Wedding Reminiscing [At the Church]

It's anniversary month! 

Actually, today's the day!

Happy Anniversary, Daniel! Thanks for putting up with me... I appreciate, respect and love you...

Ok, enough mushy stuff. Welcome to the church! This is the church I grew up in (and the church that my dad grew up in!). My mom wanted the outside of the church to be just as inviting as the inside - there may be only one church in the little country town we were married in, but we still wanted everyone to know that they found the right place when they came up the hill. 

These are tiki torches that we spray painted white and added tulle, ribbon and bells to. The flowers were leftover from the bouquets (well, actually the green stuff came from the ditches, but you get the idea!). If I remember right, my dad and uncle were in charge of actually putting the torches in the ground.

As we step inside, you'll find lots of little details to add to my "vintage garden" theme. Old jewelry next to the old suitcase used to contain cards on the gift table... grapevine figure-eight wreaths on the doors into the sanctuary and on the columns in the sanctuary (thanks again to my florist... she made the grapevine figure-eights and she, my mom and I decorated all of them). The programs contained stories of the wedding party in addition the order of the ceremony. I had them printed and my sister-in-law and I put them together while enjoying wine and romantic comedies! 

I had two "guest books"... a large picture and a photo book... guests could chose one or the other to sign as they walked in. This was to make sure no one had to wait in line too long to find a seat. Don't ask me if it worked or not, but I will recommend that you know for certain that the pens you provide actually write well on the guest books! (Thank you to my guest book attendants for finding more pens in their purses... sorry mine didn't work!)

Just a quick shot of the pew bows and the decorated candles in the front...

And a quick shot of the banners that my mother made... she's amazing, right!?

And of course, one picture of the actual ceremony :)

Wedding tradition required the white aisle runner, and if you haven't figured it out yet, I'm a stickler for traditions. Thank you ushers for your help! Along with the traditional runner, I also had a blusher on my veil... you don't see that used as often anymore, but I knew I wanted one, just so my dad could lift it at the end of the aisle (and yet, I had almost forgotten to put the blusher over my face, ha! My dad had to remind me as we were preparing to enter! Thanks for watching out for me, Dad!)

We used two pastors, Dan's grandfather actually did our vows and married us, while Dan's cousin-in-law took care the rest of the ceremony. We loved having family be such a big part of our day.

Ok, one last story... my mother, grandmother and aunt all collect Fostoria (a type of antique/vintage glassware). They each have their patterns that they look for when we all go antiquing. Well, just by knowing that I love "old" things, Dan's grandmother gifted a glass plate to me for Christmas the year before we were married. I, of course, recognized it as soon as I opened it. It was a Fostoria Century cake plate! (My aunt collects that pattern). I was beyond thrilled :) I decided to buy the matching candlesticks and turn it into our unity candle holder. Perfect! And now I have a very special cake plate for all our birthday cakes :)

*Phew, that was a long post... if you made it this far, thanks for sticking with me through it all!

PS: Here's a link to more information about the music we used at our ceremony.