Non-Traditional Wedding Ideas...Part II

Welcome back to the continuation of "Non-Traditional Wedding Ideas." Click here to see Part I. I hope you haven't lost interest {seriously, I expect you to tell me if my blog posts are getting boring...not kidding.} Without further delay, here are a few {more} unique aspects we included in The.Best.Day...

Once again, all photo credit goes to McGowan Images, truly fabulous photographers. {all files compressed so it won't take four days for the page to load...you're welcome!}

Wedding Party

Just in case having a "Man of Honor" {see Part I} didn't already classify our wedding party as unique, we decided we didn't need the same number of bridesmaids as groomsmen, etc. We had six bridal attendants {4 Bridesmaids, 1 Matron of Honor, 1 Man of Honor}, four groomsmen {1 Best Man, 3 Groomsmen}, three girls in the house party, two ushers and two readers. Strange as it may have been, it ended up looking great in the photos!

 

Unity Cross 

Having a unity candle was ruled out early on in the planning process {ummm...pretty sure it would be some type of bad omen if the wind blew out our unity candle...wasn't about to chance that!} and we didn't feel like unity sand "fit" well with our setting, but we wanted to do something to represent two becoming one. Enter the Unity Cross {or what my friends refer to as the "jigsaw puzzle" we put together during the ceremony}.

The outer cross represents the Groom

The inner cross represents the Bride

Inserting the three pegs that hold the Unity Cross together...
Representing the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Love that we can display this in our home as a
reminder of the promises we made on The.Best.Day.

Writing Our Own Vows

We did the traditional vows where we repeated after the pastor, but we also wrote our own. You can hear {most of} our vows on our wedding highlight video.

Ryan's vows were handwritten on a paper plate...
You better believe this is one of my favorite keepsakes from The.Best.Day!

Details

Although we didn't get married in either of our hometowns, we brought a little bit of "home" to Texas...

We asked the pastor from my hometown church to marry us. Pastor Tom incorporated stories into the ceremony about my love for shopping and Ryan's love for golf.

Pastor Tom Walters from the First Christian Church in Medicine Lodge, Kansas.

And we included wheat {and some milo} in the flowers and decor to represent Kansas.

We used my grandma Mills' Bible in place of the Ring Bearer's pillow

...And finally, the continuation of

Meaningful {to us} Music - Reception

First Dance: "Hey Pretty Girl" by Kip Moore

First dance as Mr. and Mrs. Martin!

Father/Daughter Dance: "Daddy's Angel" by T Carter Music

{Sidenote: our fabulous DJ, Rod Baker of DFWParties, edited the beginning of the song to extend the intro and included a pre-recorded message from me to my dad before the words to the song began...it meant the world to my dad!} 

The one request I had of my dad for my wedding day: to wear his white hat

Mother/Son Dance: "The Baby" by Blake Shelton

Special Request Song: "Brotherly Love" by Keith Whitley

Siblings and best friends

Ryan dancing with his sister, Maggie

He danced with each sister for half the song,
but I guess we didn't get a photo of him dancing with Lacey. :(
Lacey, Maggie and Ryan

Sweetheart Dance: "Give it All We Got Tonight" by George Strait

The last dance of the night, just the two of us...of course it had to be to George Strait!

Thank you for letting me gush about details of our wedding for the past two days. There are still a few things I want to share from The.Best.Day {getting ready with the girls, our ultimate favorite photos, details/decor, lessons learned during the planning process, etc.}, but I'll give you a break from the wedding posts for a bit. I don't want to be an annoying, over-sharing recent bride, but I just love reflecting on that special day when I became Mrs. Martin!

November 2, 2013...The.Best.Day