While the ladies and I were getting ready, Erik and his boys were off in the Grooms Suite gettin’ all fancied up for the wedding.

My handsome future husband

My “little” brother

Dashing gentleman

Purple socks! A crucial component to the day. Also, please note the black cowboy boots on our Texan Best Man.

Finally, I was escorted out by my wedding planner, Mandi, who brought me to where Paul, our photographer, and Travis, our videographer, were shooting Erik. Alexis, the assistant photographer, showed me where I would walk up the grassy hill to Erik. Paul silently motioned for me to sneak up behind Erik.

At this point, I’d like to mention the state of the grass on the day of our wedding. It wasn’t exactly wet, but there was a certain… mushiness… to the ground that made walking and standing and pretty much anything I attempted to do in heels very, very difficult. I nearly fell over a dozen times walking up the hill to Erik. And about a dozen times walking down the hill.

This? This is me, falling over.

And about a dozen times while standing perfectly still getting our formal pictures done with our bridal party and family.

Finally, at the end, I had had enough, and I insisted (probably my only real bridezilla move of the day) that I have my photographs with my bridesmaids taken on the stone walkway, even though the light wasn’t the best. We had already taken photos with my maid of honor and Erik’s best man, but not the rest of the bridal party. But my calves were killing me from having to keep all my weight on my tip-toes. Thankfully, I got my way!

As we finished up our formal photographs, our guests were starting to arrive. From a distance, I spotted many of my family members and friends starting to arrive. Amongst them was Cara, who traveled all the way from Tennessee to be with us! It was very exciting to see everyone arriving, but there was no time for chit-chat. I was whisked back to the Bridal Suite to wait until the ceremony would begin. That also gave me a chance to check my blood sugar, which had stabilized around 170 mg/dl from my earlier low blood sugar. I was ready to go!

Our guests were greeted with our welcome table, which had a basket for cards, and our guestbook. Instead of a traditional guest book, we had a Manzanita tree, where our guests could write their wishes for us on notecards and then tie it to a branch with purple ribbon. I am planning a special project for these notecards, which I will blog about later!

Standing at the top of the walkway, I could see all our family and friends gathered below. It was so exciting and I wasn’t the least bit nervous about getting married to Erik. The only thing I was nervous about? Actually getting down to him and not messing anything up, like tripping or forgetting what I was supposed to do next. Ceremonies are complicated!

My grandmothers and my mom’s older brother

The bridal party walked down to Colbie Callait’s “I Do” which was a fun peppy song that I thought gave the ceremony an upbeat feel.

V, my maid of honor, and J, Erik’s best man

My song was “At Last” by Etta Fitzgerald. Typically “At Last” is used as a First Dance song, but I already knew that I didn’t want to do something that traditional. But loving the song as much as I did, I decided it would make a great song to walk down the aisle to. I didn’t cry walking down the aisle. I almost cried when I saw all my friends and family and Erik standing and watching me. But I kept it together. It just involved looking down at the ground a lot.

Our ceremony was fairly standard. Pastor Jeff Marsh, from Imago Dei Community (which is the church in Portland I attend, and also the church of Blue Like Jazz author Don Miller), opened up with a welcome and prayer. Then Erik’s nephew, D, read our Bible passage, which was Colossians 3:12-17. Pastor Jeff gave a wonderful message (of which I only remember because we have a videographer!). Then one of my best childhood friends, J, read The Blessing of the Hands.

We said our vows, which I edited together based on a few vows that Erik and I found online, and exchanged the rings.

The unique element to our wedding was our Wine Box Ceremony. The Wine Box Ceremony involves Erik and I writing letters to each other and then, with a bottle of wine, putting them in a box and sealing it shut. The idea is that in five years, on our anniversary, we will open the box, drink the wine and read the letters, and remember the love and happiness of our wedding day. There are different variations to the Wine Box Ceremony, but that’s what we decided to do. Our wine box is custom-made from Etsy with an engraved N.

During the ceremony, my mother gave me the letters and the wine box, and Erik’s mother gave him the wine bottle, and we carried them up to the gazebo where we put the box together while our pastor explained to the audience what we were doing.

Once we were finished, our pastor concluded the ceremony and announced us husband and wife! Yay!

Then we went back to the Bridal Suite, where my mother and V bustled my dress. One of the catering staff brought me our signature drink, which was Sweet Tea Vodka and Lemonade (yum!), and the hors d’oeurves, which included my favorite, Oregon Dungeness crab cakes. Of course, since everyone told me that brides rarely have a chance to enjoy their food during the reception, I basically ate as much as I could. They were so good!

We also had a chance to take a breather, although I was fairly anxious to get out to the reception and see everyone! Mandi told us that we could go out for a bit, and then come back in and then go back out to the grand entrance or she said we could just stay in and take a break before heading out. We decided to stay in, since it wouldn’t be too long before we’d see everyone. Also, several people told me to take a few minutes to enjoy being with just my husband, and this was certainly a good time to do it!

And then, it was off to the reception… But you’ll just have to wait until next week for that!