wedding recap part 3 - the ceremony

so far we’ve gone over the rehearsal & rehearsal dinner, the morning-of, and now we’re up to the big event.  why am i doing this in pieces?  well, i am limited in the number of photos i can use as i now have to wait 6-months for rights to ALL of my photographer’s pics, and i want to be able to show you the best ones to depict the moments!!

so as soon as the doors opened i felt this overwhelming feeling of everything just happening at once.  i remember looking at pat first thing and then around at people and it was all kind of a blur.  i feel like i had this weird look on my face because my mouth wasn’t quite sure what to do, i was so nervous and not crying, but emotional and just all these feelings at once!  i didn’t even notice my little canning jars that lined the aisles until i went to give the sign of peace to my bridesmaids and i was like  - OOHH!  MY CANNING JARS!  haha :)

our priest was amazing.  you might remember, we didn’t even meet him until the day before the wedding because my church went through a “change of hands” between our engagement and our wedding.  but he was great and really made the ceremony special and meaningful.  my favorite part was when  he did the irish blessing at the end (he loved the fact that i was marrying an irishman).

we chose not to have a singer and instead had the responsorial read by pat’s brother, and we had the prayer of the faithful include those loved ones who were not with us which was a special moment for all.  pat’s nephews brought us the wine and bread (the gifts) and it was cute to get them involved and give them a special role.  during the communion pat and i turned around so we could see everyone :)

overall it was a really lovely ceremony (and i’m not just saying it!) and went by so fast!  we couldn’t believe when the priest announced us as husband and wife that it was already time!

after the ceremony, we headed straight out and across the town green to my family hardware store for some photos.  on the way we took some family pics as well.  our photographers loved the vintage feel of the store and came up with some really fun shots.  i worked at page’s with 3 of my bridesmaids and it was a special spot for us especially, as we had always had our prom photos taken there as well back in the day :)

after taking some pics it was time for the buses to pick us up.  we had school buses come to get us at the store and bring everyone to the reception in branford, the town over from us.  there’s a tradition in guilford, though, so before we left the green we had to drive around it once and then we were on our way (in guilford you drive around the green 3 times in your life - high school graduation, when you get married, and when you pass on - it’s an old town tradition we couldn’t break!)

the buses were SO much fun and my cousin breanne got hot pink beer coozies for everyone that said “to have and to hold and to keep your beer cold” on one side and our names and wedding date on the other.  they were AWESOME!!  thanks, bre :)

we took the scenic route along the shoreline and marshes to branford so the ride was really pretty.  the entire bridal party and my parents rode in one bus and the rest of pat’s family rode in the other.  it was just so much fun and nice to have everyone together for a short while before the madness began.  did i mention how fun it was?  :)

next thing we knew, we were at the pine orchard yacht club and it was time to get our photos taken… but first i got to get my first glimpse of the reception ballroom and dining room, with all of my little details put in place.  that was one of my favorite moments to see it all come together - i was so happy!!

next up, the reception!!!

(5 days left to enter to win the cute little travel garment bag :))