Our Wedding!

Wow, it's been one of the most amazing months of the most incredible year of my life. Thomas and I got married in October, and after the wedding, we took a short honeymoon to Bar Harbor. Many thanks to our relatives who got together and surprised us with the gift! We had the time of our lives  there.  It was a magical time and we hope to revisit for future anniversaries. After honeymooning, going to North Carolina for a second ceremony and reception, and transitioning back to normal life amidst cleaning up post wedding things and getting a few "thank you's" out every day, and after leaving blog life some years ago, I am "making time"(!) to write about one of the most beautiful days of my life!

The Morning Of

Saturday, October 11th, began peacefully as family (Thomas' and my own) trickled into the kitchen for coffee, breakfast, and discussion of the "Day of" tasks. Everyone desired to help in some way, and we found jobs for everyone, including Thomas' youngest brothers, Winston and Houston! Thomas' step-mom, Tina, was able to snap all these photos amidst the other duties she had. 

Moms were busy in the morning cooking, bringing out dinner tables (which they had set the night before inside the barn,) and goodness knows what the many other things I saw them heartily doing were. 

My mom, Pam, mashing potatoes from a 50lb bag of red-skin potatoes a farmer friend gave.

Most of our work for the wedding was done prior to Saturday morning, and Friday was a huge day of preparation inside for the moms (Pam, Tina, and Pam) arranging wild flowers for tables, table schemes in general, and cutting fabrics and ribbons. The dads (Brian, Jeff, and Doug) were, amongst other things, putting up tons of white lights in a magnificent tent shape suspended by my dad's crane. 

On Saturday morning, the men were busy setting up hay bales, buffet tables, signage, and I'm sure other things I did not see when I was inside! 

Thomas' step-dad, Brian,  Thomas' brothers, Cooper & Winston,  and my cousin, Erik

Thomas and I watched in amazement as we saw all of our family working so hard to make this day beautiful for us. They have been so incredibly supportive of our decision to marry, and to have an at home wedding... a quick one too! We announced it 6 weeks out, and really began to plan it 4 weeks out. Everyone helped so much and it wouldn't have been possible without our family, neighbors, and community. We received so much help from local friends who wanted to help in our idea of doing a wedding that costed nearly nothing. We were humbled, excited, and grateful! (I want to make a blog called "How to do a Wedding on the Cheap" to encourage people to DIY and get away from the Wedding Industry System that is financially raping them.)

Our cake was done by my incredibly gifted and beautiful cousin, Grace. She worked so hard on this and it had to be one of the best cakes Thomas and I have ever had! Lemon and vanilla- yum!! More on the cake coming in a blog I want to make called "Our Wedding: The Details."

My mom caught this action shot of my strong & spirit-filled cousin, Grace, putting the finishing touches (fresh wildflowers) on her work of art! The cake topper belongs to our neighbor's antique store. It was one of the many things he let us borrow right out of his store! Again, we felt so blessed from everyone's help!

After most of the "important things" were taken care of, Thomas and I were able to go get ourselves ready for photos, a quick run-through of the ceremony, and the actual ceremony. 

Deep in thought as usual :)   *Wow, maybe this is how she sees me all the time...it's all starting to make sense.*

Note to self: lipstick on AFTER the dress! Note to others: Julia saved me the day before when Tina was shooting Thomas and I. I had done my make-up first, including lipstick, and then put the dress on. The ironic part is that I got lipstick on the dress when I was taking the hanger down from the high hook in my room, not even when I was putting the dress over my head! Julia looked up a remedy for this later that afternoon and delivered the message, "Not a spot left!" Thank you Julia and thank you Lord!

Last minute girl time! My sister, Julia, put in a button-and-hole for the train of my dress to stay up while dancing.
My dad had picked the dress up in the 70s from a friend who owned the dry-cleaners where the dress showed up one day. My dad's friend told him it had been there for several weeks unclaimed, and asked him if he wanted it for $25.00.  My dad accepted the offer and in turn, bought my wedding dress 40 years ago. I found it hanging in the attic, still in the plastic, a few weeks before the wedding. 

After we took family photos and had a brief rehearsal, it was time to get ready to do what we all came together for. To walk down that aisle and make our marriage vows!

Going over some last minute reminders with my good friend from high school, Josiah, who was marrying us.

The wedding party, Josiah, and Thomas' dad gathering together to ask Yahweh to bless the ceremony.

The Ceremony

Thomas and I parted for a few moments as he and Josiah went out to the front field where all the guests were seated, and out the side doors of the house the rest of us went, filing ourselves down the side of the street, as to not let any of our guests see us before we all entered the place of the ceremony, the front field of our farm, where Thomas and I were married on October 11th, 2014 at 3:00 pm.

My dad, Doug, escorted me as we approached rows of smiling faces, all there to celebrate with me my union to Thomas. Surreal as you can imagine... surreal. 

I saw Thomas waiting for me at the end of the aisle, and as I walked slower and slower, time seemed to stand stiller and stiller, and I recalled moments from when we were planning all of this, to back when we had our first date. I was being reminded of all of special moments I knew had led up to this one, connecting the dots with such peace and knowingness, as I realized, "my life makes the most sense it has made in 7 years." *written as the house phone begins to "Ring."*

Placing my Vow Ring on Thomas' hand, "for the rest of our time on Earth."

Our first kiss as Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Wrona!

One of the most lovely things about the day was that just 30 minutes before our ceremony began, the sun began to come out, as it had been overcast all day. We did photos at 12pm, so we actually needed those clouds to prevent hard lighting, so I was thankful at the time for them, but asked Yahweh to move them off before the ceremony. He has allowed me to have greater faith for weather supplications than usual, by a few times this summer and fall that He granted prayers to move small and big weather systems off. I had a lot of faith on my wedding day to ask for a few clouds to go elsewhere, and He was so wonderful to again perform the request. (Thank you!)

Our "to the point" ceremony lasted less than 15 minutes, and we had finished doing what we had been working towards, really since we had met. Then it was time to celebrate!

The Celebration

After visiting with our guests for a short time, we all formed a line to begin our dinner feast! Everyone who attended the wedding brought a dish of their choice (we had thought about doing a food theme, but decided variety is nice) and my dad had made food heaters out of sternos surrounded by bricks; there were many crock pots and cold salads as well! Again we were in awe of our family, friends, and  neighbors all helping us put this wedding together. There was plenty of food for all!

Thomas' mom, Pam, being a sweetie and slicing the pork from our local farmer/butcher (he gave us a wonderful deal that helped with our goal to not spend too much!) 

There were SO many delicious dishes that were brought by guests. My heartfelt thanks to everyone who spent time and money to bring something to our wedding celebration!

Then it was time for some dancing. Thomas and I have had the Bert Keampfort station on Pandora where we had been hearing the song, "Sleepwalk." We practiced a little in the kitchen from time to time- on all sorts of stations! I think our dancing turned out pretty well that night; we did a couple turns and spins. I even surprised him by telling him to dip me at the end, which we had never tried before. The worst thing to happen was that I lost my hat... so not bad!

Our first dance, the original version of Santo & Johnny's "Sleepwalk."

Thomas dancing with his mom, Pam,  to "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong.

Dancing with my dad to a later version of  "Some Enchanted Evening" (Tozzi.)

Thomas' mom, Pam, made some very artsy and cute banners for us to hang around! They said things like, "Blessed," "XOXOXO," and "Mr. & Mrs." Here's one of them on the cake table!

At the cake table, I found myself reminded of the fact that usually at this point of the wedding, a bride has the decision to feed her husband quietly and peacefully a piece of wedding cake, or not. I found myself contemplating, but as time went on, and I kept bouncing back and forth in my mind whether I wanted to do it or not, I realized that the end decision was going to be whatever my mind landed on when my hand was close to his face. It happened to be on, "Smush." 

I got a kick out of it. Then he fed me nicely.

After dinner and traditional wedding dancing, we had a square-dance caller rounding us all up for an hour of dosados, promenades, and up-to-the-middle-and-backs! Oh, and the easy part, "Circle to the left, to the left, to the left left left."

This was amazing, to have people from my long past, people from my family, and people I've meet along the way, all together in a big circle with me at the same moment. I felt known and loved.

The sun went down during square-dancing, so most of us went into the heated garage for coffee and conversation. I say us, but T and I actually stayed outside to keep square dancing! We didn't mind the cool air- it was too much fun!

We visited for a little while as friends slowly left for the evening, and family sat around a fire out back.

Cousin Grace captured this camera phone shot from the pavement. The colors & light came out magical; no editing needed!

When it was over, Thomas and I just gave each other a big hug and said, "We did it!" Mission accomplished. Now to move on to bigger missions! 

Love,

Vanessa

This is part I of III blogs on our wedding! More details of the day and photos of family in those. I hope to also do a blog on the Honeymoon, the NC Blessing Ceremony & Reception, and "How to do a Wedding on the Cheap."