Favorite Moments from a Favorite Day

It’s been a little more than 7 weeks since we tied the knot. We’ve slept in the same state for 24 of those nights, but our trend just made a major improvement when Jon arrived in Bolivia Sunday!  He brought our new CD of wedding photos and it made me think I should write down my thoughts about that incredible day, or these pictures won’t keep their stories intact for long.  So, I’m sharing a few of my favorite moments with you, and hope you’ll share your favorites back with us, and thus we’ll preserve the memories.  If you didn’t get to join us for the ceremony, here’s a little taste of the highlights.

Angie, the prettiest flower girl ever.  (Courtesy of Heidi Janecke)

My little girl is confused about whether she wants to be a tomboy or a girlie girl, and new hormones surely aren’t helping.  Either way you’re gonna be hard pressed to get her into a dress, (what if a set of parallel bars suddenly appear, she must always be ready to do a flip!) So, seeing her all glammed up was such a treat, even if she was eager to switch into shorts before the reception even began.

A little more realistic shot of us.

Jon’s the much more traditional of the two of us, hence he was the one who wanted to wait till the aisle to see his bride for the first time. But he did allow me a small concession; a “first touch.”  Instead of the recently made common “first look” where the bride and groom see each other and get photos before the ceremony, we chose to just hold hands around the corner of the building, getting a picture with the two of us, without giving anything away.  This was my favorite moment of the day before walking down the aisle, all the hustle and bustle were instantly replaced by calm when his hand was in mine, right where it belongs.

Our only regret about the wedding, was not having it video recorded. I’m still half-waiting for someone to fess up to having shot it on their smartphone. Honestly, if we had more regrets about other things we probably wouldn’t care so much that it wasn’t immortalized on DVD.  But as it was perfect even in its flaws, we hate to see all the unforgettable moments inevitably forgotten.  Can anyone guess what hilarity is captured here? Read on...

Jon’s friend from college, Tim, married us, and his message was one of the most special, yet unscripted parts of the day, culminating in the vows, where he asked Jon to take me as his husband and the father to his children.  Yeah, you heard right, he read the wrong vows, bless his heart. Jon had more sense still about him than I surely would have at that moment and so he hesitated instead of repeating what he’d been told. I likely would have said whatever Tim told me as I floated around on cloud nine.  

I was floating from the very beginning, probably somewhere around the time my dad found us bridesmaids and flower girls hiding in the stairwell and told me he was getting verklempt. But the euphoria only rose until it peaked at the instant when, we’ve been told there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.  For those of you who weren’t present and searching for a tissue, after Jon and I took communion to Ben and Amanda’s sweet Spanglish rendition of “Your Love Never Fails”, Jon left me confused and alone as he took off stage right. I wish there was a picture of my concerned expression. It crossed some of your minds as well that maybe he’d gotten cold feet at a very inopportune moment and was heading for the door, but really he was retrieving a hidden stool and Bolivian bowl to wash my feet as his first act of service. Ooh, I love service, and I LOVE surprises, and that was the best one he’s ever pulled on me, I doubt he’ll be able to surpass it, no matter how many years we're fortunate enough to have together.

The only time my smile possibly stretched as far and naturally across my face that day, was watching Angie and Jon dance their father-daughter dance. 

I shocked even myself by thoroughly enjoying my dance with Jon and with my dad (were any of you even there for those 10 minutes? It felt like that tiny dance floor was the whole world.) 

But even more fun than dancing, was beaming as Jon sauntered over to Angelica, Prince Charming on an invisible white horse, and like an appropriately shy little princess in response she blushed and hid her face before accepting his hand and following him to center stage. The pictures don’t do justice to the perfection of the music, “La Niña de Tus Ojos,” a song about a little girl and her Father’s love that gave her an identity when she had none, nor how Angie just talked to him the whole time as if the magical dance floor had engulfed her as well and she too left everyone but Jon behind. Maybe the common denominator wasn’t the small square of hardwood, but that man who makes you feel like the only one in the world when he listens to you or holds you close...

The second father-daughter dance. (Courtesy of Nick Szmiot)

Another small regret is that because Tim went so far off his notes, none of his really personalized and pretty hilarious message with such phrases as “Giddyup!” and “To quote the philosopher John Mayer, 'It’s cold Baby, come back to bed,'” were written down. Please do share with us your favorite quotes from the ceremony so we can piece back together his one-of-a-kind pep talk. We’d love nothing more than to hear your favorite part of the day, so we can cherish the memories along with the photos, the rings, and all the reminders of when we officially launched this new little family.

All photos not otherwise captioned are by All Angles Photography. We love those guys!!!!