A Homemade Wedding Homestead-Style: Struttin' Our Stuff

Hello! After being MIA for (quite) a few days, I'm back with so much to tell you about. Hopefully I'll be able to get my ducks in a row and actually post about it all in a reasonable amount of time.

The rain finally stopped sometime late in the day on Friday. Saturday morning when we got up we saw blue skies for the first time in a solid week. We could finally see our local mountains, and what a sight! The snow level had dropped nearly to the valley floor overnight.

Cowboy H and I already had a little weekend getaway planned, which involved a snow day on Saturday and a desert ride with the Desert Rose on Sunday. I know, I know, it was pretty brave of us to venture out with her after the "incident", but we survived! Pictures will be coming. Eventually.

When I last left you, the ushers had seated everyone and the doors shut were shut behind us.

The ushers from left to right: Brett (younger brother of Mel who was passing out programs), my bro and Stephen (who was named after my dad). These boys have known each other since before birth. The infamous naked pictures exist of these three (together) also, but I won't be sharing them.

Leann Rimes' acoustic version of "Amazing Grace" began playing and we lined ourselves up for our aisle-walks.

Cowboy H and his grandma were the first to go,

Followed by my brother and my grandma.

Photo by my cousin, Joelle.

Next Trent escorted his (and Cowboy H's) mom,

With Tiffany and their dad not too far behind.

You would think at this point, everything was going along just swimmingly, but no, not really. If you haven't noticed yet, I wanted this wedding to be as personal as possible, so I recycled two aisle-walker. My brother and Cowboy H's brother both had to circle back and escort a second person down the aisle. During the rehearsal, we had gotten the timing down pretty good, but of course that changed during the real deal, when everyone was staring. If you look in the picture above, you can see two boys in the background stretching their necks to watch something at the back of the church. What you don't see if my brother running down the side aisle-way of the church to get to my mom in time. Looking back, I should have used those to boys to escort the two additional women, but oh well. It made for a funny moment.

Fortunately, Joe made it back in time and walked my mom down the aisle. You can see the smirk on his face after that stunt.

The lady in the beige shirt in the background is my "horse trainer". I have known her since I was in second grade. My brother and her oldest son went to kindergarten together. Her and my mom are still very close. I love the look of pure affection she is giving my mom and brother.

Then it was Trent's turn to get back to the back of the church.

He had to run too, which cracked Jenna up as she was waiting for him. In the background, my dad is lecturing me on the fact that I should have used more people.

And off they went.

I hate this picture, but its the only one I've got.

And now, what you've all been waiting for. Okay, what I was waiting for.

My turn.

I'm pretty sure, this is my all-time favorite picture of my dad. EVER.

My dad and I waited (im)patiently for the music to change to Chris LeDoux's "Look At You Girl". After the first few beats, it was time to go.

I tried so hard to walk slowly, soak it all in, but I was ecstatic. Beaming. Overjoyed.

You know, just a little excited.

Photo by my cousin, Joelle.

And shiny.

I know you're supposed to look at your groom, whose patiently (and excitedly?) waiting for you at the end of the aisle, but I couldn't believe all the people that had come. It was surreal. I wanted to look at each and every one of them, burn them into brain, bask in the joy that these people had come to watch Cowboy H and I get hitched. Seriously, I tried to make eye contact with everyone.

Look! Its a Desert Rose on the left. And please note my dad is wearing two different blacks. Thanks, Dad. I still love you.

Unfortunately, no one took a picture of Cowboy H's face as I was coming down the aisle. I'm pretty bummed about that (come on professional photogs!) but I'm pretty sure he was looking at his shoes like he was during rehearsal.

All too soon we were at the end of the aisle, and my dad hugged me off.

Then, he shook Cowboy H's hand, while I gripped his arm (for dear life?), bulging bicep and all.

Up Next: Let The Ceremony Begin!

Question: Do you all want to know what was said at the ceremony? I mean, I can dig up and type out the readings, vows, etc. Or, I can just show you the pictures and tell you what was happening then.

All photography credit goes to Applemoon Photography, unless otherwise noted!