Ring Around the Risings: Ceremony

Al and I spent a lot of time discussing how we wanted our ceremony to flow and specific ways we wanted to honor God throughout it. Looking back, I am so happy we made the specific choices we did, and I'm so excited to share those with y'all!

About five minutes before the ceremony began, my sista frands were seated. This was a group of my girls that have all been like sisters to me throughout the years that I wanted to honor in a special way. I asked them all to wear some kind of floral outfit to our wedding and reserved a special pew for them all to sit together. At the last planning meet Ms. Monika and I had before the wedding, she mentioned allowing them to all walk in together before the ceremony began, and I loved that idea. I am so thankful for my sista frands and am so glad they all chose to be a part of our wedding day!

The first people to be seated were the mothers and grandmothers. Al's grandmothers weren't able to attend, so my surrogate grandmother Ms. Gerry was walked down the aisle by one of our ushers and good friend Steven. They were followed in by my sweet Pops. After that, my mama was escorted to her seat by my brother-in-law Harris, and Al's mom was escorted to her seat by Al. This all happened to the song "Because You Loved Me" by Celine Dion, beautifully played on the piano by my lovely friend Victoria. We chose this song because it's exactly how we feel about these special ladies in our lives (link below).

After the mothers and grandmothers were seated, our bridal party began their entrances. Pastor Robbie Stephens was mine and Al's pastor for several years when we attended Jennies Branch as youth. He was the pastor who lead me to Christ, and he also was the one who  baptized both Al and me. We knew from the second we got engaged that we wanted him to officiate our wedding, and we are so grateful he did that for us. He lead the way for the wedding party, with Al and his best man/dad following behind him. After they were in place, the groomsmen entered one-by-one, followed by the bridesmaids, my maid of honor, matron of honor, our ring bearer, and then both flower girls to end the bridal party processional. The bridal party processional was to the song "Beloved" by Tenth Avenue North played again by Victoria. This song has had a special place in my heart for a long time now. The second I heard it, I knew it would be used in my wedding someday. I'm sure a lot of the people in our wedding had never even heard the words to the song before, but they have always held a lot of weight for me, and I'm so glad we were able to incorporate it.

Once the flower girls were in place with their mamas, I heard my song begin to play. There was a cue that Victoria and I had practiced, so I knew when to tell Ms. Monika and Aunt Saundra to open the doors. I walked down the aisle to "Marry Me" by Train because... well swoon. My heart was about to leap out of my chest and then the doors opened, and I saw Al and everything felt peaceful all at once. His face... pictures are worth a thousand words. I dreamed about that moment for so long, and it was everything I knew it would be. Coming down the aisle, I got to smile at so many of my favorite faces, and it was the perfect moment (except for that one second I got caught in one of the aisle lanterns because my train was too long.... story of my life). Once we made it to the end of the aisle, Pastor Robbie said a few words about why we were all there and then asked my daddy the famous question, and just like that, he gave me away.

After my dad sat down and I got to stare at Al, everything flew by super quick. Pastor Robbie lead us in our "I Do's" and then we had two readings by my cousins. Brandi and Rilee are both so special to me, part of my sista frand tribe, and I asked them right after we got engaged if they would do Bible readings during the ceremony. Rilee read 1 John 4:10-19 (shortened at the rehearsal), and Brandi read Ephesians 5:21-33 (also shortened at the rehearsal). These are two of our favorite verses about love and marriage, and we knew we wanted them to be incorporated into our ceremony.

Following the readings, Pastor Robbie shared a few words about his relationship with us as well as the verse he picked out for our marriage. We then exchanged the vows that we wrote (my favorite part), and then did the exchanging of rings. Once we exchanged rings, Pastor Robbie pronounced us husband and wife. But we chose to do things a little differently than usual at this point.

We wanted to be pronounced husband and wife before the true end of the ceremony, because we specifically wanted our first act as husband and wife to be communion with the Lord. We take communion very seriously, and we wanted to begin our marriage honoring God. During our time of communion with just Al, Pastor Robbie, and me, Victoria played and sang "Love Never Fails" by Brandon Heath. Once communion was done, we waited for Victoria to finish her song and Pastor Robbie introduced us to the church and Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Allen Rising III. Because he had never done a wedding where the kiss didn't come right after the pronouncement, I think he forgot that we hadn't done that part yet. So I looked at Al and in true Morgan-fashion just said, "Kiss me!" We kissed and the recessional began!

We all walked out of the ceremony to "Best Day of My Life" by American Authors. Following the ceremony, the bridal party went outside to take group photos. We had a huge bridal party, so those pictures weren't easy, but Amber and Chase take the stress out of everything! We got a few shots with the babies, and then our wedding party was off to the reception. Al and I stayed outside to take our portraits together because the sun was BEAUTIFUL. Once we got those done, we ran back inside to take family portraits with just our immediate family. Afterwards, we all loaded up to head to the reception. Al and I drove together, just the two of us, and it was so crazy to be driving through the streets of Shallotte in my wedding dress and him in his suit. I'm so glad we had some alone time together before we arrived at the party! I can't wait to share all my favorite moments from the reception in the very last post of this sweet wedding series! Coming soon!

Xoxo,
Mrs. Rising


Photo Credit: Amber Rhodes Photography