OUR SWEET SUMMER WEDDING
Originally Published on June 26, 2019
I can't believe today marks 4 years since Kevin and I got married. So much has happened since then and yet, it feels like yesterday.
Our first year of marriage was all about learning to handle finances and adult responsibilities as we welcomed our first child.
The second year was about finding our groove as new parents.
The third year was spent working in our greenhouse and dreaming of more children and more space.
And this fourth year was jam-packed with designing and building a new house and bringing our second daughter into the world.
There have been so many challenges along the way and we've had to work through our own selfishness, anger, pride and disappointment. We are both 9s on the enneagram so handling conflict is not our strong point but it feels like we are making progress and learning more about how to be a team.
Marriage is not easy but it's full of rewards and I feel so grateful to have Kevin as my husband.
Today, I just want to take myself back to our wedding day and remember not only the fun details of the day but also the emotions I felt as I embarked on this journey.
We got married in my parent's backyard just a short walk through the woods from where we live now. I envisioned a beautiful summer day with green grass, blue skies, and a hot sun. Unfortunately, rain kept us from having the outdoor ceremony I had hoped for and we ended up having to move the chairs to the tent and switch our plans. It was a bit sad for me;
HOWEVER, the rain falling gently on the tent made the most romantic sound and it ended up being really cool.
I will always be someone who loves color so we choose hot pink and orange as our colors. A friend of ours helped us with flowers and decorations and she did a wonderful job balancing hot pink and orange with white so that the color wasn't too overwhelming. I loved how everything turned out!
My summer wedding would not be complete without a couple of cheesy Napoleon Dynamite references, a watercolor theme, and popsicles. My sister-in-law did calligraphy on our name cards, our lemonade bar instructions, and our unity ceremony board. She did an amazing job! More on her work later.
Dress shopping was so fun! I knew from the beginning that I was looking for a trumpet shape with a sweetheart neckline. I fell in love with this one after a few different trips. I never want to plan a wedding again but I would definitely go dress shopping another time.
Christina Dinehart at Sweet Bliss by Chris did our cake and Stephanie Debolt was our photographer who took all of these pictures. They both were so great to work with!
We took all of our bridal party pictures beforehand and did a tear-filled first look. I loved doing it this way.
We had a quiet moment together right before the ceremony started which was so sweet. Instead of dealing with the pre-wedding jitters alone, we had each other's company and comfort, knowing that our lives were just about to change forever.
Our wedding was on a Friday night and started at 7:30 pm. I loved the idea of an evening wedding and we wanted to have Saturday to travel so this worked best. Our ceremony lasted about 30 minutes and included vows that we wrote together. They were personal, meaningful and were a true promise we made to each other. But neither of us wanted to take the mic and make a speech so we still repeated them after the pastor like traditional vows.
To celebrate our 4 year anniversary, I asked my sister-in-law Karen to write our vows on a sign to hang above our bed. Of course, she did an amazing job and we are obsessed. To see more of Karen's work, visit her site here.
"I promise to love you, putting your needs ahead of mine and giving to you without restraint. I will cherish who God made you to be and value our differences. I will be honest, faithful, and trustworthy and I will give you my best as we seek and follow Christ together throughout all the days that I am given."
It's so humbling to see these vows again and do a real heart check. Am I doing these things I promised to do? Am I putting Kevin's needs ahead of mine, valuing our differences, and giving him my best? There's definitely quite a bit that I need to work on.
After the ceremony, we wanted to have a quick reception. As a play on the phrase "short and sweet" we used #SchwartzAndSweet as our wedding hashtag and that's where the name of my original blog site came from! We were able to greet our guests, eat, have dessert, do toasts, dance, watch fireworks and leave by 10:30 pm which meant everything took 3 hours in total, a success in my eyes!
My mom and I spent hours making platters for our shrimp and antipasto skewers by gluing pink lace over a foam circle and then gluing the foam to a charger plate. It was so much work but I love how they turned out! We also had cheeseball, a dessert bar, and a s'more station.
Overall, my goal was to make people feel full of love, romance, and fun. These pictures bring me so much joy and I'm so thankful to have them.
Our Wedding day was so special and it's so fun to remember it all again. Most importantly, it's a reminder to keep putting in the work for a beautiful marriage. It's truly a treasure that is worth it all.
Thank you, Kevin, for putting up with 13 months of wedding planning and every difficulty we've faced. You're the best and I love you so much! ♥️
