One Year Anniversary Part 2: Our Wedding

To recap our wedding, I could describe everything to you, but I thought I would share pictures and let them do most of the talking! I hope this isn’t picture overload (if it is, I totally give you permission to skim through!) 

We got married on Blennerhassett Island in Parkersburg, WV (my home state) which combined my desires to get married outdoors and on a Southern Plantation (not quite, but close!) Our guests stayed at the Blennerhassett Hotel and everyone took a ferry over to the island for the evening wedding, which was followed by a dessert reception. Scott didn’t want to see me beforehand, so he was blindfolded on the boat ride over. We could still talk and I got to sit with him, which calmed my nerves! (He ended up being blindfolded with a t-shirt. The pictures are pretty funny!) Our photographer was a friend of mine from high school, Angela Scoulas. If you’re in the WV/KY/OH area, I cannot recommend her enough!

Daylyn, one of my maids of honor, did my makeup

Groomsmen and Scott praying before the ceremony

Bridesmaids

Scott was blindfolded for the ferry ride over to the island

My wedding dress was from J.Crew and I purchased my earrings, bracelet, and beaded sash from Etsy. The bridesmaid dresses were inspired by J.Crew, but were purchased at a much more affordable price from Etsy. I had originally wanted peonies for the bouquet, but Scott hated them, so we went with hydrangeas which I actually ended up liking better and which fit in well with the color scheme! I purchased our wedding suite and programs from an Etsy seller, Simply Smitten Designs. She was great to work with, and specially designed our programs so they could be turned into fans! (Can you tell I love Etsy for cute and affordable wedding items?) One of my two maids of honor Emily designed our song booklets. We sang “How Deep the Father’s Love”, “All I Have is Christ”, “Jesus Paid it All”, and “In Christ Alone”. A dear friend from high school read the scripture passage, Philippians 2:1-11.

With our parents

Bridal party

Most important to us was to make sure that Christ was the center of our wedding and to put on display marriage as God designed it- a picture of the gospel. If you’re a Christian and are married or hope to be married one day, I recommend meditating on Ephesians 5 and reading “This Momentary Marriage” by John Piper (you can get it for free here).

“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.” -Ephesians 5:31-32

“Marriage is not mainly about being or staying in love. It’s mainly about telling the truth with our lives. It’s about portraying something true about Jesus Christ and the way he relates to people. It’s about showing in real life the glory of the gospel.” -John Piper, This Momentary Marriage

In order to clearly communicate this message to our friends and family, we tried to make every detail fall in line with this picture- from the wedding sermon clearly sharing the gospel to having a small wedding budget to honor God with the way we manage our finances. While Scott and I hope our guests had a fun time, our greater hope is that they walked away with a clear picture of who Christ is and why He came to earth- and how the two of us desire to serve one another for the rest of our lives in a way that honors this message.

I hope everyone has had a lovely weekend, and I’m looking forward to sharing some pictures from our honeymoon later this week!