Weddingbee Blog

Mr. D and I put a ton of thought into our ceremony. It was very important to us that it was short, sweet and simple. Don’t get me wrong, I have been to quite a few full Catholic wedding masses, and they are extraordinarily beautiful, but they just were not us as a couple. Mr. D has always been a man of few words (when it comes to affectionate things), so I did not want to put him out of his element with a long ceremony.

So, Pastor Marty sent us several documents with ideas and what a typical marriage ceremony looks like when he performs it. From there, we began to carefully wade through the Bible and pick and choose what fit us. Pastor Marty was super impressed when we went to our final meeting and everything was finalized. And so, now that the bride and groom were together and ready, Pastor Marty began the ceremony.

Pastor Marty began the ceremony with a welcoming message. He briefly mentioned my father (who had passed away four months before the wedding) and my brother (who at the time was serving in Afghanistan), and he talked about how marriage is a joining between a couple and God. It was a short little message. He then moved on to the scripture that we chose:

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.-Ephesians: 3:14-19

Once he talked a bit about the scripture, he moved onto the intent part of our ceremony:

Do you, Mr. Doily/Miss Doily take Miss Doily/Mr. Doily to be your wife/husband, to live together in holy matrimony? Do you promise to love her, comfort her, honor her and keep her, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, remain loyal to her as long as you both shall live?

We both said a very quick and very easy “I do.” This was about the part in the ceremony when my stomach really started to flutter again. My mother told me she knew that I was getting anxious to get through the ceremony because I began to lightly bounce on my heels, a habit that I have had since I was a child. She also said that Mr. D never took his gaze from my face, not once.

After our intents we began our vows:

From this day forward, I, Miss Doily/Mr. Doily, promise you these things: I will laugh with you in times of joy, comfort you in times of sorrow, I will pray for you daily, I will share in your dreams, I will listen to you with compassion and understanding, Speak to you with encouragement, I will remain faithful to you for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish you for all the days of our lives.

I was really starting to bounce at this point and Mr. D began to hold my hands tighter and tighter. I will also be honest with y’all. I have no idea how I got through those vows. It was like I heard Pastor Marty say the words, and then I heard the words coming out of my mouth perfectly, but I have not one frigging idea as to how that happened. It was like I was having this awesome out of body experience. Mr. D told me right after that he felt the same way. Now, I did come close to crying a few times, but I managed to hold it together. My mother on the other hand:

Yeah, I totally come from a family of big fat crybabies. We have no shame either.

Now it was time for the ring exchange. Now about this, I totally did not catch this, but apparently our Best Man gave Mr. D a look of panic before handing over the rings. Apparently, at some point in the morning he had placed our rings in the jacket of his tux, but he had also taken off said tux jacket and laid it over a chair. For a brief second, the Best Man remembered this and could recall if the rings were actually in there. He said that there could have been a really good chance that they had fallen out while his jacket was facing down. Luckily though, they were there and he didn’t lose them!

Once they were in Pastor Marty’s safe hands, he led the church in a prayer over the rings:

Then it was time to exchange them:

With this ring, I give myself to you completely, mind, body, and soul. That from this day forward, I shall be yours alone, for as long as we both shall live.

BOOM!! We were finally MARRIED. After seven years together, two engagements, several stints at a long distance relationship, and two furbabies, Marty announced us husband and wife! Then Mr. D got to kiss me:

And guess what? I got Kate Middleton-ed ( I think this is the technical term), and got kissed TWICE.

Then we looked out over our admiring guests as we waited for Pastor Marty’s wife, Sandy, to join us for a final prayer.

Both prayed over us…..

…and gave us marriage advice. And then it was finally time to send us on our way as Mr. and Mrs. Doily.

So we made our way back down the aisle, as husband and wife, to another Vitamin String Quartet arrangement: “Salisbury Hill” by Peter Gabriel.

And Mr. D surprised me with an impromptu dip at the end:

Once our wedding party was all down the aisle, Mr. D and I went and excused the rest of the rows ourselves. It was really nice to say a quick hello to our guests and get hugs and congratulations from them. If you are having a smaller wedding, I would totally recommend doing this (not so much with a bigger one!). Finally, the sanctuary was empty and it was time to head off for some more pictures!

All photos are from An Unforgettable Memory Photography.

UP NEXT: We start taking some pictures…the fun ones!

• We set up the hall and baked some cupcakes
• We rehearsed and had some tacos
• We got ready and Miss Doily became a bride
• Miss Doily finished up some business and pinned some beautiful women
• Mr. D and Miss Doily had their magical first look
• We did some formal quickies
• We goofed around
• There were some people marching down an aisle
• Miss Doily made her final solo walk