The Covenant: June 2017 

Vision for our Wedding

We wanted our wedding to reflect the true purpose for marriage & the Creator of marriage, to be a blessing for our friends and family, and to just be fun. For us, that meant lots of people, the outdoors, a casual atmosphere, barbecue, cookies (I’m not a huge cake person), & dancing. We also wanted our vows to be something that we could truly reflect on and cling to throughout all seasons of marriage– in the valleys and on the mountain tops.  Since marriage is a covenant before God, we wanted the words that we said to be thought out by each of us individually so we wrote our own vows.

The Venue

With the help of an extremely talented friend, who found us the venue, we booked a family farm that was recently turned into a wedding venue. Their grandfather was a postman for the little town and used to live on the property. Wheat is still harvested on their property, hence the haystacks in some of our photos.

The family who runs it is wonderful and we were able to rent everything (outdoor ceremony space, cabin, professional catering kitchen space, old barn with covered garage, and new open air barn for reception) for the entire weekend. The rehearsal dinner was outside in the covered area attached to the old barn and the reception was in the new open air barn. Good thing both were covered because it poured during our rehearsal dinner and wedding reception.

The Dress + Accessories

I was never a girl who planned her wedding from childhood so I felt like I had NO idea what I was doing the entire time.

• Dress $250

Found it at a little wedding dress boutique in the city I was living in. The dress was new but crazy cheap, as you can see. An older lady runs the shop and all her dresses are buy-off-the-rack dresses so you take it with you when you purchase it, rather than ordering it. She has been married for a very long time and gave me a pink piece of paper with all of her marriage advice typed on it.  She says she gives every new bride her marriage tips. This store & experience was simply wonderful. My mom & I found the dress on day #1 of dress shopping and I went home with it!

• Flower Crown: $40 (a friend of a friend made it)

Funny Story: At our engagement party that some friends threw for us, we played a game where our friends had to create a wedding outfit for us out of toilet paper. One friend made me a TP crown for me to wear. Even though it was just TP, Robby loved it and I decided that night that I wanted to wear a flower crown for our wedding.

• Shoes  $20

I don’t love heals and I like simple things. So the shoes were from Marshalls and I still wear them.

• Necklace (borrowed from my grandmother)

The gold necklace was a gift to my grandma from a friend in Norway who made it in the early 80s.

• Egyptian-Looking Arm Band      $5

Found it while thrifting before the wedding and couldn’t resist it.

6. 17. 17

5 months and 10 days after engagement,  I woke up in a cozy little cabin with my two sisters and two dear friends. I rolled over and am pretty sure I said it out loud.  ” I’m getting married today.” It started off with the perfect breakfast spread!

First Look

I walked across the whole field until I reached my groom. Then we both teared up and he prayed for our marriage. Next, he turned around to look at me (and all the sweet words came).

Vows

It was difficult not to cry when we read these because the moment was so sweet and heavy at the same time with deep meaning.

Robby’s Vows:

“Through the grace and love of our Father in Heaven, I commit, first and foremost, to love Jesus with all that I am, to pursue Him before all else. I will strive to follow His teachings and obey  His commands in all areas of life. By keeping Christ at the center of my life and surrenduring  all I am to Him daily, will I be able to love you with a sincere, selfless and sacrificial love.

Second to Jesus, I promise to love you more than anyone or anything, forsaking all except you. My love will always be yours, in good times when it is easy, and in bad times when it is difficult. I will labor to serve you and place your needs above my own.

• I promise to honor you, trust you, and cherish you as the beautiful gift you are.
• I promise to consistently pray for you and with you. To encourage you and challenge you as we pursue Jesus together.
• I promise to comfort you in times of distress, to cover and protect you when adversity comes our way, to lay down my pride and seek your forgiveness whenever I fail you.
• I promise to make you laugh, even at my expense, and to laugh with you often. To never take life too seriously and enjoy it with you as the adventure it is.
• I promise to lead by example as Christ leads me. To guide you in truth as we build a home together where Jesus is honored, His word is lived out, and the Gospel is proclaimed so that those who have never heard can hear of Christ’s sacrifice and believe in Him as the one hope we have.
• And I promise to be your best friend. The one you can confide and trust in before anyone else.

I love you so much, (insert full name), and I look forward to spending the rest of my life showing you how much, until death separates us or Jesus returns.”

Rachel’s Vows:

“As I fix my eyes on Christ & rely on his never-ending supply of grace,

• I promise to be devoted to fervently pray for you and with you
• I promise to help carry your burdens, enduring with you through trials as I strive to strengthen and encourage you
• I promise to speak words of life as I edify, respect, and honor you with my words and actions, both in public and in private
• I promise to always be open and honest with you, trusting you with my hopes, fears, struggles, and joys
• I promise to create a home that carries as atmosphere of beauty, peace, and laughter (rather than chaos or stress), so that we can welcome the nations into our place of rest
• I promise to be faithfully yours alone, forsaking all others in this life until God takes us home or Christ returns for us.
• I promise to love you with a selfless, steadfast, Christ-like, love, putting your needs before my own
• I promise to forgive quickly and completely, always being willing to grow with a teachable spirit, full of grace
• I promise to trust you where you lead me as you follow Christ, through every adventure and season, so that we reflect a holy marriage after the image of Christ and His church”

(insert full name), “I’m humbled by how the Lord has led us together and can’t wait to see where he takes us. My love is imperfect but, it flows out of the perfect love of Christ… so from THAT love, I will strive to love you with my whole heart every single day.”

Songs

During the Ceremony

The song used for the whole processional was a live version of  Future of Forestry “Slow Your Breath Down” (Piano & Strings Version). A violinist, cellist, and pianist played an arrangement of the piece and it was gorgeous.

My sis sang “I Surrender” by All Sons & Daughters while our families and the bridal party gathered around us in the front and prayed over us.

 

We walked out to “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay. 

 

Dances

Our first dance song was a swing dance choreographed by an amazing friend of mine. We are NOT dancers so we practiced a lot. Haha. “Good Day for Marrying You” by Dave Barnes.

Father/ Daughter, Mother/ Son dance was at the same time to “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” by Michael Buble.

And a bunch of other fun dance music that everyone danced to after that! Dance Paarrrtaayy!

 

Surprise Honeymoon

Robby planned a surprise honeymoon to Hawaii! It was incredible. We spent all our time on The Big Island, rented a Jeep, and saw everything from Volcano National Park to Kona Coffee Company to Mauna Kea Space Observatory where we saw Saturn’s rings through a massive telescope.