Photos by Dale Kincaid, (c) Somewhere in Time Photography
The church was Church in the Valley in Peninsula, Ohio. It’s an adorable non-denominational church who let us bring in our own pastor, I loved it. There was a day-of coordinator lady, which is not the same lady that I worked with when booking, it was a different lady who worked with us specifically the day before and the day of I found out. She was FANTASTIC, I can’t say enough about her. She put on the bouts for the gents and made sure everything ran perfect, cued everyone and did all the little things.
Ceremony programs, with our rings. I enlisted help putting them together with ladies at work. I didn’t have the music in them because we didn’t meet with the organist until just a week beforehand, after I printed the programs. The organist was decent. She did mix up the mother and the girls entry song, but it didn’t matter really. She came with the church, they have an electric baby grand.
The top of the program is vellum which I was excited to find really reasonable in a packet of 50 sheets at Jo-Ann’s. Had to mention it haha.
Putting my new earrings in. I like mirror photos. I loved where we got ready, it was a little room upstairs and then we took the elevator to the basement and came up at the rear of the church.
My groom, Brian, getting serious.
All the groomsmen got gear cufflinks which I think they were pretty psyched about. I got the ladies nice bags with their jewelry, and then different things for a nice personal touch. I also paid for part of their hair or nails, whichever they wanted to use the money for. We had nails done the day before, and hair and make up for some of us that morning at Solaire in Hudson. It was nice getting it done all at the same place.
All my ladies. I was pretty pumped there was a rocking chair where we were getting ready, it really calmed me down.
Flowers were done by Petals at Ivy Hill, Joanne works out of her home. I didn’t see her that day at all but she delivered beautiful fresh flowers on time! We did intense color for me, and paler versions for the ladies. Colors were coral, yellow and green. I did ivy in my bouquet in honor of my mother. You can put the ivy in water and it will grow roots, which I think is pretty cool. My mom still has her plant from when she got married.
- Ushers seat the guests (Prelude music)Grandparents of the Bride & Groom are seated
- Parents of the Bride & Groom are seated – ended up being Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring because she mixed them up, oh well!
- The Minister and Groom and Groomsmen enter from the side.
- The Bridal party enters and proceeds to the front (Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, but she accidentally did Ode to Joy)
- Music begins for the Bride’s entrance (Trumpet Tune)
- The Bride and her father enter and are met by the Groom. Father remains standing by Bride until Giving of the Bride.
WELCOME
CHARGE
Congregation seated
DECLARATION OF INTENT
GIVING OF THE BRIDE
PRAYER
SCRIPTURE READING
Song of Solomon 2:10-13; 8:6-7
MESSAGE
Included a reading from the Velveteen Rabbit, which I put on the back of the programs too.
SECOND READING
The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Chapter 21, The Little Prince Befriends the Fox
PREPARATIONS FOR THE VOWS
VOWS
I, (name), take you, (name), to be my friend, my lover, and my (husband/wife). I will be yours in times of plenty and in times of want, in times of sickness and in times of health, in times of joy and in times of sorrow, in times of failure and in times of triumph. I promise to cherish and respect you, to care and protect you, to comfort and encourage you, and stay with you, for all eternity.
EXCHANGING OF THE RINGS
LOVE LETTER & WINE BOX CEREMONY
Brian and Hilary have written love letters to each other to be sealed with a bottle of wine in a box. The Minister will present the box and elaborate on the meaning of the ceremony and seal the box with the first nail; Brian and Hilary will follow nailing the box shut. The box will be displayed in a place of honor and will be opened on their fifth wedding anniversary. There is only one other reason the box should be opened before the anniversary. If there should come a time when Brian and Hilary hit a bumpy road in their relationship, before they give up or make any irrational decisions, open the Wine Box. Even if they are not seeing eye-to-eye at that very moment, it will remind them of all the reasons they choose this person as their partner and all the things that helped shape the life they’ve created together.
THANK YOU TO OUR MOTHERS
Marriage is a coming together of two lives, and a celebration of the love of two people. But it is more. The love that you feel for one another is the flowering of a seed your mothers planted in your hearts many years ago. Their love for you has brought them great happiness and great challenges, and their love did not diminish as they met these challenges. That is the great lesson you can bring into your marriage. As you embrace one another in your love, so too do you embrace the families which have been brought together on this happy occasion. As a token of your gratitude for your families, I would like to ask you to offer these symbols of eternal love, these roses, to your mothers.
PRONOUNCEMENT
BENEDICTION
And now to Brian, Hilary, and all present:
The LORD bless you and keep you
The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you;
The LORD life up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.
PRESENTATION
Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Brian T—
RECESSIONAL
Wedding Joy
We did the love letter and wine box ceremony and gave roses to our mothers instead of doing the unity candle.
Kiss the bride! A good friend of ours from work is also a pastor and did our ceremony. It made a nice personal touch.
We got to pull our own church bell!!!
All the ladies and gents.
We took photos of us at Everett Road Covered Bridge, same place we had engagement photos taken. Beautiful all seasons!
Okay I won’t do too many of these but I loved all the shots we got. Our photographer was Dale Kincaid, Somewhere in Time Photography, and not only were the photos we got wonderful, he came out to the rehearsal the day before to see the church and introduced himself to everyone. He made a point of memorizing people’s names and got all the family shots. He also has a lot of experience shooting photos in the Cuyahoga National Park, so these outdoor shots were just perfect.
Reception hall was Acker-Moore Banquet Hall (VFW). It’s a beautiful new place, we were really happy with it. We got the liquor from them and catering was Totally Cooked. Everyone RAVED about the food, especially the shells and cheese.
The cake was really good, by Judy’s Sweet Sensations, although I was a little less than thrilled about the look of it. Funny, cause normally it’s the other way around in that it looks pretty and tastes bad, so I would rather have it this way. We didn’t have a cake knife set so the caterer put one together for us haha. Little things didn’t matter at all that day.
Gives you another nice photo of the hall. I made my own toss bouquet but the girl who caught it was the guest of another girl I invited, who I didn’t know at all so that was kind of disappointing.
One more. Not everyone likes the chicken dance, but I do 🙂 DJ was Johnny V DJ. He was wonderful, played everything we asked for and got the crowd moving. He did switch our bouquet toss/garter toss music accidentally but that’s okay, again, nothing mattered at all that day.
6:30 Wedding Party Arrival
6:40 Grand Entrance Bridal Party “Icky Thump”; Bride & Groom “Supermassive Black Hole” by Muse
6:50 Blessing by Pastor Jason
6:55 Toasts made by Maid of Honor, Holly & Best Man JP
7:00 Dinner buffet style
7:45 Cake Cutting
8:00 First Dance “Rose of my Heart” by Johnny Cash
8:05 Father Daughter Dance “Forever Young” by Rod Stewart
8:10 Mother Son Dance “In My Life” by Beatles
8:15 Wedding Party Dance “Thank You” by Led Zeppelin; parents joined in midway
8:20-8:40 Open Dancing
8:40 Bouquet Toss “Electric Feel” by MGMT
8:45 Garter Toss “Que Onda Guero” by Beck (he switched these though)
8:50 Dollar Dance “Money” by Pink Floyd
9:00-9:30 Open Dancing
9:30 Last Dance “Love You ‘Till The End” by The Pogues
Except it was much later than 9:30 by that time, more like 11 or whatever. Time just flew by.
We honeymooned at the Majestic Colonial, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. It was wonderfu! The people were great and the food was tasty. Love love love the all inclusive, you don’t have to worry about anything. The beaches here were the best I have ever seen, too.