Our Wedding!!!

 Hello!

A month later and we are finally back into the swing of life. We both went back to work at our part time (32 hours a week so almost full time) jobs the week after the honeymoon and we have just been enjoying being together and enjoying life as a married couple :) We are both SO thankful for the blessing of marriage. The privilege of being Matthews wife is just about more than I can stand, and I cannot put it accurately enough into words! It is so awesome to think that God has had it in his plans to have us for each other. Matthew was set apart for me to be his wife since before he was born and vice versa...that is so awesome!!! Anyways...we are obsessed with the idea of marriage and even more obsessed with our Savior. We are so thankful to Him for saving us from our sinful selves, for setting us apart for His glory, and for bringing us together for making HIS name known. eeeeeee!!! I just can't contain my joy!

The months leading up to the wedding were some crazy times, I want to post about the youth camp and the youth group and wedding planning...but for now, just the wedding in general. One of the greatest days of our entire life!

Our deepest desire was for this wedding to point people directly to Christ, and many people were praying just for that. We wanted it to be simple, and worshipful. 

The day of the wedding went so smoothly and I have to take a second to give a HUGE shout out of praise to God for that one because if any one knows me very well they know that I have a tendency of messing everything up. The morning of the wedding was very slow and peaceful. I was able to have a priority time that was not rushed and then my mama and I went to go get our hair done. I was trying so hard to soak in every single moment! After that we went straight to the reception and got finishing touches done to our reception hall. It was so perfect. MY DREAM. I am not even kidding I have had an exact idea of how I wanted my wedding reception to look since I was younger, and this was a replica. Such a blessing from the Lord!

Soon my bridesmaids arrived and we all did our makeup till the photographer and videographer arrived. Matthew and I had decided to do a first look so we could really capture the moment and spend some quality time together before the wedding, and let me tell you...I am so glad we did. When I was younger, a mentor advised me to pray for and write letters to my future husband. Now, I am SO glad I did. At the first look I gave him a compilation of letters and prayers that I had written him throughout the years ( I think the earliest letter/prayer I found was from 6th grade). As I was going through my journals to find these prayers from throughout the years, I couldn't help but cry tears of joy for the goodness of our Savior!!! Looking through the years of how my prayers to God progressed, from immature prayers (around the sixth grade mark) asking for someone handsome, to prayers from my older years crying out to God to protect my mind and heart and purity to save it all for my future husband, to our dating times when I asked and wondered if Matthew could be the one, to the morning of our wedding. I gave these to Matthew to read so that He could know and tangibly see how God had divinely placed him in my life to be my groom. That I had waited for him and prayed for him and that he was the only one for me. 

Many tears later and we were off to do our wedding pictures, YAY! I don't have them all yet and I can't wait to see them! After the wedding pictures it was time for the wedding. WHATTTT??? Time flew by so quickly! I was so so nervous but after my bridesmaids and wedding coordinator prayed over me, it was like all my nerves flew away. I was so ready to marry Matthew and vow before God to be true to Him for the rest of our lives!!! 

The only music we had was a group from my church who sang a hymn a capella, and my childhood best friend who played the violin.  My daddy walked me down the aisle to a mixed melody of You Are My All In All and canon in D. The look on Matthews face melted me all over again. 

The ceremony was so simple, and I wouldn't have had it any other way. We had a huge cross on the center of the stage covered in flowers and we had some flowers on the pews but that was it. Matthew and I chose to say our own vows which are now ready to be framed and hung by our bed. I kept them in our original handwriting because I don't want to take away ANY part of that perfect day!!! 

One of my accountability partners read colossians 3:12-17 and after that we went and prayed at the foot of the cross as the violinist played come thou fount on repeat till we were done. I honestly have no idea how long we were down on our knees praying. We had so much to thank Him for in that moment! 

Once we finally got to kiss each other as a married couple, WE WERE SO EXCITED!!!!! Obviously by the looks on our faces :)

The reception was SO FUN! It included cake, central BBQ, Frank Sinatra, the wobble, line dance songs, my brother dancing to footloose....the whole deal. 

Then it was off to the honeymoon!!! YAY!!!!! :)

Oh, and here is a sneak peak of our wedding video! 

Can't wait to show y'all more pictures! So thankful for the Lord and the blessings He provided to us throughout the engagement to allow us to have such a wedding. It was truly ALL the Lord's doing!!!