mrs. rickard

well, it's been a little over 2 weeks since the wedding so at least i'm not as late on this one as uganda, but i am proud (and completely blessed) to announce that i am now officially mrs. rickard. overall, i am constantly amazed at God's hand in bringing jamie and i together and still blown away from time to time knowing that i am married to such an awesome, godly man and that God truly was working everything out for my good even in the times when i didn't recognize it.

now on to the actual day.....after all the stress and planning, i am happy to say that the wedding day was completely awesome and everything seemed to come together really well. i didn't sleep much the night before (partially due to excitement and partially due to a huge storm) but i woke up to a house full of awesome girls (my bridesmaids) and bagels (thanks to tiff) so that started my morning off right. my first act of the day, besides a shower, was getting my hair done so we'll start there...

first of all, let me say that getting my hair done was completely fun (other than the 83 bobby pins jammed into my head...yes, we counted them that night when we took them out of my hair)....you can probably tell why since this is the picture of my stylist, David and i at the practice run...

and though my hair looked like this for a while:
the finished product turned out great


the rest of the morning basically consisted of running around like crazy trying to get everything (the reception location) and everyone ready. it was during this time that i found out jamie's phone had been confiscated because he was trying to send me a text so i wouldn't be able to communicate with him at all until the actual wedding (kent apparently took the not seeing each other before the wedding thing to a whole new level).... i did however get a wedding gift delivery, which was an awesome SLR digital camera (the Canon Rebel XTi for those you camera people)...don't i have a great husband?

after much waiting around and killing time by practicing the thriller dance, it was time for the big moment....

me walking down the aisle with my dad:

this is apparently jamie's face when he first saw me (thanks ashley for snapping this one!)
pouring the unity sand...
the big kiss.....(and probably the only time you will catch me with a "kissing picture")
and introducing mr. & mrs. jamie rickard...

a few of my favorite moments from the ceremony:

• when i got down the aisle and was just looking at jamie while standing with my dad and he mouthed "i love you".... great memory
• praying with jamie right after communion.
  

after the ceremony and pictures it was on to the fun of the reception....

our cake
it got a little messy....

after the crying during the toasts (mostly thanks to tiffany) it was time for some dancing....

both serious (our first dance)
and fun (thriller)

i think the thriller dance went pretty well but i haven't seen the video yet so who knows?....it was definitely fun though and there was apparently an encore performance at the after party at bent willey's.

after much fun...(including the mom dance below)
it was time for us to leave (or at least fake leave for the camera)

the real depature involved my first time riding in a limo (which was stinkin' awesome)

the best part of the day (besides marrying jamie of course!) was being able to spend it with those we love.....we are so blessed to have an amazing family (both blood and in Christ) and it was awesome to get to share the beginning of this new adventure with them. the people i missed so much on that day were my grandparents, especially my grandma....she wanted me to get married more than anything so i know that she would have been overjoyed to be there, but instead she got to watch it all with our Matchmaker, which is even cooler.

to see more pics from the day click here and enter the password: TheRickards