What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? - We Recess, We Receive, We Ride!

When last we saw Mishka and I...we were married:).

At long last, after 4 years of living and loving, we were finally LEGALLY married! All that was left to do during our ceremony, was our recessional which I think we handled rather gorgeously ;).

This was the only other moment during the wedding day where I teared up. I was fine recessing down the aisle, looking at all the faces smiling back at me. But just as we reached the back of the church, one of my mom's work friends looked at me and said "Congratulations" and I almost lost it. But, with Mishka at my side, I never came any closer to crying than tearing.

I think we look even better from the back ;). Oh, and see that leaf on my skirt? Yeah, that's from almost taking down the poinsettias on the altar as I was walking back. What can I say? I had other things on my mind...

In fact, I think what we're laughing about that poinsettia incident here...

I love this picture of me and my MOH as we all took our places for the receiving line. It's probably one of my favorite photos from the whole day.

My dad, shaking the hand of his new son :). 

First we received the bridal party! This is me with groomsman A.

I love this picture of my in-laws. They look so happy (my MIL finally stopped crying ;) ).

Our "Just Married" Car :-D. I just love how tricked out and gorgeous it looks, all thanks to my Uncle R! He's taken such good care of my Uncle's car since he passed away. 

People began filing out onto the steps of our church after our receiving line so that they could wait for us to emerge from the church and make our "getaway" :).

Our photogenic and gregarious groomsmen :).

And of course, we had to pose for a photo or two as people moved down the line :).

My sisters having fun outside after the receiving was over.

And once it was over, it was time for us to emerge!

We made our way to our car and took some suave "hey we're married" ;) photos. 

Then it was time to stuff me in the car...

Which required some help from my MOH G in order to get all those skirts in right. 

Then there was nothing left to do but for Mishka to get in the car and...

WE RIDE!!!

Next Up: Formal (and Informal) Bridal Party Portraits

What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? - The Ceremony (part 2)

Now where did I leave off...

Oh yeah! Mishka and I were in the middle of getting married! When he slid that ring on my finger, I can't tell you how happy I was. "With this ring, I thee wed" are some of the most beautiful words Mishka has spoken since "Ang, it means, 'will you be my wife'?"

I love the smile on Mishka's face as as I returned the favor and slid his own ring (which many have come to refer to as his "bad*ss wedding band") onto his ready finger. 

At that moment, it was done. We were married. And the moment needed no words, only this:

But just because we were married, doesn't mean we were done with our nuptials! 

We still had to do our crowning! It was a beautiful part of the ceremony, and I especially love the description of it's meaning that we had our officiant read. "The Crowning symbolizes the beginning of the bride and groom's domestic kingdom." and also that "it symbolizes the crown of martyrdom as marriage involves incredible self-sacrifice on both parts." We STILL have people coming up to us and saying how much they LOVED this aspect of our ceremony. They thought it was so unique and special, and I can't help but agree :-D.

After that, it was time for...

Our First Kiss!! Wow did that moment go by so fast it was over before I had even registered it. But man did we take a beautiful shot ;).

MARRIED!!! But actually, I think what we're doing here is Mishka and I are singing to each other :).

Next up, were our intercessions, which as I mentioned before, were to be read by our bridal party (minus the Best Man and Maid of Honor who already had enough to do during the ceremony). I'll let the pictures do the talking through this part of the ceremony:

Afterwards, our flowergirl and ringbearer were called to the back of the church to bring up the gifts:

But before we could take communion, it was time to give the peace. Mishka and I started with each other (of course it included a kiss because I just couldn't stop kissing my new husband ;) ):

Then we made our way over to our parents:

And then said switched sides and were welcomed by our new families :):

Mishka's mother was crying so hard. I was touched that our wedding moved her so much.

I cannot get over the smiles on my parent's faces :).

Check out Mishka's handiwork on that program! He really did such a great job :). He stayed up all night creating that program design. It really says how much he cared about our wedding that he put so much time and effort into our programs :).

After that came communion, where Mishka and I took the Eucharist together for the first time. Then, it was time for our final blessing, and as it turned out, our final ceremony surprise! The night of the rehearsal dinner, Mishka's grandmother read a poem she had written especially for us. Little did we know, but our officiant was so taken by it, that he took a copy home with him and decided to read it as our nuptial blessing! Mishka's mother, grandmother, and sister were so touched they started crying (again). 

The whole congregation stretched out their hands to us as a way of all of them joining in blessing us. It was awesome to look out and see all of our friends and family, hands outstretched, blessing our new marriage. 

After the nuptial blessing was read, the ceremony was basically over. Our officiant said a last few words and then motioned that it was time for us to recess out of the church. 

It was over. And we were married!!

Next Up: We Recess, We Receive, We Ride!

What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? - The Ceremony (part 1)

Our programs for the ceremony. People never believed that our program, which looks so beautiful, only came together at the last minute a few hours before our rehearsal began. It looks so well put together. And, granted, there were a lot of hours of design work put into that program, those hours just all came right on top of each other at the 11th hour.

But enough of that! It's time for me to recap our ceremony!


When last we talked, my bridesmaids had just taken their places after the processional, and Mishka and I had made our way up to the altar to begin the ceremony.


Our officiant began the ceremony with his opening words (a joke he had also used at the rehearsal dinner the night before ;) ). He mentioned that he had known my family forever, and that I looked beautiful :). He talked about how much he cares for Mishka and how grateful he was to be the one doing our wedding ceremony. And while I remember every word, you'll notice Mishka and I aren't paying the closest attention... In fact, we were much more wrapped up with each other.


We looked like this for more of the ceremony than I'd like to admit. In fact, many people have since commented that Mishka and I were chatting to each other for almost the entire ceremony. But really, can you blame us? We were so excited, and had so much love and emotion to share with each other. And to be honest, some of it was more practical. "Can I borrow a tissue?" or "Oh my god, I can't believe we left ______ out of the program!" (yeah, there were more than a few typos in that program...).


Anyway, so the ceremony got fully underway...

My dad read the first reading. It was Song of Songs 2:8-10, 14, 16a; 8:6-7a, a beautiful piece of biblical poetry about the love two people can have for each other.

My FIL gave the second reading. It was Corinthians 12:31–13:8a, the conventional "Love is patient, love is kind..." I know it's been done to death at weddings, but for us, we wanted our ceremony to celebrate love. And you really couldn't ask for a better reading.



Our 2nd officiant, Fr. Bob, read our gospel: Matthew 5:1-12a. The beatitudes seemed like the perfect gospel, because in a way, it is the "ultimate" married life advice. 



Our friends and family following along with our programs. We wanted our programs to be so comprehensive that those who never attend mass, or are of different faiths could participate with us in our wedding as much as possible.



This is a shot of our cantor, another one of the people who made our ceremony so special. We ended up with her, totally by accident. I requested one cantor that we liked, and our music minister misunderstood so we ended up with a surprise on the wedding day! But it turned out to be all right because she was even more amazing than I could have ever hoped.

And here's the other half of our music making team. We only hired one extra musician. We figured a violinist worked best because I was walking up the aisle to 'Canon in D' and it could not be more beautifully accompanied than by the strings of a violin.

Now we get to the fun stuff:


Yup! Mishka and I say our vows!

First we stepped onto the ceremonial ryshnik and our officiant explained that it symbolized the shared journey we take in marriage. 

Then, our officiant tied our hands together with another ceremonial ryshnik. We were literally linked as we spoke our marriage vows to each other.

And speaking of which....

Mishka said his vows to me...

"Ang, today and for the rest of my life, I take you for my wife. I vow before God and our family and friends here to be faithful to you in good times and bad times, in sickness and in health. I pledge my life and love to you for all of my days."
 
Then I said my vows to him...

"Mishka, today and for the rest of my life, I take you for my husband. I vow before God and our family and friends here to be faithful to you in good times and bad times, in sickness and in health. I pledge my life and love to you for the rest of my days."

One of the things I loved most about our Catholic wedding was that, according to the Catholic faith, we are not married by our officiant. We marry each other. That is why we read from the ceremonial scripture. The officiant blesses and witnesses, but it is the two of us who are actively binding our lives together. I love that. 

And that's it for part one! Sorry to cut away in the middle of the good stuff, but I have to keep you coming back for more ;).

Next up: The Ceremony (part 2)