Love Letters

Rather than writing our own wedding vows, Devin & I stuck to the traditional vows. However, we did write secret love letters to each other that were read aloud during the ceremony. It was my favourite moment of the day!

Devin's letter to me:

To the one who found me.

Janice, the Lord works in amazing ways, last year he stirred your heart to try something you never thought you’d do or want….. to take a chance on one and a half men. And you had the courage to follow his calling with a man and his little red headed boy. 

It was nearly two years ago that I had prayed for the first time in my life that the Lord would show me His will for my life and provide me with the woman He knew I needed and that I would know without a doubt that it was His doing. Janice, you are that answered prayer. I have been swept off my feet by you. It has been one of the greatest experiences of my life in getting to know you and your family. 

I love how intentional you are in all that you do, how passionate you are for the things and people you love, your tenderness, sincerity, stunning beauty, and your character. But above all else, that you put God first in your life, for I know that if you have a good, strong relationship with the Lord, He will show you how to have a good strong relationship with me and Cody. 

I look forward to sharing all the days of my life with you, side by side, and to honor you and my family in all that I do. I love you forever and for always.

Love Devin

And my letter to him:

For many years, I was searching for what my heart yearned for. A husband to journey life with. A partner that would love me unconditionally and with intention. A connection far deeper than any I’ve experienced with another person.

However, I just didn’t seem to be able to make that connection. As I expressed in a 2013 blog post, I longed to drink from one deep well but was forced to satisfy this thirst with 1000 dixie cups.

When I met you, I knew that I had finally found the oasis in the desert. I found someone with a passionate heart for the Lord, a desire to be a wonderful husband and who is the most loving and caring Daddy I know. 

In the past year, God has shown His faithfulness in such big ways to me. My desire to be both a wife and a mom has been fulfilled in one fell swoop. He has provided all that I have desired but in much different packaging than I ever expected. 

You may have recognized the song I chose earlier this morning – Blessed Assurance. I have always loved this hymn, but in the past year, the chorus of this song has been on my heart and on my lips many many times. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my saviour all the day long.

Each of our lives has a story and this is mine. I am forever grateful to the author of this story. I can’t wait to see how it unfolds.

My heart is full and I am thrilled to spend the rest of our days together. I’m keeping you forever and for always.

Finally.... I do.

A perfect day. That is how I would describe our wedding day.

After months of planning the details - big and small - everything came together on May 22. It was an early morning wake up call for the girls - but, that was the trade off for having a morning ceremony. I had a quick bath in the luxurious tub in my room. Side note: Wow, I wish I had more opportunity to enjoy the elegance and grandeur of my room! It had a huge "living room" with beautiful tall ceilings/windows and a fireplace. The bedroom also had a similar window and a corner jet tub that was fantastic.

My long-time hair dresser Brenda and her co-hort showed up just before 6am to get started on taming our manes. After they arrived, it was a constant flurry of activity: Mom stopped by with some breakfast, the make up girl arrived and got to work, a number of texts, emails and Facebook messages kept my phone buzzing. Before I knew it, the photographer was there! It was time to get my dress on and get this party started.

From that moment, the rest of the day went at lightning speed, and I don't know that I recall everything that happened! People tell you that your wedding day will be a blur - and they were right!

Fun tidbit: I got a text from my new father-in-law that he checked at the front desk and the radar for 10am looked good. I thought that was random and only later realized that it had rained that morning and they weren't sure if we would be able to do the ceremony outside! I think it's better that I didn't know that :)

Before I knew it, it was time to finally walk down the aisle. I took Dad's arm and paused for a moment as I savoured the moment. I was surprised by how calm I was. I had waited a long time for this and yet it felt like the most natural moment in the world. I loved each step that I took - greeted by so many smiling faces. But the greatest smiles were the two waiting for me at the end of the aisle.

I must confess, I loved the ceremony. It was a perfect blend of tradition and our personalities. I'm so happy that we had both Dave Lane & Gord Gilmore be a part. I have known Dave since my teen years and am good friends with him and Laurie. Gord has been an important part of Devin's spiritual walk. So, we were thrilled to have a dual pastor service!

At Dave's suggestion, we used traditional marriage vows but included a love letter to each other. Other than Dave, no one (including us) had read the contents before that particular moment in the ceremony. It was my favourite moment of the day. It was important to us that Cody was included in the ceremony because I was making a commitment to him as well as to Devin. So, we wrote a love letter to Cody as well. What an incredibly special memory.

As I stood at the front of our friends and family, I tried to soak in the moment. There were points throughout the day I tried to do that - take a mental photo. I recall looking into Devin's eyes as we said our vows and listened to the beautiful, poetic words of his love letter and knowing that I had found a real treasure.

Despite the rain earlier in the morning, the sun had come out and was shining down on us. Shining down so much, it was actually getting kind of warm. I had been concerned that the May long weekend might be kinda chilly and my bare arms might leave me shivering. Nope. In fact, Cody took refuge behind Devin during the ceremony to get some shade from the hot sun.

Many times during the planning process, Devin & I commented that we would love to be a guest at this wedding! We knew that we would not be able to enjoy the atmosphere and experiences that we were creating for our guests. This was definitely the case, but I think everyone enjoyed the Sunday paper and coffee we provided.

When we started planning a brunch wedding, the ideas just all came together to have it on a Sunday morning, serve coffee and create a personalized newspaper for our guests while we had photos done. Quite honestly, creating the newspaper was the best part of the planning for me. It's a natural fit for my skill set and interests and allowed my creativity to flow. It was also a way for us to include some of our friends and family. I even found a website that would print on actual newsprint. Super fun!

We wanted to pair the newspaper with coffee - naturally. At first we looked into having Starbucks but soon discovered the only "experience" they could provide was a carafe of pre-made coffee being poured into cups. Not really what we were after. Fortunately my friend Kim suggested O-Joe Coffee after seeing them at her cousin's wedding. They were perfect! They created exactly the ambiance we were looking for.

As I mentioned, the day went by so fast. My only regret is that I didn't have a chance to see & talk to our guests more. Having a morning ceremony & brunch reception kept things on a tight timeline. Of course, you are bound to have moments that you would change when you look back on things, but overall I feel the day was pretty perfect. And, after all, it's not about the day but the lifetime that follows!

Post Script: It has taken me a long time to find some time to get my thoughts together from the big day. Selling my house, moving and becoming a wife & mom have taken priority! Stay tuned for some additional tidbits and photos :)