Brian and I got married on Friday, May 22nd, 2020. While the ceremony was certainly different from what I had envisioned six months ago when I started planning, it was one of the best days of my life. The joy of seeing so many friends and loved ones, either virtually or in person, and standing up with the love of my life celebrating our union, kept the perfectionist in me from noticing the little things that fell by the wayside. Sure, we were late to the venue, and didn't have the time to put up some of the decorations I had painstakingly created for this event, and we had plenty of Zoom and internet issues, but these were nothing more than blips on my radar. If you are currently planning a wedding, especially if things are now up in the air or you've had to change your plans substantially, I want to say that while stressful now, in my experience, none of those issues will matter in the end. I was so happy to be marrying Brian that it did not matter on the day of if not every detail was Pinterest perfect.
For the rest of this post, I'll walk you through the day with photos, but I also made a brief video of our day, which I have included below:
Our Wedding
Brian and I got married at the ornamental gardens at the University of Maine. The funny thing was, when we started talking about getting married, the gardens had been our first idea, since it is a lovely venue and UMaine is where we met. We ended up selecting Penobscot Valley Country Club instead because it was more wheelchair accessible and I wanted to have a venue that my grandmother could navigate easily. Unfortunately, once COVID hit, we realized we would no longer be able to have my grandmother there in person, and so when we got to the stage of downsizing and changing venues, we knew the gardens would be the right choice. I love the flowering trees, and they were in full bloom that day, making for the perfect backdrop for our ceremony. We still hope to do a vow renewal ceremony at PVCC next May.
I figured I would include this zoomed out shot to give you a sense of where our guests were situated for the ceremony. My brother was also there, although he did not make it into this picture.
Here Brian is, reciting his vows.
And here I am, reading mine. Some say you should make sure your vows and your partners' vows are roughly the same length, but we didn't bother with coordinating vows. Brian's were short and to the point, which suited him well, and mine were long and sentimental, which is very me.
The downside to an outdoor venue - sometimes nature gets mean. Brian is running away from a hornet in this picture. But not a murder hornet; those haven't made their way up to Maine yet, as far as I'm aware.
The ring exchange.
Brian getting chased by the hornet again.
Taking some pictures with the family. Even though I didn't have time to put up some of the decorations I'd made, the gardens were so lovely that it didn't really matter. It didn't feel like we were missing something.
I don't know if the Hathaway family knows how to take a normal picture.
The Toner family isn't necessarily good at normalcy either.
We had our reception in our backyard. Here's our wedding cake. My dad picked up these Little Debbie Fancy Cakes for us to use, and I made some cake toppers to give them a little extra flair.
Even though our wedding was small and not at all professional, it was a great day. I truly am lucky to have such wonderful family, friends, and partner - now husband - in my life.
If you like wedding crafts or Alice in Wonderland crafts, stay tuned. In the coming weeks I'll show you how I made the bouquets, the card soldiers, and how I turned a romper into a wedding dress, among other crafts.
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