First, a couple pictures of the bridal party. I picked this color of dresses for them because my dress had a few amethyst-colored beads & crystals in it, so I wanted to highlight them. Plus, it was March, so I went for happy spring theme. I was so thrilled when we woke up to a beautiful sunny day and all the guests put away the dark & dreary black winter clothes and showed up wearing happy springy colors. We all coordinated so well!
Just me and the girls outside of the chapel before the ceremony:
And then everyone after the ceremony,
inside the chapel.Now let me introduce you to my bridal party...
Maid of Honor: Jodi
Jodi and I met in the summer of 1995 while we were contestants in the Lawrence County Junior Miss Pagent. We went to different high schools, but really only lived about 15 minutes away from each other. She was just the sweetest person I had ever met, so loving, kind, and at the same time athletic, smart, and has the most beautiful singing voice. We bonded over our love of God, our desire to get married and have children one day, Pittsburgh sports teams, and picky eating habits. We went off to different colleges (both were private, Christian schools), but reunited after we graduated. God certainly placed this wonderful woman in my life for a lot of reasons because for years we were both single and longing for our husbands. Then I found mine, and while I know it probably wasn't easy for her, she supported me as my maid of honor, and even sang at our wedding. It was so lovely. Then we moved away for a few years, but occassionally when we came back to town, we would visit with her and her husband. (I was in her wedding too, of course - the picture is below - but thankfully she didn't ask me to sing. haha) Then we both started trying to have a baby at the same time (without planning, because that's just weird.) And within a couple months of each other, we both miscarried our first babies. Then we both went through a couple really hard years of infertility. Now she has finally been blessed with a beautiful daughter, Chellsie, who is about 3 weeks old today. It's amazing how God places certain people in your life and I'm so thankful for my friendship with Jodi!
Ok, wow, that was just one. Fortunately for you all I had a small bridal party!
Bridesmaids: Kristianne, Mindy, & Lauren.
First, Kristianne.
She and I have been in the same class since first grade, and was one of my best friends all through elementary & high school. We played together at nearly every recess and we were so creative with the games we played. We made up companies such as pool & hotel management and a travel agency. We had customers, tenants, logos, slogans, file cabinets, briefcases, etc. And that was all before 6th grade! Once we got to high school, we were cheerleaders and twirlers together, shopping buddies, and carpoolers. Her older brother picked me everyday for high school until he graduated and I started driving, then I drove everyday and picked Kristi up and took her home. We had some good times in my Honda CSV and Pontiac Sunbird convertible! Once we graduated from high school, we went to different colleges but they were nearby so we saw each other occassionally. After college, we hung out quite often even though she was really busy living in Pittsburgh and attending grad school. (she is the second smartest girl I've ever met, for the record.) We had started growing apart (not seeing each other as much) when I got engaged and I was afraid that she wouldn't want to be my bridesmaid, but I just couldn't imagine her not being in my wedding since we had planned this event together since we were in the second grade. I am NOT kidding, I still have all the papers & pictures. So I called and she was in. Yippee!
Second, Mindy.
Mindy is Bobby's only sister so it was no brainer that I wanted her in my wedding party. I really didn't know her very well when we got engaged since we "dated" long-distance, (in other words, I didn't spend 4+ hours a day on the phone with her like I did her brother) but I knew she was a sweet Godly woman and it meant a lot to Bobby have her there. I am so excited to announce that she is getting married in just a couple weeks after searching for her Mr Right for a long time. Their wedding is just 3 days after we move to oklahoma, oh my. I am not in her wedding party, but that's ok. I'm an old lady now. haha.
Last but not least, Lauren. I don't have a picture of Lauren from my wedding because she wasn't there. Yes, a bride's worse nightmare (well, one of them) - a bridesmaid doesn't come to the wedding. Lauren has some chronic health problems even though you'd never know it by looking at her, she is one of the most fit, athletic, healthy-looking people I know. But she has dealt with colitis and kidney stones for several years now and on the week of our wedding, she came down with a kidney stone infection that put her in the hospital in Virginia. It was a last minute deal and her dress was with her, so we couldn't just slap it on someone else (I didn't want to do that anyway.) So we just went with the flow - 3 girls and 4 guys. No biggie! I really didn't stress about it and Bobby was shocked. He feared the worst and thought I would have a major meltdown, but I didn't. How could I? I was still getting married to the man of my dreams in the most beautiful chapel in America. At that point I didn't care if nobody showed up. Ha!
But anyway, back to Lauren... she was my roommate for my junior and senior years in college and I lived with her & her family in northern Virginia the summer of '99 while I did my internship, so we were really close. She was just a riot, everyone enjoyed being around her in college, and she was a very giving person. My earliest memory of her was during her freshman year (she was one year behind me even though she is two years younger than me. Another super smart girl. and we share our birthday, we're both 11/11 girls!) - she was on the swim team and she always came to breakfast after practice with wet hair and walked around mingling with everyone while drinking coffee. I thought she was so cool! I'm so annoyed that we went to college before the age of digital cameras because I don't have any pictures of her and I on my computer to show you all the fun times we had. I guess you'll just have to trust me.
Here is a little (scanned) picture of us at her wedding.
And here's another one of me from her wedding holding the flowers that were the inspiration for my wedding (more about that later.) Hope you can see them.
To finish up this super long post (which was a great walk down memory lane for me) I'll conclude with my darling little (second) cousin who was my flower girl, Rachel. She was so pretty that day with her flower petal dress and her beautifully curled hair.
Oh shoot, I almost forgot to post my flowers! I had recently been in Lauren's wedding and wanted my flowers to look JUST like hers... the Martha Stewart style of bouquets, stemmed roses wrapped in satin. So I called her florist but they were going to be out of town during the week of my wedding. I was crushed. But fortunately I have a good friend from high school that her mom owns a flower shop! I called her and she was happy to do the job for me even though she specializes in silk flowers. So here is my bouquet, the girls' bouquets, and Rachel's flower girl basket. (our wedding chapel didn't allow you to throw petals.)
Ok, so I don't really have a close-up picture of my flowers, so you'll just have to look these ones. :-)
Oh, and I also had flowers on my cake.
2 comments:
beautiful wedding!!
Hi Jennifer, you don't know me but I've just been googling some images for weddings. That one of you two at the end of the aisle is perfect for what I'm looking for (I want to make a film clip for a song I wrote - there is a verse about a married man) . Could I please use it for my video clip? I won't use unless I have permission.
Looks like you had a perfect wedding, congrats. :)
You can contact me on the blog below.
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