Our Wedding... Part 8 - We Say I Do!

My dad had hugged me and passed me off to Aaron, and there we were. We looked into each other's eyes and smiled. He whispered that I looked beautiful. We had agreed previously that when we were standing up there, it was just the two of us. No one else existed. And that's what it felt like.

Debra began the ceremony with words I had carefully written and practiced over and over again.

The minster asked each of the parents for their blessings as well. My mom was very emotional!

Everything was going really well, until I heard a screaming child, which snapped me right out of the zone I was in. Mentally I was taken out of the ceremony and could only focus on the distraction. The photo below is the look I shot the mother who took far too long to remove the baby from the room.

And then we began reading the vows that we had written together. We took turns making promises to each other that we truly had every intention of keeping.

And then the minster called our moms to the front to present us with our rings. Lee handed me Aaron's ring, and my mom handed Aaron mine. It was a symbol of accepting the other person into the family, and for giving permission to each child to marry their son or daughter. It's something that is very important to both of us. Lee had trouble getting the rings untied, her arthritic hands shaking, and swearing to God to help her untie them! It was pretty funny!

 

Aaron and I exchanged our rings and repeated after the minster with promises of what the rings meant. 

My girls watched from the side, and the photographer caught this moment of laughter. I had no idea, but it turned out that they smelled some "gas" which I'm sure came from my dad!

It was time to sign the marriage certificate to finalize the legality of our marriage.

While Jay and Mike signed the certificate as witnesses, Aaron and I took a very brief moment to just connect with each other. He told me how amazing I looked and how nervous he was. He thought he'd been having a stroke when he first saw me appear in the door way. I'm not sure why we were laughing so much, but it's just indicative of our whole relationship - laughter gets us through everything!

The girls, Lisa, Emily, and Lizz handed out bells to each guest while the waited.

 

And then we asked all of the guests to repeat their own vows to support us as individuals and as a couple. It was something I'd planned for a long time, and something I got a lot of compliments on later. Everyone thought that it was very meaningful!

And then, at long last, we were announced as husband and wife, and we couldn't wait to kiss!

Off we went down the aisle, the first walk as husband and wife, and out the side door to take our first official photos as a married couple in the photo booth that was purchased for us by the bridal party!

This picture right above is probably one of my favorites for 3 reasons! 1. It is a beautifully composed photograph. 2. We just look so happy and content. 3. We had JUST smelled someone's fart. Yup, we were married!

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