I feel that it is only appropriate to begin writing about
our Fairy Tale Day with the following
magical words…
Once Upon A Time…
Wow, I am having trouble even beginning to write about our
wedding day. How do you use earthly words to describe something that was so
otherworldly…something that was so divinely sweet, holy, and surreal? I know
that my words will never fully describe the amount of love and joy I
experienced that day, but I will do my best to capture it through my feeble
words and with the help of pictures.
To fully capture our wedding day, I need to rewind to the
days (and months) leading up to it. Let me tell you, wedding planning is not
for the faint of heart. Ha! It takes HOURS and HOURS of planning, sleepless
nights, and hours of conversation and execution. Last semester my schedule
consisted of school, homework, wedding planning, sleep…repeat. It was
exhausting, but oh so worth it! AND I had the IRREPLACEABLE help of my sweet
Momma. Wow, without her our Fairy Tale
Day would have looked more like a Justice of the Peace Day. I’m
kidding…sort of. Seriously though, my Mom poured so much heart, time, and
effort into our wedding to make it as beautiful as possible and Darin and I are
so thankful! In the months leading up to the wedding, my parent’s basement transformed
into a wedding warehouse. Ha! Seriously. It was crazy and so exciting!
The Week Of…
After waiting 9.5 long months and planning our little
hearts out, the week of the wedding FINALLY arrived. Now you’d think after all
of our hard work and meticulous planning the week of the wedding would be
stress-free, right? Wrong. Wow, I had not mentally prepared for the amount of
“last minute” work that had yet to be done. Between making signs for the
wedding, wrapping gifts, making a seating chart, contacting our vendors, and doing
a whole lot of other things I have intentionally forgotten about, I
slept for about 3.5 hours on average each night leading up the wedding
(including the night before). It was crazy and I was exhausted, but it was so
so worth it.
One of the greatest highlights of the wedding was having all
of our favorite people in one place. It was so overwhelming, humbling, and
special to be surrounded by our closest friends on the days leading up to the
Big Day. On the Thursday before the wedding, my (amazing) bridesmaids and I got
pampered at Cloud 9 Salon and Spa with manicures, sweet fellowship, and an
awesome food spread including cheese and crackers, fruit, and hot chocolate! I
TREASURED that time and loved looking around and seeing my most precious
friends laughing and talking together. Oh my heart was so full. After our
pampering session, we continued the celebration with a little party and a
sleepover. The time I shared with the girls leading up to the wedding was so
sweet and so priceless. Girls, I love each of you so much and am honored to
call you my friend. I thank God for the gift of your friendship!
The Rehearsal Day…
On the day before the wedding, we gathered the troops and traveled
up to West Chester, Ohio to turn a 100-year-old barn into a Winter Wonderland.
Mom, Dad, Rachel, Linda, Savannah, Heather, Robin, Sami, Torie, Lydia, and
Jess…THANK YOU for sacrificing your time, your warmth (Ha!), and your energy to
make the barn look perfect. Your
help was irreplaceable and absolutely humbling!
After working for hours at the barn, we headed home to get
ready for the wedding rehearsal! AHHH! After going to many rehearsals with
Darin, it was SO surreal to get ready, knowing this one was finally OURS. The
rehearsal and rehearsal dinner were absolutely beautiful (thanks to my sweet
mother-in-law!) and I was moved to tears as I looked around the room and saw
friends and family that had so faithfully prayed with us and for us leading up
to our day. It was humbling to say the very least! After the dinner had ended
and the talking and laughter subsided, I hugged my Prince goodbye for the last
time before our WEDDING DAY. Talk about a surreal moment!
Back home, the wedding frenzy continued. With 8 girls in the
house, there was a LOT of giggling, dancing, talking, and not much sleeping. I
did mention that I only got 3 hours of sleep the night before the wedding,
right? Geesh, I am NOT a procrastinator, but I DID procrastinate big time in
writing my vows to Darin. Similar to this blog post, I struggled to find the perfect words to say to my Groom.
Goodness, after visiting with the girls, packing for the honeymoon (yep, I
procrastinated on that too!), cleaning up my room, showering, thinking through
the last details of the day, and being SUPER emotional (and exhausted), I began
writing my vows at 3:00am the morning of the wedding. To put it frankly, that
didn’t work out too well. After struggling for nearly a half hour, I prayed
that God would give me the words I was struggling to find and went to bed…only
to wake up 3 hours later.
The Morning Of…
At 6:30am my alarm went off. I am not a morning person and
after getting a grand total of 15 hours of sleep throughout the entire week, I
was not a morning person on my wedding day either. Ha! In my mind, my wedding
morning would look much like the scene in Cinderella when she awakens and is
bathed and dressed with the help of her wildlife friends while singing and
dancing around her room…contrary to that idealistic vision, I was awakened by
the unwelcomed noise of my alarm that I may or may not have hit the snooze
on…twice. After some prompting from my (very hyper and awake) bridesmaids, I
pulled myself out of bed and attempted to write my vows…at 6:45am the morning
of the wedding. Let me just say, God is GOOD! I woke up that morning knowing
exactly what I wanted to say and wrote them down within a matter of 10 minutes.
Phew! After printing my vows, I hurried into the bathroom to change, brush my
teeth, wash my face, and sleepily fall into the chair to get my hair done.
Having that half hour to sit and wake up did this bride good! From hair I moved
chairs to have my sweet sister-in-law do my makeup. The morning continued with
a whole lot of hustle and bustle, hairspray, perfume, lotion, and Starbucks.
Then the time finally came to put on my WEDDING DRESS. Goodness, that was
amazing! I had been waiting quite impatiently in the months and weeks
leading up to the wedding to finally wear my perfect dress. With the help of my
sweet Momma, I got my dress and jewelry on and had a “First Look” with my
bridesmaids. That was awesome and Meagan White captured the girls' reactions
perfectly!
Then came possibly the most emotional part of the day…my
First Look with my Daddy. We were both crying before I even walked down the
steps. Ha! Even though he still gives me a hard time for “putting him through
that,” I am so thankful for that priceless memory with him. Daddy, I love your heart and love the way you have led and loved your girls. You are a gift that I treasure!
And then…I FINALLY got to see my Groom! We had our “First
Look” at Central Park and goodness, here is where the words really become
difficult. Our First Look was one of my very favorite moments of the day. There
was something so magical about that time and so very sweet. Finally standing
before each other on our wedding day was a moment we had longed for, dreamed
of, and prayed for, for so many years. It was the culmination of the story God had long been scripting in our lives and was absolutely humbling and overwhelming. AND as if it wasn't perfect enough, it snowed while we were at the park just enough to make it truly feel like a Winter Wonderland. Goodness, my words cannot do that
moment and that feeling justice, so I’ll see if these pictures can…
The Ceremony…
The ceremony…again, how do I capture this moment with words?
I LOVED our ceremony. It was holy, intimate, funny, sincere, emotional,
personal, and beautiful. It was everything and more of what I hoped it would
be. We were so honored to have our dear friend LD officiate the ceremony and loved the wisdom and humor he shared. I savored every second of our ceremony and attempted to memorize everything
about it. Despite being surrounded by hundreds of family and friends, I was so
completely mesmerized by my Sweet Love that I felt like we were the only two
people in the room. It was perfect. While I LOVED the entire ceremony, my top 6 (because I couldn't decide on 5) favorite moments were (in chronological order): 1. Walking down the aisle arm in arm with my sweet Daddy-O to my Groom (I had been dreaming about this moment from the time I was a little girl.). 2. Eric and Lydia singing Come
What May…holy moly, it was AMAZING. 3.
Hearing Darin’s vows to me…those were the most beautiful words I have ever
heard. 4. FINALLY putting a ring on
Darin’s finger AND surprising him with a ring different from the one we picked
out. 5. Our Family Prayer Time and 6. FINALLY being pronounced as Mr. and
Mrs. Mirante!
Our Receptions…
Because we invited everyone to our ceremony, we decided to
have two receptions so we could visit with everyone who came to the wedding and enjoy the “traditional” reception festivities with family. Right
after the ceremony, we had a Christmas Cookies and Punch Reception at the
church, where we were able to hug and visit with our sweet Church Family and
friends. That was such a sweet time!
After the church reception, we traveled up to West Chester,
Ohio for an intimate evening reception with our bridal party and closest
friends and family. I loved our time at the barn and wish I could replay that
time over and over again. The barn was beautiful, the music was great, the food
was yummy, and the company was absolutely amazing. The reception was perfect…except
for one tiny detail. Darin and I didn’t get more than a teeny tiny bite of our
delicious cake. Any future bride reading this post…stop yakking for 5 minutes
and EAT THE CAKE! Ha!
If you haven't gotten enough, you can also view our "Highlight Video" by clicking HERE.
Both receptions were so full of joy and we were completely
humbled and overwhelmed by the amount of LOVE we received. THANK YOU to anyone
and everyone who helped celebrate our wedding! You are irreplaceable and we are
so thankful for who you are in our lives! Thank you for your love, your
prayers, your generosity, and for taking the time to help us celebrate our Big
Day!
There are so many things I am leaving out and so many
emotions my words fail to describe, but in short: It was a fairy tale kind of
day…
And they lived…
Love,
Mr. and Mrs. Mirante
Love,
Mr. and Mrs. Mirante
