A Night of Fun

This past Saturday Matt and I got to do something we've been looking forward to for a LONG time-- go to a Switchfoot concert together! We bought tickets this past summer so we were excited when Saturday finally arrived. 

We had a great time at the show! Gotta love a good rock concert and we had amazing seats. Most of these are with 0 zoom (and excuse the cell phone pictures). 

Waiting outside in the COLD

Second row pays off!

Jon Foreman was walking around ON the seats during the show.
Here he was in the row right behind us.

After the encore

We had such a great time getting to listen to one of our favorite bands! It was so nice to not think about comps for a couple of hours and totally worth the minor hearing loss :)

The Classical Mystery Tour

On Saturday night, Matt and I went to a really fun concert put on by the Ft Worth Symphony Orchestra as part of their Concerts in the Garden series. I'm sad we didn't know about this sooner because it is so fun and relaxing, but we did catch it for what was probably my favorite concert they were playing-- the Classical Mystery Tour! 


It was a full orchestra playing 30 of the best Beatles tunes, along with a fairly decent Beatles cover band (though come to find out the 4 guys are all from the states... psh, posers). It was a blast! After the hard week we just finished, it was so great to relax, listen to some good music, and just have quality time with my husband. Oh, and thousands of others.

So. Many. People.

Being summer time in Texas, we were concerned it was going to be very hot. Fortunately, the high that day was only 99 and there was a decent wind. The piece of lawn we picked for ourselves was in the shade, and with the gentle breeze blowing through it actually felt good. The fact that the concert didn't start until 8:15 definitely helped, but we definitely felt blessed to have such great weather!


The performers were great. The composer took great care to get every single note of those songs and transpose them to sound amazing with a full orchestra. Even though we were outside sitting hundreds of feet away from the stage, with the help of the speakers, the sound was amazing and really put me in the mood to go see Beatles LOVE again! Matt enjoyed himself too, and wasn't in the least bit embarrassed when I sang every word of every song. Mom & Paula- you would be so proud, I was the only one under the age of 40 to do so, I believe. 

The Beatles in the early years' black suits

And the Sergeant Pepper costumes! They changed into others, but there was no way of getting a good picture post-sundown!

Probably the best part was the encore-- playing Twist and Shout to a fireworks display! So fun! And yes, I did dance, just a little. How can you resist this song?

Anyway, this concert was so much fun and we will definitely have to remember the Concert in the Garden series next year! If you're in the DFW area, be sure to check it out in the future!
  
Did you do anything fun this weekend? Can you believe it's already July?? What?

All You Need is Love: The Processional

Catch up on the past recaps:

Here are all the things we DIY'ed for the wedding/reception
Here are our flowers
Everyone started arriving on Thursday
Friday, pre-rehearsal
Then we rehearsed
And of course ate
Then we woke up and my mom & I got our hair done
The girls got all prettied up!
Find out what the guys were up to
The details-- my something's
I finally got to put on my dress
The girls' pictures are taken
Then the guys got their pictures made
And we wait

As I discussed here when I talked about the ceremony music, my brother played the processional for the families to enter. He is an AMAZING clarinetist and though he said he wasn't happy with his performance, he is definitely over critical of himself because he sounded great! I will always remember that moment, listening to him play while I'm trying to calm my nerves standing in the back of the church.

The sanctuary with the guests-- so pretty with the light!

My brother

Matt's mom, being escorted by his youngest brother, with their dad following

My mother, being escorted by my grandfather

The guys are in place

The bridesmaids start processing-- Brittany!

Lindsey

Kara
And MOH Mary

And everyone waiting...

You'll have to wait, too! The next part deserves its own post, in this blog-writer's opinion.

All pictures by Kasey Lynn Photography

Premarital Counseling, part tres + ceremony music

Catch up on Part 1 and Part 2.

This was our last counseling session with the reverend before the ceremony. It was crazy to hear him say, "OK- see you at the rehearsal!" We're getting so much closer... wow!

Anyway, so we mainly went over the actual wedding ceremony. We're getting married in a Presbyterian church and he uses traditional vows, which I love. Also, Matt & I will be saying the same thing, which was also important to us.

I feel weird about posting all about the ceremony and music now pre-wedding, so here is a basic summary. I will go into more detail post-wedding, I promise!

Prelude music:
Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring-- Bach
Arioso- Bach
Clair de Lune- Debussy
Air on the G String- Bach


Music for Grandparents & Parents to enter:
Sonata for Clarinet & Piano in E Flat Major by Camille Saint-Saens
[My brother will be playing this, and I'm so excited! He was a music performance major in college but since graduation, I haven't heard him play. Even though I'll be stuck in my little bridal room, I'm happy he'll be playing at the wedding nonetheless :)]

Bridesmaids Processional:
Canon in D by Pachelbel


Bridal Processional:
Largo by Handel


Then we'll have the giving of the bride, followed by prayer and scripture readings. Then we'll have the Declaration of Intent (the I Do part), along with the Affirmation of Families and Affirmation of Congregation. Then coems the marriage vows and exchange of rings. We pray again, then there is an announcement of marriage, followed by the benediction. Then the most famous line "You may now kiss your bride."

Recessional [yes, went totally traditional on this]:
Wedding March by Mendelssohn


Badaboom, badabing. We're married in all about 20 minutes. It's ironic how short it is since this is the most important part of the day. I often lose sight of that, though I wish that wasn't the case. Silly wedding industry.


But I am really looking forward to the ceremony and saying the vows. It is such an important moment for Matt & me, one I want to remember forever.

I promise I'm alive

Hey everyone!

Sorry, I know I've been missing for a while. I came home for spring break last Thursday and have been really busy since!

Here is a brief review, not necessarily in order:

-Met with my florist, again, and finalized the flowers, again. For good this time. I promise! A post will be coming on that shortly...

-Played with two adorable dogs, even when I have been wanting to be productive...

I have a constant entourage of a little puppy and a standard poodle. Life's been fun

-Getting ready to go to Las Vegas. I need to practice my presentation more, actually... But we leave bright and early tomorrow morning!! Besides presenting Thursday morning and going to see Beatles LOVE that night, not really sure what else is going to happen. But I'll definitely let you know!


-Went to see the Houston Ballet's production of Sleeping Beauty with my mother. It was absolutely beautiful and I really enjoyed it! The dancers were of course amazing, but the set and the costumes were also very well done.

Source

-Ate an amazing meal at America's in celebration of my acceptance to grad school. Soooo good! It was great getting to spend that time with my parents, just wish my brother was there.


-Met with the organist/pianist for the ceremony/reception to discuss music, so that's done! I'll have a post on that at some point...

-Met with my amazing photographer, Kasey, and approved our photo guest book. Then we discussed the timeline for the wedding day as well as shoot lists. We're going to be doing my bridal portraits soon and I'm so excited about that!


-Shopping for miscellaneous wedding details, like the programs and my 'something blue.' 


So yeah, it's been busy. Unfortunately I don't know if it's going to slow down for a while, so let's hope once spring break finishes I can get in a better posting schedule!

Premarital counseling, part dos + Meeting with Music Minister

Haven't read the first counseling session?? Go here.

One of the things Matt & I did between New Year's and our New Orleans trip was have our second meeting with Reverend Jones, you know, the guy who is going to perform the ceremony. This appointment was not nearly as awkward as the first one, which was nice, but it was really helpful like the first session was. He read us two passages from the Bible, and commented on them and described his own marriage and how it related.

The first passage was from Genesis 2:24- "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh" [NIV]. I know most of us have heard that verse before, but Rev Jones described it in a new way that I hadn't thought of before-- when you get married, you leave your old life behind as you start a new one [parallels becoming a Christian]. He talked about letting bad habits die as well as getting rid of negative people in your life (that is those that think negatively of marriage and/or your spouse). It seems a bit obvious, but I never made that connection before. 

The second passage was the traditional 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a- "

 ⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.|⁸ Love never fails." (NIV) For this, Rev Jones described various situations in his own marriage. One of the themes he touched on was based on verse 5. In marriage, it is no longer 'me succeeding' or 'you succeeding.' Instead, it is 'we fail' or 'we succeed.' 

Basically, just good things to remember.

After that, we met with the new music director at the church. He is a rather young guy from New York, and very cool & easy to talk to. He was open to anything (i.e. remake of the "I Gotta Feeling" processional), but Matt & I believe the ceremony to be the most important part of the wedding. Obviously it is where we actually get married. Everything else is just (expensive) fluff. Being significant then, we wanted the traditional music. I know I prefer the piano to the organ, and besides not wanting to have the Bridal Processional be the "Bridal Chorus" (AKA 'hear comes the bride...'), I had no preference.

So he gave us several options for each slot where we need to have music, and with the help of YouTube and google, we have been able to come up with a decent list. Once we make the final decision I'll let you know! But I'm excited-- it's going to be pretty and not too formal or traditional. 

How did you pick your bridal processional? Or have you always just known that you wanted to walk down the aisle to a particular song?