Michael and I were married on June 24th, 2006 at a beautiful private park on what I swear was the hottest day of the entire year. I had always wanted an outdoor wedding and this park was the perfect place. It had a full kitchen, bathrooms, shelters, and a wide open space for the ceremony too.

My favorite flowers are daisies, so I knew that I wanted my bouquets, table centerpieces, cake decorations, to be those and of course my colors were white and yellow to match. While I love how our wedding came out (and thankful it really didn’t put us into debt – we paid cash almost all of it), I am jealous of the “Pinterest” weddings out there today. If we were to get married now, things would look so much different!

One of the major things that sets our wedding apart from people being married today (obviously anyone married before us is in the same) is that our wedding was shot on FILM. It was one of the last weddings our photographer shot with film before she made the switch to digital. I always feel old when I tell people that I have the negatives for my wedding photos and I had to scan in the pictures to put them online. lol

About 5 months prior to our wedding, Michael’s dad suddenly passed away and there were a lot of questions about what we should do. Should we keep our original date or wait until the next year? We decided that we were going forward with the wedding on our original date. Michael and I had been dating for 6 years at this point and we were eager to get married. Everything turned out well in the end and I think his dad would have wanted it that way.

My very best friend Erica (on the left) was my Maid of Honor and she helped me so much! We didn’t have the money to do a lot of things and she helped me find ways around it. We ordered bridesmaid dresses online (at a cheaper cost), we did our own makeup, I made my own candles as favors (and she helped me make them all – btw, never again will I make candles! lol). She was exactly what I needed her to be.

Due to family drama (that everyone has since gotten past, thankfully!) only my youngest sister Jessica attended our wedding. I really wish that my middle sister Jennifer had been there but she’s the one who made the decision not to be. Looking back, I wish I would have made more of an effort to convince her to at least attend; even if she didn’t want to be a bridesmaid.

The photography was the most important part of the day for me (and the food was Michael’s), so that’s where the biggest bulk of our money went. We had 4 hours worth of photos before the ceremony and we made our photographer really work. We wanted our pictures to be at Niagara Falls (but not the touristy section) so we chose a spot called Three Sisters Island and it was a beautiful backdrop.

The only problem was…. it was HOT! It was in the high 80’s that day, combined with that I hadn’t really eaten much that day and I have a low tolerance for alcohol. (Michael gave me some wine in the limo.), so I got really car sick on our drive back to the park for the ceremony. I, thankfully, didn’t throw up but I was so nauseous and honestly, miserable and quite upset. We were late returning due to an accident, so all of the guests were waiting for us to arrive and as soon as the limo stopped in the parking lot, I flew out and ran to the bathroom. Next thing I knew the caterer was handing me antacids and something to eat. It helped settle my stomach and we could move on with our day.

There are plenty of photos of the ceremony where I look so sick and miserable. Luckily, our photographer was awesome and also captured a lot where I looked happy too. lol It goes without saying that the sick photos aren’t in the album.

Since I was still not feeling well, I didn’t eat the food that we paid a lot of money for but I hear was really good! I was so disappointed and upset with myself for feeling the way I did. I had only had maybe 4 oz. of wine and that was more than enough for my body and I have no tolerance for the heat and sun. Regardless of all this, it still was a really beautiful day and one that I wouldn’t change.

Our wedding songs:
Michael and I danced to: “You Had Me From Hello” by Kenny Chesney. My Dad and I danced to: “My Little Girl” by Tim McGraw and Michael and his Mom danced to: “Through the Years” by Kenny Rogers.

Photos of us with my mom (hard to believe that she’s only 5 years older than me right now in these photos!)

Michael and his mom.

My dad, grandma and me. This is one of my favorite pictures of me with her. She kept telling me how beautiful I was in my dress. I miss her so much!

This year for our wedding (and while you’re reading this), we are driving to Tennessee for The Gathering. Which is fine with me! We have been looking forward to this trip and we can always celebrate at another time. I hope you all have enjoyed this week and learning more about Michael and I’s life together. Tomorrow this will wrap up with our honeymoon to New England.

XOXO, Jules