Our Sweet Beginning: The Ceremony

After getting most of our pictures out of the way, the bridesmaids and groomsmen climbed into separate limos to head to our ceremony site. When I pulled up with my girls and saw the gorgeous job our florist had done with the aisle, I was so giddy! Everything looked even more beautiful than I had pictured in my head. We were a bit early, so we sat in the limo (hidden by the tinted windows) and watched guests arrive and mull about before finally taking their seats.

Brian and I wrote our wedding ceremony and vows ourselves, borrowing from elements we read elsewhere and liked. I have included our readings here because they have so much meaning to the two of us.

Aisle and quatrefoil wedding programs

Ceremony musicians and personalized water bottles (see more here)

Reserved seating signs for our families

Before the ceremony started, our ceremony musicians played "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" by Bach as our groomsmen escorted the grandmothers...

...and the mothers down the aisle to their seats.

My beautiful bridesmaids walked down the aisle to "Largo (from Xerxes)" by Handel.

After our ring bearers and flower girl made their way down the aisle, it was finally time for me to make my appearance.

My dad escorted me down the aisle to marry my groom to Pachelbel's "Canon in D." I still get chills every time I look at these pictures.

After a greeting from our pastor and an opening prayer...

 ...Brian's Aunt Bernie read Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 and my Aunt Kathy read a traditional Jewish prayer, the Shehechyanu.

 "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."

"Blessed are you, Lord our God, Creator of the Universe, who has given us life, sustained us, and brought us to this joyous moment." (This prayer was read in both Hebrew and English.)

My cousin Prudence read Robert Fulghum's "Union," an excerpt from his book From Beginning to End; The Rituals of Our Lives. I fell in love with this passage the first time I read it (and you may also recognize part of it from the pallet sign I made for our kitchen.)

You have known each other from the first glance of acquaintance to this point of commitment. At some point, you decided to marry. From that moment of yes, to this moment of yes, indeed, you have been making commitments in an informal way. All of those conversations that were held in a car, or over a meal, or during long walks – all those conversations that began with, “When we’re married”, and continued with “I will” and “you will” and “we will” – all those late night talks that included “someday” and “somehow” and “maybe” – and all those promises that are unspoken matters of the heart. All these common things, and more, are the real process of a wedding.

The symbolic vows that you are about to make are a way of saying to one another, “You know all those things we’ve promised, and hoped, and dreamed – well, I meant it all, every word.”

Look at one another and remember this moment in time. Before this moment you have been many things to one another – acquaintance, friend, companion, lover, dancing partner, even teacher, for you have learned much from one another these past few years. Shortly you shall say a few words that will take you across a threshold of life, and things between you will never quite be the same.

For after today you shall say to the world –
This is my husband. This is my wife.

Then, it was time to say our vows. I tearfully listened to Brian before reciting mine.

"Lauren, I choose you to be my wife, my love, and my best friend. I will share my whole life and all that I am with you. I will be faithful and truthful to you. I will respect, trust, and help you. In distance and in closeness, in laughter and in tears, I promise to grow our love for each other every day of our lives. With every beat of my heart, I will love you."

"Brian, I choose you to be my husband, my love, and my best friend. I will share my whole life and all that I am with you. I will be faithful and truthful to you. I will respect, trust, and help you. In distance and in closeness, in laughter and in tears, I promise to grow our love for each other every day of our lives. With every beat of my heart, I will love you."

After our vows, we exchanged "I dos" and our pastor blessed our wedding bands before we slipped them onto each others' fingers.

He then read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a, 13 before offering a prayer for our marriage. 

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love."

Finally, we were pronounced husband and wife! Brian was told to kiss his bride, and I don't even really remember leaning in and hugging him afterwards.

We linked arms and walked back down the aisle to Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" as husband and wife! Married! Pure joy.

We were followed by our wedding party...

...and our families.

After snapping a couple of quick pictures with our bridal party, they were off to cocktail hour. Brian and I hung behind for a bit for a couple more pictures of the two of us before climbing in the limo to head to our reception!

Pomanders!

When I first started perusing wedding websites and trying to find some inspiration for our wedding, I fell in love with pomanders. That's not to say I had ever even heard the word "pomander," but I quickly learned that they were a much coveted wedding ceremony decor item as of late.

The specific look I was set on was this: pomanders hanging from shepherd hooks lining our outdoor 'aisle.' And I know that all of my florals will be in peach, pink, and white...so I envisioned pretty multi-colored pomanders all the way to the lighthouse.

(via Project Wedding's GoingtobeGoff)

After a little bit of research, I quickly discovered that these lovely pomanders could run up to $40 a piece! On top of all of my other floral desires for my bouquet, bridesmaid's bouquets, and reception centerpieces, that price tag was just not going to work!

Lucky for me that I realized that many brides DIY these pretties using silk flowers for a much more reasonable price tag! (In fact, the ones I posted above are faux flowers assesmbed by the bride, and she has an awesome tutorial here.) You can even make them using tissue paper!

I loved the idea of saving some money and buying all of the supplies to make my own, and was actually looking into it...until I discovered an amazing Etsy seller who would make them for me for even less than I was going to be able to make them myself! (Can I just say, Etsy is a bride-to-be's best friend!)

Heidi made me 24 lovely salmon (peach and pink) pomanders with ivory ribbon in less than a week! She e-mailed me today to let me know they were done and even posted some pictures so I could see how they turned out. I absolutely love them!

I can't wait to see how these look on our wedding day. I'm so happy we found a cost-effective and low-stress way to make my pomander dreams come true!