Today is my wedding anniversary! I can’t believe I’ve been married to my wonderful, sweet, amazing husband for eight years. I thought to commemorate the occasion, I would share some photos from our wedding.
However, before I get into that, if you haven’t met Evan, then please do so by visiting his guest post HERE. If you want to know how Evan proposed to me… you can go HERE.
Come read about the movie-themed wedding of @DeliberateMom and @TheReelEvanBly #wedding #weddingpictures Click To TweetOkay… now on to the wedding day!
We had a winter wedding (obviously) and we were concerned about the potential for a blizzard that day. So the wedding and reception were held in one location… a beautiful hall we had found. We hired a wonderful justice of the peace and scripted the ceremony to our liking, including writing our own vows.
For those of you who like “the bottom line”, we had 98 guests at our wedding and the entire wedding came to a little less than $4000. Plus, when I say the entire wedding, I mean all of it… the dress, tux rental, cape rental, hall rental, JP fees, photographer, decorations, flowers, DJ, live pre-wedding music, gift bags for out-of-town guests, and toiletries for the bathroom).
Also, for the purpose of confidentiality, I am only including pictures of Evan, myself and our justice of the peace. I hope you don’t mind.
To set the tone, I’ve embedded the video of the song I walked down the aisle to…
Eva Cassidy’s version of Songbird.
Feel free to press play on the video and then scroll through the pictures. It was hard to choose just a few from over 350 choices but here you go! On to the festivities!
The venue
We had a movie-themed wedding. I enlisted the help of my brother-in-law to make a movie poster for our wedding. Little postcard versions of this were sent out as our save-the-date cards.
The main table leading into the hall held all the “essentials” flowers, guest book, comic-book programs made by Evan, and the wedding photos of our parents.
Each table was named after a romantic movie. My brother-in-law made gorgeous little movie poster cards for each table. The cards also indicated the itinerary of events for the day. Some of the tables which I can recall were: Say Anything, Pretty in Pink, Shrek, Romancing the Stone, Gone With the Wind, Love Actually, and The Princess Bride. The head table was named after our favourite movie, It’s a Wonderful Life.
Every guest got a “soundtrack” to our wedding and a heart-shaped photo frame. We decorated the tables with fake evergreen garland, tin lanterns, and Hershey Kisses. We even had little bride and groom trivia cards on the tables to occupy the guests!
Our wedding cake was homemade and was a gift for us. I had found a picture in a magazine and it came out looking almost exactly like the picture!
Wedding hair
I just had to share this photo because I absolutely loved my wedding day hair. I didn’t want a veil… I wore a dainty tiara instead. However, I wanted my hair to be just as beautiful as a veil. My stylist did a fabulous job.
The wedding
Since we got married in a hall, we decorated the stage with a lighted arch and fake evergreen boughs. We also had a small bench for our flower girls to sit on. I love the dramatic effect of the stage in our movie themed wedding.
Evan and I wrote our own vows. Evan decided to surprise me with a song he wrote and performed as his vows. The lyrics to that song are posted HERE.
I did my best to not bawl my eyes out.
After the wedding
We took this picture outside the hall in a gazebo. I wanted to include it so you could see a bit of my wedding cape. I unfortunately didn’t have very many pictures of me with the cape.
We had our formals taken in a historical movie theatre. It was the perfect setting for our wedding pictures.
It was such an awesome day and a beautiful wedding. Evan and I spent months working together on all the details. Yes… I said together. He was completely involved in all aspects of the wedding. It was the perfect start to a fun and loving, life-long relationship!
I hope you enjoyed this glimpse of our wedding day. I’m looking forward to celebrating eight years of marriage tonight with the love of my life!
He’s not perfect. You aren’t either, and the two of you will never be perfect. But if he can make you laugh at least once, causes you to think twice, and if he admits to being human and making mistakes, hold onto him and give him the most you can. He isn’t going to quote poetry, he’s not thinking about you every moment, but he will give you a part of him that he knows you could break. Don’t hurt him, don’t change him, and don’t expect for more than he can give. Don’t analyze. Smile when he makes you happy, yell when he makes you mad, and miss him when he’s not there. Love hard when there is love to be had. Because perfect guys don’t exist, but there’s always one guy that is perfect for you.~ Bob Marley
SHARE WITH OTHERS
Happy Anniversary!! Your wedding was absolutely adorable :) I LOVE movies, and I love all the little details you put into it. You looked stunning! It’s so funny you mention the cape. My daughters were in my cousin’s wedding 2 years ago. It was in November so my aunt (who made the dresses) made little caplets to go with them. She MADE SURE we took photos with those and they were seen. Ya can’t blame her with all that work she put into it. I hope you have a wonderful anniversary!!
Awww, thanks for the anniversary wishes.
Yes, I soooo wish we had more pictures of me in the cape. It was beautiful too.
We unfortunately didn’t get to celebrate. My husband go the stomach flu. In sickness and in health right?! LOL
What an awesome wedding and theme. Seriously, so enjoyed getting a glimpse into your special day and wishing you a very, happy anniversary now, too!!!! :) xoxo!!
I was delighted to share our wedding day with you Janine!
Thanks for the anniversary wishes.
Happy Anniversary! What a cute wedding! My sister is getting married this weekend, and winter weddings make everyone nervous!!! Haha, yours was beautiful! Congrats!
Winter weddings are nerve wracking! Fortunately we had unseasonably warm weather. It was a lovely day through and through.
Thanks for the anniversary wishes.
Happy Anniversary! What an amazing wedding theme! I absolutely love it. You looked beautiful and how romantic that he wrote a song for you! So wonderful!
Thanks for the warm anniversary wishes Echo. It was a wonderful day and we had such fun with the theme!
How beautiful! I love that you did it for a reasonable price, but it was still so meaningful and special. Happy anniversary!!
I’m glad you enjoyed looking through my wedding day memories Marie.
It was such a special day and it really was affordable too… yet it felt “rich”, if you know what I mean.
How fun! Y’all are such a precious couple! I love seeing your wedding dress and the pictures! I love that you were able to do your wedding for such little (being a very relative term) $$$$! That is awesome! Happy anniversary! Wishing you the best for the year ahead! xoox
Thanks Caroline! Our wedding was really affordable, yet it felt like we spared no expense. We put a lot of work into it and all memories of it were precious.
Thank you for the warm anniversary wishes my friend.
Happy anniversary beautiful! Thank you for sharing your beautiful day! I love that you two planned together… My hubby and i did the same it was fun too! I may share like this when our anniversary comes around!!
Thank you for the warm anniversary wishes Bijee. I loved sharing my wedding day. I would love to see your photos!
Happy anniversary! What a fun and creative wedding! You looked beautiful and you havent aged a bit in 8 years!!
We had such fun planning our wedding. We put so much thought into everything… and it really did turn out wonderful.
Thanks for the anniversary wishes and I will take that compliment about not aging and run with it! Ha!
<3 I love wedding pictures! You looked gorgeous! Happy anniversary!
I’m glad you enjoyed looking through our wedding photos and thanks for the anniversary wishes.
What a beautiful way to celebrate a wedding and of course I listened to the song while reading and looking at the photos. You were a beautiful bride and he was a handsome groom. Happy Anniversary my friend and here’s to many more years of happiness together.
Thank you so much for the warm anniversary wishes Amanda!
I loved looking through these photos and reminiscing about our wedding day. Eight years went by so quickly!
Happy anniversary my dear! I cannot believe your entire wedding was under $4k!!! That’s crazy. I think we paid over $2k for just our photographers, haha!
What a fun theme to have as well. Love seeing photos of you two.
We had such fun planning our wedding. We were super frugal. We spent a year going weekly to Michaels (separately) with our 40% off coupons to buy items for our wedding.
We scored on our photographer. $1200 and we got all the digital copies to do whatever we chose with them! He did a great job too.
Thanks for the anniversary wishes.
Oh my gosh, tears all over my face! That quote got me at the end. I loved now unique and special your wedding was, and you were a gorgeous bride!! I think my favorite pic was that last one where both of you were gettin down!! Happy Anniversary to the both of you!!
I love that Bob Marley quote– it’s “real” love he describes there. It’s so beautiful.
We had a wonderful time planning our wedding and it was flawless (except for the fact that I told the DJ we wanted crooners like Ella Fitzgerald, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and Nat King Cole playing for dinner music… and absolutely NO Kenny G.; he misunderstood us and thought we only wanted Kenny G.). Halfway through dinner Evan had to go tell the DJ to change the music. LOL
We totally did “get down”; best party ever.
My heart is happy to read this. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! Here’s to eight strong years and many, many, many more!
My favorite picture is of you dancing! Woot!
And one more thing: I remember you once commenting that you loved It’s a Wonderful Life. So clever to have that be the table of honor’s inspiration!
Thanks so much for the warm anniversary wishes Robin!
We really did get down– it was a great party.
Yes, It’s a Wonderful Life is Evan’s and my favourite movie.
What a lovely bride you made! Happy anniversary!
Awww, thank you Julie! I definitely “felt” like I was a lovely bride.
Loooove all the photos!! You were a gorgeous bride! What a great idea for a theme wedding, really the possibilities are endless….and one last thing…
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! :-)
Awww, thank you for the anniversary wishes!
Everyone’s healthy, so we’re looking forward to celebrating tonight! Woohoo!
He sang to you! That is too special.
What a lovely wedding and an even lovelier couple! Happy anniversary and best wishes for many, many more wonderful years. moments and memories together!
Awww, thank you for the warm anniversary wishes!
Yes, he sang to me! I was sooooo surprised. It was a beautiful song too.
Did you really just quote Bob Marley? You are so after my heart! Happy Anniversary! I love this post and getting insight on your wedding day. The last picture is my favorite- you look completely beautiful and so so happy! What a gorgeous day and so many clever ideas! I LOVE your movie pick for your table.
Yes, I totally quoted Bob Marley– LOL. I keep telling you, we’re kindred spirits my friend!
I’m glad you enjoyed this trip down memory lane. Ahhh, the bliss!
Thank you for your warm anniversary wishes.
Aww… what a gorgeous winter wedding.
I love the details. I would love the movie poster cards. Our wedding was somewhat themed around the show LOST and classic rock and some movies too. We were at the Harry Potter table, personally.
You guys still look the same too! And I love that he sang to you.
I’m glad you enjoyed my Wedding Day Flashback!
We had such fun planning our wedding… it really was a special, one-of-a-kind day!
Aww Jennifer your wedding was beautiful!! I love how personal it was! I love love love the movie theme :) How creative!!! Those photos really captured how fun it was and how much you love each other. Thanks for sharing and happy anniversary!!
Thank you Kelli! We had such fun planning our wedding and it really was unique to us.
Thank you for your kind anniversary wishes. Evan had the stomach flu on our actual anniversary so we’re looking forward to celebrating tonight!
This was an absolutely adorable post. I still am listening to the song as I type my comment! I guess I am a really emotional person because I am tearing up… It looks like your wedding was a beautiful and wonderful day. I LOVE that he performed a song for you at the alter. How romantic!
My husband and I wrote love notes to each other and placed them in a wine box to open in 20 years… I think I will share my wedding flashback for my anniversary coming up in February as well.
–Thanks for sharing! AND BTW, your husband’s recipe was fantastic! Though, I’m nervous to try PB&J with cream cheese… I’m a cream cheese addict though so I should like it???? We will see!
Awww, I’m glad you enjoyed this. We had a beautiful wedding and I must say I was stunned when he pulled out the guitar for his “vows”. Plus he did his vows before mine!! I completely forgot what I wanted to say because I was stunned by the emotions.
I love your idea of the love notes– how sweet!
I would love to see your wedding flashback! You should do it!
Thanks for checking out my hubby’s guest post. He’s such a funny guy!
What an amazing beautiful day and bride and groom! Love the movie theme. We weren’t nearly as creative with our wedding. In fact, since I was still in college I let my mom and little sister plan…um…just about everything! It was an awesome day and it was kind of fun being surprised by how everything turned out.
Happy anniversary. May you have decades and decades more of happiness together!
I’m glad you enjoyed our Wedding Day flashback and thank you for the warm anniversary wishes. My husband was sick with the stomach flu on our anniversary, so we’re looking forward to celebrating tonight!
Awww, I love weddings and yours was just perfect! Congratulations to you and Evan.
I’m glad you enjoyed my Wedding Day Flashback post. Thank you for your warm wishes.
Beautifullllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll. Awesomeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!
Happy Anniversary!! Lots of love and more and more happy years together forever.
God Bless friend.
Awww, thanks for the lovely wishes Ifeoma!
Happy Belated Anniversary!! Funny thing is, you guys have the same anniversary as my parents do. :) :) For real!!! The photos are beautiful!! Your dress is enchanted and so very pretty!! I love the cake, wow! Gorgeous & perfect! I love the photo of you two peeking from the gazebo. So beautiful Jennifer!! xoxo
Awww, thank you for the warm anniversary wishes. That’s neat that we share the same anniversary as your parents! I’m so glad you enjoyed our wedding day flashback. It was fun for me to share!
Happy belated anniversary!! That quote from Bob Marley is awesome – I hadn’t read that in a long time. Thanks for that :)
Happy belated anniversary Jennifer and Evan! I have been wanting to make it over here to read this post and finally got the chance… Sorry it took me so long.
You were stunningly beautiful on your wedding day! It touched my heart to see the love you both have for one another, it shines through in all of these pictures. Being the sentimental and emotional person that I am I even teared up a bit. Especially when I read the part about his song to you, it gave me goosebumps!
Thank you so much for sharing your walk down memory lane as I really enjoyed it. I’m going to go read the things you have linked to this post now.
Much love,
Lysa xx
Oh I love it!!!! The Princess Bride is one of my favorite movies–but then again, so is Shrek. How much fun that must have been for your guests.
And wow, all that for under $4000??? Lady, you should write a post on planning a wedding on a budget! I have known girls that have spent just that on a DRESS!
My hubby and I just got married at the courthouse–we did it all backwards and started having kids first–but we have talked about doing a “real” wedding on like our 10th or 15th anniversary. I would love something like this. So unique and lovely.
Congratulations on s beautiful wedding and happy marriage!
Yes, we were frugal. Since we had the wedding in January we were able to get many of our decorations discounted. Every week for months, we would go to the craft store with a 40% off coupon each and buy one item the wedding – lol. Then there were things like the evergreen garland that I got discounted the day after Christmas. Plus we had so much help from family (like my brother-in-law made all the printables – and it didn’t cost us a thing)! Plus the cake was gifted to us.
The movie theme perfectly captures our personalities – we’re kind of big movie buffs! lol
Thank you for visiting my wedding day flashback Miranda!