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After we each read the vows we’d written, it was time to finish the ceremony.
Our officiant friend asked Mr. Cola two very important questions: “Alex, with your promises to Morgan in mind, do you take her to be your wife? Do you promise to love, honor, and cherish her for all time?”To which Mr. Cola gave the standard reply of “I do.”
Then it was my turn to be asked the same questions.…but I may have been a little overeager! **blushes**Officiant: “Morgan, with your promises to Alex in mind, do you take him to be your husband?”Here, our officiant took a breath, and paused for a second too long--long enough for me to but in with my big mouth.I blurted out: “Heck yeah, I do!”
Um, yeah. He wasn't done with asking the second question, but I was too excited, and took his pause as my signal to jump in with my answer!
Our officiant laughed at me, then finished his last question, to which I replied with a much more demure “I do,” and he asked for the rings from my sister.Mr. Cola and I both repeated, as we slipped the rings on each others fingers: “I give you this ring, as a daily reminder of my love for you.”
And with that, we were declared husband and wife, and given permission to go in for a big old smooch!
Followed by a celebratory walk up the aisle. HECK YEAH, we were married! ;)
(guest photo)
We weren’t really sure how far we should walk, since we knew we would be taking family pictures right away, so we figured this was about far enough, and enjoyed a long hug.
I honestly have no idea what everyone else did after we walked up the aisle. I assume our wedding party walked just like they came in. But I was on cloud 9 and oblivious to all our surroundings at that point; there was no one else in the world other than my husband and I.
Newlyweds, did anyone else interrupt your officiant during your ceremony? Tell me I'm not alone!
Miss any wedding week details? Catch up here:
- I packed an emergency bag that saved my dress- We had a crazy 4 days prepping for house guests and stuffing favors- Shopping for a ton of wedding flowers to arrange ourselves- Mr. Cola drinks a 40 and I have a night out on the town for our low-key bach parties- A day of DIY'ing flower arrangements- I kicked off our official recaps with my #1 wedding tip
- We began the weekend festivities with a sunset cruise for our wedding party
- We rehearsed our quick and easy ceremony
- I panicked, but we got our rehearsal dinner decorations set up just in time
- Our families met for the first time at our rehearsal dinner under the trees- What went wrong on our wedding day, and my tips for future brides
- My bridesmaids and I got our hair and makeup done in the hotel suite
- I put on my wedding dress and became a bride
- The guys watched the World Cup, then got ready in 10 minutes
- Traffic delayed our decorations getting to the venue, and I almost ruined our first look
- We got to see each other for the first time on our wedding day at our first look
- We took some time for bride and groom pictures in the park
- I gave you a behind the scenes look at our family, friends and DOC setting up our venue
- Arriving at our venue and getting ready for the ceremony to start
- Everyone walked down the aisle
- Excerpts from our ceremony, and reading the vows we wrote for each other
(Unless otherwise noted, all photos in this post were taken by the very talented photographers of Shoot Me Now Photography)
As I mentioned a week or so ago, Mr. Cola actually got his wedding band before I got mine. And you've already seen it; he ended up getting the one from my ring inspiration post, the $99 BOMANI Tungsten Carbide Carbon Fiber Ring. He really liked it (well, as much as he was going to like any piece of jewelry) because of the fact that it has carbon fiber in it, which apparently is "really cool."
So we decided to order it, since there was only a small restocking fee if he didn't like it. But he did, and so he never had to step foot in a jewelry store, much to his relief.
And here it is, he wore it all evening the night it came in the mail to get a little used to it.
I swear, I think it's about the sexiest thing I've ever seen him wear! I'm so looking forward to the day he'll wear it forever, since I really love the meaning behind wearing wedding bands.
Has your guy gotten his wedding band yet? How did he pick it out?
(all pictures in this post were taken by me)
Hello....my precious!
I got my wedding band! (and the Black Eyed Peas song 'Ring-A-Ling' was playing on the radio on my way back to work from the jeweler's, how perfect)
Because I'm the nicest future wife ever, I didn't make Mr. Cola go wedding band shopping with me. Originally we were going to go pick our bands together, but he ended up getting his before mine (which I'll share in a future post), so I didn't want to bore him with an hour or two of me drooling over sparkly things! So instead I made an appointment to pop into Steve Padis on my lunch break.
I posted about a month ago on wedding band styles I was eying, but was having trouble visualizing how they would go with my e-ring. This was my favorite ring from what I'd found online:
{Style #2598B12X}
I took all my inspiration pictures in with me, and even looked at some similar bands, but as I'd suspected, they didn't really go with my engagement ring all that well. I didn't want to take away from my e-ring, and this style with more diamonds was just too much; it competed with my e-ring.
(unless otherwise noted, all photos in this post were taken by me)
The jeweler then called their rep at Verragio, to find out what they recommended to go with my e-ring, and came back with a print out of one that had a matching pave band, with 4 larger diamonds on the top....for $5,700! Uh, my e-ring without the center stone was almost that expensive, and that was way out of my budget (I was looking closer to $2k). So I gave up on the more blingy wedding band idea.
We then found another Verragio band, that had just the matching pave diamonds, and a line splitting the paves down the middle, that matched my ring perfectly. I really liked that the paves lined up to circle half way around the band exactly like on my e-ring. Except it was a little wider than I liked....and $3,700.
So, moving on, the jeweler and I decided that as long as it went with my e-ring, it didn't really matter if my band was a Verragio, and we looked at some less expensive bands by other designers.
And it was at this point that I decided if I didn't get an eternity ring, the band spinning around on my finger was going to drive me crazy for the rest of my life. Until this point I'd sort of thought eternity bands were a waste, why put diamonds on the bottom where nobody would see them? Well, the answer is (at least for me), put diamonds on the bottom, because the bottom will become the top, and you won't have to constantly readjust your band to have the diamonds showing!
We then found this eternity band that I really liked; it didn't overpower my e-ring, it was decently low profile enough to not cover too much of the side view my e-ring (the whole reason I picked this e-ring in the first place), and the price was right at $799. However, the price was right because it was only in white gold, and I didn't think it quite matched the platinum of my e-ring. But it was a step in the right direction at least!
On we continued down the jewelry case, looking and trying, when about an hour and a half in, she found it! The perfect split pave band (almost identical to the $3,700 Verragio one), but a bit thinner, and it was an eternity band! I didn't have to debate long with myself to go a tiny bit over budget....it was perfect! Ok, fine, I went $575 over my budget, but I still think it was a steal considering it has .7 total carats (in a size 4), which is over twice the number of diamonds as in the very similar Verragio band.
And so here it is, my wedding band!
It even looks great by itself, another one of my criteria.
If anyone is looking for more details, it's #106819 by Precision Set, and it usually has .75 total carats, but mine has less because it's a smaller size. You can find it here.
{Source}
I'm so ecstatic! I can't wait to pick it up in about a month, and finally get to wear it in June!
How did your wedding band search go? Did you have to try on a lot of styles to find the perfect match, or were you lucky enough to get an engagement ring that came as a set with a matching band?
At the end of this month Mr. Cola and I will be going back to the same jeweler that he purchased my engagement ring from, to pick out our wedding bands! So naturally I've been browsing online for styles that might go with my three stone e-ring.
As a reminder, here is what my ring looks like....I'm not 100% sure what style of wedding band is going to go with it!
(These three above are personal photos. My ring is a Verragio ENG-0283 in platinum)
I'm reluctant to cover the side view of my ring, since that's what made me love it so much in the first place, but I'm not sure there's much of a way around it. I do know that Verragio will make custom wedding bands if the e-ring isn't part of a set, so I'm hoping maybe something already exists, but I'm having trouble envisioning what it would look like. How can I not cover the 'V' shape on the side? A band that follows the same curves seems like it might look odd worn by itself, and I definitely want to have that option.
So if something that matches exactly isn't an option, I've been looking at other alternatives online. Verragio's website doesn't have much in the way of stand alone bands, but my second favorite ring designer, Tacori, does. To me they have a similar look and feel, so I'm hoping I'll find similar designs from Verragio when I go visit the jewelry store.
The probably easiest and most budget-friendly option would be a pave only band, but with pave diamonds on the sides, so I would at least still have a pretty side view:
{Style #2520ET}
That would be nice, but.....I'm really more drawn to one's with a little more bling, like both of these (although with princess cut diamonds on the first one below)
{Style #2598B12X}
{Style #2629SQB}
Although I'm still not 100% sure how those two would look with my e-ring--I definitely don't want to overpower it!
And then there are a couple of other bands I really like for their uniqueness, however they really don't seem like they'd go with my e-ring at all. But I'll share anyway, 'cause I love looking at more bling!
{Style #2578B}
{Style #HT2378B}
Of course Mr. Cola and I haven't discussed our wedding band budget yet, so that will help narrow it down some, but check out the great band style we found for him, it's only $99.99 online! (could his budget savings = my budget gain ;) ???)
{BOMANI Tungsten Carbide Carbon Fiber Ring}
Mr. Cola definitely needs a tough Tungsten ring, since when he's not writing programming code, he's soldering, laser cutting and doing other hands-on projects in the workshop. And he likes that this one has carbon fiber on it, "cause it sounds cool." I like that it's not a plain band; it's a little unique and different, and not as flashy as some (Mr. C has never worn any jewelry before, so wearing a ring will take some getting used to).
I can't wait to go ring shopping in a few weeks, and I'll definitely let you all know how it goes!
Did your engagement ring come as a set, or did you have to search around for your wedding band? Got any suggestions for a band that will go with my e-ring?
(guest photo)
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