the big day

so back to the wedding part of the story! if you're a zealous picture-looker and want to take in all 400 some-odd wedding pictures, feel free to head over to
http://picasaweb.google.com/katecorley where the entire wedding album can be found.
otherwise, here are my favorites (just a few mind you).

our photographer, alec vanderboom, did an amazing job! i LOVE the way our pictures turned out! he successfully made us seem about 200% cooler than we actually were! that's the mark of some good photography.


the flowers included white roses - that's what nick brought me on our date when he proposed to me - and sweet peas - one of his cute names for me, along with love poodle and sweet pants. unfortunately, i couldn't figure those into the bouquet.

to affirm nick's inner hippy, he and his groomsmen wore rope sandals. he said it was an even trade-off for wearing stuffy tuxes.

drea smith was part of the 'make-kate-look-beautiful' team along with alec. she did a fantastic job. i've never been so beautiful in all my day!




each of the family units from nick & i's families lit candles before the ceremony started. i loved being surrounded by light that represented all 36 members of our immediate family as we participated in the ceremony that joined us to each other's families.



my sweet dad kept control of his emotions the entire walk down the aisle, a significant feat for him, i'll have you know! i'm so blessed to have such a tender-hearted dad. it's from growing up with his sensitive spirit that led me to recognize how priceless it is in men and come to love it even more in nick. he and dad are cut from the same cloth.



after taking communion, nick and i then served it to the congregation as well. communion was an important part of our ceremony just to serve as a reminder of our deep need for the lord to be the center of our lives. nick and i especially wanted to remember that as we start out our life together.




the sunset off the back deck of the reception restaurant was startlingly gorgeous! who'd've known?!

we traveled en masse down to the parking garage - most popular bridal party photo spot in branson, y'know.









our reception was so beautiful!!!
it was the most magical, fun, happy party i've ever been to. all the people that pitched in to make it happen made it even more of an amazing thing. each of the tables were decorated by different ladies from our church, so they were each unique and lovely, and i wish i'd had more time to go around to look at each of them. our adopted parents, rod & donna hanley were the grand coordinators of all the festivities. they worked so hard for so many hours to make it all happen. zach & ann-victoria kuenzle coordinated the wedding ceremony and the food.
you know that old saying, 'well, i guess you know who your friends are', usually talking about when they desert you after a calamity or something... well, we sure know who our friends are after this wedding -- and they are plenteous, loving, abundant, serving, and just all-around great people!!


then all those amazing people proceeded to pelt us none too gently with birdseed. we didn't run out of there for the dramatic effect, we were fleeing for our safety.

one of my favorite memories of the day happened right after we changed into our going-away clothes. nick & i came back into the restaurant after changing and were going to run down the back deck to the parking lot. in the restaurant, there are huge plate-glass windows overlooking the deck and everyone was lined up out there looking in at us, waiting for us to come out. i just stood there for a second in the total silence of the empty room, looking at all the people through the windows, waiting with smiles on their faces, noiselessly laughing to each other, talking and gesturing for us to hurry up... it was an oddly surreal moment. i wished i'd had a camera to just snap some shots of them all looking at us.
everyone important in our lives gathered in one place, loving us all at the same time, i don't think it gets any better than that.