Marrying McAfee | The Ceremony

Some of my absolute favorite pictures of our wedding day came from the ceremony. I'm thankful, because that is truly the most important moments of the day. I had been getting teary eyed at every wedding we'd attending leading up to our big day, thinking about the importance and meaning of each word spoken of the vows. 

I'm thankful that I didn't sob down the aisle like I thought I would, but the tears were still there. It's funny to think back about which faces I remembered seeing in the crowd while walking towards my groom...I honestly couldn't look at Christopher that much, because I knew between him and my crying bridesmaids, I'd be a total mess! 

One of my favorite memories of this part of the day are the delay of the start of the ceremony due to a train which decided to stop across the tracks in the middle of town, delaying a good majority of our wedding guests. People were so worried about me freaking out, that by the time I was told all I could think was, "Thank goodness for a few more minutes in this air conditioning!" We started ten or so minutes late, once everyone arrived. 

On the walk down the aisle, I stopped and gave my mom an impromptu hug right before my dad gave me away. It's some of my favorite pictures of the day. Christopher walked down the stairs of the platform to greet my dad, and escort me up after my walk down the aisle. That was a really special thing for me, and was a great visual of what was happening as I became his wife. 

Two "embarrassing" moments: I got a coughing fit once under the microphone. The kind of coughing fit where every breathe of air feels like a knife sharp and deep in the back of my throat. Never saw that one coming. Luckily, it subsided quickly. The other was the lipstick left on Christopher's face after our planned first kiss...I did not want our arms blocking our faces so I made him practice with me weeks before, to keep our arms low. On the day of, I had to wipe the pink of his lips before we came back down the aisle, but again...loved those pictures and the video of it especially! 

Photography by Ari Merritt Photography; Videography by Zac McLendon. 

Sneaking a peek during the prayer!