Feet Washing, Cairn Building,  Books Instead of Bouquets, and an Aerial Performance

What do feet washing, cairn building,  books instead of bouquets, and an aerial performance have in common? Nothing!! Except for this incredible wedding...Check out below to learn the meaning, see the photos, and then go to provenance.co to make your ceremony feel like you.

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"Love story:

The third time is the charm - we matched 3 times on the dating app before I finally gave him the chance to meet up for a date. When we finally met we immediately realized we were both kinda weird, athletic, "circus kid wannabe" people, which are rare traits to find, so we took it and ran. Plus he liked my dog

We are both aerialists, so we fall a lot. We decided together we could make the falling more fun, by making it falling in love.

Also: shout out to Hinge- no shame in our dating app game!

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Identify:

‍We are both super accepting people and we really immerse ourselves with all cultures and religions[...]Though we both are Christian, he goes to church on Saturdays and I go to church on Sundays. Sometimes we join each other and sometimes we don't. And sometimes we attend other religious or spiritual gatherings. We believe it's all about the good intentions found in various places and experiences.

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Ceremony:

Unity Ceremony: Cairn

‍We chose to build a Cairn for our unity ceremony for several reasons. We love to hike, so it was fun picking rocks from our favorite spots to use. We also love the meaning behind it... The base/foundation is fundamental, needing to be strong to support the structure. These are the big rocks that represent things like morals, family, etc. Then you have the medium rocks that represent the medium priorities, like careers, and friends. Then the small rocks on top change easily without effecting the rest of the structure, representing hobbies and trends. If any of the important pieces fall, the whole thing will (which we purposely did during our ceremony). But the trick is to not give up. You restructure from the bottom up, making it stronger the next time.

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Feet Washing Ceremony

Jesus washes the feet of his disciples to show he was not above them or better than them. He humbled himself to serve them. When we washed each other's feet at our wedding, we humbled ourselves to one another to serve each other as husband and wife. This was done last because in doing so, we provided each other with a fresh slate to take our first steps as husband and wife. The foot washing was favorite part. It was cool because even though it's very unique, Tyler and I both used it prior to knowing each other. His church does foot washing for communion, and I used to use it in my yoga classes. When we found out how meaningful it was to both of us we KNEW it had to be a part of our ceremony.

Special Vows

As for the vows, we wrote our own because we knew we would not fit into any conventional script. Him being the engineer, wrote out very structured vows on sticky notes to flip through, with lots of good points and explanation. And me being the emotional one, wrote in metaphors and imagery, coming off almost like a poem.

Friend Officiating

Our officiant is one of the leaders in Tyler's church. We knew he could put our thoughts and feelings into words that would represent who we really are. We are unique, so this was really important to us. So important that we had him to it even though he isn't ordained! Our officiant's dad (who is ordained) actually "married" us a while before the ceremony for legal purposes. But we didn't consider ourselves married at heart until after our ceremony.

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Books > Bouquets

I didn't want to do traditional bouquets, so I told them to each carry their favorite book. The first bridesmaid to walk down the aisle had my sister's favorite book and placed it on a stool in place of where the maid of honor would stand. The second bridesmaid to walk down carried a single red rose to place on top of the book. Her middle name was Rose, and that was the only red thing at the wedding, so family knew what that represented without having to make a verbal announcement.

Bridesmaid Duties

One more unique/fun fact about our wedding. I didn't just have bridesmaids, I assigned them jobs to make them feel more included. For example: One was the matron of mischief, in charge of the playlists and making sure everyone had full drinks. Another was the maid of meaningful, responsible for exchanging our letters the morning of and periodically reminding me to breathe and soak in the purpose of the day.That kept everyone feeling important, while also keeping anyone from accidentally stepping on each other's toes since none of the girls knew each other!" - Mae M.

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Vendors/Credit:

Rehearsal dinner: Protagonist Southend

Ceremony location: mom and dad's backyard

Reception location: Lenny Boy Brewery - this is where we met for our first date, and also where he proposed with my real ring :)

Happy hour food and bar (beer, wine, and house made kombucha): Lenny Boy Brewery

Reception dinner - tapas style: QC catering (they also handled the rentals)

Florist: Mint Hill Flower MarketPhotography: Emma Belen @emmabelenphotography, with Becca B. From @LIPphotoClt as a backup shooter.

Videography: Carter OwenMakeup:

Angelia @theangelia_   and johnny @johnnysmakeup

Hair: Lex @singingwithscissors   and Lori and sage Patterson (a mother daughter duo)

Dress: classic bridal boutique Cornelius @classicbride

Alterations: Wedding Alterations Huntersville www.weddingdress-alterations.com

‍Bridesmaid dresses: Azazi

Ring: custom from Brilliant Earth

Ring alterations and maintenance: Queen City Jewelers

I did my own planning with day of coordinating help from Lex (@singingwithscissors)

I did my own decor/design with the day of set up by Kat at Mint Hill Flower Market.