Faithful in the Fray

It seemed like the moment stood still but our eyes finally met. Upon Jeremy seeing me, he let out a huge ‘AHHH!’ It was one of the many moments I wished we had a videographer follow us around the day. I knew that in that moment he saw me as the most beautiful woman in the entire world. And to be honest, that’s how I felt. He was my prince charming. I had never seen him so dressed up and put together as he was standing right in front of me. My eyes shifted up and down. He was beautiful. He was so manly. He was mine and in just a few hours we would make that official. We couldn’t help but laugh, and savor the moment. The two of us, alone, for just a brief moment in the day was nothing short of magical. I didn’t know that you normally don’t kiss until the ceremony so of course I leaned right in like I usually do and gave him a huge kiss. I could breathe, I could relax, kind of, I was finally with him.

We took some pictures all around the area we were at and before we knew it our wedding party was showing up. We all had a blast and took tons of the best pictures ever together. We had purposely built in so much extra time during the day that when we were done taking pictures outside we went back to the bridal suite and cooled down. My family slowly started to arrive and I was able to see Jeremy’s family as well. It was so special having moments with them before everyone else started arriving. Unfortunately because we had built in so much extra time I was able to get nervous multiple times throughout the day. I practiced my breathing and all the people surrounding me were so helpful.

We took family photos and by the time we were done I was being rushed back to our room to hang out while everyone was arriving. It was so overwhelming knowing that almost all of the people we love so much were going to be in one room. Friends and family from all over the US had come together and it was a beautiful picture of two becoming one. Before I walked down the aisle I thought I was going to pee my pants. Luckily my dress just had a zipper so I was in and out and ready to walk. Everyone left the room and as we waited it was just my dad and I in the room. I could never accurately describe the talk that we had in those moments. But they brought me to tears knowing that everything I had waited for and promised, he had prayed for and was seeing come to life. It was beautiful. (I’m teary-eyed right now just remembering it.) The moment the doors opened and I walked down the aisle I was overwhelmed. So many peoples eyes on me, but the only person I couldn’t stop looking at was him. My dad was the best walking down with me. He kept us on pace while savoring the moment. I just couldn’t wait to get down to see him!

The ceremony was beautiful and everything was going so well until we went to do the exchange of the rings. I had obviously been wearing an engagement ring the whole year and so when Jeremy went to put the ring on my finger I gave him the right hand. But then, when it was my turn to put the ring on his hand, he gave me the WRONG HAND! I didn’t even notice because I was so worried about the ring fitting on his finger that as soon as we exchanged the rings and were taking communion I whispered to him to switch it right then. I knew everyone had seen and was so embarrassed. Oh well, something going wrong was bound to happen. So, we fixed it. When communion was over we were about to be pronounced! First, we had planned something in our premarital counseling with our Pastor. We had decided that before we did the kiss we were going to take the first official ‘colquhoun selfie.’ No, I’m not joking. It was the greatest and best thing in the entire world. We then had our first kiss and we out of there!

We waited for everyone to leave before we took the big group family photos and then headed out to the sunflower field to take some more pictures. It was so special that the field was up and in full bloom on the wedding day! For those who don’t know, Jeremy proposed in that exact same field where we went to take pictures.

The pictures turned out absolutely amazing. It was so neat too because as we were driving place to place our car was decorated and people kept honking and giving us thumbs up! It was such a neat experience. When we arrived at the reception hall all the guests were inside and the wedding party was waiting outside ready to get announced. Just a couple minutes later the song Happy started to play and the bridal party danced in. We then were announced which was the coolest thing in the entire world. Everyone was clapping and cheering and I was so embarrassed and overwhelmed and so happy all at the same time.

Jeremy and I went straight into our first dance and then broke for dinner. After dinner we did the father daughter dance and mother son dance. It was such a special time. Dad and I had practiced the night before making sure we could do the proper turns and twirls and it was the best. We then surprised all of our missionary friends with a group picture and going straight into ‘super fun morning time.’ If you’ve ever been on an AIM trip you know exactly what I’m talking about. From then on, the party had begun.

We broke halfway through and did the cake cutting, where I decided to cut the TOP TIER OF THE CAKE because I was so in the moment thinking that you cut the cake from the top down and not the other way. Again, whoops my bad. We did the bouquet toss (yay Jess!) and the garter toss (be careful Nathan!) and continued to dance. Around 9:15 we were so exhausted that we ended the night and headed back to ‘our place.’