Our wedding day! What a perfect topic for June.
Dave and I loved planning our wedding. We were engaged in the early fall of 1989 and had our wedding the next summer.

We paid for everything our selves. Dave's folks paid for the rehearsal dinner and festivities; my folks paid for the reception.
We kept it simple, elegant, and affordable.
(we were both paying back undergraduate degree loans and thankfully, both of us had had our Masters degree programs paid for through fellowships/awards. I owed nothing for my MS degree as tuition was free for me through the fellowship program. My husband owed a little bit. I also had been out of grad school for 3 years and was earning a salary as a Special Education Master Teacher in an inner city PreK. Dave was working for GE as a contractor and finishing up his MS.

The Lord's hand was in every moment of our wedding and I couldn't begin to write about every emotion and thought that went through my mind that day.
I decided to just post 17 pics with explanations. One pic for each year we have been married.
Enjoy and...visit my side-bar, click on the Marriage Monday link to read more posts about wedding days!

"Love has made a marriage feast, called each wedding guest, rich and poor---greatest and least, all at Love's behest, gathered here to celebrate the harvest of His joy so great." from Mountain of Spices by Hannah Hurnard.

You are cordially invited to the Wedding of David G. T------ and Faith E. M------
Date: 30, June 1990
Time: 12 noon
Place: Central NYS

This cross and 2 rings interlocked on the cross
was designed by Dave.
We wanted something that symbolized our unity with Jesus.
Dave and I came up with the words
"Married for life...Friends for Eternity"
That was the message and symbol on our invitations and wedding bulletins.
I think we had the napkins done up like that as well,
but I truly cannot remember.
We provided a teen babysitter for parents who had to bring
young children to the wedding.
We did not allow any children under the age of 8 in the sanctuary
during our wedding due to the length, and all the music, so
my teen sister helped me find a teen who was willing to earn money.
Each parent who utilized this service paid for it themselves.
It is something I have recommended over and over.
We included this info in with our invitation and directions to our wedding.

Inside the bulletin, on the left hand page,
we listed all the people in
the wedding party;
the musicians,
the pastor,
and a short message from Dave & I.
At the bottom of that page we had I Corinthians 13: 13 written out.

On the inside right hand page we listed
the Order of the Ceremony
with the date and place and our names.
The order went like this:
Prelude (classical hymns played on organ)
The organist was a dear friend of mine who also made my gown; she is an accomplished musician and was one of my spiritual mentors when I was a teen.
(I used to babysit for her 2 children all the way through high-school)
I was so thankful to the Lord that she was available on my wedding day!
Mother's Entrance:
Our moms walked down to
"Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" by Bach, played on organ.
Processional: Trumpet Voluntary by Purcell
Welcome and Invocation
Presentation of the Bride
Vocal Solo: Morning has Broken
My maid of honor sang this and played ukulele.
Message: I Corinthians 13 "Love is...."
Pastor Tony ended up "preaching", Dave had approved it...
I didn't know about it...it turned out great!
Exchange of Vows
Exchange of Rings
Vocal Solo: Flesh of my Flesh
The worship leader of our church performed this on guitar.
Sacrament of Holy Communion
(our first time taking communion as husband and wife)
Vocal Solo: The Lord's Prayer
(The woman who sang this was one of my voice teachers from Herkimer).
Presentation of: Mr & Mrs. David G. T------
Recessional: Trumpet Tune by Clark (organ)
Postlude: various pieces of classical/baroque music

On the back of the bulletin we had printed out various Scriptures and quotes that really meant something to us as a couple.
The first one was the one I included at beginning of this post.
Then we had:
Genesis 2: 24 "...a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh."
Proverbs 30: 19 "There are three things that are too amazing for me, four that I do not understand:
the way of an eagle in the sky,
the way of a snake on a rock,
the way of a ship on the high seas,
and the way of a man with a maiden."

Song of Songs 8: 7a "Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot wash it away."

Here is my dad walking his oldest daughter
(and the first to get married)
down the aisle of the Herkimer United Methodist Church.
I had tears in my eyes, at first, because I was so happy
that my dad was walking me down the aisle and that
the man waiting for me at the end of it was a man who had many of the good, godly characteristics as my dad.
I was raised in the Free Methodist Church, across the street,
but that sanctuary was small nor did it have a pipe organ.
I had wanted a String Quintet to play the processional but we couldn't afford it.
My gown was ivory. No veil and no long train.
I wore an ivory lace hairband in my hair.
Bridesmaids dresses were cocktail style gowns in a teal color.
I carried a wicker basket of silk teal and ivory roses, baby's breath, and 2 long silk ribbons in ivory and teal.
Bridesmaids carried small wicker baskets similar to mine but without ribbons.
My maid of honor carried one in a little bit different shape, same colors.



We recited the traditional wedding vows
but removed the word "obey"
and replaced "man and wife" with "husband and wife".
The pastor was Pastor Tony from Victorious Life Church, Troy, NY
(we attended that church as a couple from 1989-2005)
and we had him read I Corinthians 13; he did a mini-sermon.
There were non-Believers attending
so they did have a chance to hear the gospel.
It was great!
We also exchanged rings (white gold)
with our initials & the date engraved on the inside.
Later that evening I discovered
that the jeweler had the wrong date on mine!
We never bothered getting it fixed.
(rather than saying 6-30-90 it says 9-30-90).

Mr. and Mrs. Dave & Faith T.
I chose to use my maiden name as my middle name
rather than hyphenating both last names.
So, my name is technically Faith E. M------- T-----.
Once we were home from the honeymoon, we discovered that there is an elderly woman in our town named Faith E. T----
(so...I was a bit prophetic wasn't I when I chose to use both last names??!!...it makes life a lot easier!)

The bridesmaids and groomsmen:
l-r= my sisters: Jill, Hope, Joy,
my maid of honor: Kathy
Dave and I;
best-man: Joe,
Dave's college friend, Matt,
Dave's brother, Pete,
and a teen whom Dave mentored, Jimmy.
Notice (if you can!) the pipe organ in background.

This pic shows from l-r:
my dad, mom,
me, Dave,
his mom, dad.
My mom wore pale pink and my mother-in-law wore blue.
The men had ivory rose boutonnieres.
(my dad's was silk as he is allergic to roses)

The reception was held 2 towns over from my hometown in
The Elks Lodge Main Hall.
As we entered the reception hall,
I noticed that the caterers set up the wrong tables!
They had the wedding- party table correct (long rectangle ones) but...
.the guests were supposed to be seated at round cafe-style tables.....argh...
I just kept smiling and walking...
at least they got the balloon colors correct!
(ivory to match my dress, pink and blue to match the mothers' dresses).
We had a buffet reception.
We did not have an open bar,
and only served wine to the wedding party and guests at the toast.

There were babies and balloons at our reception.
I did allow people with young children to feel free to bring them to the reception as it was a casual setting.
(We only had 6 children under the age of 12 there so that wasn't bad).
This friend was the one who first introduced me to Dave. (see last month's post)
Chris is now in heaven with the Lord
as she died of colon cancer in 2002.
She was one of my best friends.
She is holding a toddler named Johanna
who is the 2nd child of good friends of ours. That toddler is now in college!

We danced our first dance to a song by Amy Grant but I never wrote down the title and to this day we cannot remember the name of it!
We had a one-man band and he was awesome!

I wanted a simple, yet elegant cake with 4 layers.
I also wanted a basket of "frosting flowers" in the colors of the bridesmaids' baskets. My mom hired a private cake baker/decorater for this. I normally don't like wedding cake....but...it was ok...especially the chocolate pieces!

The groom feeds the bride!
(I told him he had to cut me a chocolate piece!!)

The bride feeds the groom!

And... the bride feeds the toddler!
I fed our nephew, Adam,
a piece of cake because he was just so darn cute!
He is the son of my husband's brother and our very first nephew!
He turned 2 the day after the wedding!
His little sister was born the next month.

Many of the single girls wanted to catch the bouquet!
I had a separate one for tossing,
as I wanted to keep my basket of silk flowers.
Once I tossed the bouquet we were on our way to our apartment in the Albany area, about an hour and 30 min. east of my hometown.

The next morning, Sunday, July 1st,
we flew to Aruba, for a week long honeymoon!

We walked off in to the sunset:
our last evening in Aruba, July 7, 1990.

Here we are, almost 18 years later,
married for life,
friends for eternity.