On October 21st, 2016 I married my best friend, Anthony Reel. Six months ago from today (April 21st)! The time has flown by! It’s been 6 months and I still haven’t shared my wedding pictures with anyone! So today I am giving you a preview of my wedding and will share with you moments from my wonderful day.
This post originally appeared on Anna’s 1st blog, Annamotion.
All photography in this post are © Casey Neeb.
Anthony asked me to be his girlfriend on October 10th, 2014. Then on March 8th, 2016 he asked me to marry him; you can read our engagement story here. I was so busy with my last semester of college that I didn’t focus much on wedding planning until after I graduated on April 30th, 2016 (as valedictorian!). My sister and her family so kindly let me live with them until my wedding day. My sister was also my wonderful official wedding planner!
My bridesmaids each so kindly helped me out with what they could. My Maid of Honor, Alyssa, helped throw me my Indiana bridal shower back home and did such an excellent job! My Matron of Honor, Colleen, flew out early to help me with final preparations. My bridesmaid, Kelsey, threw me my bachelorette party! And all of my bridesmaids worked hard to help me decorate the sanctuary (including ironing a gazillion table cloths!). I am so blessed that each of them said yes to being by my side on my special day. They made my day extra special <3
Getting Ready
We left at 6:55 a.m. to get to the church to start prepping. The lovely Debbie did an amazing job on our hair! While the first bridesmaids started getting their hair done, Alyssa and I made a Smoothie King run to take advantage of their $5 Fridays (I love smoothies!!!). And check out that detailed wedding schedule I made (below). Can you tell I love organization and knowing the plan?
I bought these adorable custom tumbler cups for my bridesmaids with little gifts inside, including my first attempt at home made bath bombs. Unfortunately I was too late to leave a review on Etsy, but let me just say that Katey Shepard of Lolly Belle Monograms did an excellent job on these! She was super kind and even redid one when there was a misunderstanding on one of the dress images. I would highly recommend her! And aren’t these tumblers fabulous?!?
Something old, something new, something borrowed something blue. I borrowed the garter and earrings from my mother. The garter was the one she wore on her wedding day. It added a little touch of both borrowed and blue. And of course the dress was new. Let’s just admire this gorgeous dress for a moment! It was the very first one I tried on and it fit me perfectly! However, I went in saying the only dress I wouldn’t buy is a “mermaid” style dress. I always envisioned myself in a more princess-y ballgown wedding dress, but after trying this one on a second time I knew it was the one because it looked the best on me and made me feel the most beautiful.
I bought a fragrance from my friend, Heather (of Hiya Tootsie!), and saved it to wear for the first time on my wedding day so that I will always be reminded of that special day when I inhale the delightful chocolate peppermint cupcake scent of her fragrance. (Seriously, go check it out in her store! All of her fragrances smell so good and are basically liquid empowerment!)
When we were all ready, I had a first look with my daddy.
Then we went to the park for our full bridal party photoshoot. Starting with my first look with Anthony!
The Bridal Party
Anthony’s handsome groomsmen (from left to right): Patrick, Mitchell, Anthony, Tyler, and Ben.
My beautiful bridesmaids (from left to right): Colleen, Alyssa, Kelsey, Alexis, and Lily.
The Wedding!!!
Our wonderful ushers, Shane and Taevan, walked in our grandparents. Then came our flower girl, my niece Alaina. Followed by our 2nd flower girl, my niece Evalyn, who helped escort our ringbearer, my nephew Lincoln.
Enter bride and father of the bride. We walked down the aisle to La Vie En Rose.
We started off the ceremony with worship, led by Ann, Raven, and LeRoy. Such a beautiful moment, led by such beautiful voices! They sang Holy Spirit (my favorite worship song) and Ever Be.
My brother, Nathan, and brother-in-law, Will, officiated our ceremony. I couldn’t have chosen a more perfect team! Many wisdom nuggets were dropped…along with nerdy references.
Then we exchanged our vows:
I, (Anna/Anthony), take you (Anna/Anthony), to be my (wife/husband), loving you now and always as you grow and develop into all that God intends. I will love you when we are together and when we are apart; when our lives are at peace and when they are in turmoil; when I am proud of you and when I am disappointed in you; in times of rest and in times of work. I will honor your goals and dreams and help you to fulfill them. From the depth of my being I will seek to be open and honest with you. Before God, our family, and our friends I make these vows of love and devotion to you and only you as long as we both shall live.
Exchanging of the rings.
We decided to have unity sand for our wedding. As a special element, we filled an hourglass instead of regular glasses. My dad designed and crafted the wood pieces and put the hourglass together. As a final touch he added a penny with the year of our wedding, 2016, to seal it shut. My dad is so talented; he did an amazing job on this hand-crafted hourglass. I think this is my favorite thing I own! During the ceremony, we filled it with white and purple sand. Each year on our anniversary we will flip the hourglass, symbolizing how as time goes on our lives will become even more intertwined and inseparable, just like the different colored sands. While we filled the hourglass, The Wedding Song by Matthew Mole played. Ever since I first heard this song I knew I wanted it to be in my wedding.
Pronouncement as husband and wife! And I kissed my husband for the very first time.
The Reception
We decided to have a small cake to use for the cake cutting tradition and had cupcakes for the guests. The cupcakes and cake were so beautifully and deliciously made by Cupcake Amore and they were gluten free! (Surprise if you ate one and didn’t know! So good though, right!?) We had a dessert bar with cookies (so kindly made by friends and brought from afar), brownies, and pretzels. We also had a coffee and hot chocolate bar!
We started the reception with cutting our cake. We’ve saved the rest to open on our 1st year anniversary and I cannot wait to have some more of that yummy cake! Do you like our Doctor Who cake topper? I bought it from Silhouette Sensations on Etsy. They have so many cool and nerdy cake toppers, it was hard to choose!
I created a couple table activities for fun. I also put together a unique Wedding Coloring & Activity Book, with a couple activities made by my mom and a friend, a couple of my own designs, and a few I commissioned from artists. Click here to download it for your own personal coloring enjoyment. Below is one of my favorites. Ok, let’s be honest; they’re all my favorites! I’m so happy with how it turned out. It’s very special to me. Be warned: it’s heavy in nerdy references.
Another unique element that was very special to me: we had live music during our reception from several of our wonderful, talented friends! The last picture in this group was an impromptu song! They’re so sweet!
Coming to an End (or Beginning?)
I totally didn’t realize until the night before that my bridesmaids dresses (and my going away dress) had POCKETS! That seriously made them 10 times even cooler! We grabbed some last minute pictures with my girls since my going away dress was the same as their dresses, but in a different color.
We also got some final husband and wife pictures as the sun was setting. I had saved my first kiss for our wedding day, so we also had to save kissing pictures until after the wedding. 😉
Thank you for reading! Love, Mrs. Reel
Cheryl Dicken says
Oh my goodness that was just delightful!! Thanks so much for sharing that wonderful story!! I know a lifetime of happiness lies ahead for you and Anthony, Anna!!
–Cheryl Dicken
Kate says
This is so beautiful! Congratulations!
Shakirah Iman says
Awww I have a tears this is so sweet.
John Read says
Anna, Darlene and I just viewed your wedding pictures and loved your descriptions and comments. Such beautiful people! Your parents are so proud of you. I know Father must be also.
Blessings,
John Read
Laura Riha says
What amazing wedding story and timeline. I LOVE your wedding dress and headpiece. You looked amazing. Congrats and here’s to wishing you many many years of happiness.
Anna Reel says
Aw, thank you so much!