down the aisle and talked with them afterward), and they told us later that the emotions were so raw and real in the ceremony. Several guests were reportedly crying with me! Aww...

My husband's pastor of the time (far left) said the next part would cheer me up.... It kind of did.... ;-)

Whoop whoop! We are happy, in-love!! And we are Mr. & Mrs.

Our guests rang tiny bells (an Irish tradition) as we walked away from the altar.

After-Ceremony

Only the kiss in these photographs is staged! I love that the other images are completely natural takes!

Reception

Upon entering the reception area, a sign greeted our guests.
My sister-in-law (my maid of honor) wrote the sign. Soooo cute!

Our Mr. & Mrs. table... I am telling you! The ladies who planned, directed, and put together my wedding did a PHENOMENAL job, and I am forever grateful to them. Looking back through so many of these images reminds me of how loved I am. So many people contributed to putting our wedding together-- financially and in effort.
Thank You, Lord, for providing for us!

Our cake table was so beautifully set. I actually just realized we do not have a picture of the food table. I am telling you! The ladies who put our wedding together far exceeded my expectations and really did a marvelous job!

, but a few friends from church made the cupcakes homemade!
What a blessing to us.

Just a funny picture. :-) Everyone who's seen this picture says I look twelve. Thanks.... ;-)

Cutting the cake-- we didn't really understand the significance of it and were mocking it in several pictures.
I chose to use a decent picture for this blog. hehehe :-)

We also did not understand the significance of the drinking glasses. I don't remember what was in the cups... something non-alcoholic and not carbonated... but other than that, I don't remember. We were a little silly.

We're leaving!! Our guests blew bubbles, which was so much fun! Our wedding was so lovely. We were truly blessed by having so many friends and family to celebrate our marriage!

Blessings

My husband and I are so grateful to everyone who blessed us through the marriage celebration. Most of all, we are so thankful to the Lord that He cares for us enough to handle all of these small things in life. Truthfully, my husband and I could not have afforded as beautiful of a wedding as we received. So many people gave their time, services, and own finances toward our marriage celebration. Wow!! The Lord was working through these individuals, couples, and even whole families, and we are continuing to believe for manifold blessings to return to them!!

God bless you and keep you,

~Raquel