oh my.
the flower girl is craig's cousin amy…she's engaged.
the ring bearer…i just got his college graduation announcement.
and those dresses.
wow.
that fabric was from wal-mart!
and we added lace doilies???
nice bow tie craig….loooooove the white.
at least i still love these girls!
jamie blogs…she's got four kids…got married the year after we did.
lynette was our youth pastors wife…i was very very close with her…her son is the ring bearer.
lorel is still my sister. :)
and i love her.
her wedding was 2 years later and she got us hot pink CUTE short bridesmaids dressses!
so clearly it's not the year…it was me and what i picked!
i got to spend my vacation with tonya last year….she got married the next year also and has four kids.
nice candles.
i do remember this moment though.
praying…pleading…begging God to help us make it work.
He answered that prayer.
the happy couple.
so naive.
and the bride with her giant rose clock so she always knows the time.
i do still like my dress.
not the veil…but i like the dress.
we had to have it taken OUT as much as possible by the time the wedding came.
it couldn't get any bigger.
the photographer's wife said "turn and show us all that pretty waistline!"
and everyone got quite a laugh from that.
poor thing…she didn't know.
i remember my aunt jan said "your boobs look great!" :)
she is always so funny.
the classic side pose.
this is just….just….awful.
shiny faces?
silver cups?
blood red finger nails?
posing in front of the speaker?
how was this photo even allowed to take place?
AND why did we order it?
OH…and i just thought of something so funny.
and fitting.
craig found our wedding video last year and burned it to DVD.
so we watched it…for the first time.
it was entertaining.
and then….
the party is ending….the screen goes to grain and two second later….Days of Our Lives comes on.
WE DIDN'T EVEN USE A NEW VIDEO FOR OUR WEDDING?!!!
we taped over days of our lives.
oh man.
and for our honeymoon…we went to my uncle's condo in the ozarks.
because they offered it to us for free.
we came home early because we were bored.
and had NO money.
and didn't know how to cook for ourselves.
i hope you are laughing because i am laughing.
not crying.
so i think that if i could i would plan my dream wedding in my head.
a do over.
if i could plan it for me now as a wife of 15 years and a mother of five.
i would hire bobbi&mike.
they would make everything look extra dreamy.
this wedding is a favorite of ones i have seen….so i would steal ideas from them.
i would get married in a field.
just as the sun is starting to go down.
with a huge bouquet of wild flowers.
no bridesmaids or groomsmen…just surrounded by those who love us.
and quilts on hay bales as chairs.
lanterns hanging in the trees.
big old farm tables for drinks and lots of comfort food.
we'd have a dance with a band…not a dj.
we would laugh and be happy late into the night with all of our closest friends.
our children would be angelic and smile and look at us thinking how lucky they are to have parents
who love each other so much.
i would wear very cute shoes.
i would have a fabulous simple dress that looks great on me.
and i would be 15 pounds thinner & i won't have to wear spanx underneath it (because this is my dream)
my hair and make-up would look gorgeous and flawless.
i won't cry.
not even happy tears…in my dream world i could control it.
craig will think he is the luckiest man alive and would willingly help me plan the whole party.
(this is a dream remember)
it would feel special and we would feel loved and supported by everyone.
there would be no embarrassment or guilt involved in the WHOLE day.
it would be the best celebration of my life.
ok…now i'm crying.
Whitney - I love this post. I love your dream wedding. Now that you are at the farm would you ever consider renewing your vows? I know we would all love to see the photos! 🙂 You are a great couple, I am so glad that it worked out and your prayers were answered!
Crystal - So so very funny!! I have been reading through your archives (for days)!! Thank goodness I started at the beginning and have made my way up to April. I have sat in the room next to where my husband is watching tv and I have been laughing out loud as hard as I could while reading this. My husband kept asking me what was funny and I kept telling him nothing he would find funny. I think it’s b/c I am 35 also and have so much embarrassment and guilt and everything else from my “big” day. I didn’t even enjoy it nor do I think I would enjoy re-watching my video. Maybe I should…I might be able to find the humor in it like you did. The red fingernails….cracking me up!!
andrea - it is amazing how so many years later you can remember what you felt and thought…it has been 9 years for us…as our second baby is now 9…and i totally remember all of it. glad the Lord has answered that prayer
susie - ha ha! i used to have throw pillows made with the same rose fabric your dresses were made from…and the fabric came from walmart, too! sweet story, though and my wedding anniversary is today!
Rachel / cREaTe - this is awesome… the most honest thing i’ve read in a long time. and such the perfect mix of laughter & warm fuzzies. LOVED THIS. {and surely there’s a way to photo shop the photo of you & craig kneeling, praying … i know you can find a way to do that moment justice. without all the twinkles.} 🙂
Lou - You look sooooooooo cute!!!!
carissa... brown eyed fox - yall looked lke babies!
you ever think that when you see pics from back then?
i just love the story of wedding pictures.
don’t the kids love looking at them?
seeing us we were before them.
so fun. glad you shared!
and really… what a pair. what a team!
mel - Okay, I have LOVED reading about this & the pictures are classic! You guys totally beat the statistics & should be so proud of what you have become, 5 kids & 15 years later! Very inspirational & it is so neat to see how God has wrapped his arms around your family! 🙂
Rachel - WOW!That’s all I can say…those pictures are great! Such an inspiration though to be married 15 years with 5 kids and to still be happy…
I do have to agree with you…I actually have pictures saved on my computer of Amy and Gregs wedding from the Nichols Blog just in case I decide to marry my husband again..I love everything about their wedding…her dress is to die for and those bales of hay with the old quilts…sigh..be still my beating heart!
Becka @Studio222 - This is awesome! As a wedding photographer this is especially fun for me to see. I was just looking at old family wedding albums and its sooooo crazy to see how much wedding photography has changed in such a short time. 🙂
kelly - That was hysterical, and also very, very sweet…and you made me cry a little, too…
jewels - Ha ha… my mom recorded martha stewart over my wedding video. Nice huh? I loved reading your post!
Cheers,
jewels
amy jupin - you brought tears to my eyes with this one, meggie meg. you really did.
Michelle Richmond - OMG your bridesmaid dresses are so similar to mine…only mine were pink and purple and green pastel shades. Isn’t it funny how if we were to do it today when we are older and wiser, we would do it differently. But it’s part of who we were at the time and still a special memory. Thanks for sharing….Michelle from Canada.
Kara - I’m in the middle of planning my wedding! I like looking at other brides’ pictures…thinking someday I’ll make fun of the dresses I chose as well!
tara pollard pakosta - sooooo proud of the two of you for making it work!
AND I truly think you should have a re-do and get the wedding of your dreams! TRULY! You already know what you want, I say GO FOR IT!
tara
Karina - You are hilarious! I loved this post. I wasn’t 18 or preggo and I didn’t marry my high school sweetheart, but I’d still change a lot if I could re-do our wedding (I love your dream wedding with the quilts on hay bales). It’s one of those things that you don’t get quite right the first time, but you of course hope to only do once. Your wedding did have a happy ending (as did mine, I’m glad to say), and that is the main thing. It is just a bonus to have this much entertainment value 15 years later!!
Karen Gerstenberger - What a wonderful story, with everything in it: beauty, drama, lessons, the good, the bad, dreams, illustrations and growth. God IS good; God is LOVE.
Christy - Awh so sweet! You made a beautiful bride.
The bridesmaid dresses crack me up 🙂
I love Bobbi & Mike. They’re an awesome team. I love that wedding the quilts, the flowers,her dress they have great ideas.
Mike and McGee - I am dying over the bridesmaids dresses. Those women really loved you to wear those. Please tell me someone saved one, because it would make a great Halloween costume.
Your wedding in a field sounds lovely. Hold onto that idea, because you should definitely do it as a vow renewal. My parents renewed their wedding vows for their 35th anniversary, and it was so special. Their wedding was very much what my grandmother wanted, and their vow renewal was so very “them.” My dad passed away a year and a half later after a long battle with cancer, and I’m so very thankful they got to have such a lovely ceremony and celebration of their life together.
Heather - Do it! A celebration of life created and a family made!! That’s worth a party and a band and lanterns in the trees 🙂
chasity - yes….to do it all again…
i would change so many things as well.
oh well.
we’ve been happily married for 17 years.
i guess that is all that really matters!
Lora - Loved this post. I like the way you described your dream wedding for now… sounds perfect.
Courtney Walsh - Oh Meg, I still think you should renew your vows, just to live your dream wedding!! I often think about doing that too. I would do lots of things differently, starting with having a small ceremony instead of inviting everyone we had ever met. Oh, and I didn’t like my veil either. Loved my dress. Hated my veil.
Anyway. This is a wonderful trip down memory lane… and shows that you guys have much to be proud of! 🙂
Kelly - Hilarious!!! The fabric, the speaker and especially days of our lives.
Laura - This is the FIRST post of yours I’ve read (love it, btw!) and I laughed SO hard. Hilarious!
Although I’ve gotta say, I’m a little nervous to think about what I’m going to say about my wedding pictures in 20 years. Yeesh.
jennifer wood - now I’m crying! thanks Meg;), Your wedding was like 200 times better than mine! But maybe we can live vicariously through our daughters, I have a 14 year old with a Tude, and a 7 year old tom boy:)and all I can say is I hope when they do decide to get married they pick a wonderful guy with a very creative and organized mom:)
Kim - DO IT!! Have your dream wedding re-do in a field as a celebration of everything God has done for you and your family! My friend celebrated her 10th anniversary this way, with her 6 kids dressed up in wedding clothes. Beautiful memories that include the tangible fruit of your marriage ~ your sweet kids!
princess lasertron - Oh giiiiiiiirl those dresses. I am laughing in my chair!
I love the picture of you two kneeling. I also like your dress–the eyelet or lace business at the bottom is really pretty. And I love dresses with sleeves.
Invite me to the vow renewal you have in the field 🙂
Christa - Oh, those bridesmaids’ dresses…
The start of a marriage isn’t always perfect – mine was way far from perfect thanks to family drama – but luckily that’s not a predictor of how the marriage will turn out. And you know what? You might not have had your dream wedding, but you look so happy in your pictures that I’m jealous since I think I didn’t look as happy in mine.
sarah - the bridesmaids dresses definitely make me laugh.
I didn’t choose the greatest dresses for mine, I don’t remember why we chose the ones we did. But the last two weddings I’ve been in, chose great dresses… one where I even wore the dress again for my anniversary dinner date 🙂
Sometimes decisions during those hectic times of planning just don’t go well for some of us 😉
Your dress was pretty, i heart the long train.
I like your updated dream wedding. Sounds perfect. You should renew your vows and make the dream happen.
Courtney - Love it 🙂 Great post! I wonder if anyone looks back on their wedding without changing things in their mind?
Sara Cameli - So….I’m thinking you should do something like that…and celebrate that you have had this many years of life, love, laughter, tears, kids…friends…you know, like renewing your vows…:) Hugs to you, love the vision.
Gina - I’ve been married almost 25 years. we honeymooned at the Lodge of the 4 Seasons at the Lake of the Ozarks. We had to leave a day early because we couldn’t afford to stay there another day. I did my own hair and make-up on my wedding day and the peach taffata brides maids dresses were homemade. I worked at a fabric store at the time and one of the dresses hung in the store for 6 weeks as a display so I could get it for free!
You had a beautiful wedding. I’m so happy to know that after 15 years you are both so in love.
se7en - Oh the hindsight!!! I wouldn’t change our wedding for the world!!! I loved every moment of it!!! Even dragging my dad down the aisle because But I would love to have a change of guests and gift list!!! I was so worried that our friends (poor starving student types) could afford anything so we put ridiculously small and cheap presents on our list, wooden spoons and such like – What were we thinking?!!!… Now I would invite my parents friends and put sheets and towels and the odd appliance on our gift list!!! Real stuff we could actually use!!! And we also dashed back from our honey moon we were sick of being on holiday and wanted to start living – MADNESS!!! Love your dress and photographs!!!
Realquicke.blogspot.com - I was so bummed I had to miss your wedding. I’m glad I finally got to see your dresses! 🙂
We also came home early from our honeymoon. It was on the coast of England, which sounds romantic, but it was January and there was nonstop torrential rain. We were so jet-lagged and never managed to get ourselves up and out before 4pm, by which time it was already dark, so we never even saw the coastline. Plus, we also were in free accommodation…it was in a condo building full of retired people and the whole place smelled like a nursing home! ha!
Love your blog – you’re always so entertaining!
Lori
Rebekah - That sounds almost exactly like my dream do-over wedding. 🙂 We have never watched our wedding video, but I’m pretty sure there are no soaps at the end. We didn’t want to have our wedding video-taped at all, but my grandmother insisted, so we have it, if anyone ever wants to see it. Our wedding wasn’t perfect, and there are a lot of things I’d change if I could do it over now, but I want to preserve my brides-eye perspective of that day. Besides, my parents watched it and they said the quality of the recording is pretty horrible. Why would I want watch a horrible video of something that made me so happy in real life?
Laurie, from Maryland - My wedding tape has some TV show at the end also, except it gets even worse. My husband’s second cousin volunteered to videotape the wedding, and we were so grateful at the time. This was 22 years ago – wedding videography was just becoming popular, and we couldn’t afford to get it done professionally. But, the video she took is so frustrating to watch. Her daughters were our flowergirls, and she spent the whole time videotaping them instead of us! I can occasionally catch glimpses of my husband and I in the background, just enough to leave me wanting more. I’d almost rather have no video at all! Just one of many things about my wedding I’d do differently – all but the man. I’d marry him again today! 🙂
Sandy - Must admit I’ve never seen floral bridesmaid (or bride’s maid??) dresses… ha ha 🙂 I got married in the mid 80s so I’m loving the bow on the back of your dress…I had one just like it.
I’m with you on the wedding do-over. Oh how I would love to get married on the beach, at sunset, with only my closet family and friends. None of this “I have to invite them or they’ll be hurt” or because “they are mom’s 2nd cousin” or whatever. We learn a lot over the years, don’t we?!
Thanks for sharing your wedding day with us!
Jennifer - You could always have a party and renew your vows-of course Jon and Kate plus 8 kind of ruined that for me. bleh. My wedding was in 98 and I think everything was ok, I wouldn’t really change anything because mostly I just wanted a big party!
Your bridesmaid dresses were, uh, well, a snapshot of the time. 🙂
YOU, however, looked fabulous!
Janine - I love that you shared your wedding pics with us. Thank you. Yes your dream wedding sounds lovely. You could totally have a vow renewal like that – and pretty inexpensively too. My wedding was amazing but the one thing i would change is to get married outside. I think that would have been simply magical.
Kimberlee J. - I love this post because it proves that God doesn’t meet us where we were and make us stay there!
Sarah@Clover Lane - The Days of Our Lives things…you are killing me.
You look so pretty and I love your dress too. And even though the dresses are outdated NOW, you coordinated everything so well…so give yourself that. The roses match the dress and the nails and the lipstick.
My wedding dress’s puffy sleeves were bigger than my head.
And you know what? In terms of photography, we all got majorly gypped in that department. My niece got married and picked from like 3,000 perfect digitally enhanced photos. We got shadows and garish light and stupid posing. (Actually picking an album weeks later from 3,000 photos sounds miserable to me. It’s just the continuation of me, me, me time when boom, it should just be all over at that wedding.)
Irene - My god – I don’t think I could love this post anymore than I do! I can’t believe you were pregnant at the time – you don’t look it at all! And the best part about the huge dress: you might get wedding dresses for more than one of your girls out of it when you make it up again!!!!! I think the first photo with your heads together is absolutely beautiful – that’s one for the future wedding inspiration board!
x
Heather R. - Thank you for sharing…great story
~Heather R.
crush. - renew your vows!!!
Jill - Oh.Love.It.
Thanks! 🙂
PS-you’re totally skinny!
Jess @ Just a Blink - Hi Meg,
Long time reader. Not sure I’ve ever commented before. But, this post made me click out of my reader to comment on your site. Not sure why. You have a lot of great content and beautiful “eye candy photos” I could have easily popped over to comment on any or all of your posts.
But, this one is so endearing. So funny and sad all at the same time. Your wedding album is hilariously sweet and so wonderfully terrible!
It was a treat to read about your beginnings.
It would be awesome to keep reading about what happened next…after the honeymoon!
Let’s hear it. Oh, and let’s see it! Bring on the old pics! Your readers need a place to laugh and cry and feel like they aren’t the only ones that have a shoe box full of silly photos with powerful stories.
Love
Jess @ http://justablink.com
Carol S. - Sweet story and post. Love your blog. Have to say….among many blogs I follow…so many are going commercial and reviewing products and links to corporate websites…I love that yours is real and from the heart. Super cute new do, too.
Sarah Alcantara - Love, Love, Love this post! I love reading your blog! Thanks so much for sharing!
mary elizabeth - WOW – it’s not as bad as you think .. I think we all think it’s bad so many years later .. there is so much I would change as well … my dress was pink!!!!!!
You were cute, BUT I must say that you are way prettier now!!!!!!
Heather - You’re just so damn precious, Meg. Sigh. The world needs a lot more people like you and your family.
My parents got married young, really young, and it was not a happy story. It makes me smile to know yours is a happy story and that not every young marriage will fall apart. I waited until 33, I was so gun shy. Is it bad to say I hope my kids don’t wait that long? LOL
Sarah - Thanks for sharing your story. I see a vow renewal in your future, hay bales, quilts and all. 🙂
Sophie - I love the pictures!
And I agree with everyone else, you two should renew your vows in the ceremony you’ve always dreamed of.
And plus, now you’re have your five wonderful kids to share it with you (:
Ruth - oh please do it, renew your vows and have that party! you are so deserving of it and a real inspiration!
LouBoo - Brilliant, wonderful post. It was just a pleasure to read and having read you previous post where you mentioned it, this is a fantastic follow-up. I laughed and I cried! The best part is that despite the wedding day woes (and dresses), the marriage lasted and is strong as ever. Maybe you should renew your vows now?!
My best friend and I were commenting yesterday that you spend your twenties playing house, you spend your thirties realising how much responsibility there is with really playing house (kids, jobs, marriages, houses, schooling) and we hope that our forties bring this maturity where you have seen it, learned from it and are ‘at one’ with it. I don’t know how old you are – but you seem to have found that ‘at oneness’. x
Jessica - Meg, thanks for sharing! Looking back over years and years, surely we would all change things. I got married TEN (!) years ago in Florida. At the court in Delray Beach (I think) or maybe West Palm Beach. I was 19, and my parents couldn’t make it from Germany (any noone else could). My father-in-law went to work that day. So informal….. I liked it though I surely would change a million things!
Jennifer - And why not? Why not make that dream wedding a reality? You hit the nail on the head in your previous post. God forgives us and He changes us. I think you and Craig should plan that dream wedding – share those vows before your children…to celebrate that God answered your pleas for Him to make it work…to celebrate that He has worked mightily in your lives! God and what He has done in and through you is HUGE cause to celebrate and I think you should. (I have my own embarrassing junk I pulled with my fam too, and I am so happy that I am not that person anymore. I am so thankful that God does change us.) Not to mention that your perseverance in your marriage is an INCREDIBLE, AMAZING gift and legacy to/for your children and their children and their children. Your lives are cause to celebrate!!! You celebrate girl!!!
AshleyAnn - The rose clock comment…that is HILARIOUS!!!! I am so glad you posted these pictures and the stories with it. So glad. How is it you look younger and more beautiful 15 years later?
I’ve had it on my ‘to do’ list forever (well maybe just 4 years) to get my wedding transferred from film to digital…one day…then maybe I’ll post some from my day…I am too lazy to scan or photograph the pics!
Anna Marie - A friend of mine just got married and she did the hay bales with quilts covering them. She had lanterns and large empty picture frames (spray painted mustard yellow and I think turquoise) hanging from trees (perfect for fun photo ops). The bridesmaids all wore black Tom’s shoes. Very unique and hip wedding.
That fabric is killing me. Hahahahah……..
Lisa S. - Hi Megan! I remember being at your wedding and I LOVED your dress! I wanted one like it! I looked at the pictures and still love it. It was fun to see the familiar faces in your pictures. Can’t believe Josh is graduating from college! We’re getting old. Love your blog and have been reading it for a long time now. Just thought I’d say hello!
Julie - Thank you for sharing all of this. Thank you for being so open and willing to share the details. Look how far you have come together!!!
P.S.: I love the Nichols’ wedding, too!
Sixty Fifth Avenue - That was so fun!! Thanks for sharing! you look just like Annie in these pictures.
Alison - DO IT…don’t dream it. You deserve the wedding of your dreams, you already have your man so the hard part is over.
Niki - Meg, you are so real.
We got married when our baby was 1. I was too huge, when i was pregnant!!!!
I was 25 & my husband was 22, can you imagine the scandal.
It was the talk of the STATE.
We are now happily married & have 4 kids. We have made it passed all the “perfect” set ups & weddings of our friends. We are still in love & going strong.
I have a 14 year old son now & can’t believe how tiny & adorable he was in my arms during the wedding.
The image of his father & the hardest job I’ve ever done. Still getting it wrong everyday. Teenagers!!!
DO IT THE WEDDING OF YOUR DREAMS.
How gorgeous to it when you already been together forever.
Niki
Flower Patch Farmgirl - Best story. Ever.
Isn’t it amazing – how far we’ve come?
As for the fabric? I have no words.
But you were a beautiful bride and you don’t look remotely bratty. And Craig looks 13.
And God is SO smart. I always marvel that I somehow made the best decision for the most important decision of my entire life, when I was only 17 (when we got engaged). That can only be God.
Marie - Hi Meg! I love your blog and can really relate to this post. I also got married to my high school sweetheart when I was 18…and pregnant. We had a ‘classy’ wedding, too;) My bouquet was huge…maybe to camo those first 6 months! We had crepe paper streamers hanging in the church hall! We also had no money, so we never had a honeymoon. Wow, if I could do it over again…
Still, that was 12 years ago. Today, we have 3 amazing children and have grown up ourselves…together. Thanks for this post! I really enjoyed it:)
Juli - There’s a whole lot I’d do over but never my wedding. My wedding was also *interesting* and I couldn’t go through that again! It was completely run by my Mother who insisted on inviting the whole stinkin’ town b/c we’re related to everyone so she didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. I put my foot down on the important things- simple self-designed dress, hydrangeas, my best friends as attendants and of course, the hubby they didn’t approve of (but love now!)
I showed up to the wedding in denim cut-offs in my 1973 convertible VW bug with the top down singing “Going to the Chapel & we’re gonna get married…”!
We were also young. In our wedding photos, we have matching zits…HUGE ones on our chins! groan. I was 21 and he was 23. We look about 12 and 15 in our photos.
15 yrs later, I think I’ll keep him! Love him.
Julia - Your dream do over wedding sounds just like my dream do over wedding! And taping over Days of Our Lives…hysterical!!
Mother Runner - it’s not the wedding my friend…
it’s the marriage.
Nicole Q. - I LOVE this post . . . the REAL story and your dream!! I especially loved seeing Lynette in your glamorous bridesmaid dresses!! I just chatted with her for an hour today!! You would have loved Brit Karber’s wedding. She had some of the same ideas from that wedding you linked too. jason did another wedding in Fairview last summer that was outdoor, right on their farm and it was awesome!!
Thanks for all the REALNESS in this post! Love it.
Chaos-Jamie - crack me up! Love that floral dress. And yes it was the year. And the location. I followed with another floral cotton, as did Dana. Wendi, though, had some class. She got married in JoCo. Makes all the difference. 😉
Vera - DO IT! Have your hay bales party – as an anniversary/renewal of vows party!! You deserve it, that’s for sure!
This post was hysterical. Those bridesmaids dresses. Wow. Ha ha ha ha! I love you for sharing this and being so funny about it.
Amy - I had one of those awful weddings (fashion wise) too and when I see pics of weddings like the one you posted of the outdoor wedding I hope I can do better for my daughters.
Do you think when she looks back she’ll say ” I can’t believe I got married in a field and had cupcakes for a wedding cake, and wore boots! “? I hope not.
Kelly - I love your blog and have never commented before. I come to your blog for inspiration because you are so creative. It’s been a long road, and I am in my last semester for graphic design so I thrive on creativity. I have been thinking a lot about weddings lately because my boyfriend of 16 years (high school sweethearts) recently proposed. My dream wedding would just be having my mom there except that is not possible because she passed away almost 3 years ago at the age of 50 after battling non hodgkins tcell lymphoma for four years and I miss her every day. I know how you feel about redoing things and wishing how things could be different. But these events shape us and make us who we are today. And if I lived closer, I would totally ask you photograph my wedding because you are so talented (I live in Atlanta, Ga)! Thanks for sharing your life.
Robyn Farmer - Oh girl now you got me crying! Now I super badly want you to have this dream come true. It could be so beautiful, easy, a reflection of who you are and such an example to your children. So many people still live with shame from their past and this could be so redeeming for your marriage and a testimony of hope, forgiveness and healing to others.
Jen - Okay-I got married in 1984 and we had doilies on the bridesmaids’ dresses then too! And we were the first couple in my home church to face the audience. We only did the because we sang two duets in our wedding but now everyone does it. We were trendsetters I guess! We did, however, skip the unity candle and the candelabras (I thought both were tacky!) so I guess we were rebels too!
I think it was beautiful! And pretty impressive, considering you probably didn’t have that much time to put it together and I imagine the pregnancy added a great deal of stress! God is good!
Julie - Great post! Those dresses could have been mine…except I had a horrible jade green as the main color. I let the girls pick them out, and I hated them. 🙂 LOL. Yes, a wedding on a mountain or a field….with casual clothes, just hanging out would be great!
Laura Phelps - with the exception of the part about Days Of Our Lives, because THAT had me cracking up to no end…I am left in tears.
Lots of them.
For lots and lots and lots of reasons.
SO many reasons. Too many to count. Not enough room to write about them all.
Some that have to do with you, and some that frankly, are all about me.
Because I am selfish like that.
And then I clicked onto the sites you highlighted
and now I am crying even harder.
I may have to go back and read the part about Days Of Our Lives, because I have a dinner to cook and kids to care for, and I can’t do it while I am crying my eyes out.
xo
Melanie - I think your dress is very pretty. I was laughing about the Days of our Lives tape. Oh boy:)
You might not have the best memories of that day BUT look at what you have now. You made it through in one piece, together, and very happy.
Chiot's Run - Too funny – looks just like my sister’s wedding. I’m sure any of us that got married more than a few years ago have a few things we’d do a little differently at our wedding.
Mr Chiots and I go to weddings every weekend because of our business (2ndMileProductions.com) and I love it. It’s so great to always go to work on the happiest day of people’s lives. We get to document their wedding forever and it makes us happy.
I see so many expensive lovely weddings and mine was like yours. At church, with cake & punch in the basement (but you know I wouldn’t change it for anything).
Dana D @BoysMyJoys - Love this post, too!
And the doilies made the dresses look very Jessica McClintock… quite the style at the time!
🙂
So glad you shared these!!!
Tara - i laughed SO hard at this post. i was laughing so hard that my husband came running in to see what was so dang funny. he laughed too.
you are F.U.N.N.Y.
i lost it at the blood red fingernails. my kids saw this post…my husband saw this post …and then i called a friend and told her to see the post.
really really funny. we could soooooooo be friends in real life.
Ann at the Handley Bungalow - Great photos, Meg! I wore a doiley collared bridesmaid dress in ’91 so it must’ve been all the rage! I am glad I am not the only one who got married with poofy hair – younger gals look at my wedding photos and think I was a huge nerd – I tell them I was very hip at the time! I had almost the same veil except my mother-in-law made it for me! I had fake nails, too. Ew! There is a horribly cheesy photo of our hands (with my fake nails)with our rings over my bouquet of flowers. The only wonderful thing was my dad was still alive and I have awesome pics of him plus a video that my godparents made of our wedding. One photo is a group pic and I know when that was taken my dad was pinching my husband’s butt. Memories!
Staci - Oh Meg 🙂 I just love you! Yesterday was a crazy day and didn’t get to leave a comment…but wow 🙂 I do love this post….partly bc it’s so funny and party bc you guys made it work 🙂 I say this bc I got married to my high school sweetheart…graduated in May and married him in July….18 yrs old….EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD!!!!! Holy moly if my boys do that I’ll scream 🙁 We were married for almost 5 years….then we both called it quits 🙁 Lonnnnnng story short…I am married to the man of my dreams now….sooo much I would do over again, and sooo much I wouldn’t. Anyway, I’m so glad you guys made it…and I’m sooo glad you told your story 🙂 And that is WAY too funny about the video tape 😮 Funny stuff!
Lenna - I was at your wedding. I vividly remember how you and Craig faced the congregation during the entire wedding. I loved that about it. Of course, I wasn’t gutsy enough to do it at mine. Congratulations on your many years of happiness. I’ve always thought of you as being pretty cool- and of course Darrel thinks highly of Craig (and you too, of course.)
margi - Hi- Have been reading your blog for awhile, but have not commented till now.. My sister was 18 when she was my maid of honor and thought it would be fab for the bridesmaids to wear matching bows (the size of Buicks) on top of their heads. Can’t believe that no one complained at the time. The dresses were huge with puffed sleeves.. ah, the 80’s. I love your blog and thanks so much for sharing the wedding pics!
Holly S - Your blog is like a ray of sunshine into my day! Thanks so much for the happy tears!
pallie - I HAD that wedding! My husband and I got married on my family’s farm underneath two large oak trees in the pasture across the road from our house. Hay bales served as the seating with overlays of fun fabric. The reception was in our haybarn with wood shavings on the floor, lanterns and lights in the rafters, BBQ for dinner, pies instead of a cake, a band and dancing all night long with our favorite people!
I am so sorry you didn’t have your dream wedding because you absolutely deserve it! It can be done a budget and can be more fun than you ever imagined! Yours would be especially great because of your creativity! Do it! Do it! Do it!
MommaH - I have a perspective of 43 years back to my wedding. I wore my mother’s wedding dress. It was kind of straight – gently gathered embroidried organza over satin – ivory in color. At the time the dress was 26 years old, and by now has been worn 7 or 8 times, and is 71 yo. I still love that dress, although there is no way I could get into it ever again. (Wish I had a scanner) Pictures from back then were not that great quality.
Nancy M - Thanks for sharing. My wedding was in 1995, and I thought it was cute to make home-made invitations with my computer. They were so pixelated and ugly. We all have wedding regrets, I guess. Congrats on keeping it together all these years. Good Job!
susie whyte - as soon as i saw the dresses i laughed so hard…because my mom had a bolt of that fabric and had made me clothes with it. i hated when she made me clothes. i was 13 at that time. ha! 🙂
Georgia - Awwwww Meg, i love this post!!!!
Thanks for writing About it, its really fun to read about.
The thing that made me laugh about the photos is strangely enough you and craig look older then, than you do now.. How does that work out?! haha
The photos are so romantic, specially the church one with the candles …. i hope my marriage is as happy and as loving as yours in 15 years time. 🙂
Goodluck for the Next 15 years!!! wooo
Jessica Reed - Quilts on hay bales! I love it! We just did quilts on the ground, and then rows of chairs for the people who couldn’t sit on the ground.
Thanks for sharing!
Laura - WOW, these are great! Thank you for posting. The kids all have a great combination of the both of you.
Tara - laughing…so…hard…but really you guys look amazing and even more amazing after 15 years. You are a gorgeous couple. We would all change things about our weddings but really its the marriage that counts and you’ve got a good one!
~Tara
Jenn - Laughing with you not at you for sure! I wore that EXACT same dress in my sister’s wedding lol! And the ones from my own wedding weren’t much better. But hey…15 years will look back at today with a smirk too right 🙂
Sweet sentiment!!!!
Jenn
Rachel - I was laughing and crying at the same time. Laughing because you have such a great perspective on it all now, and crying because it’s so sweet – the story, the dresses, you and Craig, and your dream wedding.
I’ve been married almost 19 years (I was young too) and if I could do it over I think my dream wedding would be similar to yours – simple and lovely. No frothy white dress, no formal bridesmaids with their fussy dresses, no rows with the MIL.
And I would say more prayers, because it hasn’t been easy!
Carrie - I have been stalking your blog for awhile now. I just love it! Your creativity and color always inspire me. But imagine my surprise today when viewing your wedding photos. Something looked oddly familiar. I wore the EXACT same dress at my wedding 12 1/2 years ago! I still love my dress too. It is so simple and lovely. I just had to share. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
traci - You already know this but most girls who get married at 18 and are pregnant are not madly in love, the guy is not worth it and it never makes it. I’m so glad you guys are the exception and you are truly happy and found a great guy!!!!! I got married 12 yrs. ago and if I could redo our marriage today I would change 90% of it!!
Keri ~ Forever Folding Laundry - I had to laugh at taping over Days of our Lives! Too funny.
I can see each of your kids in the two of you. They are such good combos of you both.
And you *need* to have that dream wedding. Do it. 🙂
~Keri
Amy D. - i love your dress