A Crafty Wedding: The Ceremony Part 1

We finally get to my favorite part of our wedding day. Granted, we would have been there sooner if I had kept up on my blogging posts, but it's been busy around here and I am usually pretty exhausted by the end of the day and can't be bothered to write. Sorry!

So our ceremony was about to begin. When people were coming into the church, they were greeted by this:

We didn't really decorate the church as we knew it was going to be a short ceremony but there was an enormous altar at the front that was begging for some decor, so I obliged.

My FIL waiting to play for our wedding

FIL and Nana walking to the church

We had to hide out for a bit while waiting for everyone to find a seat in the church. So we hung out just out of view next to a preschool in the park. Since it was a weekday, there were students in the classroom. When they heard that there was a wedding happening, a request went out to see the princess (at least, that's what my Dad told me!) So I made sure no one would be able to see me at the church and I popped around the corner while several preschoolers hung out of the windows to admire me in my dress. They all liked my purple shoes a lot.

Me, Nana and MOH Irish waiting to get to the church.

Finally we got the all clear from our officiant and DOC Naomi. It was time to line up and get going! We had decided to do a full line-up so I could use the song I wanted. What I had been dreaming of walking down the aisle to was this beautiful piece by Bach that was on a cello. I had the song for years and was so glad I was able to make this work.

Our processional was led by Jeff, with his mother.
Next was Best Man Doug with Nana.
MOH Irish was next up, followed by our flower girl and ring bearer.
Last was me, flanked by my mom and dad.

At least that's what was supposed to happen...see, anyone who has young kids involved in the wedding party knows that there is always a strong possibility that something won't quite work. Someone will get stage fright and freak out, cry and refuse to do their part. That someone was our flower girl. Honestly, I didn't care. I knew she was with family and that she had been sick that weekend, so she wasn't feeling 100% on our wedding day. So our little flower girl (who practiced so many times at home with Mom and Gran watching) was carried by her dad, Best Man Doug.

Flower girl, BM and Nana

Me with my parents. If you look closely, it looks like they've got sunglasses on, but really it's their transition lenses.

From the back of the church.

The song finished just as we reached the front of the church. Officiant Eugenie asked who gave me in marriage and after my parents answered together, "We do," I got a kiss from Mom and a squeeze from Dad before he turned to open the ceremony in prayer. Now we were ready for our vows.

Next time: Our vows in full and very little storytelling from me (aren't you glad?)

All pictures from Anna Pearson and Charles Anderson (our friends who did all our photography).