Well, I was going to wait for pictures of the wedding before posting again, but since it's been over a month now and I still don't have them, I figured I should just go ahead and post anyway.
I very generous friend took our wedding pictures for free but has been so busy since the wedding he hasn't had time to finish putting them together and editing them for us.
I'm going to try to use this blog as a way of keeping my dear family and friends and anyone who is interested updated on what's going on in my life, so I'll start by telling about the wedding.
The wedding was on Saturday, July 30th. Two days before the wedding, on Thursday, we borrowed a pickup truck from someone at my church and, after getting off work for the day, my brothers and I moved all the big furniture and stuff to my brother's house, our new apartment, the office, or wherever it could go. We stayed up quite late moving stuff and were completely exhausted (I had a desk up there that weighed approximately 13 thousand pounds.) I was pretty restless, so stayed up later after my brothers went to bed packing everything I could. Friday morning, early, I left to run a bunch of errands. While I was gone, Brian and Daryl moved the rest of the stuff out of my apartment up to Chase's apartment (now our home). There's no way I could have done it without them -- they were SO much help. I don't even remember what all I was doing. Getting my address changed, paying bills, cleaning my car, bringing a load of stuff to the office, buying some things, switching off internet and stuff at my old apartment, paying rent and letting them know when I was completely moved out of the old place, etc. Finally all was done and Chase and I, Chase's parents, and the whole bridal party drove down to Athens where we met Neema and JC and had our rehearsal.
For anyone having a wedding, definitely do your utmost to have everyone at the rehearsal and iron out how everything's going to go. We did, and it made everything so much smoother. It brought up questions about things we hadn't thought how we were going to do and made everyone a lot more comfortable about what we were doing the next day, even though everything didn't work out quite as planned.
Then Chase's parents took us all out to eat for our rehearsal dinner, and we all went back to a hotel they'd gotten for us. It was great seeing Neema and JC again and spending time with JC. As soon as we got back from the dinner though, Chase and I were banned from seeing each other any more until the wedding, and, after a few texts, we were banned from communicating with each other in any way until the wedding. I understand the tradition and all. I just wanted some time to talk with her though because she'd been stressed and having a hard time with all kinds of different things all day. It was pretty late though, and I was exhausted still from all the moving and everything, so after talking with my brothers and JC for a while, I went to sleep and slept just fine actually, though I woke up pretty early the next morning.
I went down and ate breakfast with Mamaw (Chase's mom's mom), Chase's aunt, and one of the bridesmaids. Then got a bit more ready, had a great talk with Neema (who is like my sister) and finally we went to the wedding site -- a beautiful outdoor garden with flowers everywhere and a lake behind where we were supposed to get married. Unfortunately, it started raining and drizzling. We waited quite a while hoping it would stop, but finally decided to have it in the covered area where we were having the reception, which turned out great, even if the pictures don't turn out as pretty as they would have outdoors.
I did what I could to help, helping set up center pieces, and trying to welcome everyone as they came. And answered the question, "Are you nervous?" what seemed like hundreds of times, though we only had around 75 people or so there. Every time I answered what I felt, "Not really. More excited." Then I'd notice my hands kinda shaking and admit, "Maybe a little nervous. But mostly excited." Finally, I was told to go into the shop they had there so I wouldn't see Chase coming, and was in there for what seemed like a long time. Dad came back and prayed with me and encouraged me and said he was proud to be gaining me as a son-in-law, which was really special. I hear he went and prayed with Chase as well.
Then I was called out and went and stood up with the pastor and we got started. My groomsmen (my brothers, Brian, Daryl, and Emmett, and my now-brother-in-law Nathan) seated all the close relatives, then came and stood by me. Then the bridesmaids came down the isle while two friends played the violin. And then, the moment I'd been waiting for. My soon-to-be father-in-law walking down the isle towards me with the most beautiful of all of God's creations.
Chasity is more beautiful than anything else in the world, and I'd known this, but there at the wedding, to say she was more gorgeous than all the mountains, streams, flowers, stars and galaxies in the universe combined would be a big understatement. She wore the most beautiful dress ever made, had flowers in her gorgeous long hair, and was smiling at me with eyes so perfect and full of love that I wouldn't have been able to look away from them if the brightness of the sun itself was behind her blinding me. I'd never been more happy, more proud, or felt more perfect in all my life as I did then giving myself to her, promising to love her with everything I've got for the rest of my life, and have her doing the same. It was and is more special than I know how to describe.
I actually don't remember the service real well. Our pastor prayed and talked about marriage. We washed each other's feet. We made our vows to each other, exchanged rings, and were pronounced man and wife and kissed!
Three things stand out to me most. One, how incredibly beautiful my bride was. Two, how perfectly happy I felt and just how... perfect I felt. Like, when something feels so right your whole life feels perfect. Making our vows, pronouncing our love for one another, demonstrating it through Christ's example of washing each other's feet, and being pronounced man and wife, one flesh, before God and man -- that was so incredibly wonderful and amazing. And the third thing I remember very clearly is how completely and utterly thankful I was to God for all of it.
I say all of that in past tense, but only for the purpose of telling about the wedding itself. Chasity is still the most gorgeous of all of God's creations and I am still so incredibly happy and thankful about our marriage. I'm full of happiness.
After the service, everyone gave us hugs and congratulations and we got some pictures taken. The rain had stopped by now, so we were able to take them outside. Then we ate our food. Chase and I danced to Steven Curtis Chapman's "I Will Be Here", and I sang it to her while the song played. She danced with her Dad and then I had a dance with her mom and got permission to call her Mom.
Plenty of other stuff happened, but I'm out of time for now. I'll try to post again soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment