Weddingbee Blog

When I last left you, I was smiling big-time and ready for the walk with my dad to begin.

The organist began to play one of my favorites, Canon in D, and I knew that our moment had arrived. I wanted to start walking at a very specific part in the song (at 1:45 in the video linked above), so I had the organist start to play that part about 30 seconds in - but 30 seconds is a long time! I think my Dad thought I was never going to take the first step! But as soon as I heard those beautiful high notes, off we went!

And this is what I saw as soon as I rounded the corner. My best friend. My soul mate. The love of my life.

And of course, I started to cry.

He got a little emotional himself.

After a big hug and blessing from my Dad, I looked on as Burger and my father embraced. This was such an emotional moment for me —I know that it traditionally signifies the “giving away” of the daughter, but for me it symbolized the addition of Burger to my family.

Now before I continue, I want to take a moment to confess something to you all:

Burger and I had low expectations for our marriage ceremony.

Of course we were excited for it and took the planning of it very seriously; we completed all of our counseling and carefully designed the mass in all its parts. However, as many of you may know, Catholic wedding masses are very long (especially when compared to other Christian ceremonies) and the homilies given by the priest often leave something to be desired. In addition, though we found him easy to understand, we were worried that some of our family members (the older folks) may have trouble understanding our priest, as he has quite a heavy accent. I should also mention that neither of us are super religious people. We both were raised Catholic and attended weekly mass growing up, but as adults we kind of slack in the church department and now consider ourselves more spiritual than religious.

That being said, the hour and fifteen minutes that followed were some of the best moments of my entire life. Burger agrees. Our ceremony—being united as man and wife, by a priest, in a church, in the presence of our family and friends and God—was our favorite part of the day (I know, right? As is should be.).

As I try to describe the feeling to you, I am at a loss for words. All I can tell you is that you feel it. The union is something you experience with your entire mind, body, and soul, and I understand now why it is considered sacred—a sacrament. It was definitely the most moving experience of my life.

As Father Charles said his opening words, he invited Burger and I to look out into the church and take in all of our loved ones. I am so glad that he did this—I will never forget the first time I looked out into the crowd and I realized that they were all there just for us.

The entire mass was absolutely lovely. From the music, to the readings done by our fantastic family and friends, every part was special to us.

The Gospel we selected was read and Father Charles began his homily. To say that it was an amazing homily would be the understatement of the century. I wish I had his exact words so that I could write them here for you, but it was completely universal and yet so personal at the same time. He had truly gotten to know us through our meetings, and yet the advice he gave to us could have been for any couple in the room:

Tell her you love her. She knows that you do, but she needs to hear it. Tell her every day. You love her every day don’t you?! So tell her. Tell him the things that he needs to do differently. Don’t bottle everything up inside then explode. Communication is key.

It went on and on, but never felt too long. Guests were coming up to us all night long to say that it was the best homily they had ever heard at a wedding. Some even requested copies of the ceremony footage. Father Charles truly was the star of the show. He wowed us and our guests, and we are forever indebted to him because of it.

And then it was time for the big show.

We declared our intentions.

We took holy vows to love and to honor one another, in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, as long as we both shall live.

We gave and accepted rings to symbolize our unending love.

And just like that, I was his and he was mine.

We lit the unity candle.

And took our places for the remainder of mass and communion.

After communion, it was time to visit and pray to the Blessed Mother. As you may remember, I spoke here about how important Mary is to the women in my family. Because of this, on my mother’s wedding day, she chose to visit Mary with her mother (my grandmother), rather than my father—because, as she said to me, “it just makes sense!” I agreed, and I loved that we were able to continue this family tradition together.

A funny story: while my Mom and I were up there, we found that a plastic plant next to a display light had melted, was smoking, and was about to catch fire! My mom whispered to me “This plant is on fire. Don’t react. I’ll move it.” Then we kind of giggled and finished our Hail Mary. The whole church smelled like burnt plastic for a while after that, and I’m sure no one but us knew why!

Finally, the time had come. We were married! It was official! I was a wife and about to kiss my husband for the very first time.

“I now present to you, Mr. and Mrs. Cheeseburger!”

And of course, the moment I had been waiting for.

After a few more kisses, the music began, and we were on our way, hand in hand.

Cheeseburger Tip: you probably can see this one coming from a mile away… try to soak in your ceremony as much as you possibly can. Look at your spouse. Look at your guests. Listen to the speakers. Make memories. Enjoy every second.

Catch Up!

• Grow Old Along With Me: We moved to Happy Valley!
• Grow Old Along With Me: The Good, Bad, & Ugly
• Grow Old Along With Me: The Girls Get Prettier
• Grow Old Along With Me: We Exchanged Gifts
• Grow Old Along With Me: Burger Got Dressed
• Grow Old Along With Me: Bridal Suite & Flowers Galore
• Grow Old Along With Me: I Became A Bride!
• Grow Old Along With Me: We Made it to the Church
• Grow Old Along With Me: Down the Aisle They Went!

All Pictures by the lovely and talented Jessica Ames