I will post the pix and captions first, and then a short history for anyone who cares to read on.
Me with my two junior bridesmaids and flower girl. I made their flower balls! I just bought faux Gerbera daisies at Michaels and cut the stems. Then arranged them around styrofoam balls.
I carried calla lilies and the bridesmaids each had 7 Gerbera Daisies. Corsages and bouts were callas too.
All the girls! They had the same fabric but chose individual dress styles to suit their tastes. The photographer was a commercial photographer, not a portrait photographer, so it was fun to see these shots!
My father is an organist so he played the prelude but of course he couldn't play the Grand March and walk me down the aisle simultaneously so his sister played the Grand March!
My uncle is an Episcopal priest and he was able to perform the ceremony.
Lightning struck the church right after our wedding ceremony. These are some of the pieces of the church tower that fell. Later, the priest told us it had struck just as he was signing the register. We consider it "sealing the deal"!
Derek moved from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles the week after he proposed, and I followed three months later, after selling my townhome in Davie. Then we had a dilemma. Where to get married. Possibilities included:
South Florida, where we had both been living for the past 12-14 years
Ohio, where I'm from
Rhode Island, where he's from
California, where we were currently living
or
New York, where he lived in high school and we both had family
So we chose Pittsburgh.
It had a great international airport for those traveling (i.e. 80-90% of the guests), many of my family members were within driving distance, it's my maid-of-honor's hometown, and my 80 year old grandmother lived close enough that she would be able to attend. Unfortunately, she passed away two weeks to the day before the wedding. So many loved ones came the distance in order to be there for our special day! Some people planned summer road trips around the wedding date; for others it was the family vacation for the summer. We felt so blessed to be able to share the day with them.
"Part two: the reception" will be coming soon!
