Wedding Wednesday: Our wedding ceremony

Our wedding ceremony was one of a kind. In the US it may be very common to have outdoor wedding ceremonies, but in Spain most ceremonies take place inside a church. This and the fact that I had bridesmaids were something you don't see everyday. I'm happy to say my wedding ceremony is the best one I've ever been to. A lot of guests told me it had been the first time for them to attend a wedding where the bride and the groom sit facing the guests. Indeed, in the church, couples sit facing the priest, so guests can't see the expression on their faces, which I think is a pity. I loved facing my friends and family during the entire ceremony, filled with conspirational looks and seeing how all of them got touched by our ceremony.

Details! A huge gypsophila flowerpot, my wedding bouquet, and the decoration of the chairs

My dad and I waited on the suite of the hotel, which has the secret window I told you about to overlook the venue of the ceremony, until the flower girls and boy and my bridesmaids walked down the aisle. Then we got ready and... that was it, one of the most emotion-filled moments of the wedding: the moment I walked down the aisle with my dad. I felt everyone looking at me, some trying to capture the moment with their phones, others just spellbound enjoying the moment. I was very calm the whole time, even when I looked further beyond the guests and saw not only my bridesmaids but J, the love of my life, waiting for me. I didn't realize at that moment, but later on J told me that he was not as calm as I was. The moment he saw me was a real shock for him, and he had trouble holding back the tears. It actually started as soon as he saw the flower girls holding the blackboard with the message Jeff, here comes your bride... 

I will never forget that father-daughter walk down the aisle. It was perfect. My dad and I hadn't even rehearsed the walk, but we really didn't have to. Everything went real smooth, I kept smiling and at one point we were even talking to each other, although I forgot what we said.  The moment when my dad gave me away to J is also something I never want to forget. Poor J probably didn't understand a thing, because for one reason or another my dad decided to speak in Catalan to him @@ He said: Jeff, here you have my daughter. Take good care of her. And with a kiss on my cheek from my dad, off I went to J's arms.

We all sat and the mayor started our wedding ceremony by introducing us, himself, and the wedding venue: La Garriga de Castelladral. 

Directly overlooking the stunning Montserrat mountains...

There were three unforgettable speeches during our wedding. One from my BFF Marta, one from J's best friend Herman, and one from my dad. I'm so thankful to these three amazing people for having made of my wedding such a touching one. I think every guest wanted to cry at some point by listening to the speeches they prepared for us. Even the speakers themselves got emotional while delivering the speeches, specially Marta and my dad, who couldn't help but crying. 

I think I never mentioned how amazing I found the fact that our wedding had exactly 100 guests {plus 2 babies! A 2-weeks-old girl and a 3-months-old boy}. I mean, even if you planned for it, it would never be possible to nail it down to exactly 100! I took it for a good omen ^.^

J reading his vows...

Putting on a ring I'll never take off

I couldn't ask for a better wedding. This one was all I ever wished for! At the perfect place, with the perfect weather, in the perfect dress, with the perfect person.

On the way to sign the legal papers after the ceremony. I was obviously in a hurry to sign them. What if J changed his mind in the last minute?! Just joking :p

We signed the papers with our witnesses, my mom and J's dad. On our way out afterwards, white and pink flower petals came flying at us, it was awesome! :) I think I'm gonna have to make a post about the music we chose for our big day, because all these special moments came with their special songs, and it really made the whole thing magical.  Then all the guests hold a white balloon, J and I hold 4 red heart-shaped ones, and we all let them go at the same time. This was one of my favorite things! It was really beautiful. Again, with a special song ;)

I hope you enjoyed this post! As usual, I only chose a handful of pictures... There's so many beautiful ones I couldn't share with you, so just make sure to follow me on instagram where I keep uploading new ones :)

I love this pic with Marta! It's definitely the best one we have in 20 years of friendship :D

Next Wednesday, another HUGE post: our wedding photography session in the woods!!!