7 whole years....

it seems like yesterday that i was doing a post for our 6 year anniversary. and now here we are - a whole year later - doing a 7 year post.

~sigh~

i sat down a little while ago and tried to think of where we have spent all of our 7 anniversaries. here's all i could think of (and this is with tommy's help)
1st: we were driving back from a long weekend in atlanta
2nd: driving across tennessee and ending at the grove park inn in ashville, north carolina.
3rd: at home - probably went to shapleys - had just gotten back from new york

4th: at home - with a 3 month old - i had just started back to work
5th: at home - had just gotten back from caribbean cruise
6th: in perdido with tommy's family

7th: at home - with mary peyton getting ready to start her first day of k3

the ones that are "at home" are the ones falling during the week. believe me - if we can get away and go somewhere, we do!

anyway - our wedding doesn't seem like it was 7 years ago. good grief. so much has changed, but so much has stayed the same.

we've had some incredibly hard times (death of tommy's dad, my parents' divorce), but some incredibly good times, too! we've been blessed with a precious little girl who continues to amaze me daily.

a little about our wedding - things that are special to me or just little facts:

~i had 7 bridesmaids, a matron of honor, and a maid of honor

~i had 5 honorary bridesmaids

~tommy had 2 best men and 7 groomsmen

~tommy had 5 honorary groomsmen

~we had 5 ushers

~we had 1 flower girl

~we had 1 ring bearer

~we had 5 program/bell girls

~we had 5 "special mothers"

~our mothers did not sit on opposite sides like the "traditional" sitting arrangement. tommy walked each of them in and sat them just far enough apart on the front pew (in the center) that my daddy could fit in between them. then our grandparents were seated beside our parents on the front row. it was important to us that our immediate family be right up front for the ceremony.

~my something old was my mam-maw's original wedding band. she was diagnosed with cancer the february before my wedding and passed away in june of that year. she gave me her band that Easter and it was so special to me when tommy put that ring on my finger with ours. also, my veil was made out of the veils of my mama and tommy's mom. my longer layer was my mom's. she had worn it short - it was all folded up and had 1 seam through it - when we took the seam out, it was a long piece! we had it edged in satin and put velcro on it. tommy's mom's was my shorter layers. (they also added another layer on the top for "my" layer and edged it in satin). so when mpb wears this, it will have already been worn in 3 weddings!

~my something new - this was several things! my parents gave me diamond earrings to wear, my in-laws gave me a beautiful bracelet to wear, and tommy gave me a diamond drop necklace. i also counted my dress as something new - because it was!

~my something borrowed was a little tricky. it was the morning of the wedding and i didn't have anything. so my sweet julz called her mom. darlin' (this is what julz's mom and i call each other) ran up to the church and brought me her six pence. it was the same one that was used in her wedding and in frances' (julz's sister) wedding (and since, has been used in julz's wedding!). i had another six pence that i had bought in london when i was there - so i had 1 in each shoe!

~my something blue - i had 2 things! my granny (really aunt doris - this is my daddy's aunt and mary key/crump/wilson's grandmother) made me a garter out of the same swiss batiste lace and everything that she made mary key's flower girl dress out of (and my ring bearer's pillow) - and she threaded it with pale blue ribbon! i also wore a sapphire/diamond ring that my parents had gotten me for my college graduation.

~i carried 2 handkerchefs in my hand - one of my mam-maw's and one of my great-grandmother's

~i wanted everything in our wedding to be off white/ivory - i didn't want anything to be bleach white - this included the flowers

~my daddy DID ask me if i was sure i wanted to walk down the aisle, and of course he asked me this when everyone was turning around looking at us waiting to come down the aisle! i asked him later what he would have done if i said no. he said that he would have walked down there and told everybody that there WAS going to be a party at the colonial country club, but that there WOULD NOT be a wedding! sweet daddy!

~roseann did my make-up ~~ and i didn't have any mascara! i had to borrow kristina's (i have since bought mascara - once - i just don't wear it!

~at our rehearsal dinner, tommy gave a LONG speech and addressed every person in the room. and yes, he cried through a good bit of it (keep in mind that we did know at this point that his dad could pass away just about any time - so much so that we didn't have the programs printed until the week of the wedding)

~our week in hawaii was awesome - i hope to go back someday!

there is so much more.....i've got pictures of things from our wedding that i want to post, but i haven't downloaded them yet. i'll do that tomorrow after i take pictures of my sweet girl getting out of the car on her first day of k3 (we can't walk her in). so be watching!


happy anniversary, tommy! i love you lots!