Bianca is Married!

~Posted by Roma

Left to Right: Josiah, Ben, Betsy, Bianca, Jessie, Mark, Rubia, Roma.

So many exciting things happened for our family in 2017—college graduation, high school graduations, big birthdays, great basketball seasons—and one of the greatest events was my sister Bianca’s marriage to Jessie, her beau of three years! It was the greatest blessing to watch this couples’ relationship mature and blossom, and now to watch them become one—wonderful! Praise God!

The marriage of my sister is a good enough excuse for a blogpost to be longer than normal, and she’s also not here to limit me on how many pictures I use--ha! So make yourself comfortable! 😊

Bianca was the most laid-back bride I have ever known. She was determined to be, and to prove that the whole “bridezilla” thing does not have to be a thing at all. In the short five months of her engagement, she was always on top of things, and I know that the wedding coordinator and others loved that about her. It was challenging to plan a wedding in TX when we live in OK, but she has always been a hard worker, and not worried. She did much of the planning herself, up in her room with laptop and phone, but then the times came when we could do fun things together—like shopping for a wedding dress!

We girls and Mom went with Bianca to two places, in two different states. At place number two she found the dress she wanted. Many wedding tasks including this one went so smoothly and I am very grateful to say that I really could do it all over again. Through prayer and others praying for us, it was a smooth enjoyable process, the way it should be.

When the final few days before the wedding came, well, that’s when the fun started happening! 😊 Relatives flying in. A bridesmaid coming over to our house to travel with us down to TX, where the ceremony was to be. Luggage and people and suits and jackets and dresses and shoes everywhere; caravanning in three cars. I personally think this is the fun part! Arriving to the hotel where many rooms where blocked off in advance, and reuniting with so many distant relatives and friends! There were guests from Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Florida, and Arkansas. All our different circles of friends, all meeting one another. What a beautiful thing!

The day before the wedding, everyone came together with their different talents to decorate and get things ready. We made it fun! We had friends who knew how to do the flowers; others who got creative with burlap and pearls and wood and details. A relative of Jessie’s made an incredible wedding cake and grooms cake. Another friend was the pianist; still others ran the music and technical booth, and the photographers were friends who already attended that church. Everyone came together and everything was beautiful!

Trail mix for guest favors.

Ready for cake!

The wedding cake, with a wooden topper made by Jessie. That is Bianca and Jessie’s silhouette.

Nacho Libre fans will appreciate the Grooms Cake! 😊

A truly Texan reception plan!

While all this preparation was going on, Jessie (the groom) and his groomsmen, and the dads and brothers, as well as uncles and cousins all went to a gun range to shoot. 😊 We kick the boys out while the women decorate! 😉

Jessie’s parents did an amazing job planning a beautiful rehearsal dinner that night with barbeque catered in, live music, and Jessie’s Dad and our Dad speaking. (And getting a little choked up.)

The tables were all nicely decorated with pictures of Bianca and Jessie when they were little!

Then the bride and groom got up and spoke. After all that, everyone said goodbye to each other (until tomorrow!) and went back to the hotel.

We “tried” to get to bed early, but actually while Bianca slept, we did some last-minute things that included borrowing or lending nail polish for everyone who waited to do nails, stuffing 72+ balloons in an elevator for a planned prank, trying to squeeze them into a car but then putting them in someone’s room instead, and other fun things.

The next morning was a whirlwind of fun and memorable moments…Bianca leaving first to have the pastor’s wife do her hair and makeup, and the rest of us moving slower. We go down to the lobby…and we know everyone there. When Mom and Ruby and I were ready we try to walk out the doors but the paparazzi of Grandparents and Uncles and Aunts and Cousins and best friends and their parents all had to pull out their phones and cameras. Haha!! We make it to the church and head straight for the bridal party room; the girls chilling and getting ready and hanging out before the photographers arrive; the boys getting ready downstairs. Trying to sneak Bianca downstairs for pictures without Jessie seeing her.

Getting Ready

The beautiful bride, with maids of honor Roma and Rubia, and her three bridesmaids J, A, and H.

Bianca and the Mother of the Bride!

Mother of the Groom helping him get ready.

The Groom with his 5 groomsmen: Josiah, Ben, J, A, and J, our 7 ushers, and the ring bearer in the center.

Bianca and Jessie wrote letters to each other that each was to read the morning of their wedding day. I didn’t even know this would be happening and it was precious!

I must spend a moment on Bianca’s First Look she did with our Dad, because this was so special! She wanted Dad to turn around on the balcony at our church and look at her in her dress for the first time. When he did…he cried. That’s NOT something my Dad does very often. Bianca teared up too, and he had a handkerchief all ready for her. Every time I see the pictures of this moment that Gingersnap studios captured, it gets to me every time.

Skipping ahead now, to the moment when we line up behind the sanctuary doors and are quiet. Hearts are thumping, Bianca is hiding with Dad behind the fireplace, and we are ready. The doors open…

A walk to remember always.

Jessie and Bianca had a very Christ-centered ceremony. It was beautiful! They had the traditional vows—but made sure the Pastor spoke on why we need vows—the vows exist because sin is real. Pastor N did an amazing job of focusing this entire ceremony on Jesus—how this marriage would be a picture of how much Jesus loves His bride, the church. During the ceremony, Bianca and Jessie took their first communion together as husband and wife, and spent time praying over each other and the congregation, and we spent a few minutes praying over them and asking everyone to pray for their marriage.

 Jessie and Bianca did something unique: they wanted to braid three cords together as a picture of Ecclesiastes 4:12: A cord of three strands is not easily broken.

Their first kiss that they shared together was beautiful as well! They saved it for their wedding day. To be honest, in my mind I was wondering if my sister was ever stressing out about this at all, but now, I really cannot think of any time that she was worried about this or any other details, and I so admire her for it. Here’s what I think is the key—this marriage was so focused on JESUS. And may it always be! We see in secular weddings that the kiss is oftentimes the main event. But it is not. Christ was the main event of this ceremony, and proclaiming His glory. Nevertheless, when Bianca and Jessie kissed for the first time, it was such a special moment! Everyone applauded!

And oh my, did we party afterwards! Bianca created an awesome Spotify playlist with quite a variety of music. We had a Father of the Bride and Bride dance, a Mother of the Groom and Groom dance, and Father-daughter dance for everyone. Then we opened the floor to everyone, and that got crazy fun!

Featuring: Bridesmaid, A, is ready to party! 😉 Along with Jessie and Bianca, J, Rubia and I.

One of the flower girls having so much fun!

Abuelo and Mom.

Abuela and Josiah.

While all this festiveness was going on, I grabbed some people from the wedding party and we ran out to Jessie’s mustang to…decorate it! A lot of people came out to help/watch when they noticed what we were doing. I had prepared some tin cans and we tied them to the trunk. (Note: It was raining really hard later when the Bride and Groom drove away, and we found out that the lovebirds got soaked trying to remove these cans. Hehe.) We wrote on the windows, stuffed the car with tons of balloons, and then Mom had a basket full of road trip goodies to put in the back, for them to take along on their honeymoon road trip to Colorado.

Friends and wedding party going out to ruin *clear throat* --I mean—make the car nice.

Back inside, when the dancing died down, and everyone had finished eating and fellowshipping and taking pictures, we were ready to grab the rose petals and send the Bride and Groom off. This was beautiful, and also hard. ☹

They drove off, in the rain, on to their honeymoon. I missed them already!

Several families stayed late to help us clean up. Afterward, we went back to the hotel and celebrated some more with our out-of-town friends and relatives.

We are all adjusting to (and enjoying) this new season of life. We’ve been so blessed to (thus far) to have seen them several times since then. We have been to TX and they have been here to OK to visit us.

What an amazing wedding! The Lord is good! So good!