Wedding Festivities Part 4: The Wedding {November 17, 2012}

As soon as Nehemiah proposed to me, I had visions of our wedding running through my head. Wait, let me back up a couple of decades. Since I was about 8 I have had visions of our wedding running through my head. After we got engaged, I started working on making them a reality. My dream wedding when I was 8 was much different than my dream wedding at 23. I promise you on November 17, 2012… I had my dream wedding…. Actually it was better than I could have ever imagined.

As soon as we started planning everything for our wedding, I realized something that never happens in your “dream wedding.” It takes work. Lots and lots of work. It also takes lots and lots of people.

We were blessed right off the bat because our families were so willing to help us in anyway possible. I am very hesitant to thank people on here, for fear of leaving someone off. I would hate to do that! SO many people helped out with our wedding. Wow… it seriously couldn’t have happened without them.

Nehemiah & I met at my dad’s house when Nehemiah was doing some work over there. When we got engaged we both loved the idea of getting married there. It meant a lot to both of us and it would be the perfect setting for our outdoor country wedding.

It’s hard for me to pick “the best day of my life.” The day I met Nehemiah was unforgettable, the day we started dating was extremely exciting, the day he proposed to me was tremendously happy, but the day that we became each other’s forever, in front of our friends & family… well, that’s hard to beat.

Nehemiah texted me the morning of our wedding & sent me the forecast for Cancun, where we were going for our honeymoon. It was so sweet. I called him later that day and it took everything in me not to drive over to his house and go hang out with him. It was very hard not to see him the day of the wedding, but SO very rewarding in the end.

I teared up a few times during the day, but somehow managed to not breakdown the whole day! Nehemiah & I both thought we would cry, but neither one of us did.

Mom, Myself, & Ben. I have to say... this is one of my favorites.        I LOVE THIS PICTURE!

Again, I LOVE THIS PICTURE. My brother is so cute! I can't wait to frame this one!

Mom & I. Love this one too. (Ok... I might love EVERY picture... :) )

The back of my dress was THE reason I picked this dress. When can I wear it again?!

Audrey, Lynlee, Landri, & Me. I already have the perfect spot to put this one in our house. I LOVE my girls. SOOO honored that they were in our wedding and so glad to be apart of their lives. Watching them grow up is one of my FAVORITE things about this life. Aud, Lyn, & Lan... I LOVE y'all SO much. Sleepover sooooooon! :)

Dad, Myself, & Ben!

Dad & I!

Dad, Myself, & Julie!

Brian, Janet, Nehemiah, Mrs. Becky, & Mr. John!

Janet & Nehemiah!

Typical Jan & Ben. HAHA... We LOVVVVE this picture! 

Nehemiah with his groomsmen, ushers, Remy, & Grady!

Our BEAUTIFUL & DELICIOUS cake!

When the wedding started I was so excited & anxious!! It was such a surreal moment when my dad walked me through the yard and down the aisle. I was blown away at the beauty of the day and all of the people who were there to celebrate our special day.
Then my wedding fear happened… As my dad was giving me away, I couldn’t move. My train got stuck on a root… haha. Thank goodness my mom was there to save the day and get me unstuck!! It happened twice!! Haha… It made for a funny moment, I’m just glad it didn’t rip my train!!

The wedding ceremony itself happened very quickly… which we wanted to. It was simple, sweet, and hands down, perfect. Tony Bourque our pastor from Water’s Edge Chruch in Lake Charles married us. Our wedding party walked in to the sound of our friend, Grady Dockery, singing “Feet Don’t Touch The Ground,” by Stoney LaRue. Grady played the wedding march on his guitar as my dad walked me down the aisle and we walked out to “Wrapped Around” by Brad Paisley. Perfection.

My favorite picture of Nehemiah of the day. This was when I was walking down the aisle. :)

Dad walking me down the aisle. I love this picture.

I LOVE THIS PICTURE. The lighting is gorgeous!

The ceremony!

Communion! I love my face in this pic. I was probably wanting to laugh at something Nehemiah did or said! (by the way... I did not want to punch him AT ALL... even though my hand totally says differently!)

Our GORGEOUS wedding party!

:)

LOVE!

After the ceremony, we signed our marriage license, and then headed out to take a few pictures. Once we were done taking pictures, we were announced by our sweet brother in law, Brian Phelps, as Mr. + Mrs. Nehemiah Loftin for the very first time. Then we danced to “The Way She Loves Me,” by Cody Johnson. It was such a sweet 3 minutes! Nehemiah is precious. He had me smiling or laughing the whole time!!

Nehemiah was so sweet and carried my train EVERYWHERE we walked. He's precious.

I LOVE all of these pictures of us in the field after the ceremony. The lighting was perfect!

First dance... I love his smile.

Lace & boots!

Afterwards, we cut our cake, which was DELICIOUS. Sweet Chic Cupcakes in Lake Charles made it and we couldn’t have been happier with it!!! I tasted the Red Velvet layer and it was amazing! I can’t wait to eat our top layer next year!!! After the cake, we made a plate of food prepared by my Aunt Ann & Uncle Kevin! It was DELICIOUS!!! They did an amazing job!!!! Everyone bragged on the food!!

Cutting our cake. Wedding topper from Etsy!

We were sitting with Brian, Janet, Lori, & Jeremy, when all of a sudden the song from 8 Seconds… “When Will I Find Love,.” by Vince Gill came on and Nehemiah & his Best Man, Cody Dougherty, jumped up and began doing the dance that Lane & Tuff do in the movie!! IT WAS AMAZING!!! Nehemiah + I wanted our wedding to reflect the 8 Seconds wedding and joked constantly about someone doing that dance, so when him & Cody actually did it, I was SOOOO surprised and excited!!! A perfect moment & memory!

 THE 8 Seconds Dance!!!!!

Meredith & I!

My sweet cousins, Averi & Cassidy! Love y'all so much!

Two of my best friends from high school! Em & Kristi!

My best friend from college!!! Jordan!!!

 When it was time to go, we were greeted by our wedding guests and a million tiny bird seed, seeds. We were COVERED in birdseed! And it was such a challenge to get in to Nehemiah’s truck because it’s so tall, and because there were, I’m pretty sure, 1,000 balloons inside of that thing! Haha We drove off and realized we forgot our marriage license, turned around, and made our second exit.

Heading out!

BALLOONS EVERYWHERE

haha... My face!

The Nugget all dressed up for the wedding!

We drove to Lake Charles and spent the night at L'Auberge Du Lac Casino & Resort. (Left lots and lots of balloons in the valet line… haha)
Enjoyed some of our wedding food and cake. Woke up the next morning and flew out of the Lake Charles airport at 10 am, Cancun bound.

We enjoyed our wedding so much!! It was such a fun day!!! There were a million times during our engagement that I both thought and said, “Why didn’t we elope!?” But in the end, our wedding was worth all 6 months of stress! Haha

Thank you to our friends & family who made it possible!! 


Our photographer was Sarah Becker Lillard... SHE IS AMAZING. Check out here website here!! You can also see more pictures from our wedding on our website! If you need an AMAZING, AWESOME, PROFESSIONAL, PERSONABLE, ALL AROUND GREAT PHOTOGRAPHER... She's your girl!!!!!!! Check out her website & Facebook for more information! And feel free to ask me ANY questions about her work!!!! I have lots of great things to say about her! :) We LOVE OUR PICTURES. She captured every memory of our wedding for us.