Our Joyous Day: much-awaited ceremony

We called our wedding day the Joyous Day because the theme of our wedding centered on Psalm 16:11, which says, "...In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." The Mister and I would not be where we are today as individuals and as a couple if it were not for the grace of God saving us and molding us daily to ascertain the surpassing joy that is in Jesus Christ. The truth that true joy is found in Christ alone guided us throughout our dating, engagement, and now, our married season of life.
Our Joyous Day took place here, which the Mister and I chose for the Victorian house museum's intricate attention to detail, and its potential to hold a ceremony, reception, and other festivities throughout its spacious grounds for our 250-person guestlist. After making our invitations, I learned that I could not possibly carry out everything I envisioned and wanted to craft for our wedding on my own. We are so fortunate to have such a wonderful community of family and friends who were so willing to sacrificially help with our Joyous Day. Our handy friend crafted the wooden ceremony arch, and my dear bridesmaid, Ruby, helped to sew the backdrop out of vintage handkerchiefs from my collection. She even made the beautiful A&H sign out of fresh flora.
So many dear friends helped to punch out thousands of paper hearts from vintage novels during our crafting parties, and one of my former roommates from college helped to sew hundreds of feet of the vintage novel heart garlands. We strung them along the chairs at the ceremony, and also used them throughout the reception. 
As the Joyous Day drew nearer and we found ourselves scrambling for time, dear friend Danni helped to design our programs, as inspired by our wedding website. She was also our amazingly talented and creative day-of coordinator, and was beyond magnificent in ensuring everything ran smoothly.
We commenced our ceremony with an upbeat and jolly prelude by our barbershop quartet, which was something that tickled my fancy ever since hearing the Dapper Dans at Disneyland decades ago. Our quartet consisted of some talented young friends the Mister and I have known since they ran amok in elementary school. They sang "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," and though I was not present whilst they harmonized so gloriously, I heard a recording of them post-wedding and thought they sounded so fun and grand that I played their song for two weeks straight. They wore red and white striped barbershop quartet vests from here, straw boater hats from here, and navy wool bowties from here.
The processional ambled down the aisle to "Before the Throne of God Above," one of the Mister's favorite songs. Our handsome ring bearer carried our wedding bands in the vintage Mary Poppins book with which my love proposed to me. Our winsome bible bearer wore a vintage buttercup yellow dress and straw hat a la Madeline from Paris.
Our adorable flower girls wore blue or red vintage sailor dresses and these sandals. The first pair scattered flower petals from handkerchief-lined vintage egg baskets, while the second pair followed by toting a "here comes the bride sign" sewn from vintage handkerchiefs.

One of the most flooring blessings from the Joyous Day is that my dearest parents walked me down the aisle to one of my most favored songs, "You Are My All in All," which we didn't know would happen until one week prior to the wedding. Their support on that day meant so incredibly much to us.
We strung an array of lace from the patio to create an enclosed curtain-like entrance for the processional.


Our dear friend, Faye, opened the ceremony with a call to worship to "Exceeding Joy," which aligned to the theme of our Joyous Day. Hearing the beautiful, truth-laden lyrics stirred my heart and my tears at that moment and continued as our friend, Taylor, read Genesis 2:18-24 and Ephesians 5:25-33. Our dear friend and one of our officiants, PJ, then encouraged us about the marriage covenant's ability to safeguard love, the necessity of friendship throughout marriage, and the power of the gospel in marriage and all of life. He and his wife, Frances, were also the ones who planted seeds of romantic interest in the Mister towards me years ago, and were amongst those who guided us throughout our relationship.
Being finally pronounced husband & wife after exchanging vows and rings made it a Joyous Day, indeed, especially because we recessed to "Oh Happy Day." Photographs are mainly by the amazing Christian Cruz, and some personal. Stay tuned for tomorrow's post on our reception revelry!

In case you missed prior posts on the Joyous Day:
+ greatest wedding party of all time
+ first look
+ getting ready to tie the knot
+ wedding invitations
+ save the date & engagement photographs