Wedding Part Two

I'm sure on Sunday you were all pondering how I could begin to drag out this 17 hour period into a week of posts. After scrolling through Part One I am sure you started to get the idea. 

Our photographer sent us over a grand total of 780 pictures from the day. Don't worry, I'll only make you scroll through 476 of them. I kid! I kid! 

My original plan was to minimize to 2 posts and I loved too many pictures to not include them and that would make for some insanely long posts. I am sure I would reach the maximum amount. Does blogger ever cut you off? Or could I ramble forever-ever-er-er-r? We're about to find out. 

Again, a joke, this will probably be the shortest of the posts. This post in limited to an hour time slot. This post is the hour time slot. The one we were lucky enough to attain. The time slot that permanently changed my life, my name, and my vocation. The time slot we planned months for. 

Dah-dum-dah-dum...

 But first look at these nuggets. Instead of walking all the way to the front aisle and waiting for me to process in, they were caught about four rows back where their respective parents were sitting. It is a really brilliant idea and I owe our church coordinator everything for coming up with it. The only problem was the night before when the 2 year old ring bearer (the reason they held hands) saw that his dad was at the end of the aisle, he lead them in a 10 meter dash. 

They were much more tame on the day itself, not that I could see.

And look at those flower crowns!

This is it. The moment to which the peace had been building (see Part 1).

And my peace was evident, so too was Tim's joy and emotion. I love this man.

Didn't Judy kill it with this veil? I really hope we have melodramatic daughters like myself because it would be a shame for this to only get one use. She gave me all the extra lace from the trim of the veil with promises to use it on a homemade baptismal gown if I so desired. Amen, amen I say to you, I married into the greatest family!

I just spent the last 40 minutes trying to find a good article explaining the theology of the veil I hold to. I couldn't find one that was accurate and not condescending. Ask me if you're really curious but lets just say that withing the wedding liturgy that there are many signs and symbols and none of them are without meaning. I was insistent that my veil cover my face for one of those such symbols and insistent that Tim remove it for the fact that this particular symbol fortells consummation. Freaked you out yet? I'll stop.

Being married here, in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, made us the luckiest. In our hometown, on Tim's campus, where his parents were married, with this beauty.

Our lectors were Tim's cousin Michelle, my Uncle Mike, and my friend and mentor Megan. We are so grateful to each of them for agreeing to have such a role in the liturgy after they had a huge role in forming us a Catholic Christians.

Similarily, these four are in the background of nearly every picture if you notice. So honored to have them serve this sacrament in such unique ways. Love to them, and the models of true sacrament they are to us daily.

Joy, and nothing less.

I will bear the Christ light for you, in the nightime of your fears. I will hold my hand out for you, speak the peace you long to hear.

I will weep when you are weeping, when you laugh I'll laugh with you. I will share your joys and sorrows, til we've seen this journey through.

Will you let me be your servant? Let me be as Christ to you. Pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant too.

When planning who would bring the offering to the table, it only made sense for it to be our parents. These were the people who were the models of self-gift and Christian love. These are the ones who taught us to bring everything we were to the table.

Fr. Christian, just thank you so much. It was an honor to be Fr. Christians second wedding ever. He was so good and understanding with our long distance marriage prep and anyone who was in attendance can attest to his beautiful witness of a homily. We give blessings and prayers on his vocation daily as we strive to live virtue in ours, from the Heartland to the Holy Family.

Tim and I had opted to be the two Eucharistic Ministers at out own wedding. And looking at these pictures and this opportunity to serve our grandmothers, one of a kind experience. These are the strongest women in faith that we know. Scratch that, they are the strongest people period. And to be able to give back to them in this real way was so special for us. Bringing the focus on serving each of those who had celebrated this sacrament with us by bringing Christ to them in return for them being Christ for us.

Our Lady, Queen of Peace, Pray for us. Our Lady of Lourdes, Pray for us. Holy Family, Pray for us.

We were so lucky that we had the Glee Club singing their beautiful rendition of Biebel's Ave Maria during our Marian devotion. We would have had it no other way.

The first moment Tim's vows were tested. Times number 897 and 898 are both occuring while I make him edit this post.

There you have it folks, one hour of our lives later and one more post scrolled through. Stick around, there's more to come, it's only Tuesday!

Wedding Part One

We will start at the beginning. I woke up the morning of the wedding with my three sisters and my best friend in the bedroom we grew up in. In all of my wedding day plans I was ultra high maintenance in a false low maintenance way. I was demanding of a few things; that we would get ready in my parents home, that I wouldn't have an up do, and nothing would be from a salon but instead from people whom I love. Seemingly low maintenance, but really this makes high demands of those who shared this bed room with me.

Here she be, and the veil Tim's mom Judy made for me.

Of all that I demanded of them though, these girls remained so jovial all day long and I love them for it and when I fell silent for refusal to deal with emotion, they held strong.

My sisters best friend was my makeup artist. We went to CVS and Sephora with her two nights before so I could purchase anything necessary. My makeup bag increased tenfold that day.

Months and months of practice and she was perfect. My hair was everything I dreamed it would be which she somehow got from my horrible articulation of said dream.

Hay oh hey oh hey oh heyoh.

This moment, immortalized. I loved seeing Judy and her joy.

And these were the moments I can now justify my nasty demands. Even though I was stressing that we were behind schedule and only one out of three sisters had their hair finished, getting ready with my bridesmaids and mom in my parents room was everything.

Awkward solo shots because why not, I'm subjecting you to everything else...

This is it. People think it's crazy that we would get married so young and right after graduating but the reality is when you have the models of marriage that we do and the love shared between our families, you cannot wait to make of yourself a total gift and waiting to have and to hold seems more crazy to us.

Which framed picture of the Magee girls do you prefer?

Hello sad sad lavender (my vision and pictures for the florist were much different than they turned out) and hello happy happy ladies of my life.

I've already ordered this picture to be framed. 

Phew, thus ends the Magee House pictures and we are half way through this post, onto the main act, my main man.

How come his solo shot is much less awkward? 

The Kenneys had rented the apartment on property at our reception site, so all week they were around to help set up and tear down. Tim got ready with his groomsmen and dad at the apartment and they took their pictures around the farm.

As I said.

And of course. For some reason the main act was much shorter than it should have been...

Drive to the church selfies as I was sitting in the passenger seat holding my 800lb dress off my legs so I could feel the air conditioning. No shame.

The Kenney siblings and my new siblings-in-law... it's weird saying that but a good weird.

Timothy James and his Molly Grace.

Sparkle shoes and bows.

My godson Gaines was our ringbearer, he's in near tears in this shot for fear of me and that aisle and all of the white fluffy material and the fact that we made him wear a flower. Molly is Tim's cousin and Copeland mine. Her mom Jenn was a flowergirl in my parents wedding and my sisters and I were in Jenn's. It seemed only natural that we would ask Cope and then I had them wear the dresses that my sisters and I wore as flower girls (seen in the double frame picture above).

Meg hits it off with every child under the age of 7.

Veil time in our holding cell in the narthex. This was the moment of truth. Did we have enough pins? Should we add more hair spray? Would my hair hold the weight of the veil? Would it all be destroyed when Tim removed it?

It worked, praise God, and my head was only violently jerked back because the veil got stuck twice. Success story after success story over here.

My momma.

And then to kill our time for go time I gave each of my girls their gifts. This was supposed to happen the night before but we had the last time slot at the basilica, this means the last time slot for the rehearsal and this means that our rehearsal dinner started at 9:45... Needless to say we were short on time. And woe is me.

Just before they sent the grandparents down the aisle, Megan Vera came in and prayed with me. It was everything I needed in that moment. Here was my model of faith and vocation praying over me and for me and for us and for you by extension. During this time of mostly silent prayer everything gained perspective and I remembered why I was there and was washed with peace. The peace of knowing we were doing God's will. The peace of knowing He would provide. The peace of knowing the joint love and prayer from all of our loved ones gathered. The peace of knowing that Tim was going to be at the end of the aisle. The peace of realizing that long distance was never again. The peace of a full heart ready to love and be loved. The peace of His Spirit reminding me what I am really promising. The peace of continuously having a model in the Holy Family. The peace of knowing this was a sacrament and even if the rest of the day is not filled with success stories, the graces would be flowing and that would be more than sufficient.

At the end of the prayer, flooded with peace, I knew I was ready for that long basilica aisle and I knew I wouldn't cry, instead I was filled with immeasurable joy.