Waller Wedding Anniversary

"I now pronounce you

husband and wife."

"Adam, you may now

kiss your bride."

"Mr. & Mrs. Adam Waller!"

These were some of the wonderful words heard one year ago today.  We rejoice with Adam & Valerie on their anniversary, and pray that God would give them many more happy years to come.

Following are some pictures and memories from that special time (Yes, this one was bittersweet for all us siblings too.  In fact, they all were...but I figured you'd get tired of hearing all about that.  We miss them - every one.).

Thursday, March 1st, 2012: Family Fun Day

The wedding weekend began with a wonderful Thursday full of fun, fellowship, and some food!  :-)  We had a gathering of as many as could be here from the Mueller and Waller families.  It was a good time for the families to get to know each other more, finish up a few last minute projects for the wedding, and just relax and enjoy spending time together.

Thursday was also David's 16th birthday, which gave some additional opportunities for excitement.

The day included such activities as playing many rounds of Knock Out, some Baseball attempts, sticking the wedding program pages into the wedding program covers, working more on the picture slideshow for the reception, some singing and instrument playing, some Ping Pong, some Kongi (a Korean game similar to jacks), and much much more!  Another special thing the day included was a Skype call with Rachelle, the eldest of Adam’s sisters, and her family as they were not able to come to the wedding.  A moment of joy for everybody was when they announced that they were expecting a child.  (He arrived in October and was doing well last I heard.)

I spent a little while having fun digging in the dirt and playing with a lot of worms!  (Lest you should be grossed out, David requested "Dirt Cake" for his birthday dessert.)

One very memorable moment from this day was when David was down on the ground during one of the baseball attempts.  A ball had been thrown to him and he'd caught...but not the way you're supposed to catch it!  Poor fella, he'd been hit right in the nose by the baseball...and on his birthday none the less...and standing in a wedding in two days!  Thankfully, it ended up being alright and didn't even turn all sorts of colors.

We were more busy enjoying ourselves than taking pictures, though I may be able to find a few to add here.  I want to get this post out today, but can't look for those pictures at this time.

Friday, March 2nd, 2012: Set-up at church, Rehearsal Dinner, Wedding Rehearsal

We went over to church, once the academy was done using the rooms we needed, and began the set-up process.

Rehearsal dinner was a favorite of Valerie’s – pizza!  (It made things simpler and faster too!)  Some of Adam’s friends came over to get it all spread out, serve it, and such.

After the delightful food, we headed to the auditorium for the wedding rehearsal.  The dress rehearsal, for us, is a time to be sure everybody knows what’s going on, when each thing is happening, what each person is supposed to be doing, and where each person is supposed to be at any given time.  It is also a time to ask any questions anybody may have so as to reduce confusion as much as possible.

One other thing the dress rehearsal often entails is lots of laughter, both at little things that just happen…and at planned stunts.  For example, our dresses were floor-length and several of the girls were saying they might take their shoes off, at least during the dress rehearsal, so they could be more comfortable.  Well, somebody got the fun idea that, the first time we practiced the recessional, we girls should all leave our shoes behind.  It was funny!

Like I said regarding Thursday, we were more busy preparing for the wedding than taking pictures, though I may be able to find a few to add here.  Again, I want to get this post out today, but can't look for those pictures at this time.

Saturday, March 3rd, 2012: Wedding Day!!!

I'm afraid we were slightly involved in the wedding and thus did not personally take a whole ton of pictures of the ceremony.

I don't have the official photographers' pictures (though some of them can be viewed here on Adam & Valerie's website), but here are some that some friends took and shared with us.

Adam and Valerie chose not to see each other on their wedding day before the bride entered for the processional.  They spent some time just before the wedding (in fact, I think this was even during the prelude) talking on the phone and praying together.

Here's their program.

What better way to begin than in God's Word!

Table decorations at the reception

Unity candle

Valerie & Lisa

Katie, Valerie, Lisa, Mary

Savannah & Lisa

Lisa & Katie (Flower Girl)

 

 

Julie & Savannah

Savannah & Valerie

Lisa & Valerie

 Lisa, Katie, and Valerie

Savannah

Willie, Benjamin, and Valerie

Katie, Benjamin, Willie, and Valerie

HollyBeth and Valerie

Julie and Valerie both enjoying their engagement rings

Julie & Valerie

 

Savannah

Savannah & Valerie

Heidi & Valerie

 Adam & Rebecca

Adam & Zachary

Mom & Joe

Parents at the Unity Candle

The groom is ready and waiting!

Charges

 Giving Valerie away

Rebecca, Matthew, Lisa, and Zachary

Vows

 

Exchanging rings

Prayer

  Unity Candle

Signing of the marriage license

 Yes, I was a witness.

 

 First kiss

 Mr. & Mrs. Adam Waller!!!

 

Awwwww!

 Waiting for our pictures

Ummm...yummy!

Adam & Valerie with Adam's sisters:

Rebecca, Sarah, Lydia, Priscilla (David's wife)

 

 We sang a song for our parents at the reception

We Love You

A formal photo of the newly engaged couple: Brian & Julie

Extra info (couldn't decide whether to call it "Inside Information" or "Behind the Scenes") :

Adam and Valerie were committed to saving their firsts for their wedding.  When Daddy gave Valerie away, that was the first time she took Adam’s arm.  When they turned toward each other to take their vows, that was the first time held hands.  When Pastor Schlagel told Adam, “You may now kiss your bride”, that was no “ceremonial first kiss” that they’d practiced a hundred times or anything, that was the very first time they kissed and hugged each other.

We understand that not everybody is called to this same standard, but we praise the Lord for their testimony of faithfulness in keeping their commitments, though I’ve no doubt there were times when it was quite difficult.

When it was time for Adam to give his ring to Valerie and he turned to get it from his best man, a few people might have noticed that it almost seemed like he hesitated.  Well.  He did - just for a moment.  Derrick, his brother and best man, had held out (quite lovingly, I'm sure) two rings - the real and a fake.  Adam paused just momentarily to be sure he took the correct one to give to his beloved bride!  :-)

The gymnasium was dressed up for the reception in simple beauty with tulle, decorative lights, trellises, and flowers.  I had done a picture slideshow for Adam & Valerie and this was projected onto a sheet.  Unfortunately, it was a little too far away and, being a sheet, was not perfectly still or flat, so it wasn’t super clear, but I hope some were still able to enjoy it.  I’m going to try to get it up here at some point, but I don’t know if I can get it to work as I’ve never tried it before.

UPDATE: I was not successful at uploading it directly to the blog (I think it didn't like how big the file was.), so here is a link where you can view it.  (The link can also be found on the sidebar directly below where Adam & Valerie's website is listed.)

Adam's siblings arranged for a stretched Hummer to take the newlyweds away.  Before Adam & Valerie got to be sent off all alone, they got to take a special trip around the block as kind of a farewell ride with all their siblings/chaperones.  As much as they love us, they didn't cry when we returned to the church to drop the rest of us off.  After they happily, but sweetly dismissed us, they were off - Mr. & Mrs. Adam Waller!

The Wallers honeymooned in the Smokey Mountains.  They reside in Illinois, only about an hour away from us.

One other memorable event of the wedding day that many people never knew about was when the father of the bride took on the role of fireman.

It was the morning of the wedding.  I don't know about the groomsmen, but the bridesmaids were busy getting their hair done and getting their pretty dresses on, trying to be ready in time for their first scheduled picture time.  The bride was all ready and getting individual shots with each of her different family members.  Dad was all handsome and ready for his picture with the bride when our maintenance man, Mr. Wright, came running into the room telling Dad to come quick.

Well, they literally took off running (something quite rare for either of them as they're very calm, collected men).  We were left wondering what had happened...and was it something or somebody?  We later heard that something had happened with the decorative tulle in the gym where the reception was being prepared.  Apparently, it was too close to a spotlight so the little lights in the tulle shattered and sparked when they got too hot, causing the tulle to catch on fire...right over where our friend was trying to complete the wedding cake.  Well, praise the Lord, she noticed right away.  Everybody was on their toes so, dispatching somebody to run and get Dad, they moved the cake so it wouldn't be damaged.

The final product

So Dad and Mr. Wright come running into the gym.  Dad had already shed his suit-coat as he heard the situation on the way.  They pulled the scaffolding under the fire and Dad went climbing up, father of the bride all ready for the wedding.  Once at the top, Dad literally blew out the fire - that's how fast this all happened!  Dad was the hero of the day!  I'm serious.  If that fire had gotten along far enough to cause the sprinkler system to go off, the wedding would have had to be re-scheduled or relocated, probably would have been much more frenzied, and certainly wouldn't have gone at all according to the plans that had been made.  God was certainly watching over us!

Well, Daddy never got that particular picture, but he did get a special memory - he saved his daughter's wedding day - and the rest of the day went well.

Full wedding party + parents + the grandparents that were able to make it

For those who really want to reminisce, the video is still available on Adam & Valerie's website here.  This is not professional videography by any stretch of the imagination, just the live-stream we had available so folks who couldn't be present with us could still be a part of the special day.  (The sound doesn't kick in until about 39:25 - as the prelude ends and the ceremony begins - because of copyright stuff.)