It rained for several hours before the ceremony, but about an hour before the ceremony was suppose to start, it stopped raining, the sun came out and it was beautiful. Justin and Erica got married outside in a beautiful walkway/ portico. Pastor Forrest from our church officiated. Nicole was a flower girl and had been looking forward to this day for weeks!!! She did a wonderful job.
Getting ready to walk down the aisle
Beautiful in the sunset
Nicole loved every moment of being a flower girl
Erica getting all dolled up. She was beautiful! I started crying when I saw her.
The guys....hanging out before the walk down the aisle.
Justin's first glimpse of Erica
Justin and Erica did a unity sand ceremony. Pastor Forrest poured a foundation colored sand into a vase. This represented that their marriage would be based upon the strong foundation of Jesus Christ. Then, Justin and Erica each poured in their own color of sand, representing their two different families. They topped the jar off with pouring each of their colors in at the same time representing their families being joined together.
Sand Ceremony
At the very end of the ceremony Erica's mom had worked out a surprise for her. She had butterflies to be released as a symbol of their new life, and as a remembrance of Rick, Erica's father who passed away last May.
Here are some random pictures...
Isn't Hannah precious in this purple hat?
My friend Kirsten made Nathan his tuxedo onsie. I LOVE it!
Nicole with the bridesmaids and ring bearer
Nicole and Logan, the ring bearer (Nicole sat down next to him and said, "Do you think I'm pretty?)
Hannah enjoying the ceremony
The reception was lots of fun with great food. Nicole and Hannah danced the night away. Literally. Those two girls were unstoppable. They dance ALL NIGHT LONG! As you will see in the video. Nicole had a blast dancing with her daddy and Hannah would dance with anyone who would pick her up and twirl her around.
Mom, Dad and Nicole being introduced at the reception.
Justin and Erica's table
Their first dance
Hannah having a great time with her daddy
Our Family
Our family has a tradition of doing a sort of fundraiser for the newly weds. For Justin's wedding we put together a video of him dancing as a kid and including a video that came out on the internet his senior year of him dancing like a popular singer, Usher. Most of us had no idea he could dance like that, and until last night, most of us had never seen him do it in real life. So...we asked people to donate a few bucks to Justin and Erica and Justin would dance for the money. You HAVE to skip forward on the video to check it out. It's pretty much amazing I think anyway.
Justin, enjoying himself
The video is pretty long. I wanted to include all the footage I could for those of you who couldn't come down but wanted to see what was going on. If you get board watching my adorable little girls dance, then you can fast forward the clip to these highlights:-)
0:00 Ceremony (Nicole being a bridesmaid, the wedding vows and the butterfly release)
3:38 Dancing at the reception (you have to at least watch a little bit it was a blast)
9:21 Cutting of the cake
9:44 Mother/Groom Dance
11:08 Usher (Justin Dancing...a MUST...do NOT skip this part)
15:20 Other fun dances at the end of the night.
It was a beautiful wedding and a memorable day. Justin and Erica will be living in Ohio. We will miss them very much here in Florida. We wish them a very happy and long lived marriage.
6 comments:
Oh, my goodness, I just want to cry. My heart is so happy for those two. It looked like such a beautiful wedding. The pictures of your 3 kids was just darling. They were sooooo cute. Nicoles dress was so beautiful, and Hanna looked like a little doll, and Nat was a handsome little guy all decked out in his tux. How adorable they all were.
I really did hate to miss it, but Papa Sam hasn't been very good. He has been in so much pain and has to lay down a lot.
Anyway, thank you so very much for your blog, so we can keep up with the kids and all they are doing. I just love all the paintings, puzzles and all they do. Oh yes, I may not write all the time, but I don't miss a single one of them.
You had the kids dressed so cute, so adorable and so handsome.
We love you all, and wish the newly weds all the happiness in the world.
Thanks again.
Mama Pat...I'm so glad you were able to see the video. I wanted to get it up as soon as possible because I knew that you wanted to be here but just couldn't. I love you!
I concur with Mama Pat! It looked beautiful and the kids were absolutely adorable! (Nicole-gorgeous!) Thank you so much for sharing all of that. Tell them congratulations for us!
It truly was a beautiful wedding. Good Job putting the blog/video together!! I was blessed to have been there! We do pray God's blessings upon this union.
Nicole did a Superb job!!!
Love Grammy!
Oh my goodness. Your brother is MARRIED?!! I remember him when he was just a little boy! The pictures are wonderful. The bride was beautiful and your kids are just way too cute :) Nate with his little tuxedo was such a great idea. I'm happy the rain stopped just in time for the wedding. Good luck to your brother and his wife and much happiness in Ohio.
Ooooh so pretty! I love Erica's dress and how all the dresses are gathered up like that in the same type of style. Very good idea! I love, love, love your family picture, too!
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