That being said, it was a perfect moment when he asked if I would be his wife and share in all of the joys in life that we have always talked about doing together with each other. The moment he proposed was very romantic; it took place in our favorite quaint small town of Saint Michaels, Maryland on our boat. Even after he proposed and we returned home from our vacation, I hadn’t really had a -vision- about our wedding per se; I had faith that things would perfectly fall into place.

When it came time to design all of the details about the wedding I began to think about what elements would capture the two of us and what came to mind was something ‘timeless’ and ‘romantic’. A lover of details, I began scouring the internet for precious, sweet, romantic ones. A soft pink palette was my first decision and from there things began evolving. Once we had decided on our venue, the gorgeous one-of-a-kind Greenville Country Club, the theme really started taking form. The Club’s gorgeous setting in the hills of Greenville gave me the inspiration to have a garden-themed wedding with lots of flowing, natural flowers. I have always loved very feminine details so the blush bow theme was carried throughout. Petals of Greenville took my vision and used their expertise to deliver the most enviable flower display I have ever seen.

At the end of the wedding day the only thing that mattered to me was creating the loving and romantic atmosphere that would grace the start of our new lives together. In following through with that promise Jonathan and I picked everything out together. He will tell you that he got tired of viewing strangers’ weddings on my iPhone, birdcages on Etsy and even escort cards and programs, but it was important to me that he felt included and very much a part of the best and first day of the rest of our lives as man and wife. So, my perfect wedding vision was simple: a theme that was timeless, classic, romantic and enveloped my love for him and our love for each other.

What was the most memorable moment from my wedding day? I don’t know that I could name one. There were many and I will mention them all, as they are equally special and relevant to me.

The first memorable moment for me was when I woke up the day of the wedding. Like most couples, Jonathan and I spent the evening apart from one another. It was more of a tradition than it was something that made sense to both of us but we did it anyway. From the time we had started dating two and a half years prior to that morning we had not spent even one single night away from one another! Thus it was a very memorable feeling the morning of our wedding when I woke up and he was not there. I did not sleep well! I had a pit in my stomach from missing him! I couldn’t eat! Couldn’t imagine never waking up to him. I just had a longing for waking up beside him and whispering in his ear ‘today we get married’. If I had to do it over we would share the night before our wedding together, alone and in private. I don’t recall or share this memory because I was sad, sleep deprived, starving and feeling abandoned. I recall this memory because it strongly reinforced the inseparable love and commitment we have to one another and no better first day to recognize this than the morning of our wedding.

The next most memorable moment, and I think my bridesmaids and groom could probably guess, is the letter that Jonathan sent to my bridal suite. It began with a card that simply read ‘I think you’re pretty neat’. No ‘I love you’, no mention of ‘bride’ anywhere within. I thought that this was quite peculiar- particularly because I made several not-so-subtle hints to Jonathan that I was preparing a story book for him. Another envelope came twenty minutes later delivered to me by his sister. It contained a well-thought-out page-long love note to me! I was very touched.

The next most memorable memory was witnessing the love, joy and pride in my mother’s face as she watched the man she loves escort the little girl she had raised on her own down the aisle to the man of her dreams! What an incredibly sweet moment for her but an even sweeter one for me. Likewise, witnessing my mother-in-law watch her sweet little boy become a husband (the best one at that) was a very joyful moment for her and for me.

Additionally there were the obvious memorable moments such as our first dance, the moment the pastor introduced me as ‘Mrs. White’ and our ride back to the Hotel DuPont in the Rolls Royce!

Every moment of our sweet day I can reminisce on sweetly and vividly but the longing for him at the start of my day, the words in the love letter he wrote to me and the love and pure joy in my mother’s heart were all incredibly special moments for me.

My advice for future brides is ‘do what feels right’ and do so in whatever form that looks like to you.

As you’re planning your dream wedding, remember the most important detail of your day is marrying your soul mate. It truly isn’t the guest list, table numbers, tablecloths or garden roses. Those are all fun details to obsess over but involve your groom and ask for his input, too.

The next most important detail of your day is your dress (ha!). But– seriously! People have often asked me, ‘If you knew what you know now, would you spend what you spent on your dress again?’ The answer is 100 times, ‘YES!’. As you look your new husband in the eye and say ‘I will love and cherish you all the days of my life’, it’s a fabulous feeling to feel like you couldn’t possibly be any more gorgeous as you speak those sweet words. There’s nothing else like it.

We had our first date official date on 1/4/13. He took me out to lunch the next day and we realized we liked all the same food. I found out that weekend he is also the most amazing cook!

After that it was a blur of happiness. We were engaged on 3/14/13. He always teased me that he would propose with a purple ring pop (I love candy and the color purple.) Well he had ordered an entire case of them and had them all over the place and he proposed. To be honest I barely remember what he said. I was so excited! He got me earrings and a ring from Indulgence in Greenville. They were custom made and so the day Michael called and said they arrived Joe went to Indulgence and picked them up. He proposed that night. He can’t wait when it comes to presents for me. He gets so excited and has to give them right away.

Our engagement was amazing! We celebrated our engagement on the Eurodam cruise ship and did the Eastern Caribbean (Holland America Line). Everything was simple because we only cared about marrying each other. It would not have mattered where we did it or how it happened.

I don’t mean to sound like a hopeless romantic but he really is the perfect match for me! I have never met someone who can make me feel so amazing and so happy. We finish each other’s sentences! In fact we are the annoyingly happy couple that used to drive me nuts!

We planned a Christmas wedding since we really started to talk that day and we got married on 1/20/13. We wanted to do 1/21/20 which is the day we met but the Hotel DuPont was the venue we wanted so we took the 20th. We did our honeymoon on the same ship as before, Eurodam, and did the western caribbean. What was awesome was our favorite bartender was on the ship and was so excited to see us and remembered us! It ended up happening a lot on the ship and they all remembered our celebrating the engagement! I guess when we are together we are memorable. I hope in a good way :-)

We envisioned a Christmas wedding wonderland. We love Christmas so much and really Christmas day is when our story really started. We still eat popcorn almost every night- he wasn’t just trying to get me to like him by saying he loved it too! I never thought anyone loved it or ate as much of it as I do until I met him. Now most nights it is us and the dogs on the couch with two huge bowls of popcorn :-)

Three unique decor elements we infused into our special day:
1. Our wedding cake was amazing…each tier was a ‘Christmas Present’ decorated to look like wrapping paper. On the top was a Christmas tree and a Santa with a list. On the list was Melissa, Joseph, Cookie and Ralphie (Our dogs). The Groom’s cake was a football with the Ravens symbol and raven on it.
2. I wore blue Uggs for our outside pictures as my ‘something blue’ …Joe ordered them from Nordstroms :-)
3. Our wedding invitations had ‘Marry Christmas’ on the top instead of ‘Merry’….obviously to show it was a Christmas themed wedding. We realized the previous Christmas that we had so much in common. We texted the entire day….I told him I had popcorn for breakfast and to not judge me. I found out it was his absolute favorite food as well. He wore popcorn cufflinks the night of the wedding which were a gift from me. ‘Marry Christmas’ was also on the tags of the place cards which were custom gourmet cookies- one Santa and one tree in a bag with the place card as the ‘gift tag’ with name of guest and table.

My most memorable moment from the Big Day was when we held hands around the corner and then turned the corner of the Hotel DuPont and I saw Joe for the first time. It was the best moment and Jana and Mike got it all in the photos! The other moment was our vows. It was like no one else was there. I loved the touch of having the strings and baby grand have ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’ playing as Joe and I left the ceremony. They did a peppy version of it and it was sounded amazing.

Menu:
table side Caesar salad
entrees- Filet Mignon and crab cake with champagne sauce or chicken encased in crab imperial
dessert- Baked Alaska flambe with coconut ice cream and raspberry sauce

It was an amazing day as the pictures show. I think the best parts were our times outside just him and I get our photos done. We talked and laughed and just enjoyed the day together. Mike and Jana made it a lot of fun.