6 Incredible Years!!

Yesterday was our 6th Anniversary!! My how time has flown by. I thought I'd share a little bit about how we met and what our wedding was like in case anyone is interested.

Anthony and I both went to Liberty University. We met at work during my sophomore year and his junior year. I remember a friend had just gotten a job as a music monitor and asked me if I wanted to work their too. I wasn't looking for a job, but thought the extra money would be great. The fact that I got a husband out of the deal was certainly an added bonus!! Obviously I'm really glad I took the job. I remember meeting Anthony my first night on the job (he had started the month before) and he captured my attention from the start. He was really easy to talk to and we had a lot in common. Over the next five months we got to know each other really well and became great friends. That March we started dating and then got engaged in January. The wedding was four months later on May 25th!!

In case you are wondering, a music monitor is someone who lets music students into the practice rooms. We also had to check all the classrooms and offices every 30 minutes to make sure the doors were still locked. It was a great college job because we could do homework while we were there.

Anyway, on to the wedding.

We had no money to work with and I knew nothing about weddings, but knew that I wanted it simple. I think we had all the details in place within 2 weeks. People kept offering to help and it all came together. Here's what I remember:

*One of my mom's friends offered to make my dress

*A family friend bought the material for the dress

*Another friend of my mom gave us the lace for the dress

*I found my shoes at Payless

*We had a small wedding party (my sister and best friend from high school and Anthony's brother and best friend from high school)

*The bridesmaids' dresses were on sale at JC Penney's

*Their shoes also came from Payless

*I made the invitations (I had to take a picture of it so that is why it's dark and blurry.) The text was printed on vellum and then the bow held it on a piece of purple paisley paper. I printed them in the computer lab at Liberty :)

*I think the church was free because we were attending there (we got married at the church in Lynchburg that Anthony and I had been going to). There may have been a small cleaning fee

*We used decorations that the church used in the past- lights, candelabras, and fake trees

*A family friend took the pictures

*My brother videotaped it

*Anthony's parents and choir members provided the music for the ceremony

*My great aunt and great uncle owned a flower shop and brought the flowers from NY

*We had the reception in the church fellowship hall

*Our parents made the meal. Apparently this was a great example of northern and southern cultures clashing. Northerners are used to sit-down meals, where southerners have finger foods. The ladies from Timberlake that offered to help serve the food didn't realize it would be a full meal and were a bit overwhelmed. I think everyone enjoyed it nonetheless. We had rice, chicken in a creamy mushroom sauce, green beans, zucchini casserole, pulled pork sandwiches, and bread.

*The wedding favors were the center pieces on the table- hugs and kisses wrapped in tulle along with curly ribbons that matched the cake flowers (I still have this ribbon 6 years later)

*A lady at the church made the cake

*We rented the cake stand

*And the icing on the cake- My grandparents gave us a week of their timeshare for our honeymoon in the Poconos!!

We certainly give God all of the credit for orchestrating all of these details. It was an unforgettable day and a blessing to be able to share about how he provided for it!! We started our marriage depending on Him to provide and continue to do so today. He's so faithful to take care of us beyond our expectations!!