And now for the main event!

Our ceremony was really important to us.  It actually ended up being one of my favorite parts of the day.  Let me tell you about it!

Oh, here’s our invitation that I designed.  We did online RSVP to save printing and postage.  For the most part it worked great.  Some people couldn’t figure it out but luckily they just told me or my parents.

I got the idea for our programs from a past bride.  I loved hers so I copied her! 🙂  I designed these to match our invites and Leanna, another past bride who works for a printing company, printed them for me, she uses MyCreativeShop, they have everything you need for your printing purposes, they even have an amazing poster maker.  Thanks Leanna!

Hurst Ranch was perfect for us.  When Tony and I were talking about what we wanted the “feel” of our wedding to be, the word “home” kept coming up.  We wanted it to feel as if we were inviting people into our home.  When we walked into Hurst Ranch, that’s the exact feeling we had.  It even felt a little like our backyard…. on a much grander scale… and with a barn. 🙂

Tony built this sandwich board for me in a matter of minutes and then I busted out my old paints and paintbrushes.  I was actually a studio art major in college and painted every day, but when I picked up the brushes to do this welcome sign, it felt so weird!  I need to start painting again…. but that’s another subject for another day.

Our guest book table.  Oh!  I didn’t post any photos of the guest book.  Oh well… maybe later!

Nellie, our coordinator who I’ll talk about more in another post, is awesome.  We dropped everything off at her house the week before the wedding.  At the last minute I threw a bunch of things from around my house like my old cameras, keys, some old crates and just said, use them if you want as filler.  And I’m glad I did!

Always fun to see old photos of the couple.  This ladder is from my backyard as well.  I have a lot of stuff.

Here’s where we tied the knot.  I love how it turned out.  I don’t think they’ve ever let anyone get married in this spot.  Usually there’s a big ol’ wagon right where these chairs are.  We were told we weren’t allowed to move it, but since my parents neighbors/my pseudo grandparents are docents at the ranch, we got special permission.  The guy told me he didn’t know if it would move, to which I responded, “Oh, It’ll move!”  One way or another!

It took me a while to figure out what to do for our ceremony backdrop, but it came to me one morning laying in bed.  These old windows are usually hanging on my fence in the backyard.  Tony built a frame to hang them from and I got a bunch of yards of lace from the garment district.  Tied it back with some purple ribbon which was actually from gifts I got at my shower from Bed Bath and Beyond!  This is why I keep stuff!  Recycle!

Yet another glimpse at the work of our amazing florist, Kim.  I’ll be doing a whole post on her work!

I love all of the little details around the ranch.  And I’ve always loved Iceberg roses.  Such a pretty backdrop for our wedding!

People ready for the ceremony to start!  It was kinda warm that day so we were all sweating a little.

One of the things we both agreed on was having great music.  We both wanted old hymns sung.  Jake’s (Tony’s best man) nephew just happens to be an amazing musician who has played with the Steve Miller Band and is like 15 years old.  He played guitar for us. And I’ve loved Keren Ryan’s voice so much as she’s led us in worship at EV Free Fullerton over the years.  Now she’s moving to LA and doing her thing in the music world.  She sang Great is Thy Faithfulness as the parents and bridal party came down the aisle. God’s faithfulness to us was one of our themes for the ceremony.

And as I came down the aisle, Keren sang All the Way My Savior Leads Me (the Chris Tomlin version).  It was gorgeous!

The big moment!  Oh, sidenote… se that lady on the right in the aqua dress?  That’s Sue… the amazingly talented lady that made my dress!

Me catching the eye of my crying love.

My dad handed him a handkerchief and everyone laughed.  Tony said, “I need it more than you do!”

I’m not sure where I came up with this idea since I’ve never seen it done at a wedding, but I thought it would be fun to tell our own story.  Usually the officiant will tell how the couple met and maybe how they got engaged, but I thought it would be fun for us to tell it ourselves!  I don’t know…. maybe it’s because I just like to hear myself talk. 🙂

Doug, our pastor, came up with some questions with us beforehand and interviewed us during the ceremony about how we met, what our first impressions of each other were, etc.  I love that we did that!  It really made it personal and invited our guests into the story.  People laughed and cried a lot.  One girl said it made her want to just hang out with us!  So I guess it really did give people a glimpse into who we really are.

I just love this photo of Tony’s grandma.  I love her old film point and shoot.  Tony said that the photos probably cut everyone’s heads off! 🙂

And Kim, on the right, is actually Skyping my friend Christine in from the middle east!  I was Christine’s maid of honor a few years ago and she was so bummed that she would miss being here for the wedding by a few weeks!  But I was so stoked that she was able to work it out that she could Skype at like 3am her time!  I got to say hi to her on the ipad later during the reception.  That was so cool!  Thanks for doing that Kim!

We had our friends Clive and Amy pray for us.

Whenever I lay my head on his shoulder, I can pretty much guarantee that Tony will kiss my head.  I love that!  And I love that he did that here.

We wrote our own vows.  We decided to read them to each other a few days before so that we could get some of our emotion out and so we might actually be able to make it through them on the wedding day.

Of course we still cried.

We also had my pseudo grandparents, Bob and Shirley, pray for us.  They’ve been married for 62 years!

We had them pray that our marriage would be rooted and grounded in the Word of God.  This Bible was one that was given to Shirley as a young girl and I remember her carrying it when they renewed their vows on their 40th Anniversary.

All that said and done…. we were married!

Woo hoo!

So Tony!

And even more… so Tony!  He seriously high fived me like 4 times during the ceremony.  Including right after we kissed!  I love this photo of him high fiving his dad.

But he didn’t stop there.  He must have high fived 3 or 4 more people on the way back down the aisle!  That’s my hubby!

This was such a meaningful ceremony.  It was everything we wanted it to be.  Personal, funny, laid-back, but solemn in light of the seriousness of the vows and commitments we were making.  It was perfect!