Though I love dancing and eating wedding cake, my favorite part of any wedding is the ceremony. No contest.
It’s during the ceremony when I feel like I get to experience the love between the couple. Watching the bride and groom as they promise to be together forever warms my heart. If the groom cries, I’m done. I’m crying like a baby until the couple walks back down the aisle, arm in arm.
Well, guess what?
My groom cried. 
And so did I.
And so did my dad.
But we also laughed. 
Our wedding ceremony was all that I hoped it would be.
As I said before in a previous post, I felt oddly calm as I got ready with my bridesmaids on our wedding day. I wasn’t nervous. I simply felt ready.
I remember piling into the tiny hotel elevator with my six bridesmaids and my dad. I held onto my dad’s arm as my sister held my train. Everyone was chattering with excitement. Everyone except my dad.
He had a calm smile on his face, but tears in his eyes. I squeezed his arm and he looked at me.
"Are you ready?" I asked him. He nodded his head.
We exited the elevator and lined up inside the hotel while Ryan, his groomsmen and our guests waited outside in the tea garden. 
At promptly 5:30 in the evening, our mothers were seated by Ryan’s best men. 
Back in the hotel, I told all of my bridesmaids how beautiful they looked. They had the biggest smiles on their faces. I literally squealed with excitement and anticipation. It felt amazing to be standing arm-in-arm with my father, looking at my best friends as they were about to walk down the aisle before me to Canon in D.
My sister was the last one to walk. She looked at me and my dad and smiled, giving us a tight hug before heading down the aisle. 
Then the music changed. Wagner’s Bridal Chorus.
It was my turn.
I looked at my dad, and squeezed his arm as he led me outside and down the aisle. 
I told him he was doing a good job as we slowly walked down the aisle. I couldn’t stop smiling. 
Once I locked eyes with Ryan, my eyes began to water. I couldn’t stop looking at him. 
He had tears in his eyes. I will never forget the way he looked at me that day for as long as I live. He was so strong through the rehearsal that I assumed he would handle the ceremony in the same way. To see him so emotional really moved me.
After hugging and kissing my dad, I faced Ryan and held his hands as our pastor welcomed everyone and blessed our special day. 
Our pastor did an incredible job. His voice was loud and full of character and joy.
During the beginning of the ceremony, we presented our mothers with roses to symbolize the merging of two families. 
In addition to the celebration of the love between Julie and Ryan, this wedding is also a celebration of family. It is the blending of two families, separate up to this moment, but united from this day forward. Julie and Ryan wish to honor this blending of the families by presenting a rose to their mothers — to thank their parents for the many selfless sacrifices they have made and for the unconditional love they’ve so freely given to their children. 
It was very important to us to recognize our mothers on our wedding day and we kept the presentation of a rose to each of them during our ceremony a secret. I love the look of surprise and emotion on my mother’s face in the above picture. And you can tell my dad is smiling beside her, which makes the picture all the better.
Following the presentation of a rose to our mothers, our pastor spoke about the three things we love most about each other.
When we first met with our pastor, he asked us to share the three things we loved most about each other with him. We were to write them down and send them to him. We wrote three long sentences each and sent them to Pastor Ryder a couple of months before our wedding. (You may remember when I first read Ryan’s three things back in July. I was so emotional!)
When Pastor Ryder read our three things aloud on the day of our wedding, he made everyone laugh by pointing out that we couldn’t seem to just list the three things we loved most about each other, stating that we "didn’t stop at five, six or even seven things" within our sentences. 
Apparently we are both long winded… as I’m sure you already know if you’re a regular blog reader. 😀
Our pastor kept the ceremony upbeat but still conveyed the emotion and love we felt that day.
I remember feeling so grateful when it was time for the first prayer. Ryan and I looked up at each other as everyone bowed their heads. We wiped our eyes, smiled and mouthed "I love you" before praying with our pastor and guests.
We got teary eyed again as our pastor read a poem we selected aloud and we repeated each line after him.
In your eyes, I have found my home.
In your heart, I have found my love.
In your soul, I have found my mate.
With you, I am whole, full, alive.
You make me laugh. You let me cry.
You are my breath, my every heartbeat.
I am yours.
You are mine.
Of this we are certain.
Then it was time for our vows and the exchange of rings.
I remember feeling like my whole body was shaking. I felt so vibrant and alive. I was actually becoming Ryan’s wife!
Before I knew it, our pastor was pronouncing us husband and wife and I was receiving my first kiss as a married woman.
I was so happy.
Arm-in-arm, we headed back down the aisle… officially married!
I love that our photographer captured my first look at my parents before we headed down the aisle. 
We were all beaming.
The above picture captures more emotion in a single image than I could ever hope to in a million words. We were so excited, so in love.
To be continued…
(All photos courtesy of Gina Leigh. Our ceremony was led by Pastor Dean Ryder, whom I recommend whole heartedly to any brides in the St. Pete/ Tampa Bay area.)
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bahahaha i just cried like a little kid reading this. what a blessed and beautiful day you had(to lead a blessed and beautiful life together, i’m sure). : )
So beautiful! The pictures of you and Ryan smiling and laughing with one another are precious
Oh my goodness, I’m bawling my eyes out. I love weddings and yours looked absolutely breathtaking!
Wow. Incredible. I can only hope my wedding will be that beautiful! I know it will but everything truly just turned out perfect for you! I agree that picture just shows how in love you two are. Its so precious!:)
Another beautiful recap! I love that poem you chose-it captured the essence of your love for eachother. I may have to steal that someday to share with the love of my life 🙂
I just started reading you blog a month or so ago — and wow, so beautiful! This brings back so many memories of my wedding (almost 8 years ago!). I completely agree — the ceremony was the best part. It’s just you and your husband — nothing else matters. Thanks so much for sharing your day!
I get emotional just reading it. Treasure this!
That’s simply gorgeous. I just got married in June and the ceremony was definitely the most memorable to me as well!
Amazing! I got so emotional reading this! Such a special day! 🙂
Love the picture of Ryan- how could you ask for anything more in his expression? 🙂
Ok, now i’m crying 🙂 Beautiful recap of what sounds like a very lovely and meaningful ceremony. Would love a guest post by Ryan to see what he remembers about the day!! A year later (or many years later), it’d be awesome to have a documented recap from both perspectives to look back on! I just went back to create a wedding album from my wedding in oct. 09 and it was really cool to go back and relive the day with pics, but having these posts to look back on will be really cool for you guys.
I love the poem you used! Do you know who the author is?
frau ava 🙂
Awwww Ryan!!! and your dad!! Hooray for waterproof makeup
amen to that!
BEAUTIFUL! you 2 make a beautiful couple! i’m loving the wedding re-caps!
It’s hard to believe my sarcastic, cynical self is typing this, but the way you conveyed this experience – and the expression on your husband’s face, just brought tears to my eyes. I officially love witnessing, albeit from over the internet, people who are truly in love!
What a beautiful ceremony! Personally that’s always my least favorite part of weddings. Mostly because people don’t seem to make them personal. They always drag on and on with long boring speeches from the pastor going off in random tangents.
I loved that my father-in-law married us so at least it was more personal.
I FINALLY SOLVED A MYSTERY!
Lately, ive been finding myself wanting a boyfriend sooooo badly! I couldnt figure out where this desire was coming from because I’ve been SO anti-relationship for over a year now! But after months of reading your blog and seeing the love between you and Ryan, I really really REALLY want a boyfriend!! Not just any guy, but my soulmate. The one I will marry and share an amazing day like this with! CONGRATS girly! May you be together forever and everrrrr!
hahaha thank you, lisa! i hope you get a boyfriend for chrsitmas! 😉
this brought back so many memories…i remember when i saw nate’s eyes on me on our wedding day and i just melted 🙂
Hello! I am a new reader and just wanted to say, I really enjoy reading your blog. This post definitely made me tear up! 🙂
Such a beautiful ceremony, I’m all in goose bumps :))
You two looked so beautiful, so happy.
All your wedding posts give me the chills!!
Beautiful Julie!
You can see the true love you and Ryan have and its so sweet! Thank you for sharing all the wedding recaps! They were all so amazing and the pics are beautiful!
Dang these always make me cry!! The way you described it makes it sound so special….I can tell it was absolutely a beautiful ceremony. You two are perfect for each other!
God Julie, your wedding recaps always make me cry!!
This is beyond words. I love all the love here!
Aww Ryan cried! I love that 🙂
I continue to be amazed by every detail of your wedding! I especially love the idea of presenting roses to your mothers.
You guys both looked stunning and your wedding recaps are always so emotional! Happy Holidays Julie!!
How beautiful!!!!!!! I teared up reading this! =D
This is such a beautiful post. Well, all of your wedding recaps so far have been beautiful. I love how your photographer caught the emotion of Ryan when he was watching you walk towards him. There was so much love in your ceremony. You can just tell that you and Ryan are perfect for each other. 🙂
This is such a beautiful post! It made me all teary!!!
Stunningly beautiful. How amazing that you have recorded all of this not only in pictures but also in words. You should have all of these posts compiled into a book & give it to Ryan for your anniversary. Thank you so much for sharing such an emotional, special day.
i LOVE this idea! i was going to save all of them and print them out, but doing it as an anniversary gift is an awesomeeeee idea! thanks, melissa!
I’m so glad! Snapfish & Shutterfly both let you make “professional” looking photobooks that are bound & have hard covers. Play around on there . . . so fun!!! 😀
Merry Christmas, Julie!
Nothing like starting your day off with a good cry to ruin your make up lol. You’re wedding was absolutly breath taking, you can see how much in love you are in EVERY picture. What a wonderful love you have for one another, you’re adorable!
This is one of the most touching stories I have ever read. I don’t even know you but I feel as if I do in the way you expressed your thoughts and emotions here. Thank you for sharing this. It just makes me smile and tear up and reminds me how much I love my own husband. My husband and I have been married for 7 years and we were talking the other day that we love each other more and more each year and the funny thing is that when we got married we both thought that was as much love as we would have. We never dreamed that more would come. HA! But it does which is the most amazing thing. Enjoy your new married life, it is such a blessing when it is with the right person.
beautiful! i love your wedding recaps. i don’t want them to end! it makes me think about my own wedding… 🙂
I am planning on my own wedding for Oct 2011, so reading your recaps is wonderful inspiration and great for gathering new ideas! Did you use a musician for your ceremony music??
congrats & yay for october weddings! we actually had our reception dj also do our ceremony music. he just played the classical songs we selected. peanutbutterfingers
What a beautiful ceremony – so personal! How sweet that you both started tearing up…
Great post Julie! I put on Cannon in D Minor and read that post. I couldn’t help smiling the whole post and getting the chills! What a special day it was!
That is SO sweet that you both cried…the pics turned out beautifully. What a great couple you make!
Oh my gosh this post is so beautiful my heart actually hurts from feeling! Congratulations girly 🙂 You have definitely met your perfect match.
Thank you for sharing this with us Julie! I mean that sincerely! It was such a personal BEAUTIFUL day, and I appreciate it so much that you shared your happiness and love! I love the way that Ryan looks at you! Your mother is a beautiful woman, and by looking at her you know that her inner beauty and heart are too great to describe with words. Your father is incredible, and such a GOOD man! Your sister is supportive and amazing! You are a lucky lady, and this happiness couldn’t have happened to anyone more deserving than you!
Thank you!
Barbara
I hope you also realize that you have definitely set the bar and standard HIGH for all future relationships and especially boyfriends/fiances/husbands! After reading your posts about Ryan and yourself, these guys will have A LOT to live up to! lol!
“Are you ready?” I asked him. He nodded his head.
I just started tearing up what I read this. I don’t even know how I ended up on this page of your blog!
So cute!
Your pics are amazing! Having only been married for two months I am sort of sad to say good bye to all the planning blogs I used to read. But your blog and wedding pics are so fun to look at! Congrats!
i literally teared up reading this!!
love this! so sweet and gave me some great ideas, I am so glad your wedding went well!
I just found your blog as I was looking through pictures on pinterest, and this post made me so excited for my own wedding ceremony. I hope you don’t mind if I borrow a few ideas of yours! 🙂
aw, i’m so excited for you! congrats on your upcoming wedding! and borrow away!
Your wedding is beautiful! I feel like I know you already and want to be your friend! Your site is amazing and I too am a health nut. I have just launched my first blog too. I will continue to read yours of occurs tho, you seem like such a sweet person and your life looks awesome! I am so excited to see everything else you post, keep up the hard work!