By Honey and the Hive

I've wanted to blog about this day for such a long time, but it seems like whenever I sat down to do it, I just couldn't find the words.  I have so many emotions centered around this day - the biggest of those being gratitude.  Our vow renewal was the big marker of one chapter ending and another beginning.  It was this perfect, happy day - I have never felt more surrounded by love, just pure perfect love in my life.

Alex and I got married when we were 19 years old.  We were just two kids, broke as can be, who loved each other.  We got married at the courthouse with just our parents, siblings, and my grandparents there with us.  So, when Alex asked me to renew our vows on our anniversary trip the year before, it was a really special opportunity for us to have a celebration of love that we had not been able to when we originally got married.  Alex wanted to give us the wedding that we never had before, so in a lot of ways we treated it as such.  We wrote our own vows looking back on the beginning of our relationship, the path to where we are, and all of our promises to each other going forward.  We exchanged new rings, and we opted for a just-right-for-us sized celebration inviting all of the people that we loved the most, and who have helped us grow in our relationship over the past seven years.

The morning of was filled with so many special moments.  We prettied up at my favorite salon, and got ready together while sharing donuts, drinking champagne, and just having fun before everything started that afternoon.  We had just moved into our new home about a week before so it was so nice to spend this special time there that morning.  My best friend even flew in from Philadelphia which meant so much to have her and her husband there.  

One of my absolute favorite things about this day were all of the perfect, made-with-love details.  My bridal jewelry was made by my incredibly talented friend Stephanie of Hello Halsted - Stephanie was even able to drive up from Chicago to be there with us too which was so incredible!  Our flowers were all done by a very special friend of ours who is a florist, our cake was made by another very close family friend who is a baker, the guest table was made by another one of our friends too.  Everywhere you looked there was something that was made just for us, by someone who we loved immensely - it was so special.  I also got to spend a lot of time crafting the little details, I made the floral piece for our wedding arch, the land lettered signs, our invitations and the guest poster that we had everyone sign.  But, my favorite detail of all was our custom handmade rings.  Sara of No Kitchen Sink worked with us for months creating rings that were absolutely perfect for us - something gorgeous, delicate, and feminine for me, and something a little less traditional and more rough around the edges for Alex.  I don't think that she could have better captured our personalities in these rings, I cried when we got them and there isn't a day that I don't look down at my ring finger and smile.  Our photographer, Alycia Choroszucha is also one of our best friends, so getting to have her there for every special moment was absolutely perfect.  She has photographed our family since our tiny dude was just a baby, so there's a lot to be said of how perfect it was to have her there capturing this day too.

Not much about our vow renewal was traditional, but it was perfectly tailored to us and our personalities.  I really wanted our dog to be there, after all she is part the family, right?  So, I walked her down the aisle!  In lieu of a "first dance" we had one of our family friends perform a song that so perfectly embodies our relationship, "My Favorite Book" by Stars. And in addition to a first look shared between Alex and I, I had a first look with our tiny dude.  That was hands down one of the most special moments for me.  I am so glad that we added that in there at the last minute, because it is a moment I'm going to remember forever.  And how fricking cute are his little vans to match his daddy?  Ugh, my heart.  We exchanged vows we had written ourselves, and emotional little me was in tears while Alex spoke his.  

We had the best night dancing and celebrating with our loved ones, and eating the most delicious tacos (tacos as wedding food, DEFINITELY recommend!)  This is a day that will be cherished forever, and I'm so happy that I have so many gorgeous photos to look back on and relive it over and over again - and believe me I do about once a week!