All The Details: Reliving Our Biggest Day
Quietly, I used to be a bit anti-marriage. The women-as-property element that stood out in its origins was what clearly put me off. In fact, there was a time when I pictured myself one day having a celebration for my (happily married) parents but then secretly never signing the marriage license.
This, of course, was before I met Nathan. After accepting his proposal I couldn't wait to head to City Hall and get that license. As one of our friends (Hannah!) recently said quite perfectly about her own marriage, "We love each other so much, we had to get the government involved!!"
That. Precisely.
From the earliest moments of our relationship I felt like I suddenly understood what and why Shakespeare wrote, why crooners of the 40’s crooned and how people so gladly choose one person to spend the rest of their lives with. The key word here is “choice” because for this I celebrate being among the first few generations of women who are widely able to have a say in who they marry.
On June 16th, Nathan and I were wed here in Philadelphia. As previous posts have hinted at, the planning process was actually a lot of fun – albeit completely overwhelming at times due in large part to my lack of patience when it comes to details of any personal kind. We shared a lot of the responsibilities and our families were incredible in not only making our weekend possible but in helping extended family and friends make the trip. In many ways, we had a destination wedding in our own city.
While many elements were unique, progressive and catered to our personalities, our taste is still very traditional. This beautiful oxymoron of a ceremony/reception was everything we could have wished for.
Friday evening began with the rehearsal at Old Pine Church (where we are members) in Society Hill (a historic section of the city) and the festive vibe for the weekend was set as soon as the rehearsal dinner kicked off.
Thanks to the perfect planning of Nathan and his parents, the selection was made to hold this at the Hill-Physick House which is located just across from our church.
The Hill-Physick House in all its perfection.
The timeless elegance of this location cannot properly be put into words. We’re talking checkerboard marble floors, period-refined wall paper, an upstairs room where the first meeting for the Society of the Cincinnati was held plus a display of artifacts that pays homage to the medical developments of the property's original owner Dr. Philip Physik (born 1768). To walk out to brick-walled yard, one did so through 7ft windows that opened straight up. It was absolutely splendid.
We wanted the rehersal dinner to have a sophisticated garden party feel yet rife with southern accents (literally!). Our amazing caterer Herb Scott dished up all the staples including the best blackened catfish I've ever tasted.
Under a twinkling tent and within manicured walls of greenery we played customized (by yours truly) yard games (cornhole, washers) and toasted the night away.
Rehersal Dinner
The part that excited me most about our big weekend was that my parents were generous enough to host family and the wedding party for both Friday and Saturday in the 17 rooms at the boutique Morris House Hotel. That meant that after a gaggle of us decided to get rowdy post-rehearsal dinner over at the Independence Beer Garden, we all could return back together to prepare (err..recover) for the day that followed.
The other magical thing about nearly half of our wedding guests staying under the same roof was that the Morris House was also the site of the reception.
For our ceremony Saturday we returned to Old Pine Church in a beautiful while trolley. Luckily, a bulk of our photos had already been taken as we had opted to do a "first-look" (I wasn't keen on this at first but logistically it is a GREAT choice).
Weeks prior, our Pastor Jason Ferris, had Nathan and I answer a few questions about our relationship with the suggestion that we not share our answers with each other. This task was well worth it as during our ceremony he utilized this information to craft the most gorgeous/hilarious/personal service. We are forever grateful for his love and effort in this.
Photographer: (the spectacular, Alyssa Maloof)
The ceremony concluded with our wedding guests standing on street level waving colonial 13-star flags (that we purchased from local flag vendor, Humphry's) as our family stood above on the church's stone balcony.
From there we set off back for the Morris House Hotel. Since we had more time than we had expected, we nixed the idea of waiting to be showcased until the reception and decided to crash our own cocktail hour. This portion of the evening was held in the front bricked area of the history Morris House, complete with white columns and iron gates.
Cocktail Hour
6pm was reception time. This took place in the courtyard of the Morris House. Our 10 round tables were covered by a clear tent with dangled lights. While we did have assigned seats, it was important to Nathan and I to keep our northern and southern guests up, mingling and exploring "our" grounds for the weekend.
During this 11 month process we toyed with different phrases to describe the desired theme for our wedding. There was "Old English Garden" and "Colonial Romantic" but I think "American Classic" ended up being spot on. Thanks to all involved, June 16th proved more perfect than we could have hoped.
To circle around to my initial words about the "Choice" we have in marriage. It is a big one, not to be rushed or taken lightly. Most importantly, I want to highlight the parting words of our Pastor during the ceremony. To our friends and family in attendance he asked all to remember one thing if not anything else, that "Love is a Choice". When all else fades, which it might and probably will at certain points, marriage means making the choice to continue to love. Alas, I do not feel that I had much of a choice but to fall in love with Nathan - in fact - a lot of laughs were had that weekend over the re-tellings of my attempts not to fall in love with him. The choice to continue to, while a very easy one, is all mine.
My favorite photo of all as captured by Alyssa and demonstrates that perfection is imperfection.
