Today was a Fairytale

Photo credit: Crystie Beroth

I suppose I can't say "today" anymore, because it was several days ago now.  But it still feels like I was just standing under a live oak in Rose Hill at Scott's grandmother's house saying "I do" to a lifetime with him as my husband.  Everyone told me that the day would fly by, and in some ways, it did.  But it didn't fly by in a way that I regretted, where I found myself wishing for more.  Instead, time seemed to move forward at just the right pace.  It was moving somewhat fast, but I was able to appreciate everything about every moment that was passing.  I took in the freshly cut green grass at Mama C's house before I walked down the aisle, I felt the sun shining on my back as I started to walk towards my groom.  I looked around and saw smiling faces of family and friends before I made it to the end of the aisle.  Later, I tasted some of the best sweet tea I've ever had, ate delicious macaroni and cheese and barbeque without having to worry about what so many people have told me-- that I wouldn't be able to eat.  Oh trust me, I ate.  I enjoyed every bit of the food before me.  And after over a year of planning every little detail of our wedding, I was free.  I was able to enjoy everything that I had been planning, as well as things that I hadn't planned.

I wrote a post when I moved to Indianapolis called "It Takes a Village" in regards to moving.  Well, no surprise here, but pulling together a mostly DIY wedding takes a village as well.  And my village was wonderful.  I can't even go into enough detail here to thank my entire village, but seriously- to everyone who spent hours on the floor with me wrapping yarn around wine bottles, to everyone who stood on ladders hanging paper lanterns and mason jars the week of the wedding, to everyone who went with my "out there" crafting ideas that took hours to complete, to all of our family and friends who made extensive travel plans and travelled far, and to everyone who listened to me dream up this wedding for the past year-- thank you for loving Scott and me enough for that.  We wanted our wedding to be filled with love and for Christ's love to be evident, and for me, at least, it totally was.

It's crazy to me that less than a week ago, I was standing before Scott and our dearest family and friends making a commitment to face whatever challenges life may bring with Scott by my side as my husband.  What's even crazier is that we've already faced several of the "whatever life may bring" moments this week.  Without going into details, I'll confess that I've already had to step up into my wife role this week to learn how to encourage Scott.  What's ironic about this is that at our last pre-marriage counseling session with our pastor, James, I didn't have a clue as to how to accomplish that.  But I found that in the moment I needed to do it as his wife, I just knew what he needed.  He's had to encourage me as well this week after learning some upsetting family news, and he's done the most wonderful job of it.

I've come to realize this week that we have a village right here in Indianapolis that deserves so much credit for their loving friendship.  While most couples spend their first week of marriage on a beach somewhere honeymooning, we came back to real life and had it knock us on the ground pretty quickly.  But our village was there, encouraging and offering the kind of support that life-long friends are usually there for.  We've got some good ones, I'm telling you.  Our Indianapolis village also has all of our love for making the trip down to NC for our wedding.  They spent over 24 hours in a car last weekend to travel there and back, and we love them so much for that.  Table 10 (yes, I remember some of my table numbers from the wedding) has so much of the Davis's love right now, you guys are seriously rockstars.

Laughter has been good this week.  I'm learning a lot about finding joy even in the midst of difficult circumstances.  Scott and I have laughed so much this week.  In moments when maybe it wasn't so appropriate to laugh, we did.  And in moments when it was very appropriate to laugh, we did. Until our faces hurt.  I think that's my favorite part of being married to Scott so far-- the laughter that we experience seems so much richer than it was before.  I don't even know why, because trust me, we've laughed many times over the past 8 years.  But our laughter in marriage is just sweeter.

Thank you to everyone who helped make our wedding a true fairytale.  It was so beautiful and so filled with love, and I can't express my gratitude enough for it all.  And to everyone who is supporting us and loving us in our attempt at "happily ever after," thank you for loving us in moments of weakness.  We are so undeserving of such great love.

Photo credit: Pam Simpson

Photo credit: Pam Simpson

Photo credit: Crystie Beroth