Backtracking: Part 4 - Will you marry us?

We worked so hard to make our day as personal to us as possible. We both knew that we didn't want a "normal" wedding ceremony. We both knew that we wanted all the important things but without all the ceremony that went along with the ceremony... Does that make sense?

I was born and raised in the Catholic church and I have been to MANY of my cousins' and friends' Catholic weddings. Don't get me wrong, I believe that Catholic weddings--or any weddings in a church, for that matter--are truly beautiful and joyous... But I knew even before I met Chuck that I didn't want a "church wedding." But even though I didn't want a church wedding, I still wanted a Christian ceremony. Because ultimately, a wedding is two people's vows to each other and to God.

So no church wedding, but who would give us the ceremony that best fit us? I couldn't think of anyone better than this lady right here:

Meet awesome Jenn #2 =)
I met Jenn through my good friend and bridesmaid, Katie. They were roomies for 6 years! How they met is amazing and you can read about it briefly here in Katie's own words...Seriously a God thing, no doubt about it.

Everyone knows Jenn, and I guarantee you that ANY one of those people will tell you that Jenn is utterly amazing. She is a Status pastor at Discovery Church.

I had just finished having another IM conversation with Katie and she was telling me that Jenn just got done officiating the wedding of one of their former roommates. She gushed about how awesome of a job Jenn did. So I knew that she was THE perfect choice for our officiant. God knew, too.

[side note: I will never get tired of telling this story =) ]

So as soon as we decided to ask Jenn, I texted her that I needed to ask her something and to give me a call as soon as she could. Well, being the Director of Operations and a pastor for a large ministry, you can only imagine how busy she is. So I knew that her "as soon as she could" would probably take a bit.

So a week went by and I still had not heard from her. I decided to call her and I left her a message. She called me back not too long after. I'm always so happy to hear from Jenn, since we don't see each other as often. I was especially happy this time since I was about to ask her for a HUGE favor!

We chit chatted about how much we hadn't seen each other in so long and then she says: "I had a dream about you last night, but I don't want to tell you about it yet until you ask me your question."

"Hmm..." I thought and said: "If you dreamt about what I'm about to ask you, I'm gonna freak..."

So Jenn says: "Go ahead, ask me."

So I said: "Jenn, will you marry us?"

To which Jenn replied: "That was my dream."

OH. EM. GEE.

Had I not been at the office, I probably would've flipped out more than I did! She and I were both SO excited and she proceeded to tell me a little more about her dream. She didn't want to tell me beforehand, in case it wasn't what I called to ask her.

Here's where it gets even more interesting...

She dreamt that she was in a brick building (um, hello!) with people gathered (double hello!). It was just a bunch of people standing around like it was a party. She then realized that she was officiating a wedding, she just didn't know exactly WHO'S wedding it was yet. Then all of a sudden, Chuck was standing up there with her. So she knew now exactly what was happening and then the crowd parted and I came down the aisle. She then started the ceremony and said "Surprise!"

I wish I had someone else in the office with me video taping or taking a picture of my reaction because I must have just been standing there dumbfounded! I didn't even tell her yet that we were planning a surprise wedding! I had heard of Jenn's premonition-like dreams before, but this was unreal!

Needless to say, she accepted and agreed to be our officiant. And she did the amazing and wonderful job that I knew she would!


Photos by Lori
In case you're just tuning in, here's what's happened so far:
- How this all came to be
- Who we told
- How we fed & entertained our guests

Next up... Why July 17th?