Wed Recap: You may now claim your bride with a kiss!

This ceremony recap speaks for itself.  There's not much I need to write to go along with these photos and video other than to tell you that like with everything else surrounding our wedding, I did not want the traditional verbage used to end our ceremony. 

As our pastor made everyone aware in this post, I wrote out our ceremony script for him with key bible verses, vows, and ideas to share during his message.  Near the end of the wedding planning process, I told him that he didn't need to stick to the script verbatim...except for where I highlighted certain words and portions of the script that were absolutely imperative to have Pastor Lyle say exactly as I wrote them out.  One of those few things that I insisted be performed exactly as I wanted was the final comment of the ceremony where the officiant typically says "You may now kiss your bride!" 

I wanted this to be a bit untraditional, so as you'll see in the video, I came up with a bit of a unique way for Pastor L to direct Mr Fix It for the kiss:

And ladies, let me tell you yet again why I absolutely implore you to have some type of video at your wedding....the day after the wedding, I could not remember one thing about our first kiss!!!  Nothing!  I didn't even really remember kissing my groom at all at the end of the ceremony.  But thankfully there was video to prove we did in fact kiss.   And though the photos are great, they just can't seem to convey the length, type and memory of the kiss the way the video can.  :)

Here's a few more pics I love of our first kiss as husband and wife:

Share time:  Was there anything that may have seemed insignificant or normal during your ceremony or reception that you wanted to slightly tweak to make it different from a traditional wedding event?

TODAY'S WEDDING TIP:  Be sure to practice the recessional during your rehearsal as well as the processional.  We didn't really practice this at our rehearsal like we should have and so the wedding party didn't realize that they were supposed to wait until me and my groom got to the very end of the aisle before they started walking down.  Then each of the couples immediately started following each other back down the aisle rather quickly which didn't allow the photographer a chance to get a good shot of each couple walking down.  It's better to have a mark (the middle of the aisle, end of the aisle, etc) that you direct each couple to start their walk at once the couple in front of them hits that mark.

Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Robert Mullins Photography
Raw video footage courtesy of Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills

Wed Recap: I like these people!

This has been a busy week. Which is strange since I've been rather lonely the past several weeks. Have I mentioned that Mr Fix It went up north for 3 weeks to work on his parent's home? He left his newlywed wife all alone in a new house. Turns out, my daughter, Little Miss has also been gone spending a lot of time with her dad since he had some time off and she had practices going on down at his house. Easier commute.

But since I was surprised at 4 am yesterday morning by my sweet husband kissing me and coming home 2 days earlier than expected, I plan on keeping today's post a little short so I don't have to be at the computer too long.  I did put together this little video clip which was one of my very favorite parts of our ceremony (Do I say that a lot? Are they all my favorites?).

Anyway, this was a little tidbit that our pastor shared about how he knows us and it gives you some great insight into who we are as individuals. I absolutely had no idea he was going to share the little detail he did near the end of the clip about my 'planning skills.' Enjoy!

Share time: Was there any part of your ceremony or wedding planning process that you took control of planning that is typically handled by someone else like a vendor or the officiant? :)

TODAY'S WEDDING TIP:  Ask your officiant if they will incorporate specific things about who each of you are as individuals and as a couple.  If they don't know you personally, perhaps they can have you fill out a little biography to include as part of their introduction or message?  This is one reason why I truly love pre-marital counseling :)  It gives you an opportunity to bond with your officiant which makes the ceremony that much more special.

Raw video footage courtesy of Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills

You may now claim your bride with a kiss!

Disclaimer:  This post is long but is mostly just the script from our ceremony and vows.  You can use it as a resource for ideas or inspiration of what you may like (or may not want to do).  But to make it a quicker read for those of you who are not interested, I highlighted words in red that are the parts that are my favorite and my reason for sharing this with everyone.  It's of course also a way for me to journal our ceremony script for my own memories. 

I was never a big fan of the simplicity of 'You may now kiss your bride.'  It had to mean something that you get to kiss at this very moment, right?  And so when I was browsing videographer's blogs for ideas for our ceremony, and heard a pastor speak those words - "You may now claim your bride with a kiss," I immedidately added that into our ceremony script!  Yes, I have the entire thing already written out and have handed it off to our officiant (my junior high school pastor) for his review and thoughts.  :) 

Side note:  I asked my pastor if he minded me basically giving him a pre-written 'script' for our wedding ceremony and he said he actually likes it when brides do this because it ensures that they will get what they want and makes less work for him other than throwing in a brief message and some personal touches about the couple.  This is why I love him!  You should not think twice about asking your vendors, even your officiant, for what you want at your wedding!

Ok, so I wanted to keep a lot of the traditional touches of the wedding ceremony but also make it personal to us, unique and different from your uber-traditional vows, and not super duper long.  I am hoping the entire verbal part of the ceremony only lasts about 20-30 minutes max!

Here's my ceremony script that I pieced together with personal thoughts, internet research and some other traditional inclusions.  Please note that I am including both personal promises (letters me and Mr Fix It will write to each other) and both traditional (sort of) vows, so you will see the promises I have written for Mr Fix It, but obviously he has not written anything yet :)  Also, of course all of this is subject to change: