I am thrilled to have Cheryl as our guest today. Cheryl wrote me a sweet little facebook note, thanking me for commenting on her lovely wedding pictures on The Wedding Pickle. So I asked if she wanted to share a bit about the music from her day and she said yes! Don’t you love making connections like that? I do! So without further ado, here is Cheryl’s story:
I married the love of my life, C.J. Rhody, on November 13, 2010 in Jupiter, Florida. We had a traditional, simplistic Christian ceremony in my husband’s church (Church of the Good Shepherd, Tequesta, FL) followed by a tropically-infused, Key-West style reception at the Sugar Cane Island Bistro (Jupiter, FL).
One of the best dynamics of our relationship is the fact that we are both light-hearted, playful and fun-loving. I was born and raised a spunky Midwest girl and my redneck Romeo (if you will) is a native Floridian with a liking toward all things hunting, fishing and football-related. My passion for the sand and sea lead me to the Sunshine State, where I met and fell in love with C.J….and the rest was history!
We both have a mutual love of country music. This naturally inspired us in our selection process. We wanted to choose songs with lyrics that were heartfelt, sincere and above all relatable. It can be quite difficult for a song to truly express how you feel emotionally, but I do believe our songs came pretty darn close.
My mother and I have both known for quite some time that my perfect Father/Daughter Dance would be set to the lyrics of “I Loved Her First” by Heartland. The song perfectly encapsulates the relationship a father and daughter have, specifically the relationship I have with my own father. My dad always has cheered me on in life, full-heartedly supporting (and often funding) my dreams and passions with an unparalleled confidence. This goes without saying, but my mother played an equally important role, the role of my best friend and confidante. She and I have enjoyed our own dances throughout life, although often to the beat of our own drums! Without the unconditional support, love and compassion my parents bestowed upon me and the upbringing they gave me, I would never have been able to become the confident, ambitious and kind-hearted woman (and wife!) that I am today. An added bonus? The lyrics were a perfect tie-in from our First Dance, “Look at the two of you dancing that way. Lost in the moment and each other’s face.” Blissfully perfect.
When it came to our First Dance as husband and wife, we unanimously agreed that we must dance to Big & Rich’s “Lost in this Moment”. And boy were we glad we did. The wedding was so magical, surreal and fairytale-like. This song perfectly captured those “once-in-a-lifetime” emotions we were experiencing as we said “I Do”. The lyrics mention the Christian elements of a marriage, which was also incredibly important to us in planning our wedding The words to our first dance also describe “Watching all my dreams comes true, lost in this moment with you”, which is exactly what happened.
Our wedding party danced to Hank Williams Jr.’s “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight” which fits our cast of friends perfectly and is the ultimate Southern celebration song. Not to mention a great way to get the reception started!
The icing on the cake? As a wedding present to me, my hubby signed us up for ballroom dance lessons and even helped orchestrate the perfect routine for our song. For a former football player and avid outdoorsman, that is unconditional love.
Photos by Alexi Shields, Palm Beach Wedding Photography
I’m so happy that Cheryl shared her story with us! What a beautiful wedding! You can see more beautiful photos from Cheryl and CJ’s wedding via The Wedding Pickle: Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
Real weddings posts are awesome. Looking at pictures of pretty brides, grooms who love them, and all the fun details… well, I could do it all day. (And sometimes I do! Shh, don’t tell.) But this real wedding is extra special. Because I was there! The bride is my friend Rochelle, and she and her husband Ernie had a beautiful and super fun wedding that I’m excited to share with you guys!
From Rochelle: We met in our church youth group when I was 13 and he 16. We were not fast friends though. I accidentally slammed his head in a sliding glass door by kicking it shut when I wanted some privacy. We were never in high school at the same time because he’s older. We had mutual friends and so we started hanging out together and developed a really solid friendship (my heart was else where and he was like an older brother.) Five years later, my heart changed in what felt like a moment (total lightbulb realization) and we started dating the summer before my junior year in college. Another five years later we were married He proposed by leading me to the edge of a cliffside near the beach and below he had arranged driftwood to spell out “marry me” in the sand with a personally prepared picnic.
So sweet. Ernie and Rochelle were married at the Santa Margarita Ranch in Santa Margarita, California. These beautiful photos were captured by Cecily Parrish Photography.
The Playlist
Processional: Sweet Afton, by Nickel Creek (instrumental version on acoustic guitar)
Bridal Entrance: Canon in D (acoustic guitar)
Recession: Don’t Stop Believing, by Vitamin String Quartet
Reception Entrance: Ring of Fire and Darlin’ Companion, by Johnny Cash
First Dance/Father-Daughter/Mother-Son: Wonderful Tonight, by Eric Clapton
Reception Exit: You Are The Best Thing, by Ray LaMontagne
Hope you had as much fun looking at these lovelies as I did, reliving the day! Thanks for
sharing with us Rochelle!
I have yet another fabulous wedding to share with you all today. Holly submitted these beautiful photos of her posh and elegant wedding to the love of her life, Bill.
Here’s what Holly had to say:
We got married on October 4 at Slatersville Congregational Churchand had the reception at Providence Biltmore Hotel in Providence, Rhode Island.
Thank you so much for sharing your photos and story Holly! It was a privilege to get a peek into your lovely day.
Elizabeth Messina Photography via Style Me Pretty
Today is a special edition of Thursday Tips. In honor of my parents, who just celebrated their 42nd wedding anniversary on Tuesday, I’m going to share tips for marriage rather than weddings. Here are some of the things that I learned from observing my parents, that make a marriage last. (Incidentally though, couples… ahem, brides… often get so wrapped up in the stress and details of wedding planning that they forget about some of these! So read them and then go love on your fiances!)
1. Be best friends – Do all the things that best friends do. Talk. Listen. Laugh. Take a genuine interest in the things that are important to one another. Call each other. Do fun things together. Have adventures. Be silly.
2. Hold hands. Physical touch is important. And sometimes the simplest things – like holding hands – can remind you of your connection. It’s just a quiet, unobtrusive way of saying “Hey. I like you a lot.”
3. Sing each other’s praises. I recently heard that the #1 sign that divorce is looming is… complaining! Then I realized that I never really heard my parents complain about each other (except in jest.) Obviously, I’m their child, so I’m the last person they should be complaining to… but many parents do! Instead, I heard them say what they liked about each other. When you feel like complaining about or to your spouse, think of a compliment or praise instead!
4. Get support. From when I was young (maybe even before I was born actually…) my parents attended a group called Marriage Encounter. They had workshops and retreats to encourage and rejuvinate married couples. Maybe those groups aren’t for you, but having a time and place to refresh your marriage, and a group of people to encourage you in doing so is a pretty great idea, if you ask me.
5. Have faith – in each other… of course. But I believe faith in God played a key role in my parent’s marriage. And let’s face it, having someone to rely on besides another flawed human being can’t be a bad idea.
6. Laugh! I think this one’s self-explanatory. Being able to laugh together through all of life’s crazy ups and downs can not be underestimated.
I learned lots more from my parents, but I wanted to keep it short and sweet. Hope these are a nice little reminder of the important things in marriage. Happy anniversary Mom and Dad!
I’m so happy to have Melina from The Wedding Pickle here with us today! I truly love Melina’s blog, it’s so sweet and unique, and I love the way she incorporates her faith into her blogging. Since she writes a lot about how to get out of wedding “pickles,” she is sharing with us a bit about the music at her own wedding… and learning the hard way. Welcome Melina!
A good DJ is one with a personality who can keep the party going. Mine certainly made the party memorable! There I was dancing with my dad to Steven Curtis Chapman’s “Cinderella”. A song that makes me cry every time I hear it. I knew it would be the best dedication to my daddy. As we danced I began to sing the song to him. It was a beautiful father-daughter moment. Then it stopped. No fade out, just cut off. No! I wasn’t done singing to my dad!
I remember saying, “Just twirl me.” We hugged and I remembered looking at the DJ like what just happened? I just assumed it was a technical difficulty.
I think people might have thought that I had the DJ cut the song because it was too long though it wasn’t. Funny thing was that my first dance with my husband was too long, “Come What May” from Moulin Rouge. I asked the DJ to fade that song out at a certain point. He didn’t so my husband and I had to keep dancing for 5 minutes. It felt like forever! We just laughed.
Then, when it came to the bouquet toss, “All My Single Ladies” came on and I was so excited! However, the DJ brought all the ladies to the floor, then stopped talking. The silence felt so awkward so I tossed the bouquet. Then I got scolded by the DJ, “What are you doing? Not yet! Haven’t you ever been to a wedding before?” What was he talking about? He then started saying stuff and I was too embarrassed to pay attention. I wish I had known that he does a speech before the toss. Finally, he gave me permission to toss the bouquet. He really made me do it again! Okay, fine. I had no clue what just happened I was just glad it was over! I felt bad for the girl who caught the bouquet the first time.
I made him an outline of the plan for the night but that certainly was not enough. My tip for brides is to have a meeting with the DJ before the wedding doing a “walk-through” of that night so that everyone is on the same page.
Thanks so much for sharing Melina! Hopefully brides who read this can use your tip to avoid these mishaps with their DJ’s!
Photos by Piperbella Photography
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Aww! Cheryl is such a doll and wonderful person! I am so happy to see more of her and C.J.’s story featured!
so beautiful! what a gorgeous wedding