I’ve been promising this story to you guys for TOO long! Here goes!
Two Words: Simple Wedding
Dress: thrifted sundress
Groom: button up and levi jeans
Cake: home made cupcakes
Venue: woods
Decorations: minimum
Flowers: natural growing wild flowers
Photography: friends and family (we’re blessed with great photographers in our lives)
Parting gifts: boxes with wildflower seeds and hershey kisses
In our engagement story I told you about Andrew having to go to Africa and how we really hadn’t been together for too long before he left. Can I just say, thank the Lord for Skype?! We spent tons of time either over webcam or sketchy African phone lines talking and yearning for each other. Originally we had talked about getting married in September. We didn’t want to be married in a birthday month (mine being August and his October) and we didn’t want to get into the holidays so that left September. Which, really was perfect. Who doesn’t want a fall wedding in the mountains where we live? Seriously.
One evening we were talking and Andrew was kind of quiet and he finally blurted out, “Shannon, I don’t want to wait until September to get married” This was in… May I think. It was my turn to be quiet. I just said, “Okay. Realistically when would you like to get married?” He (without hesitation) said, “July.” I (also without hesitation) said, “Okay!”.
I think we were pretty much giddy from that point on. Yes, we were putting the “cart before the horse” in terms of not having a ring or him even officially asking. It’s so crazy to me because we were both coming from really broken previous relationships and I had actually decided, maybe… 3 months earlier that I might not even be interested in marriage. HILARIOUS! Guys, if you’re in that place in your life allow me to offer advice, don’t go there. God just laughs. And, so does everyone else. About a month after that thought crossed my mind Andrew popped up on the scene. Not even joking. So here we are. Me in the states and him in Africa. With nothing but a promise.
When he got home we started planning. Originally we decided we wanted it to be on July 18th. For several reasons it didn’t work out, so we changed to the 24th. For those of you going through planning a wedding and having family drama, if you find yourself asking, “Does this happen to everyone?” The simple answer is: YES. At a couple of points I actually thought about saying, okay no more. We’ll elope. I’m glad that didn’t happen but… I was totally there. You’re not alone. Just remember to keep your goal in mind and strive to make it happen. YOUR WAY. It’s YOUR WEDDING. Just a little tidbit of wisdom from me to you.
Andrew and I decided that we needed a woods wedding. Duh. I grew up in a certain area of the woods in these mountains and we decided that would be a perfect venue. We chose our colors: green, white, and gray. We handmade invitations, we chose cupcakes, vintage books, and red lanterns. We had two flower girls (one from my class and the other Andrew’s niece) and chose daisies (my absolute favorite) for the flowers. My dad made my bouquet, yes my dad (eeek! precious), he knows more about native wild flowers that anyone I’ve ever met, which is crazy to look at him.
We did not have brides maids or groomsman. We chose to have everyone stand in a circle around us and we chose to share the center of the circle with no one other than our officiate, Nathan. We wrote our own vows, don’t worry, it was one line. We had three languages in our vows, English, Spanish and Hebrew. It was amazing to us that we found the perfect, and I mean perfect, one liner to sum up how we feel for each other and the promises we wanted to make. Amazing.
We had a pot luck reception, I recommend it! Everyone brought a dish, my dad cooked for two days making bbq with his own delicious spin on it. It was such a fun event to be part of, we decorated the picnic tables and made the whole thing beautiful not only with the decorations but also with the amazing people and love that was there.
The result: married to my best friend and perfect, perfect beloved!
Thanks for letting me share this story with you! It was challenging but in the end it was magical and beyond worth it!
xo. Shannon & Andrew
shannon*bear 
