I didn’t much mention our ceremony in pre-wedding posts (though of course, I shared our chapel with you here… also mentioned tidbits here and here), mostly because we wanted as much as possible to unfold as a surprise for our guests. Behind the scenes, however, our ceremony was the topic of choice in the months leading up to the big day. The ceremony was by far the most important part of the day to John and me; we wanted it to tell a story about our relationship (where we’ve come from), our present (what we value), and our future (our hopes and dreams). Arching over everything, we tried to make decisions that would celebrate the faith we have in our Lord.

We felt one of the best ways to do that was through our readings, and we’re so pleased with the ones we decided on! One was extremely easy to pick, one was fairly easy, and the last one was quite hard. I’d love to tell you about them!

The first one, the one that was easy, was an excerpt from Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. MC is one of both my and John’s favorite books, and this passage in particular has always been meaningful to us. Here it is:

When I first read this passage, soon after John and I started dating, I pretty much hated it. I thought it was unromantic, and untrue. Seven years on, I find it both terribly romantic, and very true. I would love to hear your thoughts! This reading was given by Alyssa, whom we met in college and consider the first dear friend that we made together.

Our second reading I said was fairly easy to pick. We knew we wanted a reading from the Bible, and though we considered several, including Philippians 2:1-5, Philippians 4:4-8, Romans 12:9-18, and Proverbs 3:1-12, we eventually decided on Colossians 3:12-17, RSV:

I love this reading so much, and really look to it as a guide for how I should be treating John. The patience part, I am still working on :) Some of you might remember that we also used a verse from this reading (different translation) on our invitations, so including it in our ceremony was a nice way to bring things full circle. We asked our dear friend Jackie, with whom we attended both high school AND college, to give this reading. We like to think she was extra qualified, since she had just graduated with her Master of Divinity!

For our final reading, we wanted something more “literary,” since we both have always loved reading and I was an English major with a concentration in poetry. However, it was hard to agree on a reading that we both loved AND found meaningful. We considered a few poems (I love Neruda), tossed around the idea of an excerpt from a letter between John and Abigail Adams, and almost went with this one, except that John didn’t think we should choose something that he had never heard of before our wedding:

In the end, I’m glad he insisted, because the reading we ended up with couldn’t have been more perfect. We found it by going back through a box of old letters we sent to each other over the years. In one, I had included this excerpt from The Little Prince:

Once we chose this reading, we knew exactly who we would have read it at our ceremony: my high school English teacher and long time mentor, Amanda. She did a beautiful job!

Next week, we’ll talk ceremony music selections!

Tell me: Which readings did you choose for your ceremony? I LOVE hearing what people picked, so please share!

Let me start by saying that I don’t like caramel apples. (I draw the line at sweets that are sticky… so no caramel, toffee, taffy, tootsie rolls, or cow tails for me. Yuck.) However, I find caramel apples very aesthetically pleasing, and they couldn’t be more perfect for the season we’re in right now. So today, five of my favorites – at least from the outside!

Top to bottom: classic caramel apples with twigs by Allyson Baker Design | caramel apples with sea salt from Martha Stewart Living | candied lady apples from Martha Stewart Weddings | Eery cinnamon candied apples by Matt Bites | caramel apple sundae from MSL

How about you? Caramel apples: yea or nay?

Wow! Thank you all SO much for your advice and insight on this post! John and I eagerly read through every comment. The most common suggestions were to take as much emotion out of the process as possible, and to hire a really, really thorough home inspector, but if you’re interested in this topic, you should definitely check out what everyone had to say!

I’m excited to say that we’ve been pre-approved for our loan (yay!) and are going to look at our first house on Saturday morning! I’ll definitely keep you updated throughout the process!

In the meantime, I wanted to tell you about something else that’s been occupying my time – Pure Barre! Starting some sort of exercise class was one of my 101 in 1001 goals, and I’m so happy to have checked this one off the list. The funny thing about being thin is that it’s easy to trick yourself into thinking you’re in shape, when in reality (at least for me), that is sadly, sadly not the case. Let’s face it: I’m about as weak as a newborn puppy.

So yes, the first class totally kicked my butt, but I’m excited to go back! For those who are wondering, here’s what Pure Barre is all about:

— The classes are one hour long, and you gogogo the entire time. I hardly had a chance to sip water.
— There is no cardio – the focus is entirely on creating long, lean muscles.
— You do a little bit of arms, some stretching, a good amount of abs, and lots of leg work. The fast pace and constant switching (we used the barre, a mat, a rubber ball, a stretchy elasta band, and weights at different points) makes it easier to keep going and stay focused.

If any readers are in the Triangle and want to try out a first class with a friend, just email me and I’ll let you know when I’m going!

Have any of you tried Pure Barre? What did you think? Do you tend to like classes or solo exercising better?

Southern Living

After months and months of scouring Trulia, FMRealty, and Zillow; debating endlessly about where, exactly, in the Triangle we might want to live; and going back and forth on our goals and how much money we want to spend, we have finally found a home that we both like. Like, really like. Maybe love. I am trying to not be under any illusions that this particular house might actually become ours (we haven’t even seen the inside!), but it’s enough to make the whole mortgage and home buying process much more real. We already have a realtor in mind; we’re knee-deep in wading through the sites of different mortgage lenders, and have reached out to a few options. It’s exciting, but also completely nerve-wracking!

Here’s what I would like to know: For those of you who have already gone through the home buying process, what is the ONE piece of advice you’d like to impart at this stage of the game? (If you have more than one piece of advice, I’d love to hear it, but I don’t want to tax you!) It can be super simple and easy, or something very specific and involved. What one thing do you wish you had known at this point in the process? We’re all ears!!