When We Said "I Do": Part I

The day Howard and I got married was the happiest of my life because I was thrilled to finally be with my guy for the rest of our lives. We have quite a story as we dated for a brief moment when we were in college (and still just kids when we look at it now), breaking up and rebuilding our friendship over two years, and then serving together in our church's coffeehouse in 2008 and getting back together after that. After another two years of dating, he proposed to me at our church retreat, and we were ready to be married! 

But as those who have gone through it know, most wedding preparation usually stirs up a ton of drama and difficulties within the families. We ended up having to wait another two years before we actually got married. All I wanted was to spend time in preparation for our marriage, but because these things are supposed to be family events, we had to take the time to prepare for the wedding. 

In actuality, I really wanted a destination wedding in Disney World. It wasn't even because of the location; I was really drawn to the idea of inviting a total of 18 people and having a small, basic ceremony for just $5,000. The only people I would have to stand in front of would be people who knew us well. I was all for returning home and having an informal dinner with everyone else to celebrate. But that idea was just not possible. People were telling me that I would regret it, but I told them that I knew what I liked and what I really wanted. They told me that after the wedding, I would appreciate it after having experienced it and just be grateful we did it that way. I insisted that I just wanted to be married and not deal with the stress of getting married. No one seemed to believe me. 

And you know what? It's almost two years later, and I still wish we had done it our way. So much of the day was just my feeling awkward and wishing that people would stop looking at me! I never went through our wedding photos to post them in a Facebook album because going through them made me feel those similar feelings of nerves and "can-this-be-over-because-I-wanna-go-home."

But at the same time, there are some photos and moments that I absolutely love as they remind me of the GREAT things about our wedding day. I figured now is as good a time as any to start documenting some of the memories of our "This is supposed to our wedding day. Why did we invite all these people?" (Pam to Jim in The Office, season 6 episode 5). 

Having Jonathan do our flowers!

I might have said it on the blog before, but I am not a flowers kind of girl. Howard gave me flowers when I graduated college and then sent some to me after I had surgery to have my gallbladder removed when we were just friends again and a little awkward with each other. After that, he learned that I'm just not someone who appreciates bouquets because it actually requires a lot of work for the recipient! Plus, which would you rather have - a bunch of flowers or a cheeseburger? I love seeing flowers and think God's quite an amazing artist and designer when there are flowers growing outdoors, but I'd rather eat that cheeseburger.

Of course, we needed bouquets for the wedding, and I thought of the perfect solution! At church, Jonathan puts together the arrangements for the sanctuary every Sunday, and I wondered if he might want to attempt doing bouquets for a wedding. He eagerly agreed, so I was thrilled! All I told his dad, KK, was that I had two criteria: (1) I wanted them to be light so that It wouldn't be too exhausting carrying them and (2) I didn't want baby's breath. 

When I saw them, I was floored! They were wonderful and exactly my taste! Simple and clean but still gorgeous. I didn't request certain flowers or colors, but I told them what colors my girls' dresses were. The bright, cheerful yellow was just perfect for them. Having them take care of the flowers was a great idea because I didn't have to think about them or make too many choices, and I know that Jonathan really enjoyed the opportunity. Before his family left the wedding, I wanted to make sure we got a picture, and it ended up that that group photo has become one of my FAVORITES of our entire day.