I Don't Want Diamond Sunbursts or Marble Halls

I just want You.

(Anne of Avonlea)

I've been thinking a lot about my wedding.  Its seems appropriate seeing my husband and I will be celebrating our one year anniversary on Monday!  This time last year I was over joyed and on my way to Sanibel Island to meet up with our family.  We spent a few days before the big day basking in the glorious sunshine and shell strewn beaches, enjoying the beautiful ocean with its endless turquoise waves. 

Like any girl I had been dreaming of my wedding day since I was little. I had envisioned Andrea Bocelli sweetly singing Sancta Maria in candlelit cloisters on an autumn evening.   I think I must have played this song one million times during my high school years, picking the perfect spot in the song when I would enter to walk down the aisle.  

When Bobby and I started the planning we realized the headache of trying to plan a wedding in our home state of Colorado.  I knew my mom and sisters would take the brunt of the planning and I didn't want to burden anyone with such a task.  

I remember talking to my older sister one day on the way home from work and she suggested that I get married in Florida.

"hmmmm...."

To be honest, I hadn't really thought about Florida and I wouldn't even know where to start without my mom and sisters there with me.

She kept talking about her idea and I listened.  Getting married in Florida with just our families and then going back to Colorado to have a reception.  The idea grew on Bobby and I and we finally decided that this would be the best thing.  

So we started planning our wedding with a new vision in mind.  

A simple affair on the beach.

We chose Sanibel Island because I had fallen in love with it when my mom and I had stayed there back in 2010.  It is beautiful and peaceful and lets not state the obvious but its an island!

With a guest list of only 13 I knew I didn't want anything too over the top.  I chose my dream dress, with the help of my twin sister who flew in for a visit, our rings, the venue, and the theme:

Old Florida

I chose simple table decorations of old beach lanterns and candles and our cake was a cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory (yummy!).  I did spend a lot of time on the music because I didn't have a lot of decorations and wanted to set the mood another way.  

Jazz standards mixed with old latin and Brazilian jazz.  

(I wanted a tropical feel without the steel drums!)

The only thing I had a difficult time with was the song I would walk down the aisle beach to.  I went through hundreds of songs, always coming back to my Andrea Bocelli.  But for some reason it just didn't seem to fit anymore.  I skyped with my twin sister one afternoon telling her my disappointment that my dream song was not the perfect song anymore.  We spent the next few days searching through our gigantic playlists, searching and searching until finally I found it.

Together by Hagood Hardy

The minute I played it I knew it was the song.

  My sisters and I had grown up watching the PBS version of Anne of Green Gables and I admit I own the three dvd set and the cd.  We were in love with Gilbert Blythe and would rewind the very end of Anne of Avonlea over and over again.  The scene where Gilbert and Anne are finally together, walking across the bridge on Prince Edward Island.  She finally realizes she has loved him all of these years and he had patiently waited for her.

Its pretty magical

:)

So I chose the song that is played during this scene to walk down the beach to my very own love of my life.  It was perfect.