Holy crap. I feel like I blinked and the wedding was over. It seriously went by so fast. Everyone told me to take a deep breath, go slow, and take it all in, but it’s just so hard when the day is as busy, hectic, exciting as it is. There are parts that I remember vividly, i.e. Mrs. Ninja walking down the aisle (yes I teared up) and parts I don’t remember at all, i.e. what song played when we cut the cake.
There are so many things that I could write about in regards to our wedding, but I’ll try and narrow it down to just a few things.
Dollar Dance:
Do you remember the little debate I had a few weeks back, asking whether the $$$ dance was tacky or reasonable? Well, you can call me Tacky Ninja ’cause we totally rocked the dollar dance hardcore. I’m quite glad we did because it gave me dedicated face time with many of our guests, but more importantly we walked away $600 richer at the end of it! Can you believe it?! Six Hundred Bones! Totally legit and I never got the vibe someone was dancing with me out of obligation or pity.
Wedding Cake:
If you recall from Mrs. Ninja’s guest post about our wedding, she shared that we were having a quasi-fake cake. The bottom three layers were all Styrofoam, and the top two layers were actual cake. Our cake ended up only costing $90 (instead of the $500 quotes from the bakery), but we definitely got what we paid for. The fake layer did not match the real layer. They were slightly different colors and the design was off. It wasn’t what we had imagined, but with a little bit of craftiness, Mrs. Ninja’s aunt was able to make it look half-decent. Fortunately, the wedding cake is not really something people remember about weddings.
Vows:
I don’t know if it’s weird to post up my vows to Mrs. Ninja here, but they are obviously a huge piece of the ceremony as it is a commitment of my life to hers. We both customized our own vows, so hers are different than mine. Here’s what I promised to her…
Mrs. Ninja, today in the presence of God, I give my life to you.
To be your husband, and your friend,
and to stand by you as we share our life together.
As Christ is to His church, so I will be to you,
a loving and faithful husband.
I will walk with you daily
and grow with you in mind and spirit,
When you cry, I will comfort you.
When you laugh, I will share your joy.
I promise to lead us towards Christ
and guide you according to His Word.
That through His grace,
we might grow together into His likeness
for as long as we both shall live.
Pictures:
This was the most important thing to me when it came to our wedding. We had seen our photographer shoot a few of our friends’ weddings, and knew we had to have him do ours. We paid a pretty penny for his services, but his pictures aren’t just photographs, they are ART!!!! We will get all the pictures in about 6 weeks, but he gave us a “sneak peek” of 34 pictures. Here are a few of ’em….
So there is just a glimpse of what my epic wedding of epicness looked like. I wish you all could have been there, but then again, I don’t. ‘Cause if you were at my wedding, that would be really weird, and kind of creepy. Maybe I can twist Mrs. Ninja’s arm into giving you a more detailed wedding play-by-play in the future. What went well at your wedding, and what didn’t? Any regrets? Any “must-dos?”
AMAZING photos!!!
Awesome! You guys look amazing and the vows made me tear up a little.
Congrats! Those are some amazing pcitues!
Congratulations on your epic event!
I love that you posted vows – helps some of us get an idea of where to begin with our own.
Also, though it’s new to me, and not something that is done up here (small town ontario canada), way to go on your loot from the dancing!! that will help with some new items for Casa de Ninja!
You’re pictures absolutely rock as well. Even though you carried your black bar around, you and Mrs. Ninja make a beautiful couple!
Please please please beg Mrs. Ninja for a guest post about your special day!! not that what you possted isn’t great – but a lady’s touch on the event could help round out the epicness for us in blog land.
I agree–have your wife make a guest post about the day! 🙂 Specifically, what kind of flowers is she carrying????
Love the vows..too sweet!
Congrats again, Ninja! The photos are so gorgeous!
The only thing I regret about my wedding is not having more time to plan it. I know I stressed my family out big time, even though they’d never admit it to my face. 😉
Congrats brother! You guys are the hotness! The pics with the cargo containers are just awesome.
The biggest regret my wife and I have is not hiring a better photographer, our pictures were just OK. Other than that, everything went according to plan.
Sounds like a lovely epic day! The pictures are amazing. Like Tom, I sort of regret not hiring a better photographer, but we were on such a strict budget, it just wasn’t feasible. The only thing that went wrong on my wedding day was that the car I was driven to the church in got grease on my dress. It was a thin line that I doubt anybody saw, but it made me crazy for a few minutes. Other than that, it was a great day. Even better, though, have been the almost 9 years since (on Sept 1). Happy Marriage to you and Mrs. Ninja 🙂
Congratulations! Those pictures are fabulous!
Beautiful pictures!
Congrats!
I don’t regret any of the money we spent on the photographer. The pictures were amazing, we still look through them,a nd so do our families. In fact, our little niece (18 months) flips through the photos on a regular basis and can now point to us and name us!
I do regret not having a rehersal beforehand. It was just too complicated with everybody’s schedules, plus the venue wasn’t terribly cooperative (not surprising, since we got married on a Sunday and the night before was prime wedding time). People were confused not sure where to go/what to do the day of, and I regret that. That said, I don’t think that’s anybody’s lasting memory of the day!
Beautiful pictures!!!
It might be bad of me to say, but my biggest regret was inviting many of my husband’s large family because 50 of them did not show up and cost us $25 a head for food. I think we both will be bitter about that forever! My culture and his are very different and his family is used to a simple wedding, cheese & crackers afterward and that’s it. I’m sure majority of them have no idea their lack of attendance cost us a small fortune. I also regret letting my mother and mother-in-law have way too much input. Our wedding pleased them more than it pleased us!
I was super excited to see this post! Your photos are absolutely incredible. And thank you for posting your vows – we’re writing our own ceremony from top to bottom and reading what others have written is so helpful!
Yes, I second a Mrs. Ninja post! I’m reeling from the hair/makeup costs, but I’m a total noob when it comes to girly prettiness so there’s no way I could do it myself (a ponytail and some Chapstick probably won’t cut it.) I’d love to hear what Mrs. Ninja did and any advice she has!
So many congratulations again. You both look awesome and, most importantly, wildly happy.
Love Girl Ninja’s dress and the photos. Just a question. Which side of the tracks were you on the right side or the wrong side? Just kidding. But seriously, who would have thought railroad cars could look so cool.
I second the girl ninja post. I remember freaking about the salad that got served at my reception. THey were 1/4 heads of lettuce..looked cool but I didn’t like them so I asked for something else and they still served them. I remember starting to get upset that things weren’t going as plan until my husband reminded me that no one cares about the head of lettuce but me. I hope the cake thing was as easy to slough off.
Love love love the pics. Looks like you guys had fun and that is truly what a wedding should be about. The marriage takes time but the wedding should be the jump start to a fab life together.
Congrats to you both!!!!
Seriously best wedding photos I have eveer seen!!
Absolutely fantastic pictures! Epic is my favorite word and sounds like your wedding knocked it out of the park. I can’t wait for an epic wedding of my own one day 😀
Awww…I cried at your vows! I vote yes on begging Mrs.Ninja (actually, when the novelty rubs off the Mrs….change her name to LadyNinja – it’s cooler) to post her wedding perspective.
beautiful pics!
Awesome pictures! I am so glad you had an awesome time!
The best part of our wedding was seeing my husband-to-be grinning from ear to ear when I was walking down the aisle. He’s a pessimist and usually a worrier, but he was just a pure happy guy on our wedding day and it meant everything to me. The worst part was no videographer since Mr. BFS and I wrote and memorized our own vows for the ceremony, but neither of us can remember the exact words now…oh well, they kicked butt enough that day and we know our own personal promises. 🙂
Congrats and best wishes for a very happy future!!!
Very Nice. Congrats again!
Since my wife and I were married in December, and we had a number of children at our wedding, my mother in-law who I really like, hire a Santa Clause to come in a one point and hand out candy canes to the kids. One small problem, I think he was a homeless guy. We laugh about it every year. 🙂
I love, love, love your pictures. The one of all the bridesmaids is especially great! I wish we’d had someone else do our photos — we had a friend do them, and it was free, but they are pretty standard (read: boring) and I’m not thrilled with them. Of course, I got married before digital cameras were the norm, so there was no color enriching or making them sepia or b&w in order to get a cool effect. And I think wedding photographers have gotten more creative in the last 10 years. But that’s really about the only regret I have about our wedding. And I have NO regrets about the marriage!
Congratulations!
based on the comments above I feel like I am supposed to say…
Beautiful pics!!!
Congrats!!! 🙂 The pictures are beautiful. Getting a great photographer for your wedding is always always worth the extra money.
Love the pic of Mrs and her girls!
Our biggest/only regret was the photographer we chose. He did a fabulous job with the engagement pics and wedding photography…but it took 3 years, yes 3 years!, to get our albums and cd of pictures. He overbooked clients from the years 2003-2005 and finally after a lawsuit and repeated coverage on the news…most of his customers got their wedding pics. Unfortunately there are still people who do not have their wedding albums almost 7 years later. We actually consider ourselves lucky after hearing some of the horror stories from other couples who used the same company.
Trina
Looks like it was a fun wedding! Congratulations!
Great vows, nothing better than a young man that loves his wife and even more importantly is humble, and loves the Lord.
I know you all just got married but check out ‘Lead Me’ by Sanctus Real, great song challenging men/husbands!
Yup, photographer def got the art thing going…i love the pic of the bride with her bridesmaids! And of course, the third pic!
Congratulations!
Congrats! those pictures are amazing- very creative!
You guys are such a good looking couple =) You’ll have beautiful babies, I’m sure.
Thanks for bringing a tear (happy tear!) to my eyes!! Congrats!!!! Beautiful pics.
Wonderful post, and the photos add a million words. Congratulations and God bless you as you start your new life together!
Weird, your head isn’t nearly as big as I expected it to be from your drawings. 😛 For real, though, congrats & great photos!
hey congratulations on your wedding. I just discovered your blog today and I’m so glad I did, I spent a good bit of my day going through your old posts. The comments on the dollar dance bit cracked me up. I from the Caribbean and I’ve never heard of anything like that but it sure sounds like loads of fun. Keep cranking out the good stuff!
Beautiful pictures! Congrats to you both! And what a great idea on having a Quasi-fake cake.
Congrats! I love your blog and your wedding pictures are awesome. Best wishes for a beautiful like together.
Love the pictures and your vows. Looks like it was a beautiful wedding.