Part Five: The Ceremony

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

If you are really new, you can click on the "All About Our Love" tab up there at the top.  There, you'll see some of our engagement pictures and you can read about our love story from the very beginning!  
Part Five:  The Ceremony
Mr. Robinson, his best man, and the pastors waited in the bar (haha) until it was time for the ceremony to begin.  He tells me that they were all asking him if he was nervous, and he said no.  Mr. R was telling his pastor, Pastor Bob, about his high school soccer career, haha.  They came outside and took their places at the alter.
Daddy and I drove up to the courtyard, where the ceremony would be, in his '57 Corvette.  I was so excited.  I couldn't wait to his face.  I remember being nervous to walk down the aisle and have everyone stare at me.  It was silly, because our wedding was small.  Also, I tend to enjoy attention a little.  I think I was afraid of tripping or bursting into tears.  

Daddy and I got out of the car.  He was so sweet, he tried to fluff up my dress...the poor man knows nothing about dress fluffing.  We both tried to pull ourselves together.  It had been a short, yet emotional, drive from the Bridal Cottage to the Courtyard.   

I could see my groom.  He was 150 feet away, but I could see him.  I could see him in his ivory jacket and I knew he looked handsome.  I could feel his smile.

  I smiled.    

Daddy and I made our way down the aisle.  I swear, that was the longest walk I've ever taken.  My dress made a swishing sound against the aisle cloth.  To me, it felt so loud, but I know it wasn't.  :)  The orange fabric we used as an aisle runner...oh, it was perfect.  We kept it all!  I have over 300 feet of orange fabric in my craft room.  One day I hope to make curtains and tablecloths and valances our of it, and use the cloth to decorate our home.  

The contrast of the orange against the green grass and my ivory dress...it was just perfect.     

The entire court yard was beautiful.  I didn't go look at the wedding site before the ceremony.   I wanted it to be a surprise.  It was.  It was so perfect!  Thanks to our wedding planner, I had no clue what to expect.   
Mr. Robinson wanted our wedding to have a bit of an Indian flair.  He spent some time over in India on a mission trip, and fell in love with the culture.  One common tradition in Indian weddings is marigold curtains used as decoration.  We couldn't use real marigolds because they would die by the time the florist had strung them together.  They also would have cost us our first born, haha.  So, our fabulous local florist strung together fake marigolds, and hung them from the oak tree over the court yard.  

Flowers and moss were everywhere, even arranged in lanterns hanging from the oak tree.

 Thank goodness for pictures, because when daddy and I got to then end of the aisle, all I could see was Mr. Robinson.  And that smile.  Oh.  It gets me.  {Pictured below}  Also in the picture below, you can see the alter we had built.  Isn't it splendid?!  It was built for the wedding and we got to keep it...all 13 feet of it.  

We had two ceremony officiants:  

{LEFT} Pastor Rick, my pastor from childhood.

{RIGHT} Pastor Bob, Mr. Robinson's pastor.  

First, Pastor Rick prayed over us and the ceremony.  Then, he read one of my favorite passages from the Bible.  I've known for years that I wanted these verses read at my wedding.

Ruth 1:16-17

Where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge.  Your people will be my people and your God will be my God.  Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried.  

Pastor Bob charged Mr. R and I with the responsibility of confessing if there was anything that would make our union unlawful before God.  He explained why the hour was so sacred, solemn, and worshipful.  He asked Mr. R and I both if we would accept our vows and take them seriously.  We both said "I Will."  Pastor Bob asked, "Who gives this woman to this man" and my Daddy responded with, "Her Mother and I."  (We were informed that it is tradition for the father to say "I do."  But I wanted him to give me away on behalf of my family.  My Momma is one of my best  friends.  I didn't want her to be left out...so we changed it up a little here.)  

Miranda, my sister & Maid-of-Honor, pulled back my bird cage veil and secured it with a bobby pin so that Daddy could give me away with a kiss on the cheek.  :)

After Daddy stepped down and took his seat with Momma, our musician played our song.. "God Gave Me You."  And the acoustic guitarist / "singer" butchered it.  Oh, well.  Everyone has to be able to look back at their weddings and laugh about something, right? 

He was a last minute hire because our first choice had an emergency come up and was unable to play at our wedding.  We pretty much had to choose between this man or a DJ playing in our wedding.  We wanted an acoustic guitar, so without even hearing him, we chose him.  He was a wonderful guitar player.  But when he sang out song...I could almost smell the Marlboro Reds.    

While we were professing our hunka-hunka-burning love, guests fanned themselves with the orange, silk fans they found in their seats.  

We had planned an outdoor wedding.  The building (you may have noticed) behind our alter, is the old plantation home where we had our reception.  The plantation home was actually small, and we would have been unable to move the wedding & guests inside.  John, our wedding planner, insisted that we have a fantastic Plan B in case it rained.  I decided that we would order fans and umbrellas.  If it rained, the guests would receive umbrellas.  If it was sunny, the guests would receive fans.  Whatever we didn't use would get returned.  We would get married in our beautiful and perfect courtyard, rain or shine.  Even though it would have ruined my hair and makeup and dress for the day, I think it would have been incredibly romantic to be married in the rain.  Thank God, it didn't rain.  We put fans on each guest's seat and sent the unused umbrellas back.  The fans were a huge hit - all of the guests loved them!  We're talking South Carolina summer, here.  It helped keep the State Bird, the mosquito, away and the guests stayed cool.  :)  I also loved the old, Southern feel of looking out and seeing ladies fanning themselves.  

When the song was over, we were instructed to repeat after Pastor Bob, with Mr. R going first.  Our vows are so nontraditional, but I love them!  They are more spiritual and really reflect how seriously we take our vows.  They aren't just vows to each other...they are vows to God.  

Mr. Robinson's Vows to me.. 

Being guided by the Holy Spirit and assured in my heart this is the will of God.  I, {Mr. R}, do take thee {soon-to-be-Mrs. R} to be my wife, and before God and these witnesses I covenant to love you as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it.

My Vows to Mr. Robinson

Being guided by the Holy Spirit and assured in my heart this is the will of God,  I, {Soon-to-be-Mrs. R}, do take thee {Mr. R} to be my husband, and before God and these witnesses covenant to love you and to honor you (This is when I started to cry and my voice breaks) as the God ordained head of our home.  

Then, we exchanged rings to symbolize our vows. 

I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and devotion in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  

Then Pastor Rick lead the Unity Cross Ceremony as an alternative to a unity candle or unity sand ceremony. 

He read from Genesis, quoting that without a helper, man was alone.  He gave the strong, outer cross to Mr. R, who then placed it on the base.  Pastor Rick then read from Genesis about the creation of Eve and how she is called "woman," which means to be soft.  He gave the delicate, inner cross to me and I placed it on the base inside of Mr. R's cross.  Pastor Rick added three pegs to hold the two crosses together.  One peg represents The Father, another peg represents The Son, and the third peg represents The Holy Spirit.  He ended with "What God has put together, man is not to separate or put asunder." 

If you are able to look past my amazing dress, handsome husband, and our googly eyes...the complete unity cross is between us.    

Pastor Bob closed out the ceremony:

"For as much as Van and Kristina have consented together in Holy wedlock and have witnessed the same before God and this company, and have declared the same by giving and receiving rings and by joining hands, I pronounce that they are Man and Wife in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  May we bow together in prayer?"

{We were so mad.  I hate to say that we made over a prayer...but we wanted to KISS.  Haha.  We were not expecting a prayer at that very moment.  I'm sorry.  But this is my blog and I will tell the truth!  I wanted to kiss my husband!}  

And we were pronounced husband and wife!  He kissed the bride!  He kissed her real good.  On our wedding video, Pastor Bob can be seen licking his lips.  He can also be heard saying "MMM..MMMM...MMM"  Haha.  That's not creepy at all.  

We were presented as Mr. and Mrs. Robinson for the very first time.  

We were both ecstatic!  Everyone stood and clapped, and I felt famous!  

We walked down the aisle as husband and wife!

When we got to the end, John (the wedding planner) was waiting on me!  He said "Well, what do you think?!"  I said "I think I'm ready to consummate it!"  Little did I know, my brand new husband had a microphone under his tux so that the videographer would be able to hear what we were saying.  So yes, our wedding video has me - the blushing bride - expressing interest in immediate consummation.  Classy.    

And it was over.  

I know that the reception is "the fun part," but the ceremony was the most important part to us.  I feel like it flew by.  I honestly, barely remember a thing.  If I didn't have pictures and a video to go back and watch, I don't know that I would have any memory of it other than how horrible the musician was.  Brides-to-be, hire a videographer!  The wedding day is SUCH a blur.  You'll want a video.  Trust me.  

So, the ceremony was over.  

Next time, you'll see the after-pictures we took!