Looking Back: The Ceremony

The guest were steady taking their seats as the clock kept time and we were all still playing "hide the bride" but the moment the prelude music began to start I knew it was time, time to pee... no seriously after hours of getting all dolled up/taking pictures and being what seemed like being vaccum sealed nice and tight in a Ziploc baggie, it was in that very moment in time, my bladder decided I had to pee.. What is this a funny Hollywood wedding film, I thought?!  It's really funny though thinking back to that moment because I knew for certain my sister in law would always be there for me  no matter what after she non-hesitatingly took charge of the situation and grabbed up several yards of my gown just so I could  pee, thanks sil. Whew, now it was time.

The music to be played during the ceremony was a major detail for me, above the shoes, the special somethings, the cake and so on, because my heart was born embedded near it ever since I can remember, I really wanted my guests to feel my hearts inner core through the music that I chose for each portion of the ceremony and I pray they felt it at it's very best. The sweet soulful solo harp version of Ave Maria had just began to play in the distance, which meant our grandparents were just being seated. While it is more of a catholic worshiping tune, I have always adored it's beautiful sound, and I couldn't think of a more beautiful song for our grandparents to walk down to.

I wasn't around to watch as my groom to be, his mother and dear sister lit the memory candle for his Daddy but I can only imagine what that moment felt like for them. It also was a major detail, I do hope Garrett felt his daddys reassuring presence beside him that sweet day. After the memory candle was lit it was time to seat our Mothers and then on to the bridal party. Clair De Lune was this moments song, it is a song that sends chill bumps down my very spine every time I hear that first note played smoothly, it is pure poetry but without a need for any words, and even the adjective: beautiful does it's title no justice. I had originally planned to walk down the aisle to this song because of the great impact on my heart it does, but I decided I would use it for my girls to walk down to. The idea then was perfect, why had I not thought of this before?! It's simple softness would capture them so well, it would be as if they were walking on Heavens stepping stones, I had visioned it's imagery in my mind and I also prayed it was as beautiful as a moment as I had imagined.

 At this point I was standing beside my Daddy waiting for the notion to move forward. I was beginning to get teary eyed already thinking of how my Dad must feel giving his last daughter away. Our relationship had, regretfully had it's days and we were not completely mended but everything was fine. I knew he was happy with my choice to marry Garrett that day. Inner intuition has it's way of easing the soul. I chose the Canon in D harp solo version for my presentation. There's just something about the sound of the harp, it's so angelic there's just nothing like it for me, anyway. I held my daddys arm as we rounded the corner to my concrete aisle. I saw numerous smiles and sweet gestures noting that I was in that moment, but I hadn't yet seen Garrett. Everyone stood at once as I made it to the beginning of my special walk, I lifted my head to my destination and there he was. I had seen a many of his smiles, but his smile was one of a kind that day and I could already see that he had a glitter to his eyes as well. Everything seemed so quiet during that walk toward him, the world seemed to drift back from us and all I saw was him, and all I felt was love, Gods love surrounding us. We took each others hands and listened as the preacher gave Gods word to us, to everyone. We did our best to repeat each vow that was expressed, but emotions overtook our hearts. And as you will see in pictures to come, tears were overflowing so that I had to wipe my eyes during our vows but I just let them go because I felt that was how they were meant to fall. It was the most emotional moment I had ever lived so far, many told us afterwards it was the most heart felt wedding they had ever witnessed, I'm proud to say that our hearts were open even past it's inner lining that day.

    

We took each others token of love along our fingers and listened to the song I had pre-recorded for Garrett. I have always wanted to sing in my wedding, I had sang in numerous weddings before but it was my turn now and this was my hearts desire to sing to my groom. I chose the song "It Feels Like Home" by Chantal Kreviazuk because I just knew as soon as we were pronounced "Husband and Wife" it would be a feeling of home like no other. And it was, We were now one, Praise God what a feeling, the comfort in that title now expressed was so much a "Home" as I had previously sang to my Groom.

We took each others hands and made our way down the porch steps, past our crowd of friends and family, and I don't know about Garrett but a deep breeze came right over me as we reached the end of our wedding march. After six months of planning such an event, this beautiful feeling was the end result. I couldn't possibly feel a feeling no greater than if I had climbed to the top of the tallest mountain, I was so high above the clouds in love. It's true. Love had grown even deeper in my heart than before, my valves were rooted to it's ultimate potential now and I could not wait to see what life had in store for us.

Want to hear this bride sing to her groom?

Listen below and Enjoy!

Looking Back: Getting Ready To Say "I Do"

Looking back I can truly express it was a morning like no other, I had counted down the months and weeks to this very day and it was finally here. So there I was, that beautiful Saturday morning, on my parents front porch swing while one of my bridesmaids being one of my best friends since I can remember was still asleep. We had camped out in each others company for one last sleepover. Some may mock "some bachelorette party you had!" but I honestly didn't have a care in the world for such a tradition, it was like we were teenagers again and I would never trade that moment in for the world. I know for certain I kept her up almost all night long because I was so anxious about what the next day held, her company was truly just what I needed, but I also needed my quiet time, my space, I needed a few moments with my God, and looking back that front porch swing has always been the place where I went to be with Him. For some reason, that swing comforted my spirit and my mind could just release any anxiety, poetry from the depths of my soul, feelings of any kind, so that is where I was, again. My parents were already at the place where I would soon be in just a few hours doing some last minute decorating, so I breathed in the minutes and prayed to God to ease any nerves that would soon arise. I prayed that our wedding would be just as He had already pre-planned it and I prayed for His presence during the entire ceremony, I prayed for the weather, I prayed for every emotion, I even prayed for tears as long as they were happy tears, I prayed for our marriage mostly, and I prayed for our life as husband and wife. Soon my other best friend would arrive at my home and I just couldn't wait to hug her neck, she drove a good distance just to be in our wedding and she doesn't know how much that meant to me, I needed her that day also. It wasn't quite time after she arrived to meet the stylist upstairs at the home where I would soon be getting married at but we decided to leave a little early, so we grabbed a couple of my daddys button up t-shirts and made our way to our vehicles, but before I left I couldn't help but glance back at my home, my family home, the home I had been raised in for so many years, this back out of the driveway would be my last as a single woman. I couldn't help but think of how it was going to feel coming back to this place as a married woman and leaving to go back home,  to my new home. 

The long driveway leading up to "the wedding" was so dawning for me, it got real, and quick too, as soon as I saw white tents with tables underneath for the celebration, empty white chairs that would soon be filled with our loved ones and friends, beautiful floral arrangements for different settings that I had been solely apart of creating for such a day, and there it was: the concrete aisle- sunlight beaming upon it just as I had pictured- I would soon walk along it's path to meet my groom. I could not wait, throw the dress over my head and lets get to the good part I thought who needs shoes! But then God in his own way somehow reminded me that I needed to be patient, this was a very special day, this would soon be a memory I thought so I did my best to stay calm.

I watched each one of my girls get dolled up for our special day until it was finally my turn. The nerves were beginning to set in but pictures were next so there was no room for any worries, we had to get these pictures taken before the guys, most importantly, my groom made their way around the same long driveway we had just came down before. So into my dress I stepped with the help of my mother in law to be and one of my best friends. It was in that moment that I became the bride, and boy was it a feeling like no other. I was center square with my two best friends, my soon to be sister in law and my sister who had always been there from the beginning. This wedding was about to happen guys, it was that don't wake me up if i'm dreaming kind of moment! The last few photographs were shots of me and my parents and soon single shots of only me, I think I was so mesmerized by all of the emotions of the moment the photographers had to remind me to smile.They kept chanting "Smile,Callie!", "C'mon I know you can smile bigger!"almost in a child-like manner which got to be a little annoying after a while because at that moment in time I truly thought I was smiling my natural smile. Looking back at my photo album now, I didn't truly smile until I saw Garrett.

Near the end of the first round of shots snapped, it was time to "hide the bride", someone had spotted the guys coming down the long driveway, it was their turn to get ready, so into the house we went, my girls crowded around me doing their best to cover me. It was all starting to come together, my groom was just outside, I could only imagine what emotions were playing in his mind and what this day felt like to him as well. Was he nervous? Was he excited? Please Lord, no cold feet,i thought, mine are perfectly warm inside these shoes I'm wearing. The minutes were passing by so quickly now, as I pulled the blind down peering at the numerous white chairs outside facing me, I saw that a few guests had already arrived, the groomsmen were taking last shots with my soon to be husband. This is it, I thought.

  

Be calm. Breathe. Believe this day has already been taken care of by His hands.

Keep reading Friends, I'm just getting to the good part!
[The Ceremony]

A Memorial Day Cook [Burn] Out With The Newlys

Monday we had our very first cookout as Newlyweds in honor of Memorial Day. We spent the first half of the day getting the yard spruced up, gathering up chairs and tables, icing down drinks and such and blowing up as many rug rat floaties as we could find, which ended up being way too many, considering we are childless at the moment. Believe me, had a cheese wagon full of kindersnappers came whipping down our driveway that evening, we smithy's were fully capable of gearing them all up with floatation devices for every extremity. 

While we thought we went somewhat a little overboard on supplies and such, we were kind of worried about what kind of turn out we were going to have with all of the many cookouts and get togethers that were going about, but to our surprise we had plenty of friends and family show up and we just had a blast with all of the company. It was so nice to have both sides of our family there with us along with great friends too. 

But let me just make plain that thought, first of all word to wise: a hamburger patty is not always a [great] hamburger patty, that is if it's cheap. So we had a little well big.. bad combination while in the grilling process of cooking hamburgers. The first one being that I, wifey bought the most cheapest pack of hamburger patties I could possibly find in an act of pleasing the Husby with my mean savings skills. A hamburger patty is a hamburger patty, right? Wrong! Lesson learned #1. Second, Husby had the grill rocking and smoking at a whopping 700 degrees. Our burgers were so burn't up the dogs wouldn't even touch their tongue to it. Husby was getting pretty embarrassed and Wifey was feeling pretty dumb for penny pinching on patties but looking back it was worth every penny that was wasted. You just can't put a price on a good laugh and an unforgettable memorial day cookout! Lesson learned #2. A hamburger patty may not always be a good hamburger patty, but a good laugh is a good laugh, right?

You didn't think this moment passed life's existence without being recorded did you!?? I like to call it "The Hamburger Massacre". Check it out, and feel sorry for us if you want or maybe just point and laugh. 

It's Newlywed Time!

June is right at the tip of my nose and just before my very toes Friends! I have been waiting for this month to arrive for too long, I just couldn't wait to start gooeifying the month of June for all of you with recollections of our wedding day bliss and our newlywed stories of the big Year One! By the way, starting tomorrow I will begin unraveling "our wedding day story" post by post along with tid bits from our honeymoon and finally a few of our favorite photographs from our One Year photo shoot just recently taken so be sure to check it out and grab your Klennex box just in case, I may cause an unexpected tear jerker with all my "inner deepness" as Husby calls it. 

Through blogging, I have had the privilege to meet some pretty amazing gals and we have become such good friends, life-long friends, not to mention a lot of which we share the same exact anniversary day. And some may call it "odd" to form a friendship through blogging and find it hard to understand, believe me if I wasn't so into blogging myself, I would think it was pretty crazy too, but I consider these girls to be just as close as any of my other friends I see face to face on a daily basis. It's just a fact, Jack as Si would say on Duck Dynasty. 

Anyway, we have had so much fun swapping newlywed life stories and such throughout this year that we decided to compact all of our journeys of bliss into a Newlywed Blogging Series every Wednesday during the month of June!  Are you a June bride yourself? Been married for 25 plus years? How about engaged to be married? Link up your posts and join in on the fun guys! Here's how to get started:

Calling all engaged and newlywed gals! 

What would you say if I told you 10 newlywed bloggers are linking up to bring you an entire year's worth of marital advice for a one time only June series!? Whelp, get excited! 

Meet the forever newly wedded Brides!

Ashley @ It Is What You Make It // Kalyn @ Love.Laughter.HappilyEverAfter  // Mallory @ From California to Kansas // Karla @ Forever Newly Wedded // Maggie @ A Weaving of Grace 

Samantha @ Designer in Teal // Veronica @ Passion.Pink.Pearls // Kaitlyn @ Wifessionals // Emily @ Newlywed Moments // Callie @ My Something New With You

Each of the 10 Brides shown above have been married exactly one year as of June 2013. We will be posting each Wednesday during the month of June on 4 topics of marriage, while including our trials, triumphs, and all that fell in-between. The goal of this link-up series is to encourage the pursuit of love, joy, and hardships within a sacred marriage, all of which are completely worth each minute the Lord provides with our better half. 

If you are engaged, or married, we invite you to write on the topics with us and link up your posts. It doesn't matter if you are engaged and planning your big day, are a newlywed, or if you have been married 25 years... All the marital advice contributed, all the better for everyone involved! 

Visit our blogs today to meet our spouses and learn about our weddings! 

The Topics: 

June 5- Funny Moments From The First Year

June 12- Hardest Moments From The First Year

June 19- What Have You Learned From The Unexpected and How Have You Grown as a Couple During The First Year

June 26- Anniversary Celebration Recap 

We look forward to reading about your engaged, newlywed, and marriage journeys! If you have any questions feel free to email Kalyn here. 

One Year Anniversary Photo Ideas

The truth is, I have been waiting so patiently for the month of June to come back around ever since we came home from the honeymoon... so that we could take precious "Year One" pictures like these and my sweet sister in law who was very much apart of our wedding agreed to snap a few shots for us in the near future! I'm pretty certain I wore out the pin button on Pinterest, so if it happens to suddenly not work the next time you try to pin something, blame this psycho newly wife...I just couldn't get enough ideas in my head guys! Every time I reached to what I thought was the end of the pin board, more and more just magically appeared! These are a few ideas that have sweep through my mind just recently, aren't they darling?! Now if I can just get Husby to cooperate enough and agree to some of these must have poses! Although I don't see a bow tie in his future...

I absolutely LOVE the cake idea, but let's face it, our cake is most definately not going to look that good after being held captive in the freezer for a whole year, who are they kidding? By the way, I'm sort of dreading the whole cake thing, I'm thinking we will have to blow torch the freezer burn off of the cake just to snag a piece or two! I'm only kidding though, it should be fine.  I also love the photo shoots with the fur babies, I can so see our little Mila and Tobey sitting so pretty beside us, they too, have been apart of us during our little first journey as Newlyweds so why wouldn't they be incorporated in our shots? 

These shots just really reminded me of our kind of love personality.. our love is so tender and loving, we are very much a playful couple and I don't believe we'll ever grow out of the flirtful stage of love, ever. It's in our genes, we come from a long line of lovingness indeed. 

I had originally thought of somehow incorporating Husbys old white chevrolet truck in our wedding, but because of his piece of mind with this certain vehicle, we decided it would be best to skip the idea. But I think it would be just perfect for our one year photo shoot! It is such a treasure to him and I really want to capture the two of us in such a deep portion of his being, I just think it would be great!

 I can't wait to share our photo shoot with you all!

Let's Catch Up.

It may be the weekend before I spit out all of my silly happenings, but here is the juice guys. Lately I just haven't felt inspired to write, I don't know what's going on with me.. feeling a bit dull I suppose, it'll pass. For now, let me just catch you up. 

1. We celebrated 11 precious months of marriage on the 16th.

It's hard to believe we will be married a year in just a few short weeks! My how time flys...

We love each other more and more every day

Year One anniversary snapshots and plans are in the making

I can hardly wait for that day to come so that I can share it with you all!

2. The summer heat just made it's wave, and boy did it!?

Heat Wave.

My toes haven't gotten quite adjusted to the temperature of the pool though.

3. My second attempt to bread making was a success.

Meaning my last one, wasn't.

Husby loves it, success.

4. Just call me Callie Crocker.

1. My stargaze lily I planted from bulbs just made it appearance as

well as all my pretty rosies, I couldn't wait any longer to make bouquets 

to place around the house! It's one of my favorite ways to decorate and 

they smell so, so sweet.

2. An empty Amarito bottle goes a long way for these little pretties.

Who needs a store bought designer vase? 

Not this girl, I think it looks classy right out the bottle!

3. I've seen so many photographs just like this

I had to try it.

Although the rose almost swallowed my symbol of marriage whole during the process.

4. You've probably already seen this snap shot on my Instagram

if your a follower of mine.

Find me here if you aren't yet, and wanna be, of course.

I love a bouquet of flowers sitting pretty in a coffee mug.

Flower child I am, Husby swears I'm a Hippie.

Life is good.

I hope it's treating you kind as well.

Weekend.

1. I got a wild hair to clean out the secretary that was left to us which now sits pretty in the corner of our dining room, it turned out to be the perfect place to do some carefree writing, bible study and journaling. 

2. Although I love to display my favorite book findings around our home, this drawer just held them all so nicely and at arms reach.

3. All that organization sparked me to also finish getting the entire dining room just like I wanted it, at last. I think it looks great, it makes me look forward to having a little family of our own one day (in the future, not now guys!) all gathered around that pretty little table eating well mastered table course meals ( I'd like to think I will be able to cook as good or better as the Martha Stewart by then ya' know) . 

4. As you have already seen, one thing kept leading to another and before I knew it I was on pin it lane and found this cute idea! Therefore, the next time Husby turns to the Mississippi page of the Atlas, he will find the cut out left overs from my Natchez encircled heart I snatched. Let's hope we're needing to travel north in our next little adventure lest I will have to buy a new Atlas. 

1. I swear my dear mother in law was programmed with pinterest on steroids ingenuity. She amazes me at the things she derives from her brain. This little project came shooting straight from her noggin' and with a little help from the Husby it came to life, just perfectly. She is so proud, and so are we! It's beautiful!

2. Yeah, I held the bolts.. major job ya know

3. The safety glasses were my way of fitting into my surroundings, wouldn't want a sudden jagged bolt to come freakishly flying my way, right?

4. The finished project. I would say "She's the Man!" but she might get me for that one! Good job MIL!

1. A little bass fishing with the Husby afterwards, I just love how he preaches to me to fish the back of the boat, but once he sees fish my way (as in the back of the boat) the rules seem to change suddenly. He better be glad he's cute.

2. Bird nesting the open face reel every cast got old and the fish didn't seem to be biting anyhow so this gal turned to Pandora radio for some serious music therapy and a little vitamin D. 

3. The running rose that grows over the ivy covered arbors on the side of our house just began blooming all of these beautiful buds, aren't they something!? Garrett rang the door bell and met me at the door with a freshly picked one just the other day. They have the prettiest smell to them.

4. We were anxious to whether or not the apple tree was going to make this year due to the weather we've had here lately, but it seems like we'll be getting a few handfuls of fruit after all. 

This weekend started off a little bumpy but it turned out to be so perfect. Life is sweet. I hope it's treating you kind as well.

That Time I Lost My Baby Control Pill

Hi Friends! It's finally that perfect day of the week that we love so much, Friday! And even though it isn't much of a perfect sun shinin' day rather it's rainy, it's still so nice to have it here!

My last few posts have been pretty heart wrenching, I'm not going to lie, it was pretty hard for me to "write through the ugly" I even debated not even writing about the day of the funeral, but me being the heart set writer I am, I knew I had to do it. My sweet friend is doing her best to stay strong especially for her mother who is taking it pretty hard, they actually decided to leave their family home just for a little while, their happy home was now a sad home so they had to get away from the harsh reality of it all, I can't blame them. I appreciate all of the sweet comments and prayers toward them, I regretfully didn't get a chance to reply back to each of you and thank you individually, but know that it truly warmed my spirit to receive so much supportive feedback. Thank you for caring, I am blessed to have you here.

So in an effort to spunk back up the bloggy a little notch, I decided to post a little funny I experienced a few weeks ago, I lost my birth control pill underneath the refridgerator.. sounds a bit like that time I lost Mila inside the refridgerator doesn't it?? ...Well I felt the need to video document it.. It could have been tragic, I have never missed a single birth control pill, so yes this girl was sweatin' it down while husby was in the shower getting ready for our hot date night! I know you will find this as funny as we did! Enjoy, and Happy Friday to You!!