Married Up & Settled Down

That's what we did five years ago.  FIVE years ago...wow!!  We were married in the evening on May 24th, 2003 at an outdoor tent ceremony with all our friends and family.  We had met for the first time when I was sixteen years old, and I knew I was going to marry him one day.  Really.  I came home and told my Momma.  I had known his parents for several years before I met him at church one Sunday when he came into town.  But something inside me told me that that wasn't the right time for us.  (There is almost 8 years between us, and, at the time, that was a lot of difference between a 16-year-old and a 23-year-old.)  So, when I was in my sophomore year of college, his mother gave him my email address, and he used it.  He was living in Charlotte at the time, so we wrote each other every day for a month.  Then, he came into town (Nashville) for Thanksgiving that year, and we had our first date.  The rest is our history!  So, since it's our five year anniversary, I wanted to share some of our wedding pictures, because it was a perfect day when I married my best friend...

I loved my wedding dress.  I still love it.  And I love that Mike wore his blue suit.  They are both hanging in our closet now.

The bride-elect and future bridegroom in an engagment photo... (Gosh, we look so young!)

The girls...Brooke, Lisa (Mike's sister), Anna, and Kelly (my sister)...

The guys...Duane, Tom, Mike (Lisa's husband), and John...

Mike's dad married us.  It was so special for us. 

This is my mother (Momma).  Don't we look alike?  We laugh alike, too.  She helped me so much in preparation for our wedding.  We really did have a lot of fun with it.

I carried a bouquet of gardenias.  The fragrance was incredible, and they were just gorgeous!  But breathe on them, and they'd bruise...so I had to be so very careful.

I was so fortunate to have aunts and cousins and more from both sides of our families help with the food!  We didn't use a caterer, but we had tons of food!  In the months before the wedding, I stocked up on glass platters and compotes and footed dishes and silver service from antique stores to use for our food.  This picture is of some cheesecake bites.  Sooooo good!  (They are from Sam's.)

I couldn't decide on my cake...so I had three!  Three small ones, anyway!  :o)  The white one on top was strawberry cake, the pink cake to the left was classic white, and the green one with the white dots was chocolate.  For us, the green cake represented the groom's cake since I thought the white dots on green was like golf balls on grass!  Now the cakes were one thing we did not do ourselves!  They came from Sweet 'N Sassy Bakery.  Isn't that a great name for a bakery?

In keeping with the very simple theme at my wedding, the centerpieces on the tables were small white paper sacks with a sweet bouquet of baby's breath.  And we had bought all those white table linens and napkins (at a very good price, of course!) and folded all those napkins on the table. 

This was our second kiss as Mr. and Mrs.

We left in a shower of rice.  If you look closely, you can see that we have our eyes closed.  And we were sorta running.  That's because the rice kinda hurt!  Haha!  We couldn't stop laughing!

   

And off we go!  We honeymooned in the Mayan Riviera, and it was a wonderful, unforgettable trip!

So how did we celebrate this big five-year anniversary, you ask?  With a GI bug!  It was horrible!  But, thankfully, it is over now!  I had just gotten back Thursday from a two-week trip to my parents with Amelia.  We were both sick all weekend!  But I have lots of goodies from my trip and pictures that I will post later this week!  It was such a nice trip, but it is so nice to be back home, too! 

Comments

[The other MOM]

My what a handsome young man you married! No wonder that Amelia Kate is so pretty.. Ya think? Ha, just kidding. It was nice to look at those again and remember that day. It couldn't have gone off any better. Love ya's

[Shannon]

Thanks for sharing! That was so sweet. Everything looked so beautiful!!

[rachel]

Absolutely gorgeous! Aren't y'all a darlin' couple!! Beautiful dress.
Congratulations! We're coming up on our 7th anniversary very quickly and it's amazing how fast the time flies.

[Bri]

Oh it was so nice to see your beautiful wedding photos! Happy Anniversary! 5 years is a special one. I absolutely love your bouquet...GORGEOUS!

[Robin]

Happy Anniversary!!! Glad you are feeling better and glad you and Amelia had a good trip.

We will celebrate 22 years on June 20th. We got married when I was 18!! Such a baby; funny, it did not feel like it then.

Glad you visited me!

Robin/Southern Bella

[Lindsey]

Happy Anniversary! What a sweet, special story! I so enjoyed all the pictures. I am glad you are all feeling better:)

[Francine Howell]

Your wedding was beautiful. What a cute couple you two make. Congrats on 5 years in today's world that is saying a lot. My hubby and I will celebrate 1year on October 13th. Hard to believe its almost here. May you always be blessed in God's love.
PS- I LOVE your blog. Your decorating ideas are awesome.
Hugs,
Francine Howell

[clarice]

Congratulations on your 5 year anniversary. Thank you for sharing the pictures. I love to see wedding pictures (I use to be a cater) Clarice

[Kimba]

Your pictures are just beautiful. Thanks for sharing them! Congratulations on your 5th anniversary.

Oh- and I love those cheesecake bites from Sam's. I serve them whenever we have a party. :-)

[linda]

Happy Anniversary. Sorry you were sick. The pictures of your wedding are beautiful. It may have been "simple" as you said but it sure looks elegant.
Blessings,
Linda

[GRANDMAMA]

Wow does that bring back memories!! What a lovely day.

[Kelly]

Your wedding was so pretty! I love your dress too - so simple and pretty!!!!! It looked like a very romantic and elegant setting!
We will be married 5 years in November and my dad married us! :-)

[Shannon]

Hi! I'm glad you liked the kitchen. I would love to see yours! I saw some old photos at an antique store today and thought of you. I love how you have random people all over your house! :) I just got that mixer for Cmas and love it. I don't know if you are looking for a certain style or not but I just saw them at Walmart (like 3 colors) for around $100. Not bad. Hope you get one soon! I actually have butter and eggs on the counter coming to room temperature to make cookies today. :)

[Katy]

Your wedding looked absolutely gorgeous!!! You looked soo beautiful! You two make an adorable couple Katie!!! I absolutely love the pics!!! Thank you for sharing them with us! (your cake looks awesome!!)

[Leigh @General Ramblings]

Thank you for allowing us to have a look. A beautiful wedding, beautiful couple. Katie you were and still are gorgeous!