Show Us Your Life - Bridal Party & Flowers

This week's Show & Tell time at Kelly's Korner features the Bridal Party and Wedding Flowers.

Justin and I had known for a while that we were going to be married... and by a while, I mean a good 3-4 weeks :) The problem was logistics. I was suppose to deploy to Iraq in mid-October and he was going to finish F/A-18 training the end of October and get a squadron assignment. The only way to make sure he didn't get moved to Japan... get married before I leave! Before he had even asked my father's permission we told them "by the way, we're getting married September 2nd". What a great way to start the introductions! Like any loving parents they jumped on board.

The day after we got engaged I headed to David's Bridal to pick out my dress... but the plan changed when we got there. Turns out Bridesmaids dresses can take 6-8 weeks to come in and we only had 7 weeks until the wedding. Most of my bridesmaids were married to military men so I wanted to pick a color that 1.) they could wear year round to a military ball and 2.) didn't clash horribly with the carpet in the Chapel. Isn't it strange the things we have to consider? By the way... one of my bridesmaids has worn her dress to a military ball... so yes! A bridesmaid dress that has been worn again!!! Oh yeah... the Lord totally provided! Everyone got their dress within 4 weeks!

Justin and I had decided we didn't want a large wedding party... and agreed to each having 3 attendants. I met Jen when I was working in an oil refinery in South Louisiana and immediately became friends... even though I left for the military about 5 months later. My Matron of Honor was Megan, a friend from Navy Officer Candidate School. We had spent countless hours in the sandpit doing pushups and formed quite the friendship. Sara and I met at Baylor. We both survived the engineering program and 6 years after graduating, still good friends!

Justin asked Chris to be his Best Man. Ben and my brother Ryan were his other groomsmen. Justin met Chris and Ben at Advanced Jet Training in Meridian, MS. They were roommates who made a pack not to fall for any of the local girls and miraculously, they all left un-hitched :)

We were married at the Naval Station Norfolk Base Chapel on Sunday, September 2, 2007. I loved the inside (minus the red carpet) and the atmosphere the rafters offered.

Of course, what would a military wedding be without the sword arch?! I love the pictures of the sword arch!

Before planning our wedding I read the statistic that the average wedding costs $30k. That's unbelievable to me! What a nice down payment on a house you could make with that kind of money! While my parents were very happy to pay for their only daughters wedding... there was a budget. We decided to make a lot of the flower arrangements for the reception ourselves BUT to hire a florist to make the bouquets... partly because we didn't know how to make them but more importantly we didn't have the time to make them. So my bouquet was completely goofed. It was suppose to be white roses with white Calla Lillies... but oh well. I still thought it looked lovely. The Bridesmaids bouquets were a combination of pink and red roses with white Alstromerias (I love these flowers!).

The reception hall was pretty but not ornate. I really wanted to add some color to it so we managed to find about 7 hibiscus trees (not a easy task at the end of August) and we fertilized the heck out of them in the week before the wedding to get them to bloom! We added alstromerias and some Christmas lights... and tada! We used them at the Chapel and then moved them to the reception hall.

While it's fun to look back at the photos and think of all the details that God allowed to fall into place... the best part is thinking that I now get to spend the rest of my life with my best friend!