TODAY marks ONE YEAR of being MARRIED for us!! It’s SO hard to believe that it was EXACTLY 365 days ago that Phillip and I were GETTING MARRIED!! I can’t even believe it because time REALLY does FLY by when you’re having SO much fun! That’s just it…being married IS just SO much fun! It doesn’t matter what we’re doing…as long as we’re together, married life really is the best…especially with Phillip by my side!
It’s CRAZY to think about it that this time last year, I was getting ready at my Mom’s house with my Bridesmaids & patiently waiting for the clock to tick to two…because that’s when our pictures were going to begin! I was SO READY to get the pictures started…because it also meant that I would get to see Phillip! We chose to do a First Look BEFORE our ceremony, and I’m so glad that we did, because even though I didn’t seem nervous at all, I felt antsy because quite honestly, I didn’t feel whole without Phillip…and I knew I wanted to see him before that long walk down the aisle!
They always say that your wedding day is just a blur, but they don’t mention the days leading up to the wedding! Days before our wedding were hectic and I’m not going to lie…just a tad bit stressful! I had a lot to manage and with my type-A personality, I knew that I had a mile long to-do list that needed to be crossed off. Fortunately though, I was able to take 2 weeks off of work before hand…(which later became my two-weeks notice! I quit right after the wedding to do photography full time!!) so I was able to get A BUNCH of things taken care of. There was lots of last minute details that I needed to wrap up, and it wasn’t until we (read: my bridal party) was loading the trailer full of wedding decorations to take to the venue on Friday afternoon when it finally all started to calm down and I was able to ENJOY the entire wedding day from start to finish! It was SO awesome!
From our rehearsal dinner on Friday night to our wedding brunch on Sunday morning…Phillip and I were surrounded by lots of love and wrapped up in newlywed bliss! Our wedding weekend, especially our wedding day on June 6th, 2015 was truly the best day of our lives and it was such an amazing celebration of not only our love for each other, but our love for our families and friends as well!
Our wedding day wouldn’t have been ANYTHING without the help from our families and friends…they took care of EVERYTHING for us on wedding day & it was such a blessing to have such great people in our lives who love us and helped us out so much! My Mama & JoeJoe…oh boy, you both…I don’t even know where to begin…but THANK YOU. Thank you a million times over & over for throwing us a tremendous wedding! We are forever grateful for ALL that you did for us! …And Mama, I know you’re thankful now that you have no more daughters to marry off! 😉 To our AMAZING Day-Of Coordinator and Decorators, Melissa & Cheryl (with help from Katherine too!) Ladies…I don’t know what I would’ve done without you….well wait…I know…I would’ve stressed out to the MAX ALL DAY on June 6th, rushed to get everything together AND then arrived to the ceremony all sweaty and crazy! You two MADE our wedding SPECTACULAR and I can’t thank y’all enough!
To all of our families, our Bridal Party, our friends, and our wedding day vendors…Phillip and I can’t thank y’all enough for wrapping us up in SO MUCH love and making our wedding day possible on 6.6.15! It was a dream come true for us…and we honestly can’t thank y’all enough for such love you showed us on June 6th and for the rest of our lives together! We just love y’all!
I can’t help but tear up when I think about our wedding day just 365 days ago. That day I kept thinking to myself that I couldn’t believe that I was getting married to a man I had known LESS THAN a YEAR…and now, here we are…a YEAR later..and now I can’t believe that I’ve been married to such an AMAZING man for a YEAR! I mean, someone PINCH me!! Growing up, I had always thought about the type of man who I wanted to marry…I wanted someone who could take care of me…someone who was handy around the house…someone who loved me no matter what…someone who loved Jesus and shared in my morals and beliefs…and lots of other things…but that’ll take a couple more paragraphs! I was always surrounded by great examples of love and marriages, and seeing my parents and grandparents together throughout my whole life…I knew that I wanted a man who loved me the way my Dad loved my Mom, or sweet talked to me the way my PawPaw talked to my MawMaw, or a man who would take me on adventures & travel with me like my Grandpa did with my Grandma. What is amazing to me is that I found that in Phillip…and SO much more! Phillip makes a night on the couch watching reruns on TV make a night on the town seem minuscule. No questions asked, Phillip will wash the dishes after I cook the dinner, and speaking of dinner…Phillip will even EAT my dinners even though I can’t cook at all…like..at all. He comes home and eats lunch with me everyday and snuggles up on the couch with me before he heads back to work. He’s seen me go days and days without makeup wearing only yoga pants and some raggedy old t-shirt, and somehow, miraculously he still sticks around. Phillip has listened and learned as I’ve tried to teach him the way to photograph using my cameras so that he can become my second shooter, and goodness…he’s gotten quite good at it (I just used 300 of his shots from a wedding we just shot together! He’s getting almost too good!)…he even buys me new equipment or gear when I need it, and without hesitation, he’ll take me up to the local camera store just for me to “window shop”. And when I’m hangry…not in a friendly mood…and at my absolute worse…he STILL loves me unconditionally, and remains the greatest fan of my life. Quite frankly…I can’t imagine my life without Phillip, and I wouldn’t want to do this adventure of life without him!
Now, I must admit…this first year of marriage hasn’t been the easiest…we’ve had our fair share of fights & lots of bickering back and forth. And although I hate to admit it, but there have been a few nights where we’ve gone to bed mad, but that doesn’t mean we don’t make up in the morning. There’s been a lot of “I’m Sorry’s” and a ton of learning we’ve both had to do…but that’s just it…we’re learning. Each and every single day, we are learning something new and exciting about each other. He’s learning how to be patient with me and I’m slowly learning how to iron his work pants…haha…just kidding! He’ll have to continue with that one! 😉
Phillip, I’ve been blessed to be called your wife for this past year! To be able to do life with you is just such an amazing feeling & I love going to bed each night with you and waking up next to you each morning! You are my biggest fan, the reason I rush home from wherever I may be, and the joy that fills my life! You make me laugh each and every single day, and I love that you laugh at my “jokes” and you tolerate my bad dance moves! You are my everything and I can’t tell you enough just how lucky enough I am to call you mine! Thank you for being my Husband, but most of all…thank you for being my Best Friend! I love you! Happy 1st Anniversary!
A couple things you should know about our wedding day:
-Our engagement was only 8 months long! We got engaged in October, didn’t really start mega-wedding-planning until after the holidays, and picked our venue in January. Oh yeah, we even switched our wedding date too! (It was going to be 10.10.15!)
-We toured our venue, The Henry Hall Wilson House, just on a whim! We were in the process of making a Lowe’s run to buy something else for our never-ending home renovation project when we drove by the venue….which is less than a mile from our home! We toured it an hour after calling, and booked it the next day!
-The weather report 5 days out was calling for 80% chance of rain by 3:00pm on our wedding day! So…5 days out, we rented a huge tent and had it delivered to the venue the day before our ceremony. Wouldn’t you know it, it started to barely rain at 9:00pm…right as we were about to do our sparkler exit!
-Our estimated guest count at the wedding was 201!
-We tried our hardest at keeping everything “local” to Monroe for a “Shop Local” vibe on our wedding day! It’s so nice to be able to drive past some of our vendor’s shops or see them out while running errands! It’s so nice to live in a small city like Monroe! We love it!
-All of the invitations were all handmade by me, my sweet Mama, and the wax seals were done by Phillip and I! We started the invites back in February and finally got them all delivered by 6 weeks prior to the wedding date! (The postage alone cost us $450! CRAZY!)
-Phillip’s Dad married us, so that was WAY special for us! Our sisters were bridesmaids and our brother-in-laws were both groomsmen. We each had our best friends in our wedding party as well.
-During our ceremony, we took our first communion as Husband and Wife and then we turned around and served communion to our wedding guests as well. It was a great way to share the love of Christ with our guests…and actually SEE each of our guests as well! I’ll always LOVE those moments of our wedding day!
-Our only Nephew carried a cute (but heavy!) sign coming in and out of the ceremony that read on the front- “Uncle Phillip, here comes your Bride…” and on the back it said- “Don’t worry ladies…I’m STILL single!” It was SO cute!
-Speaking of signs…all of the wooden signs were actually all cut from an old pallet and I hand painted them! It was one of those stressful “last minute details” I was talking about earlier! 😉
-We had 30 tables set up, with one long farmhouse table set up in the middle for our parents and wedding party. Each table had a different centerpiece on it which were made out of all things old and vintage. I had started collecting vintage finds the moment we got engaged it seemed like and I had planned on collecting mismatched china for the place settings as well, but then realized that would be too complicated (& EXPENSIVE!), so our wonderful caterer hooked us up with some BEAUTIFUL china to use and it was LOVELY!
-I commissioned one of my girlfriends who is an artist to paint while our reception was going on. I wanted her to capture the look of the house and the reception so that we can hang it in our home. She did such a wonderful job and I absolutely loved having her apart of our wedding!
-Since I wasn’t able to share a Father/Daughter dance with my own dad, I decided to dance with ALL of my Uncles and special men in my life…so while “Love Will Keep Us Alive” by The Eagles (one of Dad’s favorites!) I danced with each of 4 Uncles, my brother-in-law, my Grandpa, my Step-Dad, and then brought my Mama in for the finale. I just know Daddy was watching from above and just so happy!
-We danced to Etta James “At Last” and then surprised everyone with a silly dance at the end to Micheal Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel”..thinking we would actually follow through with our “choreographed” dance moves…yea, that didn’t last. We failed miserably.
-My sister/Matron-0f-Honor delivered probably THE. BEST. TOAST. I’ve EVER heard. She rapped the ENTIRE “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” with her own words fit around Phillip and I and oh my word. It was hilarious!
-We ran through a long line of sparklers and got in our car and drove off. We pulled out of the venue driveway and just cried tears of joy! We were SO happy to be married finally!
Here’s a look back on our favorites from our wedding day! Oh my, did we have a hard time picking favorites!!
Makeup was done by the fabulous Jennifer Abercrombie! She’s the best y’all!
Instead of picking out some sort of fabulous shoe for the wedding, I decided to go for comfort instead of style and wore the same shoes I wore on our first date!
Loved that my Dad’s blue shirt was stitched to the heart of my dress! 
Phillip’s gift to me was “something to hang in the house!” So precious. He knows me all too well.
Phillip decided to wear his Grandpa’s watch for the wedding day. I loved that he did, he sure loved his Grandpa!
Plus, Phillip and the groomsmen got dressed at our house! It’s so neat to look back on these photos and see our house in its “early stages”! 
Getting ready for our First Look! We were so nervous! 
Immediately after our First Look, we dug up the bourbon bottle we buried 30 days before our wedding day. It’s an old Southern tradition-you bury the bourbon 30 days prior to your Big Day in hopes that Mother Nature will reward you & give you great weather on your wedding day! It worked! We just couldn’t find the bourbon! Thanks to Geoff, our photog, he found it and then Phillip finished digging! 😉 
We toasted & took a shot (well…everyone except Rachel who was 9 months pregnant!) & THEN….
…We headed TO THE CHURCH!
I made these letters MONTHS before the wedding day out of moss! One is now hanging on our front door!
Here’s our nephew with his adorable sign! He was quite a hit!!
My Uncle Greg walked me down the aisle! Taking that walk was magical!! 
Saying our vows!
Serving Holy Communion to our guests…we loved this part of our ceremony! SO glad that we took the time to do this for all of our guests! 
After Family Formals and Bridal Party Portraits, we decided to grab some portraits in the field out by Phillip’s grandma’s house! We were SO thankful that our AMAZING photographers, The Schultzes, were happy with our choice! We loved frolicking through this field, even though it WAS 100 degrees and there were ALL sorts of bugs in and around my dress…IT WAS SO WORTH IT! We LOVE these shots!
THESE shots were taken in a SEWER LINE! We LOVE these shots too! SO glad that we were able to snag a couple of minutes away between the ceremony and reception and go to these prime locations!! 
My bouquet was wrapped with my Dad’s blue shirt…I loved having him right there with me all day! 
Reception Time at the beautiful Henry Hall Wilson House! (This venue is less than a mile from our house!) 
We played lots of yard games! Phillip even made those corn hole boards for us and our wedding! 
We served brews from Olde Mecklenburg Brewery, one of our local favorites!
Memory table of all of our loved ones who weren’t able to be with us! This was front and center as soon as you walked through the front doors of the house.
I absolutely LOVE all of the detail shots Cheyenne and Geoff were able to capture! Y’all rock!! 
We had bought two Fuji Instamatic cameras for our “guest book” and had everyone take selfies and glue their pictures inside our guest book! It was a fun way to incorporate cameras into our wedding day!
Our first dance as Husband and Wife!
Rachel giving her most EPIC toast! 
Dancing the night away! I was a hot mess of sweat by the end of the night! Too much Wobblin’ for me! It was the first time (& not LAST!) that I embarrassed Phillip as his wife! 😉 
Our band was AMAZING! LOVED jammin’ with them all night! 
Our wedding would’ve not been the same without our team of simply AMAZING vendors who helped us make our wedding day a DREAM come TRUE!
AMAZING Photography by The Schultzes. Cheyenne & Geoff…y’all are just the best! We are STILL in awe of our wedding day images! Those moments you were able to capture were not just pretty pictures but they were the start of our adventure together! THANK YOU for everything!
Hair by Michelle and makeup by Jennifer! You gals are just awesome! Thank you for beautifying me and my girls! We loved our looks!
For the beautiful backdrop to our wedding day…the Venue/Tables/Chairs/Linens all from The Henry Hall Wilson House. Thank y’all for being such wonderful hosts!
Our Ceremony wouldn’t have been the same anywhere else! We loved having our church ceremony at Central United Methodist Church and thank them tremendously for all of their help, guidance, and pre-martial counseling.
Catering by Kate Clyde’s Catered Creations. Our guests are STILL talking about how delicious our food was! Great job! Also, thank you for dealing with Mama and I between all of our back and forth with countless hours we hemmed and hawed over this and that…thank you for your patience and we appreciate it so much! Also, the China you gifted us was just the BEST! Katheryn, honestly…you helped make my wedding dreams come true! Thank you SO much!
Truly beautiful florals from The Petal Shoppe of Monroe. You guys outdid yourselves and we were SO happy with all of the arrangements! Thank you, thank you!!!
Bridesmaid dresses from Simpson’s Bridal in Monroe…oh, Krista…I can’t tell you enough how much I just LOVED working with you during this stressful time! Getting our dresses in early AND being able to make the alternations fast & easy was the icing on the cake!
The delicious cake was made by Krissy’s Krazy Kakes…and the cake top was STILL delicious a YEAR later!
Skate Rink Jukebox & East Coast Entertainment was a delight to work with & I’m SO happy we had a band instead of a DJ! Live music is definitely one of “our things” and you guys made the whole thing worth wild! My grandpa is STILL talking about how great you guys were!
Our tent was set up and delivered by Special Occasion Rentals & goodness, did they deliver! Thank you for taking our request on such short notice & we appreciate everything your family did for ours!
Thanks for reliving our day with us!
XO! -Emma Loo
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