Since we hadn't really thought about how we were getting to the ceremony location, my photographer actually threw us in his SUV and drove us to the location. He was extremely friendly and helpful the entire day. And my entire enormous dress fit in the front seat of his vehicle, too.
We arrived at the Seeds Church on Main Street, and pulled up around the back of the building. We waited there until someone made sure that all of the guests had made their way into the sanctuary and that I was
Once inside, we all lined up in our order behind the closed sanctuary doors.
Then the men filed in one at a time following the pastor, our home church pastor Tim Sawatzky. Our parent also made their entrances as well. And once they were all lined up and ready for some married gettin', the music started to play, and the "snow angel" and ring bearer (my little brother Quincy) lead the way for the bridesmaids.
The archway we entered through was built by my dad without me even asking. He just thought I'd need something beautiful to enter through. He did an amazing job, painted it, and even strung it through with twinkle lights. It was beautiful, and made for the perfect walkway for a winter bride.
The flower girl wore a dress ordered from eBay, and tailored for her size by my dad as well. The ring bearer's suit was also second hand and tailored to fit. Instead of flower petals, I opted for the flower girl to throw bits of white feathers, which fell gracefully to the ground like snow around her.
The day of the wedding, I realized that I'd forgotten the flower girl's "feathers" she was meant to throw, and panicked. I phoned my dad in desperation, and he actually went to my mom's place, dug around through the storage room and found an old dressup white feather boa that he cut up and filled the basket with for me.
The song we walked down the aisle to was "Love Remains the Same" by Gavin Rossdale. We chose it because it had an incredible building bridge, and the perfect entrance moment at the most intense part of the song. The themes it represents are also true for us - struggling through hardships, overcoming relationship obstacles, having an imperfect relationship, but overcoming it through it all and ending up with absolute love.
I also opted not to enter with my dad, for a couple of reasons. I felt I'd really worked hard to become who I was, and that I was making this journey on my own, standing in my own strength, and I wanted to represent my individual journey by entering on my own. The other reason, of course, is that I wanted absolutely every ounce of the attention in the room focused on yours truly. I was the bride, after all.
I met with my dad halfway up the aisle, and he walked me the rest of the way. He of course was teary eyed, and as I took his arm I whispered "Man up!" and we both choked out a cry-laugh. He walked me to Matt and gave me away.
Our pastor did an amazing job marrying us. He spoke about how wonderful it was for friendship to blossom into a relationship. When we met with him about marrying us, he asked us one question, and that was "What do you like about the other person? What's one thing?" and we both told him that we loved how "real" we were together. How true to ourselves we could be. And he ran with that for his message. It was just wonderful. I wish I remembered more of it, but I was definitely in a daze.
Behind us on stage were white prelit Christmas trees. We picked them up at Wal Mart for $50 a piece only a couple of days before the wedding, since we were scrambling for something to use behind us on stage. I'm glad we grabbed them too, since they worked out perfectly. And we still have one of them, and use it as our Christmas tree every year. It's so special to decorate it, and know that it watched us get married that day.
We wrote our own vows, and got the most comments on them than anything else from the wedding. We were approached by so many family members and friends who told us they'd never heard such genuine vows, and that most of them had been able to hold back the tears until that moment, when they completely fell apart. Matt and I still read them to each other every year on our anniversary.
While we signed the marriage license, my brother Ben played Iron and Wine's "Such Great Heights" on his acoustic guitar. Then when we were finished we met in the middle at the microphone, and sang "When I Go" by Slow Club to each other while Ben accompanied us. We decided to sing together in harmony as our traditional "Unity Piece" because we didn't want the pour sand like everyone was doing, and quite frankly we didn't want a vase full of sand to display for the rest of our lives. We also considered candle lighting, and a few other options, but this one seemed the most us, since we both love to sing, and we're both so different and yet so similar, so coming together in harmony seemed quite fitting for us.
When the song was finished the pastor met us again in the centre of the stage, and announced us officially as Mr. and Mrs. Matthew and Holly Gilson. Just then "You Can Get It If You Really Want" by Jimmy Cliff came on, and we joined hands and raised them up over our heads in victory, and then laughed and skipped happily out of the sanctuary together, followed by our joyful bridal party. It was definitely a celebratory moment, and the song captured the joy and lightness of it perfectly.
Immediately after the ceremony, we headed across the street to take some family formals. First with my family, then Matt's. I also put on a faux fur wrap for around my arms, since it was getting a little chillier. Plus I thought it added to the wintery theme - even though there was no snow anywhere.
This is my big bunch.
And here's Matt's considerably smaller bunch. His sister's husband isn't even in the photo, since at the time the two of them weren't even engaged yet.
Then we took some time for photos of just Matt and me, as husband and wife. We hopped over to the train cars to pretend we were making so graffiti. We actually sprayed some window-cleaning foam, and wrote our names on the side (completely washable.)
Of course our moms saw what we were doing, and decided to call the cops on us...
But completely all in fun. :) The local police officers in Altona are very good sports, and when my mom phoned them and told them we were pretending to graffiti the train cars, they came over with their truck and put Matt in handcuffs.
The police officer actually brought the wrong key for Matt's handcuffs, and it looked for a while that he might be stuck in them! Matt, having never been cuffed before, was a little uncertain at this point, but luckily they grabbed the proper key just in time and unlocked him. He was a good sport.
We took photos on the train tracks, and around the trains, before heading off to a new location.
After the tracks we headed to the Buffalo Creek Nature Pond, a man-made pond and hill on the outskirts of town, next to our town park. Normally I wouldn't pick such an "overused" photo location, but first off, Altona doesn't have a whole lot to offer when it comes to scenery. Secondly, this is actually where Matt proposed to me! Up at the top of the hill. So we thought it would be special to get some photos here.
This one is actually taken in the exact location he asked me to be his wife. :) 
And this photo, on this very bench, we replicated because we've actually taken photos here on this bench, in these positions, a couple of times before. Both for Matt's graduation, and mine. And strangely, all three times he was wearing a black suit, and I was wearing a fancy white dress.
To be continued...
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