Our Wedding Day.....

December 20, 2008 was such an amazing day! We got married at the Methodist Church in Marion followed by a reception at the SIU Ballrooms in Carbondale. The day was completly calm and non-stressful thanks to my wedding coordinator, Christine Kruse! She did an amazing job! AND she had to try to take care of a SICK bride!! I don't know what was wrong with me! I woke up feeling great that morning, then it kicked in! My NERVES! I couldn't eat and was getting sick all day, literally up until the point when I walked down the aisle! But then it all went away. As I was up on the alter with Justin, everyone disappeared! It felt like no one else was in the room! My favorite part about our wedding day was the ceremony! I thought it turned out so beautiful! Our wedding party was quite huge with each of us having 7 bridesmaids/groomsmen, 6 ushers, and we wanted each of our nieces and nephews plus Drew in our wedding...so they were all included as well! Drew was only 1 1/2 when we got married. I wanted him to carry my train down the aisle, but he was too young, so he got his own little special entrace in a sleigh. :) Here are some of my favorites from my wedding....

So, as I was so nervous and sick..the boys were all having a GREAT time in the choir room....
 We did have such an amazing, fun wedding party! :)

Even though I was under the weather, you could not tell in any of our pictures!

the KISS.....

Christmas is my favorite time of the year! So we got married only 5 days before Christmas! I didn't want the whole wedding to be Christmas themed, but we did incorporate a few little Christmas details into the wedding. Each table was named a Christmas song, the favors were red Christmas ornaments that had brown ribbon that said "Justin and Brista December 20, 2008", and one of my favorites....instead of bubbles..roses..etc...we had everyone throw snow as we walked out of the church!

We walked out to a huge party limo! My dad rented us a 28 passenger stretch Hummer! It was awesome! Complete with Dom Perignon champagne in the limo with red strobe lights. It was great! I think the wedding party LOVED it!

I loved our decorations! Our wedding decorator was Jodi Duncan, from my hometown of Harrisburg. She did an amazing job! My colors were red, brown, and gold...the flowers were just PERFECT!
And I loved programs as well!

We had our Aunt Linda make our cake! It turned out awesome! And to make it even better, she made a side cheesecake for the bride since I don't eat cake! She has since made more wedding cakes because everyone just loved the one she made for me!

I chose "When I said I Do" by Clint Black for Justin and I's first dance and "My Little Girl" by Tim McGraw for the Father of the Bride Dance.

Our reception was at the SIU Ballrooms...so inside the ballrooms I wanted everything to be warm with reds and browns. Outside of the ballrooms is a lounge that was all white and silver. I wanted it to feel snowy and cold..One of my favorite parts of the lounge was our wish tree.

Something fun for our guest to do was the Photo Booth! We rented a Photo Booth and had our guests take pictures and put a copy in a scrapbook and leave us a message! I have to say we got some interesting pictures and it was quite funny to read the comments the next day!

All in all, past the sickness, it was a GREAT day! I love looking back at our wedding pictures and thinking back to great wedding memories! This year will make 3 years for Justin and I! And many more to come......