Nice Day for a White Wedding

Several Fridays a month we join the blogs of Momfessionals, Grace and Love, and A Little Bit of Everything to share some favorites. Friday Favorites today is all about my wedding.

Tomorrow, March 28th, Mark and I will celebrate 5 years of marriage. We set a goal to beat Kim Kardashian and Chris Humphrie’s marriage of 72 days, and we did it.

To celebrate, I’m going to share my favorite memories from that day. Everyone tells you your wedding day will be a blur, and they are right. However, there were some moments that truly stuck with me, and for that, I’m thankful. Some are sweet; some are humorous, and all point towards wedded bliss.

1. The first two aren’t from the actual wedding day, but they deserve a spot in this list. We had the rehearsal dinner at an Italian restaurant, and everything was going so well up until a waitress decided this was her time to shine. Dessert had just started, and she thought it was a good time to ruin everyone’s cheesecake and tiramisu. She said she had a surprise for Mark and me. I think I kind of just stared at her because I didn’t know what was happening. She then gets in front of everyone and sings her very own rendition of “At Last.” Bless. Her. Heart. It was not good, but she sure thought it was. My dad even said later, “…and she wrote that song herself,” because it was so unrecognizable to him.
   I couldn’t be mean though and had to keep looking at her because she was laser focused on Mark and me thinking she was giving us the sweetest gift before our big day. I vividly remember glancing over at my friend Alison’s husband, Joey, peeking up from his dessert with a look of “What should we be doing right now?” because it was so awkward. I’ll never forget it.
   And to quote my mother, “If I had a dollar for every time she changed keys during the song, it would pay for the wedding.” Paula Stewart throwing some shade.
2. After our dinner and serenade, my friends Jody and Katy asked if we would come out to their family’s lake house for a surprise. Thankfully, it wasn’t another Etta James song. We got there, and they had very sweetly put out a few appetizers, so I thought that was it. Then we go stand on the deck, and her mother starts shouting, “We are here to celebrate Caroline!” *Crickets* Then she got a little louder. “WE ARE HERE TO CELEBRATE CAROLINE!” Then BOOM! Fireworks light up right in front of us. Katy’s husband, Josh, and her dad were down at the dock and had missed the first cue to get them going. It was hilarious, memorable, and thoughtful.
3. Before we got married, Mark and I had never lived near each other. I was always in Georgia, and he was in Germany and then Arkansas. So, we didn’t have a church we attended together. We decided to have a friend, Josh (fireworks guy), be our officiant. I could tear up every time I think about how well he did. It was perfect. It was the right amount of sweet and funny and all with Jesus.

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4. Mark and I wrote our own vows. Call it cheesy, but I love cheese, and I appreciate it in all forms. I have our vows framed in our bedroom, so I could tell you exactly what they said, but you probably don’t want to read all of that. Many parts of the ceremony are still a little foggy, but I perfectly remember him saying those to me. They were so sweet, and it was a very big deal for him to do that because he HATES any amount of attention on him. So for him to stand up in front of people and speak for a solid minute was proof that he loves me.

5. Before the ceremony, my cutie nephews announced my arrival with bells. It was the only time in my life I’ve felt like the Queen of England.

6. I asked my dad to sing at the reception, and I wanted “Can’t Help Falling in Love” because I love it, and I knew he did that one well. I remember the day of the wedding asking him if he’d practiced. “Nah. I got it.” I can’t be sure if he was joking, or if he really hadn’t. Either way, it was just what I wanted. Let’s just say it was a far cry from what that waitress did the night before.

7. I don’t remember anything about the food at our reception. We had a beautiful cake, great food (apparently), and an entire dessert table of southern favorites. The only food thing I remember was what we handed out to guests. It’s probably because of these cute Krispy Kreme boys.

8. About a week or so before my wedding, my friend, Jordan, told me he had hurt his leg or foot (I can’t remember) while he was on a mission trip the week prior. AKA He didn’t know if he’d be able to give it his all on the dance floor. I think I cried when he told me. I wanted to reschedule the whole thing. The best part of ANY wedding reception is Jordan dancing. Period. He can entertain even the grumpiest of people. Well, he didn’t let me down. He did what everyone knows him to do best, and he cut a rug, and he cut it about 18 times.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a video of him at my wedding, but it wouldn’t be right to not give you a glimpse of how entertaining he can be. Here is a clip of him dancing on Family Feud.

The only person who could even dare try to compete with him is my friend, Kim. They had a little dance-off, and I think for my 10 year anniversary I want both of them to do it again.

9. I knew Kat was going to give a speech at the reception, but I honestly didn’t think twice about it. It ended up being a very pleasant surprise with her entertaining everyone. If you want to hire her and Jordan for an upcoming wedding or party, I think you would be making the right choice. Here’s a video of it, but let me explain something. My new last name is Domogala; yes, it’s true. Since Mark was in the military, everyone called him by his last name, but they called him “Domo” instead to cut down on the amount of syllables. You’ll hear that in the song a lot. Enjoy.

10. My final memory was at the very end and gave me so many emotions. We were about to walk out of the reception, and I heard it. I knew from the very first chord what was happening. The DJ was playing the score from Father of the Bride. We only started this blog about 2 months ago, but I feel like I’ve talked about my love for that movie 16 times already. It’s my favorite, and I was completely overcome when it started playing. I didn’t want to leave; I wanted to stay and soak it all in and hope that Steve Martin was going to walk through the doors in his knockoff Armani, navy tux.

It was the best ending to the best day.

Now we aim to make it as long as Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson. We are goal setters.