wedding recap: the ceremony

happy friday everyone! since i’m going to be a bridesmaid in my friend’s wedding this weekend and because i’m on a roll with these wedding re-caps, here’s another one!

if you’ve missed any of the other recaps, you can catch up!

• sneak peek (my reactions just a couple days after the wedding)
• the honeymoon
• the rehearsal
• getting ready the morning of the wedding

(oh, all photos in this post were taken from my friend katie’s facebook. she and her husband have a photography business and take awesome photos. we’re so lucky that terry was able to snap some great photos from our wedding day in addition to the ones that our photographer took, especially since i want to do my recaps now, and we don’t have our other photos yet! )

moving on…

at 1:30pm on saturday, august 27, 2011, at grace congregational united church of christ in two rivers, wi, my mom walked me down the isle to my love.

my stepdad met us halfway down the isle and he and my mom escorted me the rest of the way.

i decided to have my mom start walking me down the isle just the two of us, because i wanted something a little special for her. she’s so amazing (as i’ve mentioned before), and i am so thankful to everything she’s done for me my entire life.

but, i also wanted jamie to be part of giving me away. he’s my stepdad, and will never take the place of my biological dad, but he is so wonderful to liz & me and has really stepped up as a father since he and my mom have been together. having him meet us halfway and walking the rest of the isle with both of them was perfect for me!

and then…i got to be by brad’s side for the rest of the ceremony!

i loved our ceremony. pastor kim did a great job delivering a heart-felt message and it really felt special to me.

brad and i both asked our godfathers to do one of the bible readings, which was awesome. i had actually not met brad’s godfather until the wedding day, but i’m really close with my godfather, my uncle mark. he lives near st. louis, so while i was down there for school and when brad was there for school, we spent a lot of time together. i even lived with his family the summer after i graduated (and the summer brad and i started dating!).

it was even more special to me because my aunt mary kay is the organist at the church we were married in, so she accompanied the music for our ceremony.

our soloists were good friends of my mom and jamie & the parents of one of brad’s best friends (one of his groomsmen!). so it was awesome that people we know and love could be so involved in the ceremony.

neither of us cried while we said our vows. i just couldn’t take my eyes off of brad or stop smiling! i thought my cheeks were going to pop off in happiness or something. i also think i might have squeezed his hands super tight for the entire service. oops.

then, seriously so quickly, everything was over and pastor kim was saying a blessing over us and announcing us husband and wife!

then brad kissed the bride. ♥

and we lived happily ever after.

haha, actually, then we lined up outside the church for the longest receiving line ever. i think i hugged more people that day than i ever have before! it was insane. but, i did like that we said hello and thank you to every guest right away at the church so we didn’t have to go around to every single table at the reception! it was also really cool to see people’s reactions to the ceremony right after it was finished.

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phew, ok! now i’m totally in the wedding mood & ready for the wedding this weekend!

anyone else have a wedding this weekend?

this is my last one for the summer, thank goodness! they are getting expensive, especially since i’ve been in every wedding i’ve gone to this summer… my bank account needs a break!