I’ve been wanting to write this post for a while now and simply got overwhelmed with so many things but it’s FINALLY here! Growing up I would hear certain songs and thing “I am going to dance to that at my wedding”. I’m not sure if everyone else did that, but sweet love ballads always tugged at my heart strings and I felt like I just knew that I would dance with my husband to the tunes of Shania Twain’s From This Moment On (spoiler, we didn’t dance to that lovely tune). I guess I should give a little back story – I grew up in a music-loving family…especially from my father. We were always listening to all different genres and learning all about the musicians and the stories behind the songs, I always connect music with my parents, and especially my dad. So when Eddie & I were thinking of songs I knew that I really wanted to be intentional in the songs we chose for certain songs on our wedding day. You’ll hear more about my thoughts on our first dance(s) further down but I loved every moment of them.
I think the hardest part of my selecting the ceremony music was picking out the song I would walk down; I knew that the song I chose was the right song but I wasn’t sure that everyone would understand why I chose it. There were many covers of “Your Love Is Extravagant” but Aaron Gillespie’s (of The Almost *and underoath) emotion just reached deep within me years ago and has never left. I was walking down to my future husband, taking my last steps as a single woman and I wanted those steps to be wrapped in the love of Jesus. I wanted to be reminded of the relationship I have with my savior and how thankful I was that He brought Eddie into my life. “I find I’m moving to the rhythms of your grace…your love is extravagant…spread wide in the arms of Christ, is a love that covers sin, no greater love have I ever known, you consider me your friend, capture my heart again” those lyrics make me weep with sweet joy.
I shared more about the songs of our ceremony and our worship in my post dedicated to our ceremony.
If you haven’t given it a read yet, head on over.
I didn’t mention our Recessional song, Make The Leap, y’all this song brings me such joy! I think Meg introduced me to The Hunts and then I introduced Eddie to them. This song was one Eddie & I listened to on repeat and the video he made part of our engagement was actually set to this song.
C E R E M O N Y
Parents & Grandparents Entrance & Bridal Party Entrance:
The Mission / How Great Thou Art – The Piano Guys
Bride’s Entrance:
“Your Love Is Extravagant” – The Almost
Our Worship Song during our ceremony:
“Ever Be” ((Sang by my friend christina))
Recessional:
“Make The Leap” – The Hunts
R E C E P T I O N
Bridal Party Entrance:
“The Way You Make Me Feel” – Michael Jackson
First Dance:
“Touching Heaven” – Johnnyswim
Brother-Sister Dance:
“It Don’t Have To Change” – John Legend
Mother-Son Dance:
“My Wish” – Rascal Flatts
Cake Cutting:
“This Will Be” – Natalie Cole
Bouquet Toss:
“P.Y.T.” – Michael Jackson
Garter Toss:
“The Man” – Aloe Blacc
I knew that for our party songs I wanted a lot of Michael Jackson (thanks dad!) and some Whitney Houston (thanks mom!) mixed in with all of the amazing country, pop, and oldie ballads. We wanted everyone to dance like crazy and have the best time, and I had a blast. We danced until our feet hurt and our smiles couldn’t be wiped off of our face. We slow danced, line-danced, hopped around and twirled, It was the most magical blur of fun and sweat and joy with my family and friends.
One of the best parts (and totally NOT planned) was that my brother caught the garter and his girlfriend (NOW FIANCE) caught the Bouquet! Talk about keeping it in the family am I right?
How I felt…
Husband & Wife Dance:
I am not sure I can adequately share how I felt during the first dance with my husband.
Humbled, awed, grateful, inspired, loved, cherished, joyful, praiseful, thankful….and the list goes on. There was a moment when Eddie brought his hand up and cupped my face and caressed my cheek and I just smiled back at him with tears in my eyes. There is a part in the song where the words are simply ” You’re my Hallelujah “ (around minute 2:40) that truly, truly brought me to tears simply by listening – and when we danced to it it I wanted to just fall to my knees in worship to our Lord and in true true thankfulness of Eddie.
Perfection, that moment was truly cut apart from everything else – it was a moment where I didn’t even realize other people were around; it was just the two of us. Eddie and I dancing was something that holds such incredible significance. While Eddie was pursuing me and I fought against us he would wrap his arms around me in the kitchen and just start dancing with me. He slowly chipped away at my hardened heart until I would dance back with him freely and with so much love in my heart. This dance was like we were transported back into the kitchen slowly swaying and holding each other, no other person existed, just him and I, one flesh.
Brother & Sister Dance
This song was hard to choose; I actually found it while looking for good songs to dance to with a sibling. There was no father-daughter dance since my daddy went home to be with Jesus many years ago – so finding a song to dance to with my brother was a real challenge. We thought of doing something fun and upbeat to Michael Jackson (because seriously, my we love his music and it is totally my dad) with some choreographed dance – but it just felt more comfortable to just be us. A little shag dancing and slow dancing and laughing and smiling. I will be 100% honest, it wasn’t all smiles. There was a moment where I legit ugly cried (the photographers captured a little bit of that, thankfully not the snot bubbles haha). Dancing with my brother, who is the spitting image of my father, was truly a blessing for me. Our siblingship is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I am fiercely protective of him; we’ve been through so much together, so much heavy heavy stuff that it’s created this unbreakable bond that can never be broken. It brought my heart such joy to spend those few minutes with just my brother before moving away.
Other Songs We Jammed To:
Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours – Stevie Wonder / Uptown Funk / Cupid Shuffle / Cha Cha Slide / Dancing in the moonlight / 24k Magic – Bruno Mars / Can’t stop the feeling – Justin Timberlake / Forever Like That – Ben Rector / Thinking Out Loud – Ed Sheeran / Treasure – Bruno Mars / I wanna dance with somebody – Whitney Houston / Wobble / Tearin Up My Heart – NSYNC (don’t judge haha) / Mambo No. 5 – Lou Bega / My girl – The Temptations / You Are The Best Thing – Ray LaMontangue / The Way You Make Me Feel – Michael Jackson / You Can’t Hurry Love – The Supremes / Build Me Up Buttercup – The Foundations / Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher – Jackie Wilson / Die A Happy Man – Thomas Rhett / I Love Beach Music – Embers / Country Girl Shake It For Me – Luke Bryan / Dont Ya – Brett Eldredge / Can’t Help Falling In Love – Elvis Presley / Until You – Dave Barnes / Good Day For Marrying You – Dave Barnes / (Stop) Just Love – Us The Duo / Thinkin’ about somethin – Hanson / Last Dance Donna Sommers
