wedding post - ceremony

The most magical 35-45 minutes of my life.  The love of my life took me as his wife, my best friends beside me, and all of the people who mean the most to me in the same room.  Doesn’t get much better than that.  The planning was not all roses and smiley faces though.  I’m one of those girls – you know the kind that has every single little detail of her wedding picked out at age 15?  Yep that was me.  However, I learned very quickly after getting engaged that my wedding was not all about me.  And that was hard.  Luckily I got my bridezilla moments over very early in the process, and for the most part in private.  As I accepted this new discovery, my experience became joyful and so memorable.  I hear lots of horror stories about wedding planning – crazy mother-in-laws, bratty bridesmaids, and worst of all a bitch for a bride.  I can definitely say I was not a victim of the first two and as for the last; well you’ll have to ask my friends :)  My loved ones were supportive, loving and excited.  Sure there were differing opinions, a dress crisis which you will hear more about later, and some less than ideal reactions – but all in all, I loved planning my wedding.  I’m also slightly a control freak so I had my hand in everything.  From florist meetings, to the harpist, to the place settings – I planned it all.  When people would ask who my wedding planner was I’d smile, point to myself and then introduce them to my mom and my sissy.   We were like the three musketeers conquering any and all wedding task at hand.  

But OK back to the ceremony.  My church does not have a center aisle.  I know I know – so what’d I do?  Well I walked up one aisle and down the other.  Apparently people do this all the time but this was an extremely difficult concept for me.  I had always pictured walking down a center aisle.  Well I got over that very fast when my mom told me I wasn’t having a destination wedding.  So I accepted the two not-so-center aisles – and it was perfect.  It’s funny how moms always seem to know what they are talking about.  Both our pastor and our youth director officiated our ceremony and I cannot thank them enough for the sweet, personal messages they gave.  Music?  Harp and organ.  Old fashioned ? Maybe.   Romantic? Definitely.   My cousin’s wife also sang the Lord’s Prayer beautifully.  Funny thing is neither Matt nor I had ever heard her sing before.  We were pleasantly surprised…. Thanks Jess!  Best part of the whole ceremony though – the feeling afterwards….

Without further ado, here are some pictures courtesy of DVA Photography of my special ceremony and the moments leading up to it:

getting ready with my best friends

where it all went down

my sweet grandparents

my handsome groom

me and sissy getting ready

the lopatka boys pre-ceremony

me and my daddy - one of my favorite moments ever

1. me and my dad walking down 2. my and my soon-to-be husband at the alter

my programs

1. the kiss 2. the exit

sweet congratulations

leaving with my nephew for the reception (photo credit: meredith miller amazing bridesmaid and best friend)