Sunday, November 6, 2011

Mr. and Mrs. Christiansen

Well hello there! 
I can't hardly believe I'm up and able to write a blog post the day after our wedding,
but I'm too giddy from opening gifts and cards with Mr. Beau and how BLESSED we are by so many people.
Of course, last night/yesterday was the
BIG DAY.

And-- the ceremony and reception both were a PACKED HOUSE
Oh my word how the turn out was- it was incredible. Our DJ even mentioned that on his site!

While I was pacing in the bridal room right before the "5 minute mark" of the ceremony starting, someone told me to take a few glances once on stage with Beau- and look into the audience to remember all of the faces that were there for US- to have a mental memory....(it was a little dark out in the auditorium seating- maybe I just had nervous blurred vision-but I could tell there were A TON of people). And my shakin body would vouch for me!  

The amount of people, the mountains of gifts and cards, the lines for the adoption dollar dance, the turn out of the people, and how LONG they stayed at the reception, the speeches given (LOL), and the hugs in the receiving line.....are all such a testimant of the people God has provided in our lives to love, encourage, and support us and it was enough to bring me to tears when Beau and I started our night together after the reception in prayer. 

** SIDE NOTE: And how awesome is that, after all the excitement of the day, and the anticipation of the coming night after the celebrations, my husband (WOAH, NEW word in my vocab! :) stopped what we were doing at our wedding night condo- 
and LEAD US IN PRAYER, before continuing anything.
He's amazing folks. He's a keeper. He's a gift from God.

Like always, we had a few glitches through the day!
I laughed when they happened and I can LAUGH NOW! :) I'll share!
Things like: 
  1. We left for the church all done-up and beautified, and forgot the bridesmaids dresses at my home in Huxley. WOOPS. Already 9 minutes late to the church for pictures/getting in my dress.
  2. In the craziness of our florists day- forgot the bags of rose petals for the 'throwing' when picking up the flowers after we were hitched and hoppin in the getaway car! She so kindly had her husband run them up to the church. NO PROBLEM! :)
  3. The tux place gave Beau an orange vest rather than the ivory one to "match the bride". He realized this 10 minutes before the meeting time at the church. They worked it all out eventually and dropped an ivory one off. Hey, we just have a variation in pictures with two vests.
  4. I almost tripped up the stairs to the stage in my dress. No big :P
  5. It was freezing and windy as heck for our outdoor bridal party pictures. Whatever. They just have a little "Baywatch-modelesque " look to them. :) 
  6. Our picture location had us on a rusty old stairway, that left little love marks all over my dress- hey, SHOUT wipes! ;) 
  7. Our little ring bearer just wasn't havin it walkin down the aisle, or so I heard. Still got a laugh anyhow!
  8. Beau and I slaaaaved over cake balls and thought no one would like them so only made 170, they were the fist thing gone in less than a half hour. Shoot. People kept asking for them. Bummer.
These things didn't cramp my day what so ever, it just sprinkled it with a little more excitement! 

Then, there were the things that made our day super extra special: 
  1. We got pictures done in JUST the nick of time. This was one of the most stressful things to plan, the itinerary of the day and having people know what time to come and worrying if they came and we were  running late they'd be annoyed or hungry, or if I told them a time and then we were ahead and sitting there wasting time having nothing to do and people were bored. IT WAS PERFECT. 2, 488 pictures at the end of the day/night. CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THEM!
  2. We had tons of people that said they couldn't come, COME- and it was so great to see them and that they made time for our special day. :) 
  3. I ordered a rose, in memory of my best friend that passed away a few years ago - to give to his parents that traveled the 3hrs here for our wedding, and gave it to them at the reception. They've looked out for me in so many aspects of my life and walked through tough times together. I gave it to them, and his mom broke into happy tears. I think half missing him, half so grateful that I thought of him on our day. It brought such joy to my heart to have them there AND to hear that "they approve" of Beau- because they care so deeply for me. 
  4. To Jake and Janel (especially Jake) who made a hysterical point in telling us he hasn't been to a wedding in 6 years, we felt super special. ;) LOL
  5. ALL OF THE PICTURES WITH ALL OF OUR SPECIAL PEOPLE IN OUR LIVES. PRICELESS.
  6. We were able to accumulate? (i dont know the best word for that) through our Adoption Dollar Dance a chunk of change to add to our fund that's set up! Praise the Lord. AND we had a few cards that asked us to put their monetary wedding gift towards our adoption fund. So neat!
  7. Beau and I both made it through our vows without crying! (too much)
  8. We had SO MANY PEOPLE that either told US or our parents that our wedding was one of the most fun they'd been to, the prettiest, the most meaningful, joyful, genuine, God-honoring, etc etc weddings they've ever been to. One guest told Beau's mom that that was the first wedding he'd been to that he honestly thought/saw a genuine true love between a bride and groom that WOULD LAST! We owe that to Christ. Another, Beau said a man came through the receiving line that had tears in his eyes, and they were red and puffy from crying, someone he grew up around and was one of the toughest men he's ever been around, and told Beau that he's never seen a ceremony or love like that between two people, and he couldn't believe Beau's letter and how much that meant, and how he could have never done gotten up there and done that. GOD. IS. GOOD.  Since this morning and being with our family we've heard about conversations or speeches were started or implemented that were Christ centered....and PRAISE GOD FOR THAT! One of my bridesmaids said she had a spiritual conversaation with someone, my dad with a groomsman, and others throughout the night about relationships with the Lord and what God's done in our lives. GOD ANSWERED OUR PRAYERS THAT IT WOULD GLORIFY HIM AND THAT IT WOULD DRAW PEOPLE TO HIM. I'M SO THANKFUL FOR THAT! The best part. 
  9. In between the ceremony and reception, Beau and I took a pit stop to Burgies and ordered a strawberry smoothie. But not before the lady at the drive through window being pleasantly surprised at the couple in a tux and big white dress.....needless to say, our smoothie was on the house! :) 
  10. We had people come from New Jersey (a 7th team mate that joined us in Washington D.C. for our Malawi summer trip), New York, Florida, Minnesota, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, ALL OVER IOWA, and it was great!
Little blessings and circumstances that made our night what it was. We had a conversation on the way to our wedding night condo, and we both agreed there wasn't a THING, we'd take back or do differently and that it went so smooth and ABSOLUTELY PERFECT. WE wouldn't change a thing. How many people can say that? Beau said he was up half the night just reliving all the details and every moment, that he remembers everything! He didn't want to forget and couldn't get them off his mind. (I was fast asleep. Even fell asleep on the 45 min drive there. woops) (We still had fun don't worry ;) )

LONG STORY SHORT--- TO GOD BE THE GLORY AND CENTER OF OUR MARRIAGE HE'S BLESSED US WITH ! :)


2 comments:

Jon and Nicole Sage said...

Goose Bumps all over my body! Love you guys so much!

Janel said...

So funny, your dad said the same thing to Jake that you did..."You never come to weddings!" And there was no better wedding than yours to break the streak! What a Christ-centered night you guys put on! I just knew God was going to use that ceremony to spark some spiritual conversations!!!!!! My favorite part was the letters....there were lots of guests tearing up when you guys read them. They were so genuine. I wondered where you two went off to in between the wedding and reception....my imagination was cooking up all sorts of things! ;) You guys ROCK! I can't wait to see how God will use you as a couple to advance His Kingdom! Let the journey begin!