wedding day.

the wedding day in the eyes of the bride.

i was married to my wonderful husband 11 days ago.
july 31, 2010.
people warn you to soak up the day as it flies by. and it so does.

i live by schedule. i like order and structure. which obviously means my wedding must be completely scheduled. i was teased relentlessly as i had a 5 page schedule of the wedding weekend. the schedule may have been a little tedious but i felt calm and collected. everyone should have known what to do and when to do it. i started the day with my twin brother hopping on my bed to wake me up at 5:30a. although i am allergic to early mornings i woke up quite easily, but it was not entirely sinking in that it was my wedding day. this began the primping and prepping for the day.

after my shower, i blew dry my hair and mom brought me some ice coffee and some kind of breakfast bread. i couldn't eat. i wasn't hungry but i wasn't feeling nervous. the ice coffee = wonderful. i set my foundation of makeup before heading off to get my hair done.

an old and dear friend of my mom's did my hair. we had previously done a trial run of my hair. when we arrived she described a different up-do to me. she really pushed that i changed my plan for my hair. i agreed because i felt backed into a corner but i was not happy. my mom, knowing me so well, had the up-do described again to me which i really agreed too. my hair came out great!

once i got home my house got crazy. all of the bridesmaids were arriving, our photographer was running our our backyard taking photos. we were running around, hairspray flying everywhere, makeup and mirrors. i kept losing my water and i may have had a sip from everyone's cup.

of course, the morning would not have been complete without a problem. one of my bridesmaids ended up with the wrong color dress. her dress was 'lilac' when it was supposed to be 'victorian lilac'. it wasn't her fault; david's bridal messed up her order. i wasn't upset, it was definitely too late for that and i really did not want her upset.

the photographer's assistant, which we later found out was a graduate from VFCC, left to take photos of the guys at the hotel while the photographer stayed at my house. my mom and maid of honor helped me get into my dress which was well documented by our photographer. once we were all ready the bridesmaids and myself went out to the backyard to take some photos of the girls and a few of me by myself.

all of sudden we were ready to go and needed to get going. our limo had arrived and we piled into the navigator limo which was gorgeous and so much fun. we pulled into the church at 10:57 [ceremony was to begin at 11] and that was when i realized what time it was. feeling late, i started to panic. i never once doubted marrying aaron, but the nerves had set in.


we grouped in the youth room then once aaron had seated his mother all of the girls had moved into the prayer room and we all lined up to go down the aisle. the girls started own the aisle leaving me alone with my daddy. my nerves got the best of me as i turned to him and frantically said, "daddy! i am going to cry!" and classically he turned around and said "i'll moon walk for you!" which of course made me giggle! :) suddenly all of my bridesmaids had made it to the stage and i was ready.

our ceremony was beautiful.

our grandparents, mothers, and the bridal party entered to 'pachebel's cannon in d' and i entered to a more contemporary version of the same song, however it is called 'lullaby' and remixed by bond. i think i made it past the first pew before i started getting all teary.

and there he was.
handsome.
smiling. fighting a little tear.
my man.


we were blessed to have 2 pastors perform our ceremony. pastor mark began the ceremony and led in prayer. of course, my daddy gave me away. this was followed by a dear friend of mine, christina, who sang 'tis so sweet to trust in jesus.' pastor jon lead in a beautiful message that was clever, sentimental, and spoke volumes to aaron and i. he used some metaphors that were very close to our hearts that he wasn't even aware of. we shared traditional vows and exchanged our rings. mine, is gorgeous by the way! pastor mark led the unity candle and communion portion of the ceremony. it was wonderful and he explained the relevance beautifully. while he distributed communion to aaron and i, my brother sang 'everything' by lifehouse which if course made me cry.


we had a moment of prayer where aaron and i invited pastors that had been a part of our lives and their spouses to pray over us. we really wanted to have mentors and people who have been a large part of our lives too but we would have ended up with way too many people on stage. it was very powerful.


pastor jon pronounced us husband and wife. woohoo. aaron was allowed to kiss me for the first time as his wife! pastor mark introduced us as mr. and mrs. aaron schappell. yay! our recessional was 'hallelujah' by paramore.

following our ceremony we exited the church with lots and lots of bubbles! it was really nice to have so many people outside to blow bubbles and it was very fun! :) and something that did not make me cry! haha.



we took a celebratory drive in the limo around the neighborhood, then returned to the church and took some family photos. we got some good shots of our immediate families and some with our grandparents. then, the bridal party and parents went to arrowhead lodge to take some additional photos. we only got one or two shots of the wedding party and just a few of aaron and i. we were on a really cool bridge which will make our photos great! but, i really wish we got more photos there than we did; it was just a bit frustrating.


we entered our reception to 'beautiful day' by u2 and were immediately thrown into our very first dance. to the average bride and groom the first dance is nothing to be worried about; you just turn and sway in a circle for about 3 or 4 minutes while people get bored watching. not us. we had told anyone who asked that we were dancing to 'unforgettable' by nat king cole which wasn't the entire truth. we had planned a choreographed fun dance for our first dance! we started with "unforgettable" by nat king cole, then surprised our guests when "a million ways' by okgo started playing. we continued dancing to our music mix, "the twist," "the chicken dance," "ymca," "dichatomy" [a heavy metal song], "forever" by chris brown, "apache," "the cha-cha slide," "cotton-eyed joe," "the macarena," "greased lightening," "dance, like david danced," and returned back to "unforgettable." it was so much fun. it wasn't perfect and i lost my shoe at one point, but it was so much fun and everyone loved it!


our reception was a lot of fun. we had great food and of course we were with great company. my maid of honor and aaron's best man both made light-hearted but great toasts. my dad made our cake topper and painted a painting for us which was all displayed on our cake table, as well as photos of our parents weddings. our cake was wonderful. my father/daughter dance was to 'daddy' by kendall payne; if you've never heard of it go look it up and you'll completely understand why i bawled through the whole thing.


aaron danced with his mom to 'a mother's song' by t carter and his mom successfully made it through the whole dance without crying. we had the anniversary dance to celebrate marriages and the wilsons were the couple that were married the longest that danced. we did have the bouquet toss and garter throw, but we had the catcher of the bouquet put the garter on the leg of the guy who caught the garter:)

i cannot begin to explain how loved, encouraged, blessed, and supported we felt. our wedding day was beautiful not just because of the covenant that was made, but because of the family and friends we had surrounding us.

my parents truly made this day beautiful. all of our collective planning, hard-work, and personal touches made my wedding a wonderful day. there were so many little details that my parents added to my wedding that really allowed our guests to enjoy themselves, feel welcomed to syracuse, and let my personality show through.



it was a beautiful, and fun day.
i love our families.
i love our friends.
and i love my husband!