As Taylor’s dad walked her down the aisle Joe could not contain his emotions.  It was beautiful to watch as his bride walked toward him looking oh so radiant.  Taylor has the most effortless peace about her.  She was so calm aside her dad.  Joe was beautifully thrilled.  He hugged her father out of total thanks and “I will take amazing care of her” and then grabbed her arm, pulled her in towards him and the rest of the vows flowed out their mouths to eachother.  It was perfect.  Claire and I were so blessed to be a part of these two families for the day.  I cannot express how amazing of a couple I think these two are.  It is going to be amazing to watch the impact they make.

Some of Taylor & Joe’s memories from the day:

Q. What was your favorite part about the wedding?
A. The whole day was my favorite part! But I will say that I had a sense of God’s peace and presence throughout the day. I wasn’t nervous, stressed, or much of any kind of emotion until I started walking down the aisle. It was comforting to know that God was with me throughout the whole day. Somthing that helped me keep my cool was meeting Joe right before the ceremony. We didn’t see each other though so the surprise was still there. But it calmed any last minute nerves I was having and as we prayed, it centered our hearts on the commitment we were about to make!

Q. What was one quirky of crazy thing that happened on your wedding day?
A. This really didn’t happen on our wedding day but still something that is memorable and crazy about our wedding: Since our wedding was on Thanksgiving weekend, I found out on Thanksgiving (2 days before my wedding) that we didn’t have a place to rehearse our ceremony the next day! After long conversations and some helpful advice from our wedding day coordinator, we were able to have it at a nearby venue…that was still under construction! So needless to say our closest family and friends were quite surprised when they pulled up to practice for the ceremony! The place was filled with piles of rocks, dirt, and boards and we just practice right in the middle of all of it! It was a blessing in disguise though because we were surprised with how beautiful the ceremony site looked on our actual wedding day!

Q. What was the most special moment on your wedding day?
A. Of course marrying Joe and seeing his face down the aise is something I never will forget but something that is special to me was my father/daughter dance with my dad. I am somewhat of a daddy’s girl, the youngest daughter of 3, and was already filled with so many emotions from that day. So dancing with my dad who financially and emotionally supported us through the whole wedding process was something I was so grateful for. It brought back a lot of memories of our relationship and how much he has done for me and it was a big moment that I had always dreamed about. It made me realize how much I loved him (and my mom)and for the wonderful example they lead for Joe and I.

Q. Did you do anything yourself?
A. I tried to do some fun things that made it unique to us. I made the bird toppers for the cake! (They were way too expensive on Etsy!) We also bought every center piece at Hob Lob (as the KHP crew like to call it) and other little shops/flea markets. I made little flowers to go on my shoes to give it a pop of color. Then I made clutch bags for my bridesmaids with flowers on them and my aunt made all of the jewelry. I worked with a family/friend who did our invitations, save the dates and place settings. We worked hard to make it unique to us and even had little games for guests to fill out about us as a couple, while they were waiting for dinner. We made our “Just Married” sign. But the best hand made thing of all was by my talented father in law, who hand drew our “wedding tree” for guests to “leaf their fingerprint.” It is something we will treasure forever!

Q. Anything you would like to add about your special day?
A. Another cool thing we did was instead of giving guests party favors,we had 2 organizations that were close to our hearts and had guests write prayers or encouraging words to the organization they wanted. For every note that was put into the box, we donated a certain amount of money. It was something I wanted to do because I feel like some party favors are left at the table or just placed in a box whenever they get home, so I wanted to use our money towards something that could make an impact. We sent all of the notes to the 2 organizations and was a good way to get the guests involved and still honor them for coming to join us for our special day!

Q. What was the one thing you were most excited about your registry? Did you get it and did it live up to the hype?
A. Well I can tell you what Joe’s was: a waffle maker!! After much debate, I let him keep it on (not knowing if we would get it) but we did!! And I must say, I was wrong (yes I just admitted I was wrong!) He makes the BEST waffles right before church on Sunday mornings!!! So I admit now that that is the best thing we registered for!

Q. Where will you be as a couple in five years? Hopes, dreams, kids, etc.?
A. Man that is a hard one, we plan on moving out of Texas for at least a year. Just to travel and try something new together! I don’t know about kids in 5 years but I definitely know we will have a cute great dane named either Dexter or Guster (still being debated;) and a little dauchund (name not decided yet)! As of now, it’s too hard to plan. We will just see where God takes us and hopefully be serving Him every step of the way!

Q. What do you look forward to the most about being married?
A. Finally being together! No more long distance relationships or who is going to drive where or what time we have to leave at night! It is great to come home to my husband, who usually cooks a wonderful dinner, and just truly live life together as God intended it! Living together, laughing about nothing, fighting over what shows to watch, sharing our hearts with one another, growing and learning about each other’s strengths and weaknesses..sounds fun right?!?!

In the words of the bride: -vendor love-

Venue: Texas Old Town
Planner: Clearly Classy Events
Wedding dress: Maggie Sotterro
Flowers: Blumen Meisters
Grooms suit: Al’s Formal Wear
Bridesmaids: Eden Bridals
Cake: Sherri’s Sweet Shoppe
DJ: Altared Weddings