Honeys Do: I Do!

We had promised our guests, wedding party and everyone in between that our ceremony would be short and sweet. And this was before we were presented with the wedding snow storm; so I was so happy we chose to keep our ceremony short...though that didn't mean it was any less special. The words that Mark spoke to us were profound and loving. And as I expected, Mr. Honey's vows were amazing.

Officiant Mark started with a Welcoming of Guests and a Thank You for enduring the weather...Mr. Honey and I held hands and listened very intently.

Photo by BM Scoot's hubby

Family and Friends we are here today to celebrate the love between Danny and Cara.

By your presence, you are showing your support for their decision to

commit themselves to a lifelong relationship.

But first, lets bundle up and celebrate our surroundings and the specialness of this moment in time.

Danny and Cara wanted to share with you the

significance of these mountains, lakes and rivers

Because this is where their hearts have made their home.

It was this very lake that Danny asked Cara to be his wife.

I think she responded a few days later on Facebook.

And now, it will forever be a symbol of their union.

Photo by BM Scoot's hubby

Having just celebrated my 30th year of marriage,

I feel qualified to offer a few thoughts on this age-old tradition.

Marriage is a promise of companionship, of someone to share in all of life's experiences.

It is assurance that there will always be someone to rejoice in the triumphs,

and console in the disappointments that are part of life.

Marriage cannot promise eternal romance, but instead offers eternal commitment.

It is an affirmation that there will always be someone who loves you deeply.

Marriage doesn't prevent distress or grief, but it does provide acceptance and comfort in those times.

Photo by Uncle P

Today, Cara and Danny demonstrate their devotion to each other by

offering their companionship and eternal commitment.

They show respect for each other...they stand by each other...and dedicate themselves

to a life together in reciting the vows that they have created.

Cara and Danny, will you, with these family and friends as your witnesses,

Promise to care for each other in the joys and sorrows of life;

And to share the responsibility for the growth and enrichment of your

 life together and you as individuals.

We will.

Then please turn to each other and share the vows you have written.

Danny,

I knew before we even met that you were someone meant to be in my life.

From day one you have shown me what it feels like to have a soul mate.

Having you by my side has brought a calming sense of wholeness and a

content feeling that you will always be there.

You make my heart smile every single day by the way you love me.
I admire your ambition, your passion, and your courage.

I love that we share the same dreams and goals,

And that our doggy and kitties bring you the same happiness to you as they do to me.

I promise to give you a high five at every single accomplishment that's achieved

both individually and by us as a unit.

I vow to stand by you, to support you and encourage you.

I even promise to continue supporting your Cuckoo's addiction.

These 2 years have been so fulfilling that I know our future has lots in store for us,

And knowing you'll be there with me for both the highs and the lows makes me feel stronger.

Thank you for loving me as I am but also for bringing out the person I want to be.

I'm so grateful I am becoming your wife today.

I love you, Danny, with every ounce of my being.

...

Cara,

Today I am the luckiest guy in the world.

From here on I will spending the rest of my life with the most amazing person I know.

Your beauty, your intelligence, your patience, your overall love and respect for life

and everyone around you, make you a dream come true.

A dream that I will relive day and night for the rest of my life with you.

You are my best friend, my partner, my soul mate, my everything.

Our lives together are going to be incredible.

I am going to be there for you every minute of every day.

I promise to be everything you will ever need in life.

I love you, Cara, I love you more than anything in this world.

Today and for every day going forward nothing will bring me more joy

than being able to call you my wife.

Thank you for everything, and for creating this memory that we are sharing today.

We made it, we are doing it, this is happening.

I love you.

I have to share a story here; When we spoke, Officiant Mark turned and aimed his microphone towards us so that our voices would project to the crowd. As Mr. Honey said his vows, just as he stated that I was his best friend, Zeus spoke up. He did his trade mark bark/whimper at the exact moment! Everyone said that his ears were perked the entire time both of us spoke but chose that exact moment to speak up. A moment that perfectly characterized our dog was a part of the event!

We exchanged rings with each other, while repeating these words.

I give you this ring as a sign that I choose you.

To be my lover, my partner and my companion to the end of my days.

Wear it, think of me, and know that I love you.

Danny and Cara,

We have heard your promise to share your lives in marriage.

We as your family and friends, recognize and respect the vows that you have

made here this day, before each one of us as a witness.

In the honesty and sincerity of what you have said and done here today,

and in accordance with the laws of the state of Colorado,

It is my honor and delight to declare you man and wife.

You may seal your vows with a kiss.

We had our first kiss as husband and wife and then immediately embraced each other for another amazing hug (remember we shared the best hug in my life during our first look). I feel like the hug lasted a good few seconds, which gave our groomsmen ample time to celebrate amongst themselves. Check out this high five sequence:

Hey, we certainly couldn't have done it without them! Also, note Flower Girl M, and how every single pom pom seems to be right in front of her. She was apparently very entertaining as she continued to toss the pom pom's during the whole ceremony; since I was oblivious and in my "getting hitched" bubble, I love seeing these little things by looking through the pictures. See the flying pom pom?!

Photo by BM Scoot's hubby.

Okay, so where were we? Oh yes, we were JUST MARRIED!! After our hug subsided, we turned to face our guests and were greeted with a roar of applause and cheers to help us make our way back down the aisle...just the cheers from our wedding party alone were ample!

Ten minutes of love-filled words, vows, rings, declaration and the kiss, Mr. & Mrs. Honey walked back down that aisle as husband and wife...which turned out to be quite memorable!

*Unless otherwise noted, all Photos by the talented duo of Zak Fleming Photography

·         We had a busy wedding week

·         Teamwork made our Dream Work

·         We rehearsed casually

·         There was a pizza party!

·         Friday night was Princesses, Panties & Practice

·         Bridal details made me reminisce my morning  

·         I became a bride!

·         The Honey Girls took a walk in the snow

·         The Dudes got handsome

·         We did our First Look, with our doggy!

·         The Honeys posed as bride and groom

·         The Honey Dudes played in the snow

·         20 People and a Dog posed

·         I swooned over the details

·         We all trekked a snowy aisle

Short and Sweet Honey Ceremony

Putting our ceremony together was oddly simple. We have been on the same page since day one that our ceremony would be short and simple; having an outdoor winter ceremony has helped us keep it to that.
We needed an officiant and we knew right away that our officiant would be someone special to us, someone who knew us. We aren't church-goers and so having a church officiant didn't make any sense. While it took a couple months into our engagement to actually decide who that person would be, once we thought of it, it was like "Duh!". Our officiant is Best Man Cruise's dad, Mark. Mr. Honey has known him for years and years and while I've only known him a couple years, he is the perfect person for the task. We asked him over wings and beer one night and he happily accepted. In the months to come, I did some research on how Mark would become officially officiated. I found the best website to be openministry.org where the ordination was free, so I even splurged and spent $14.95 on a certificate. We celebrated with Margaritas and Mexican food that night.

We have an Officiant!

Once Mark had 'the power invested in him' as he likes to say, I outlined the flow of our ceremony, leaving the word content in the hands of Mark. So, here's how our short and sweet ceremony will go.

We chose the Plain White T's 1, 2, 3, 4 for the wedding party to walk down the aisle to:

Mama Honey and my Papa will start off the processional, followed by Mr. Honey who will walk with Officiant Mark and FFIL. We chose this super easy, non-formal format because we aren't having any escorts...I realize how very casual it is, but it works for us.

Because of our uneven bridal party, I've spent far too long analyzing how this will work...but I think I've got the main idea down. As a refresher, we have 8 bridesmaids, 5 groomsmen and 1 groomsdog. BM Kel Bel is walking Zeus, two lucky groomsmen will be escorting two bridesmaids at a time and then the three remaining 'men will escort one 'maid. After this part of the wedding party is down, our 3 flower girls and 2 ring bearers will all head down together.

Then it's mine and my Dad's turn. 1,2,3,4 will fade out and the song I chose many moons ago will fade in:

The heart of ceremony will go like this:
- A welcome from Officiant Mark
- A quip on marriage by Officiant Mark
- The Honey's exchange vows
- Honey's exchange rings
- Officiant Mark pronounces us Husband & Wife
- WE KISS

The song we chose for our recessional is also from Plain White T's...Rhythm of Love:

We will immediately join our entire wedding in the reception area and begin celebrating as husband and wife!

I truly think our ceremony will be between 10 and 15 minutes, short enough to keep peoples attention (and to keep guests from freezing!) but long enough to get plenty of sentiment and love across. I can't wait to hear what words Mark throws into the mix!

Now that I'm tearing up listening to the soundtrack that is our ceremony, tell me about your ceremony! What songs did you hand pick? Who is your officiant? Was your ceremony easy to create?
It's getting real, hive...in two weeks we will in fact be performing this ceremony!!

*All videos from YouTube.

The Craft Fit For A Dad

Where we will actually be standing for our ceremony is pretty bland, aside from the surrounding scenery of a frozen lake and *hopefully* snow covered landscape, so this is where my dreams of a handmade arch came into play. For our wedding arch, we wanted something natural and rustic, to compliment the outdoor winter setting. Aspen trees are plentiful in our part of Colorado, and to us, are the perfect winter tree. The white bark is beautiful all by itself, even without the foliage to compliment it.
Every year we go out into the National Forest surrounding Durango, hand pick and chop down our Christmas tree. It's a tradition I've done with my family for years and years, and now that I have Mr. Honey by my side, it makes the tradition even more special. This year, in addition to the Ponderosa Pine we would be chopping down, we added Aspen trees to list. We bought a permit for $22 which allowed us to cut 20 Aspen's down. This not only provided enough trunks to hand build our arch, but we helped thin out our forests, too. Yay for preventing forest fires!

My dad happens to be the most handy, creative man I know. He can build anything, fix anything and tends to go big when doing so. I left this project in my dad's very capable hands, after showing him a couple pictures of what I was envisioning, something like this:

Image via Elizabeth Anne Designs/Photo by Apertura Photo 

While Mr. Honey and I were scouting for our perfect tree, my dad was busy chopping down Aspen's.

We loaded the trees into the truck and then posed by the collection of Aspen trunks:

  

My dad spent five hours cutting the trunks, leveling them to the right height and securing them all together. Again, I left the design in his hands, and when we showed up to my parent's house for Christmas, we were blown away. My dad created an arch so amazing that we couldn't have expected anything more if we wanted to.

Zeus happily stood under the arch with me!

The arch is a total of 10 trees. My dad chose to go with a design that you can resembles a Chuppah, and that is because it made the arch more stable. Come wedding day, the 2x4's in the above picture will be removed, those were put in place to help stabilize the arch when we move it. This thing weighs approximately 400 pounds, not something that's easily moved. My dad works with heavy equipment and has friends with access to even heavier equipment. When you have a work of art weighing in at 400 pounds, this comes in very handy. Christmas Eve morning, my dad's friend came over with a crane. Yes, a crane...to move the arch onto a trailer so we can transport it to our venue in a few short weeks. It took my dad, Mr. Honey, my brother and Friend Troy, plus the crane to move this beaut:

I snapped the pictures but was holding my breath simultaneously, I did not want to see the arch go crashing down while being lifted by a crane, and fortunately it didn't. The guys safely moved it onto the trailer without any problems.

We are going to string the arch with soft white lights and hang a few yarn spheres to add a little whimsy to the rustic feel it currently has. To say we are smitten with the end result is an understatement, it turned out beautiful, all thanks to my wonderful dad. It was the perfect way for my dad to contribute something amazing to our wedding, since dresses and flowers aren't his cup of tea. To boot, Mr. Honey and my dad created a pedestal for our mailbox to match the arch.

The best part? We are going to be able to use the arch after the wedding, in our yard, to help serve as a daily reminder of our vows.

Is there a manly project making it's appearance in your big day? Let's give a shout out to that special guy who crafted something beautiful for your wedding!



An Unbalanced Act

A balanced wedding party used to be the standard, an equal number of guys and girls standing up on behalf of the bride and groom. Nowadays, we brides-to-be get to be more creative with our wedding party. A Man of Honor? Heck yeah. A best gal friend? Absolutely. More 'maids than 'men? Go for it, and that's what we've got goin' on.

I've thrown out my number a couple of times but for good measure I will remind you that I have eight bridesmaids. Our wedding party will be a total of thirteen, not including the troop of 'lil ones. Simple math tells me this can only mean one thing: we have an uneven number of bridesmaids and groomsmen. Me with eight, Mr. Honey with five. An unbalanced wedding party.

Just like Miss Candy Apple and Mrs. Fro Yo, among others, I have embraced that our wedding party is not going to be symmetrical. The majority of our groomsmen will be escorting not only one, but two bridesmaids up and down the aisle. Two girls to one guy; those lucky boys:

Image via Weddingbee/Photo by Mrs. Bee

My initial fears of having odd looking pictures were put to rest when I came across this recap post by Mrs. French Fries, whose uneven wedding party was the furthest thing from obvious or off-looking in pictures:

Image via Weddingbee/Photo by Molly of MThree Studio

This, of course, prompted me to look at more group shots of wedding parties and I was soon drawn to the nontraditional shots of wedding parties. You know, the jumping ones: 

Image via MyWedding.com/Photo by Betwixt (formerly Theorie)

The perfectly unorganized ones:

Image via Elizabeth Anne Designs/Photo by Ameila Strauss Photography

And the casually strolling ones:

Image via Pinterest/Photo by Ben Blood

My point is, that unless you sit and count the number of 'maids to 'men, no one will ever know the difference. And, more importantly, who cares! I wouldn't want to sacrifice any of the girls I have chosen and would not expect Mr. Honey to scrounge up another three guys to stand up with him on our important day just to make it even.

I have a mix of old friends: MOH Stac & I met in preschool and are still super close 26 years later. Her & I became BFF's with BM Scoot and BM Fawn in high school. And new friends: BM Candace and I have known each other for years but became besties in our early twenties, and BM Hogan and I met six years ago. And family: I don't have sisters, but I have my cousins BM K, Mae & Bel. Mr. Honey has BM Cruise who is like a brother from another mother. GM Frank, Steele & Jack who go way back to his childhood in Alabama, and GM Joel who is a newer Colorado friend. Thirteen people standing next to us when we say I Do.

Our groomsmen and bridesmaids will actually be walking the processional together, because (a) I have been in weddings and I much prefer to have someone else share that attention with me and (b) we are getting married with snow on the ground; having lived through 28 years of winters, I know it's easier to walk on snow when you have someone to lean on. I digress.

Logistically, I'm still figuring out the best way to have them paired up. Obviously MOH Stac & BM Cruise will walk together. But that leaves four groomsmen to seven bridesmaids. Oh, and our doggy Zeus. Big Z, as we often call him, is one hundred pounds of pure Weimaraner excitement. He needs a good guide down the aisle.

I could sit and contemplate the best way to pair them up, but I'm going to go ahead and say that it probably won't get hammered out until we are together with all thirteen of them the day before W-Day.

Until then, lets hear who else has the opposite of a standard bridal party? Tell me about your unevenness, Hive!

Visualizing the Ceremony

Inspiration boards are probably one of the coolest things about being a 21st century bride. I've made multiple boards, only to change them up again and again. But, like Miss Magic, I was having a difficult time piecing the entire celebration together in one board. So, thanks to her, I began creating smaller boards for different parts of the day. It was much easier on my brain.

So in an effort to wrap my own mind around my own thoughts, I need a visual list of what needs to ultimately come together before W-Day. Mama Honey is off for the summer so we want to craft, craft, craft, and I need that running visual list of what needs to happen. Here is my Ceremony Inspiration Board: 

Top: Outdoor Ceremony image via Rocway Glen/Personal Picture of our Venue/image of Burlap Aisle Runner

Middle: Seating Sign image via Love Is/Hot Chocolate Bar by Simply Stunning Ideas/Yarn Pom's image via Green Wedding Shoes & Photo by Jill Thomas/Yarn Spheres from Wednesday Custom Design

Bottom: Candle Lit Aisle via Everyday Bride/Decorated Arch/Rustic Arch image via Pinterest/Forget me Knot Weddings

Our venue has a full wraparound deck with great log beams that we plan on decking out with cafe lights (i.e. Christmas lights because they will be on sale.) The chairs for the guests will be arched towards the elevated stage where our wedding party will stand, hopefully covered with snow. A hot drink bar will greet our guests as they go to sit down. Think: hot chocolate, coffee and cider with Peppermint Schnapps and Kahlua as mix ins. We will also have free standing heaters and a couple chiminea's scattered throughout the space. I love the idea of not having a bride & groom side seating, and I adore the wording in that sign: 'Come As You Are, Stay As Long As You Can, We're All Family So No Seating Plan'.

I have gone back and forth on what to have tossed at us as we walk back down the aisle, which I will contemplate in a post soon, but thanks to Miss Macaroons, I came across the pom pom's and so it ended up in this board (Thank you!!)

The space we plan to use for our outdoor winter reception is cement, but we are counting on the Colorado winter to bring us snow to cover the cement. With the lack of character the cement stage offers, it is forcing allowing me to be uber creative with our arch. Right now I think we will form the arch out of Aspen trees and then decorate the arch with the yarn spheres, in our colors. To say I'm obsessed with these spheres might be an understatement. I picture smaller versions of the spheres decorating the chairs also. I have two arches on the board because I love the pops of color in the middle picture, but love the shape and rustic feel of the one in the corner.

If we have a fresh snow or enough snow cover on the ground, I don't think I'll need to worry about the aisle, since it too is cement, but it's always good to have a backup plan. In the situation that we don't have enough snow and I'm worried about it being drizzly and wet, we will have a burlap aisle runner on hand. I also want candles to line the aisle, adding some visual warmth.

Creating the mini inspiration board really helped me focus on the ceremony details.

Did you have a hard time conceptualizing the entire vision of your wedding? Is anyone else contending with cement for their ceremony space?