Wedding Recap: Ceremony

The wedding ceremony was a part of our day that I was so excited to plan from the beginning of our engagement.  We were married at our church, the church that Brian grew up in and the church that his sister and cousin have been married in, and I love that we now have that connection as well (not to mention that our church is just gorgeous, if I do say so myself).  We were not originally in favor of a full Mass but after meeting with our priest, he strongly encouraged that since Brian and I are both confirmed Catholics, that we have the full Mass/ceremony.  Not ones to argue with our priest, we agreed and are so happy that we did.  

We met with the church organist and our soloist, and chose very traditional music for the ceremony:

Seating of the Mothers - "Ave Maria" - Schubert 

Wedding Party Processional - "Canon inD" - Pachelbel 

Bridal Processional - "Trumpet Voluntary" - J. Clarke

Communion - "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" - Bach

Meditation Hymn - "Irish Wedding Song" - Ian Betteridge

Aside from our late arrival to the church, thanks to the lack of direction from our limo driver, the ceremony went off absolutely perfectly.  I remember feeling completely calm and excited as we pulled up to the church, and it further put me at ease to see our groomsmen (including my brother) standing on the church steps to greet us.  Everyone filed out of the limo and we started to line up inside-- at that point, things felt very real!  You'll see in the pictures below that our ring bearer was not feeling his aisle march that day, so there was a little drama, but nothing that we all couldn't laugh about-- it's one of my favorite memories from the ceremony (probably because he and his two little sisters can do no wrong in my eyes).  Once my girls had entered the church and the doors closed, it was just me and my Daddy standing at the back of the church.  I tried to soak in that moment as much as I could and for the first time, I felt tears in my eyes.  I looked at my Daddy and he may have been crying on the inside, but he gave me the best smile as I heard our music start, and the doors opened.  

I will honestly say that there are few moments that I think I'll ever remember more than what I felt when we started our walk down the aisle.  The overwhelming emotions that I felt wash over me as my Daddy walked me towards my future husband, as I took in the smiling faces of so many of the people in our lives who are so important to us, as I saw my mom and Brian's parents, and all of our wedding party people at the end of the aisle... and I felt overcome with emotion.  It was the best, most calming and exciting feeling, all at the same time.  My dad handed me over to Brian, and seeing his smiling face was exactly what I needed to put my nerves at ease.  He took my hand, we faced our priest, and it was go time.

We exchanged traditional vows and shared Communion as a part of the Mass, which meant a lot to me.  In all honesty, I couldn't tell you a word of what was said during the ceremony, aside from what we said to each other.  It was overwhelming to be at the front of the church, all eyes on us, and at one point I felt the teensiest bit woozy, and my fabulous MOH Amanda whispered to me "Don't lock your knees!"  Thankfully we knelt to pray soon after that, so I had a quick recovery and realized we were in the home stretch!  When our priest pronounced us husband and wife, and we shared our first kiss as Mr. and Mrs. Brian King, I felt the biggest smile come across my face, and it didn't leave for the rest of the day.  

Due to scheduling from the ceremony to the reception, we chose to do a brief receiving line as our guests left the church, and it was the best decision we could have made.  We had a chance to greet everyone, and also made it a point to make the rounds at the reception, but we didn't have to deal with feeling guilty in case we missed someone since we had already seen everyone earlier in the day.  After our receiving line wrapped up, we hopped into our limo and were greeted with cheers and champagne from our wedding party-- off to the reception we went!

Our groomsmen waiting for me and the girls to arrive.

Trying to talk the ring bearer off of the ledge.

My brother walking my Mama down the aisle.

Still working on my Colin-- the tears have started!

My Daddy and wonderful MOH, Amanda

This picture cracks me up every time-- Colin is in tears, Brian's dad has Meredith, the flower girl, and is ready to get down the aisle with them, and my dad is just hanging out holding my train.

Nope, this big boy walk, despite all of our practice, is not happening today.

Two of my favorite Littles-- they did an awesome job, whether walking or carried :)

My last little moment with just my Daddy 

I love this-- Brian's two grandmothers are on the left as we walk down the aisle.

  

My handsome groom's first look as the doors opened-- love him so.

Gah, our church!  Love, love all of these photos.

We're almost married!

Mr. and Mrs. Brian King!