A Review of Our Day

Our Wedding Day. Where to start?... Everybody always warned me that your wedding day would be a whirlwind day and you won't remember anything afterwards. So, as I prepped emotionally, physically, and logistically for June 14, I also was prepping my attention and memory. I didn't want to wake up on June 15 and think, "Wait... I'm married?..." I was prepared to be mindful of as much as my brain could handle for the most important, exciting, and stressful day of my life.

I'm not going to give you a play-by-play of the whole entire day. There are, however, a few things that Nathan and I love to talk about when we think about our wedding day. The following is a list of things we remember and reminisce about often:

The Final Countdown: Nathan and I have very different memories of this moment. At about 3:55 pm, I announced to my bridesmaids that the prelude section was probably about to play "The Final Countdown" by Europe. Would you believe that they didn't believe me?!? I assured them that indeed the 1986 hit was playing in the church sound system. They convinced me that we should go to our places early so that they could be certain I was telling the truth. And, so we went. Even though I was nervous and excited all rolled into one, I will never forget their faces as we listened in the stairwell waiting for the procession to start.

Nathan's version of the Final Countdown was a little different. "I knew that it was coming, of course, but my groomsmen didn't. They all looked at me and smiled and asked for conformation of what they were hearing in the little Baptist church. Several of us then sang the song together. When I looked out the door window-frame into the sanctuary, many people were smiling in disbelief :) I'm sure they thought, 'this is totally Nathan's doing.' I think they loved it! Much better than some of the songs other couples pick."

Unity Canvas: We wanted to have a Unity Ceremony, but we didn't want to do the standard unity candle. So, I searched for something unique that would not only represent my/our personality, but also be a great keepsake. Finally, I found where someone had taken a blank canvas and poured paint down it. As gravity pulls the paint down, the paint mixes together. The paint cannot be unmixed and will be combined together, similarly to a marriage relationship in Jesus Christ. So, thats the background... the reason I remember the Unity Ceremony part of our ceremony was because of two reasons. Nathan will describe the first...

"So it was time for the unity ceremony, and we had told my grandpa what we wanted him to say. During the rehearsal, he said his line, and we went and pretended to do our thing. During the actual ceremony, he whispered “Unity Ceremony” to us, and motioned for us to go. We knew that he was supposed to say his line, so we just stood there awkwardly for a moment. I finally motioned to his notes, and his eyes lit up as he remembered what he was supposed to do. It was pretty hilarious."

The second reason the Unity Ceremony is memorable is because my jar of paint was....a little bit thick. About an hour before the ceremony my aunt, Melissa, had graciously helped me thin the paint so that I wouldn't accidentally get paint on my dress. We had it the perfect consistency. Well, I didn't anticipate that, although the jar had a top, the paint would thicken. Weirdly, only my color thickened. As, it was slowly moving out and onto the canvas, Nathan and I just looked at each other like, "uh oh." I gave my jar a discreet shake, and thankfully that helped it move along.

Predators Wedding Party Reception Entrance: Nathan will explain this one: "I sought special permission to ask our DJ, Jonathan, to announce us similar to how Paul McCann announces the Predators starting lineup, complete with Paul's signature sayings and music that the Preds play. It was perfect! Jonathan did an amazing job at imitating Paul, and it was exciting! We were announced as the goalie (because he has the best intro!) The music and goal horn made the intro a very Nathan and Ash Koehler experience!"

Love Song Serenades: We know a ton of talented people. I mean...a....ton. I sort of wanted to do karaoke, but honestly felt like that would possibly come across a little tacky. Then, it hit me. We'll just give our guests the opportunity to serenade us and then we will be forced to kiss afterwards. It was the perfect way to show off our friends' and families' talents, while still keeping the focus on us (not to be stingy on the attention, but I mean, come on, it was OUR wedding day...). Well, they didn't let me down. We had 8 different groups to serenade us, and we loved every single one. There were some that were you're standard sappy love song, some that were fun and energetic, and some that were just downright hilarious! It was great.

There are so so so many great memories from our Wedding Day. Honestly, our favorite is getting to be united in Christ through marriage. Second is getting to celebrate with all of our family and friends. Thank you to everyone who attended our wedding and for continuing to support us in our marriage.

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All Photos by: Josh Salley