Rebecca + Jeremy

Jeremy and I met in 2008 when we began working together at our first jobs in high school. We were a year apart in school and were friends for almost 2 years before Jeremy graduated from high school and went off to college at Louisiana Tech. We dated other people in between that time but always remained friends. Our conversations were mainly a series of terrible jokes, football updates and old work drama. And most of it was done through facebook messenger. Going back to read our old messages are actually quite amusing. I had asked Jeremy to attend Sadie Hawkins with me my senior year of high school. Jeremy, being in north LA without a car was unable to get a ride in that weekend to come to the dance with me, so he promised me a rain check for the future. So I didn’t give up, months later over facebook messenger I asked him again to come to prom with me. I knew he would be an awesome date because he was so funny, and everyone loved to be around him. This time he agreed, and it was all set! And then some how along the way we admitted to each other that we liked each other and the rest is history. A month before prom I had ACL surgery Jeremy came into town to visit and spend some time with me. At that time he met my parents and spent lots of hours watching tv with my because I wasn’t very mobile. And from then on we would talk on the phone and mail things back and forth to each other while he was away at school. And then at the end of his first year at Tech he decided to come home which was financially better for his future and allowed him to be closer to his family. And since then we have been dating for 6 and ½ years and it has been the most amazing thing in my life! We both never knew that when we meet in April of 2008 that we would one day be married, buying a house and dreaming of kids. But that’s the most amazing thing about love, it happens when you least expect it and it’s truly magical!

Something Old: I had dreamed of wearing a small gold bracelet with my name written in
cursive. It was piece of jewelry that I had gotten as a baby and we referred to it as my “baby
bracelet.” A month before the wedding we searched high and low for this bracelet, but it was
nowhere to be found. So I was trying to think of something old that had a similar place in my
heart. And I think I found something even better. I wore a bracelet with the word “love” written
in 7 different handwritings. The handwriting were of both my parents, all 4 of my grandparents
and Jeremy’s. The handwriting came from a collection of birthday cards, personal letters, love
letters and thank you cards from my family members over the years. It meant the world to me
to be able to carry the love from the most important people in my life with me on my wedding
day whether they were present to celebrate with Jeremy and I or not.

Something New: My wedding dress with its beautiful white lace and shear neckline with pearls
and rhinestones.

Something Borrowed: I wore my mom’s wedding veil. It was also the veil that my aunt wore at her wedding. It is my dream that my sisters will wear the same veil and my future children will too!

Something Blue: I had a pendant of the Blessed Mother Mary pinned inside my dress over my heart. I received this pendant from my mom just weeks before my wedding.

Location: Natchez, MS
When: July 18, 2015
Time of day: Dusk

At the time we got engaged Jeremy and I had been dating for almost 5 and ½ years. It was the July after my first full clinical rotation in physical therapy school. It had been a little tradition we started 2 years earlier to take a mini vacation, staycation or summer trip together or with our pup to celebrate another successful year of school and sped quality time together. This particular year we were on a budget, did not want to drive far, and wanted to find a place that we could have a romantic dinner but also enjoy outdoor activities like hiking and lake swimming! So we picked Natchez, Mississippi because we were able to have the best of all worlds. We spent all day Saturday the 18th browsing downtown shops, sites and walking along the river. We attended a mixology course with a few other couples where we learned how to mix and most importantly taste fancy cocktails in this adorable old English pub! Then we got ready for our dinner reservation at the beautiful Monmouth Plantation. Taking forever to get ready (like usual) I was making us late for our 7:30 reservation. Even still Jeremy mentioned he wanted us to arrive at 7:00 because there were beautiful gardens on the grounds he thought I would enjoy. Well it was 7:05 and I was just walking down the stairs of the B&B in a new red dress all dolled up. And I wanted a photo of us, we rarely had someone else take photos of us dressed up and it was a memory I wanted to keep forever, our first stay at a B&B being “grown-ups” as we called it. So because Jeremy loves me so much he decided to roll with my unplanned timeline changes (and at this time he was so nervous and as he says it “I just wanted to ask you already!”) he asked the owner of the B&B to take a photo of us on the front porch. Because I felt bad for being late I didn’t press the issue when the owner snapped only 2 photos of us, 1 of which I knew I was ready for. But to my surprise Jeremy quickly asked the owner to take one more photo. And at that moment he turned to me, got down on one knee and placed his hand out for me to hold on to. In such shock and happiness I did not hear a single thing that he was saying until I heard “Rebecca will you marry me?” Holding back tears, of course I said yes. And then I did what I always do when I am full of joy I began beaming this huge, over the top grin and I could not stop, that is until I started crying with joy. It was such a special moment to have just the two of us there in our own little world sharing that memory. We then headed over to dinner, right on time for our 7:30pm reservation. But one of favorite parts of the evening was having dinner afterwards at Monmouth Plantation. We arrived late for our reservations (I wonder why?!) but were seated in a relatively private corner where we enjoyed a candlelit dinner. I remembered asking Jeremy if he asked my father permission to marry me. His reply was “Of course!” He then told me he had asked a few months earlier when him, my father and my brother had been out golfing. In between holes he asked my dad if he could have my hand in marriage and my father’s reply “I would be honored to have you as my son” And that was it, I was balling at the dinner table. Other people in the restaurant probably thinking how crazy I was, but I honestly just didn’t care my heart was so full with happiness. The Plantation had heard wind that we had just gotten engaged and surprised us with delicious deserts on the house. And when they delivered them to the table they called the entire dining room to attention and announced our recent engagement. The entire company applauded and congratulated it. It was just so special to see so many strangers bring geniality excited for our engagement. After dinner we were able to browse through the beautiful gardens with the stars about us and all the twinkling lights strung through the trees. It was like a dream come true. And then we spent the night at our B&B spending the entire next day soaking up the sunlight at the lake and basking in the engagement bliss together. We waited to tell our parents when we arrived home and they were ecstatic. I remembered my parents shedding tears of joy!

First Dance: Crazy Love Michael Buble’. Choosing this song was a very hard thing. We knew we wanted the song to be something special, something unique and something that described us. So we each began creating a list of songs that we liked and wanted to consider for this dance. We narrowed the list down to about 8. And then naturally the only way we would know if the song was perfect for us was to, well just dance to it. So one evening we pulled up youtube and spent the evening dancing to the list of songs that we had picked out. We had such a great time taking a step back from the busy life and spending it slow in our own little world. By the end of the evening however we had decided that none of the songs that we picked out were the one. We were bummed. So we had to think about what to do next. So I remembered that back when we first started dating we would send each other facebook messages with youtube videos in them of songs we would hear that reminded us of one another. Well way back in 2010 jeremy sent me this facebook message: ohh and i think i might have found another song for us… found it a while back and I listen to it every now and again… as soon as i heard listen to it i found myself smile and i could only think of you so i hope you smile that pretty smile when you listen to it like it did And with it he attached Crazy Love by Michael Buble’. We decided that it made no sense to complicate things. That song meant a lot to us back then and it only made sense that it was just a close to our hearts describing our relationship now. So we picked it!

Wedding Cake: Traditional White Wedding Cake with Almond Butter Cream Icing. 2 Layers with fresh raspberry filling and 2 layers with white chocolate cream cheese filling.

Groom’s Cake: Strawberry Shortcake with white cake and strawberry cream cheese filling. It was decorated with some of Jeremy’s favorite things: golf, x-box, our pup, Captain, Southeastern sports, the saints and his fraternity: Delta Tau Delta.

Pretty much everything about that day was memorable, special, and lovely to me. Over the course of the day some little details meant a lot to me. I loved being able to relax and be calm with my bridesmaids and my mom getting ready that morning in my house. I loved the look on my dad’s face when I gave him a tie clip written in his late mother’s handwriting that said “Love you always”, the loved when my mother told me I was beautiful once in my wedding dress. I loved reading Jeremy’s sweet and romantic vows of his love to me. I love the squeals of joy and the smiles from my bridesmaids when we had our first look. I loved riding in the limo with my girls all dolled up. I loved when my cat photobombed my photos with my parents at home, something she loves to do when we take photos outside in the front yard for other memorable life events. I loved the butterflies in my stomach and the excitement in my heart before I saw Jeremy for the first look. I loved the moment when Jeremy saw me for the first time in my wedding dress as he shed tears of joy and told me I was beautiful. I loved the few sweet minutes we had together so in love in that beautiful garden. I loved the moment my goofy little brother wandered into our photo session and choked back tears when he saw me in my dress for the first time. I loved the fact that things didn’t go as planned like when one of my bridesmaids forgot her bouquet and we were late for the wedding or when the DJ didn’t play the correct walk out song. I loved the moment when I walked down the aisle and I saw the glowing faces of my friends and family all around me. I love the angelic singing during the mass. I loved having my older sister be present to witness and sign my marriage to the man of my dreams. I loved stealing glances of my wedding party and how beautiful and handsome they all looked sitting around us. I loved pronouncing our love in front of God himself. I loved visiting with family and friends. I loved that moment when Jeremy put the ring on my finger and said I DO to vowing to be my husband. I loved crashing photo booth sessions. I loved breaking it down on the dance floor with everyone. I loved the food. I loved having alone time to eat dinner just the two of us with Jeremy for our first married meal. I loved the song list the DJ played. I loved the decorations and the colors of the flowers. I loved seeing our dream wedding become a reality. I loved ending the night in my wedding dress left over food in hand with all of my friends at the Crescent in downtown Hammond. I loved everything about our wedding, I loved that every vendor was local, I loved all of the hard work and love everyone else poured out into make our wedding day a dream come true.

But the most memorable thing from the entire wedding was being consciously aware that I did not stop smiling the entire day, the entire photo session, the entire mass, the entire reception and all night until I feel asleep. And not just any smile but the biggest, happiest, little kid on Christmas, just saw a room full of puppies kind of smile. And it was wonderful, it was lovely. I was in my own little world and I would say that I wish I could relive it over and over again. But I don’t have to say “I wish” because I already am reliving that love and that excitement everyday of my life when I have the opportunity to wake up to another beautiful day and see my husband by my side.

Bride prep: Bride’s family home | Groom prep: The Red White and Brew | Coordinator: Whitney Douzier | Ceremony: Holy Ghost Catholic Church | Reception: Holy Ghost Chapel | Hair + Makeup: Justie Wolf | Florist: Donna Wolf | Cake: The Pastry Bag | Videographer: Killebrew Productions | DJ: GeauxLive DJ | Decor: The bride, herself 🙂 | Transportation: Danny Tanner of York Limousine | Second shooter: Catherine Masters