Greetings From the Gilleys: Christa and Matthew Get Married!!

After dating for 8 years, Christa and Matthew finally tied the knot! The ceremony and reception were absolutely beautiful! But above all that, the bride looked STUNNING! I have known Christa since her and Matt first got together and I liked her immediately. I feel like we formed one of those bonds that is just easy and fast. We became close enough to travel alone together, stay up late talking alone together every time I visit, we love each other enough that she came to visit me by herself (and not because family was coming into town as usual), etc. We were sisters before we were officially "sister-in-laws," if that makes sense. Watching her walk down the aisle to marry her best friend was so special. She invited me to be a part of her big day and I loved being by her side to witness all of it and help celebrate the new couple! It was a STORMY day (torrential downpour! The bridesmaids all had to be ushered everywhere by men holding HUGE umbrellas over us so that our hair wouldn't get wet, but the humidity caused all of us to lose our curls immediately! It's ok though- Christa was gorgeous despite feeling like her hair was ruined!) but it was still a happy one! Apparently, all the Gilley boys have had terrible, stormy wedding days. First Bobby did, then Shawn and I did (that was ROUGH!) and next Matthew did. We now call it the Gilley Guy curse! Hopefully Sully will be the first to break the mold.... in 20+ years.

Anyway, Christa has had her wedding planned in her head for years. She has always known she wanted all cream and ivory and then just whites and greens in her bouquet. She had a vision and pulled it off perfectly! It was such a beautiful wedding! It was really, really hard for her to not have her Mama there... I know her heart was breaking a little. All of the bridesmaids got teary-eyed when her Mother was reverently spoken about during Matthew's vows, but we could all feel her presence there that day. Each member of her family had a pendant of her Mom's face on them, whether it was tied around their bouquets so that she was "walking down the aisle" with them, or held safely in a pocket. She was most definitely there in that church; I know it. And I know she must have been so proud of her sweet daughter for marrying the man of her dreams in a lovely ceremony before God. It was very bitter-sweet.

Lucy and Piper were flower girls and Sully was a ring-bearer. I was a bridesmaid and Shawn was a groomsmen, so we were a busy family on Saturday! Shawn took Sully to the guys' house to get ready with them there while I brought the girls' with me to a bridesmaid's house to spend the day getting wedding-ready. It was exciting to be with all the girls that day and wear our pretty silk robes given to us by Christa. It was all so perfect- there was food, barbies and bubbles for the flower-girls, music, a make-up artist and someone doing hair (I didn't get my hair or makeup done by them; I did mine myself so I was a little self-conscience), and great photographers to capture it all!

We rode in limos to the reception hall first to take all our pictures (guys had their own limo and their own session of pictures without us), then went to the church for the ceremony. This way Matthew wouldn't see Christa in her dress until she walked down the aisle. They took their couple pictures after the actual ceremony.

And despite the rain, it was a happy day! SO much planning (over a year!) and then poof! It's over. But the planning was evident. As I said, every single detail was perfect. It was probably the most beautiful wedding I have ever been to.

My girls were total rockstars! (🙌🏼) My boy? Not so much.... my expression in the pic where him and I are on the dance floor (I'm kneeling) shows how I felt about his attitude *during* the quiet ceremony😩 He did LOVE dancing though!

The next zillion pictures are scattered about but they range from the cute Bridal Luncheon and Rehearsal Dinner the day before, and then obviously the wedding pictures as well! Once the photographer gives Christa the final pictures I will probably make another post about it because I think she got some great ones!