Hi everyone! Stacy, the founder of how they asked, here with my favorite post yet (my second favorite was the one of our proposal on the top of a mountain if you want to back up a bit).
On March 5th, 2016, under the sun on a gorgeous Florida day, I got married to a really cute man, surrounded by friends, family, and tons of magic, and I am beyond excited to share our big day with you. If you couldn’t guess, I am a very emotional person (if Greg would let me, I would reread each other our vows every single day), so I wanted everything about the day to be filled to the brim with love. I also wanted everything to be soft, sweet, and full of happy tears – and I wanted every person there to feel the same beautiful feelings that Greg and I feel for each other every day. The photos do a lot of the talking, but I’ll walk you through some of the more meaningful details that still make my heart flutter when I think about them.
But first, the video….
(Video by The Current Films)
So, I’ll start with our our invites! For our save-the-dates, we had Fourteen-Forty design luggage tags that said “paradise bound”. Then for the invitations, she illustrated Sarasota (the beach town we got married in) and our venue!
Here’s the venue – it’s called The Field Club and here’s the entrance:
Around the back is where the ceremony and cocktail hour was set up. We rented vintage furniture so our guests would have cute places to sit, sip, and be in the sun. We hung a flower curtain (thank you, Inna Olimpiyuk Events) and made a big balloon dart board that said “love is in the air” on it (get it?). We also had corn hole set up and a magician walking around! All the thanks for the beautiful, fun set up goes to my planner and rentals gal Priscilla!!!
Okay, now on to getting ready! I had two bridesmaids – my sister and my best friend – and the moms joined us as we got ready (Greg has a mom and a stepmom, so there were three beautiful mamas there to support me).
How cute were our Love Ophelia robes?
In the middle of getting ready, Greg’s mom gave me a gift. It was a photo album that Greg had made for me. The first six pages had photos on them – one significant photo from each of the years we’d been together. The next pages didn’t have photos on them, but they had milestones that Greg predicted. I sat there crying – and laughing – as I read about our future life together. He put things like “2020 – when we have our first kid” and “2040, when we send our first kid to college (will s/he be a Gator?!)” and so forth. We basically needed to redo my mascara entirely.
After the makeup touch-up, it was time for the big reveal! Surprisingly, none of these women had seen my dress yet! I went shopping with my mom and best friend but didn’t find the one until I went to Kleinfeld again alone! I sent pictures of my Tony Ward dress, but this was the first time they saw me in it in real life!
So, while I was twirling, here’s what Greg and is two groomsmen were up to:
Apparently there were not as many tears happening over there.
Okay so! The gift I gave Greg was a “love scale”. The story behind it is this: when Greg and I first started to feel those little butterfly things for each other, we created an invisible love scale that went from 0 to 1,000. Each of us earned points on the other’s scale and once either of us hit 1,000, that meant love! So in the weeks leading up to us saying “I love you” for the first time, we’d give each other points for doing cute, sweet, or funny things. Needless to say, we both hit 1,000 points, said I love you, and the rest is… explained in that proposal post I told you about earlier.
Okay, back to the bride – it was time for the daddy/daughter first look! On my first car, which took me through high school and college, I had a vanity plate that said “DADG1RL” – it was the only variation of Daddy’s Girl I could get. I’d be lying if I said I’d moved beyond the name in my adult life, but even my bachelorette party hashtag was #dadgirlslastwhirl. Needless to say, my dad is my forever first love, so I was very much looking forward to this moment.
And here are the gifts I gave him! He, of course, cried together with me.
After those tears dried up, my sister and best friend started taking photos with our photographer, Justin, and then Greg and his groomsmen were next. We didn’t do a first look because we wanted to keep the anticipation high for the ceremony.
And then…. I was off to walk down the aisle….
I had some really, really adorable and special flower girls and ring bearers. I’m always so happy around these four, so having them there made my heart very full.
When it was my turn, I was so excited, nervous, happy, overwhelmed, and every other tear-inducing feeling. When I saw my handsome man at the end of the aisle with the sweetest smile, it all melted away and it was just Greg and I in this wonderful moment.
We had two officiants – Marci and Leigh. Marci is a pro and Leigh is a friend… and the two of them made the perfect pair. The two of them brought peace and warmth to our ceremony – with words of wisdom and encouragement, love and support. We couldn’t have asked for a more meaningful ceremony together.
My favorite part of the whole day was our vows. We wrote them ourselves (I started writing mine the day after Greg proposed) and I will cherish the words we said to each other forever.
And then that was it. We were married!
Greg had a little trouble stepping on the wine glass, but he did it!
And we walked back down the aisle – this time together, as best friends for life.
After that, we took family photos and then our own set of photos. It was the first time Greg and I got to spend intimate moments with each other alone (minus the clicking of Justin and his camera). It was a wonderful 30 minutes together.
And then… the party!!!
To get everyone to the correct seats, we hand-wrote a letter to each of our 170 guests, stuffed them in pretty little envelopes, and used them as escort cards. We wanted to make sure every person felt as loved and adored on our wedding day as we did, so we sat down in the weeks and months before and wrote individual notes to each guest telling them exactly why we loved and appreciated them.
We sat for dinner and the speeches began..
My dad’s ran a bit long (yes, we cut him off from telling another embarressing story about his darling daughter), but it was everything and more! After that, John and Beth gave thoughtful, funny, and moving speeches as well.
We had dessert (of course) and finally, it was time to hit the dance floor.
My beautiful mom sang our first dance – a dream I’ve had since I was a little girl. Our friend Rob accompanied her on the guitar which was an extra special touch as they played “First Day of My Life” by Bright Eyes.
Perhaps one of my favorite moments was dancing with my daddy. I’ll never forget the sweetness I felt from him all day long.
After our dance, Greg and his mom had their turn and they blew us away with a choreographed dance!
And to close out, here’s the rest of the party, all night long!
