Captured Joy: A Few of Our Wedding Photos from Ryn Manby Photography

Two whole months have passed since Stephen and I said, “I do,” to each other, and it seems like the wedding was just a few weeks ago! We are still waiting for the whole batch of our wedding photos, but Ryn, our creative photographer sent us a sneak peak that have just whet our appetites. Here’s some more images of our wonderful wedding day:

The colors of this photo just make me want to laugh!

I appreciate everyone who prayed for us–those prayers sure worked.

I’m so thankful my Mom could be there to help me into my dress.

This photo feels like it just came from a bridal magazine!

I’m so thankful for all my beautiful ladies. 🙂

And my handsome Man.

And that my Dad made it to the ceremony, and that I could have a special moment with him.

My brother escorted me down the aisle, and I felt so blessed to have him AND my Dad helping me.

We are so thankful to be married to each other!

And for all the support from our wonderful family.

And friends.

 

These photos by Ryn Manby (see more of her wonderful work at Ryn Manby Photography) just make me smile!! Stephen and I are SO HAPPY that we picked Ryn to capture our day, that we married each other, and we are so thankful for all the brilliant people that have been part of our lives.

Now, on to the next adventure!

~Mary Hope

P.S. We enjoyed using this as one of our registries:
Shop Handmade – The Wedding Store

 

A Month Into Marriage — Our Wedding Story

Stephen and I have been married for one month! If I had to describe our wedding in one word, it would be the word “joy.” Stephen and I waited 36 and 34 years for each other, so there was an explosion of joy in our hearts and in our family and friends when we finally got to vow our faithfulness and love to each other on June 18th, 2016.

I didn’t think the week before a wedding would be this crazy!

  
I
had a blast wheeling around Mariano’s yesterday picking out my favorite foods (spaghetti, chocolate pudding, baby carrots…), and this beauty made me stop, and enjoy the moment. Wedding week is more stressful than I thought–it’s not all happy like the movies; however, the advice to stop and enjoy the joyful moments makes more sense too. Having a wedding and marriage makes your life even more life-y–double stress, sadness, anger, joy, happiness, hope, peace… I’m ready, with God’s help! Today is wedding reception bulk-flower pick up day. Stephen’s basement is going to beautiful over the next couple of days! 3 days to go!!
#-Mary Hope

Copyright 2016

twoschuhz

#weddingweek #treesoftransitionart #peace #purplerose #wedding #weddingprep #weddingthoughts #thankful

Wedding Reception Sunset Flowers

Sunset colors is my goal for the reception flowers. I had fun yesterday scoping out a wholesale flower place to figure out what flowers to buy. Here’s what I found:

   
    
   
Do they look like a sunset to you?

Peace!

Mary Hope

Copyright 2016

Some of Our Silly Engagement Photos

Last October, we had only gotten a few hours of sleep because we had been babysitting for a friend, so we were maybe a little sillier than usual when we took our sunrise and beyond engagement photos. I’m glad Ryn Manby, our brilliant photographer gave us some of the silly proofs as well!

Mary: “I LOVE being with you!” Stephen: “I know…”

 

Stephen: “What IS that smell?” Mary (keep smiling) “What smell?”

 

Nose to nose is best.

Mary: “Stephen, your pull is SO strong!” Stephen: “Uhh…actually it’s a train.”

101 Days Until Our Wedding!

Wedding Planning Update

Wow, it used to be 230 days; now we have only 101 days left until Stephen and I commit ourselves to each other for life! My joy over entering marriage with Stephen is growing, and this engagement season has had its shares of stress, but now is a more tranquil time. Both of us have waited so long to get married that we are just so thankful to have each other and this season.

A wedding season sort of feels like you have your birthday for months because of the congratulations, the parties, gifts, and all the focused love. I treasure this time and am thankful to each of you who have added to the joy.

What has been happening since we got engaged?

The Trilogy of Rings

 

“Mary, I have a question to ask you. Will you be my wife?” Stephen said as he held out the diamond ring. (I had always wondered how the guy would say it: “Mary, will you marry me?” seemed too repetitive; Stephen did it just right!) My smile deepened as I said, “Yes, yes, YES!!!!” as he slipped the solitaire diamond on a simple white gold band onto my finger. The diamond shone in the light, but I focused more on my brand new fiancé. We laughed, cried, and prayed together before going back to the houseboat to share the amazing news. That day, August 13^th, 2015, my hands now had three rings distributed between the ten fingers, and there are stories behind each one of them. This is the story of the Celtic knot ring I’ve had for seven years, a ring I wore for two weeks, and the engagement ring I’ll wear the rest of my life.

Our Engagement Story: The “Train Guy” Asked Me to Marry Him!

It all began at the College Avenue train station platform back in January of 2013 at 6am… One dark, cold morning as we waited for the train to come to take us downtown Chicago, Stephen stood next to me, and he started talking. He cheerfully said, “Good morning!” and then talked with me until the train arrived. His friendliness surprised me, and he seemed nice; however, since I had just started dating someone else, I kept things cool. We said “Hi!” to each other after that because we often sat in the same train car.

A couple months later, when I sat there talking on the phone to my long-distance boyfriend, after seeing Stephen looking at me, this thought ran through my head: “Why am I dating someone 1,000 miles away when there’s a perfectly interested guy sitting right over there!?” I shook the thought off and dated the long-distance guy until he broke up with me. I wasn’t ready for Stephen then because he both annoyed and intrigued me… (Early in the morning he talked loudly with his train buddies in the train, and he seemed to me like a boring suburbanite…I didn’t know that he had grown up in vineyard country, loved chopping firewood and the outdoors, loved God…I could sense that he was interested, but I had some growing up to do.) Over the next year and a half I tried going on over a dozen first dates with other guys (that never worked out, but) while running into Stephen a few times at church because his friend Lauren had invited him.

Preserving Excited Love: Engagement Photos

I love seeing people in love! Being able to capture photos of the excited love after an engagement happens is an honor. Love has many seasons, and the engagement season contains great joy, so why not take special photos during that time.

Another photography first for me: Last Sunday I snapped engagement photos for my friends. I had a few ideas, and then let them tell me what and where they wanted photos. I clicked away, and some of my favorites are below.

I’ll let the photos show you more of what happened: