Southern Weddings

With Emily out of the office preparing for her sister’s wedding this Saturday (eek!), Katharine’s been left to her own devices to update you on her wedding plans.  (Lucky for her – and all our lovely readers – she had a little help from Lara.)  Just under a month before she becomes a Mrs., our bride-to-be fills us in on something near and dear to her heart: their wedding ceremony.

Truth time: I had an oh-so-minor moment of panic this past Saturday when I realized Kyle and I would be exchanging rings and “I dos” in exactly one month.  Cr-azy!  Where did our engagement go?  Are we ready for the big day ahead, and most importantly, are we ready to do to actually do this?

The answer, of course, is: 1. Who knows where that lovely, but brief, engagement period went. 2. We sure hope so and 3.) Absolutely!

(Thanks again to my beautiful MOH, Molly Donovan, for being there to talk me through this – and every other – fleeting crisis.)

Once we got the panic out of the way, Kyle and I both realized how EXCITED we were to be getting married and to share the weekend with our closest family and friends.  With so much anticipation building as we round the homestretch, this week seemed like the perfect time to clue you in on all the details of our ceremony.

My handsome husband-to-be applying for our marriage license in Cambridge, MA.  He looks happy, right?  (Right?!)  Check out our nifty pre-marriage license.

For all you newbies just tuning in to our weekly wedding post, let’s do a mini-recap.  Kyle and I will be tying the knot on the fifty anniversary of our first meeting freshman year.  (We met on the very first day during an awkward “Never Have I Ever” ice-breaker’s game!)  The fifth anniversary of this meeting just so happens to be the eleventh of September (yes, as in September 11^th), but we love that we’re commemorating such am intensely special day for us, and maybe even rebranding a day with otherwise negative connotations.

To mark the special anniversary of our first meeting, we’ll be returning to our alma mater and even having our first look at the freshman dorm we shared as eighteen-year-olds.  The highlight?  Harvard’s Memorial Church is seriously stunning, and one of my very favorite aspects of the entire wedding.  This is especially fitting for a bride who views the ceremony as the most important aspect of the entire weekend.  After all, the ceremony is when we will be promising to love one another forever, and ever, amen.  Aww!

The Memorial Church of Harvard University, located at 1 Harvard Yard.

Some highlights?  We’ll kick off our evening, black tie ceremony with prelude music from a string quartet.  Our families will be seated to Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring,” and the bridal party will process one-by-one (gents first, then the ladies) to Pachelbel’s “Canon in D.” While I always thought I would walk down the aisle to the Canon, my father and I picked “The Prince of Denmark’s March” by Clarke for our big entrance.

Though the music was relatively easy, something Kyle and I struggled with at the beginning of our engagement was our families’ different religious affiliations.  Kyle’s Cincinnati-based family is Roman Catholic, and my family is predominately Episcopalian, which gave us pause when it came time to plan our ceremony.

In the end, I was more than happy to oblige my future in-laws with a Catholic wedding, provided I also was allowed to craft a ceremony that really reflected our relationship and our views on marriage.  For me, this meant choosing readings and songs not from a short list of acceptable options, but that resonated with me.  Luckily, the non-denominational Memorial Church (and the Giblers!) definitely gave us a lot of flexibility.

Interior shots of the Memorial Church.  I’m so excited, I almost can’t stand it!

In addition to the religious staples (Corinthians, Romans and the Gospel) offered by Kyle’s parents, his sweet grandma and the priest, my father will be reading Rudyard Kipling’s “If,” our family friend reading Shakespeare’s 116^th sonnet and our favorite married couple sharing an excerpt from Rainer Maria Rilke’s “On Love and Other Difficulties.”  Throw in an “America the Beautiful,” a few stanzas of “Amazing Grace” and an “Ave Maria” solo from MOH Molly, and you have a college English major’s dream wedding!

Something else we’re super excited about?  How much of our family we were able to incorporate in our celebration!  Both one of four children, it was important to us that all of our siblings (and their spouses, if they had them) be included in our wedding party – hence our eighteen-man bridal party.  My father and Kyle’s parents each will be giving a reading, as will Kyle’s grandmother and our respective godfathers.  It’s turned into quite a big ceremony, to be sure, but we feel so blessed to have our families there to support us.

Our families!  Kyle’s family (and my future in-laws!) on the left, and my Virginia family on the right.  How cute is little Miss Biss?

When it’s all said and done, we’re hoping for a very classic, very traditional service, with some subtle but meaningful bits of personalization.  Not surprisingly, our photographer Bryan Johnson’s blog has given me tons of inspiration!  I can only hope our wedding will look as beautiful as the ceremonies he’s captured.  Sigh.

Image credits, clockwise from top left: personal photos, Planetware, Prinos Photography, O’Bryon Photography, personal photos, A. Bryan Photo.

Weigh-in: What new traditions are you including in your wedding service?  Have you picked any special readings or songs to share with your guests?

Previously:

Intros + Inspiration Boards // The Bridesmaid Dress // The Photographer // The Wedding Website // SW Goes to Kleinfeld // The Paper // The Flowers // The Cake // The Groom’s Look // The Bride’s Look