Tuesday, June 19, 2012

For The Love of Love: Before God & Everybody

It was time. Everything that I had been planning since May 28th of 2011(and lets be honest, a bit before that too!) was about to come to pass. Our nearest and dearest had come from all over the world, to celebrate with us. It.was.time.

Because it was the Saturday after Easter, the church was fully decorated in all it's seasonal finery and we didn't have to do a thing.


Mr. Aardvark was dressed and ready, as was I. All of the tiny details disappeared as the importance of what was about to happen sunk in!


Thanks again to Mrs. Ferris Wheel for the great tutorial!
The music changed and everyone headed down the aisle. First Mr. Aardvark with both of his parents. Then, my mom and step dad, Step-mama Aardvark and MOH MD's little brother, then two by two, the bridesmaids and groomsmen. MOH MD walked alone, and then the cutest little kids in the world took center stage.

They all did a great job! My new nephew was a bit confused by the ring book though, he had been practicing with a pillow at home. After a couple attempts to dutifully return the book to the pew, he got a helping hand from his mama.


Then the music changed again. It was my turn. I had been a little worried that I would well up and ugly-cry the whole way down the aisle.


But I lucked out! No ugly cry here! Just a big goofy grin! Papa Aardvark didn't cry either (that I could see). It was so surreal to be walking down the aisle. I knew everyone one was looking at me, and I sort of felt like I should be looking at them, but I could not pull my eyes away from Mr. Aardvark. He was about the be my husband. This was really happening. We were doing a good job walking slowly until we got about half way. I noticed a jump in our pace and tried to put the breaks on a bit. In the picture below my dad and I are both suppressing giggles, trying to remember that it's not a race.


When we finally got the the front of the church, my mother stood up with us. I had not noticed until that point, but she was making up for the lack of tears. I mean full on water works. I was so surprised! My mom is the toughest woman person I know. She has always been a rock, and to see her tears on my wedding day was really touching. Fortunately, she was able to gather herself for the next part.


I had not given much thought to the whole, "giving away" thing. Mostly because shortly after becoming engaged, I read a wonderful post by Mrs. Tartlet and knew it was a perfect combination of tradition, and respect for the independence of a modern woman. The priest asked, "Who presents this woman for marriage?" And in unison my parents said, "She presents herself, with our blessing." At that point I was SO ready to give Mr. Aardvark a huge hug! I felt like we had been standing there FOREVER! I stepped toward him, but my dad still had my arm. We hadn't done the veil thing and they still had their handshake/ hug. Doh! I had made the same mistake at the rehearsal. Everyone got a good chuckle at the over-eager bride.


Once I finally got to Mr. Aardvark it took everything I had not to give him a big kiss right then and there! The rest of the service was a traditional Catholic wedding with full mass.


There was lots of standing, and sitting, and kneeling, I really enjoyed the whole thing. My very-soon-to-be sister-in-law (and mother of the ring bearer) did the first reading. When she finished, her little guy stole the show with a loud, "Good job mommy!" It was one of the sweetest things ever and I was again glad we had decided to have little ones in the wedding.



When the time came for the vows and rings, I was feeling pretty confident. I had held back tears so far, I could do this! During his vows, Mr. Aardvarks voice cracked a bit, and I thought I was done for. But then it was my turn. The words that I had thought about over and over in the years we had been together were coming out of my mouth. Mr. Aardvark was smiling, I was smiling, and trying really hard to soak in the moment and feel the weight and importance of what was happening. 



I love the picture below because that is what the church looked like, very warm and glowy, while I love detail and crispness of the professional pictures, I feel like the colors in this one are spot on.

Guest Photo
The actual wedding part went very quickly and then it was on to the rest of Mass.


The photo sequence below is another of my favorites. I think I am saying something like, "We're married!" and Mr. Aardvark said, "We should be paying attention still." This exchange, or a similar one, happens most Sundays at Mass. I am always trying to chat him up while he is trying to pray. So it is fitting that it is captured here on our wedding day as well!





We also did a Marian Altar visit. It was right after communion and basically, MOH MD had carried an extra bouquet down the aisle and we placed it on the Mary Altar while music played. The priest had warned us to take our time doing this, and we thought we did. We went over, placed the flowers, said a prayer, stood there for awhile longer just for good measure and headed back to our seats...However we must have been too fast because the song seemed to go on FOR EVER after we sat down. Word to the wise, know the length of the music you pick, for any additional ceremonies, or ask for only the first few verses!

After that, everyone stood. This was it! We were married and we would finally get to kiss! It seems a bit odd to me that on our wedding day we did not even kiss hello until nearly 3:30! But it was well worth the wait! Mrs. & Mr. Aardvark, man and wife!

Awkward hand much?
Oh well I was not thinking about hand placement!

We were married! The priest and the photographers had both told us to hurry back around to this side of the church after our exit so that we could sign the papers and then make our "Grand exit" after all the guests had filed out of the church.


Well, hurry we did! So much so in fact that I missed a step on the way out and face-planted on the sidewalk!  Mr. Aardvark and the wedding coordinator (and a few passing cars) were the only ones to see. I popped back up right away and my veil blew off! Ha! What a start to married life! We had a good laugh about it though.


My dress seemed to be intact and I hadn't skinned my knees (though I did destroy my stockings). With a little help from MOH MD, everything was back in order!


We signed the papers and everything was legal! In those few quiet moments we laughed about how, of course I would fall coming out of church! I am not the world's most graceful lady by a long shot.


After a few moments we got the word that everyone had their flags and streamers and bells and it was time for our exit! It was magical! A small handful of people had cowbells, a nod to our cycling history as well as the fact that we live in Wisconsin, Others had ribbon wands that MIL Aardvark had made with little jingle bells on top. The sound and colors and cheering were so festive!  And, I made it down the steps without issue the second time! Practice makes perfect!


After our exit people began to disperse. And a new crowd began to gather. It turns out the Knights of Columbus were having a large ceremony in the church following our wedding. It was a really cool to see so many(maybe 100) of them, in their full gear as well as all of their wives and families wishing us well.  

Guest Photo
I also found out that they were the ones who had booked up our first hotel! Talk about things coming full circle!

Guest Photo. BIL and Nephew Aardvark making friends with the KoC
They were so sweet though, I could hardly be mad at them for stealing all of our rooms! And in the big scheme  of things, it didn't matter at all anyway. I had married the man of my dreams with heaps of wonderful people there to watch and support us. Now the only thing left to do was celebrate! 
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