A Beautiful Beginning

Weddings are so beautiful. I love everything about the joyous day, but I especially love when I get to spend the whole morning with the bride. Watching the expressions on her face as she gets her hair and makeup done, and seeing the anticipation and excitement in her eyes. I love to watch her face light up when she sees herself in her beautiful wedding gown--the gown that she spent months picking out. It's like an emotional-overload for the bride but in the midst of perfect peace.

On January 22, I was honored to be a bridesmaid at the Jones-Fraley Wedding. My sweet friend, Megan Jones and I have been besties since we met in the summer after 8th grade. Megan, Shannon, Kami and I met at church after moving into the suburbs of Houston. From that moment we were like the "four musketeers". Inseparable. One by one each of us have gotten married. Megan was the last of us to find her Prince Charming. We all live in different states now--North Carolina, Ohio, Alaska & Texas--and each wedding has brought us back home, to Texas. We are so fortunate to have the kind of friendship where we can pick up right where we left off. It's a friendship that lasts for a lifetime.

The Big Sky Barn venue in Magnolia, Texas was the perfect setting for a beautiful wedding. it was the perfect rustic-vintage combination with chandeliers and shiplap galore. I walked in and my jaw literally dropped.

The venue is seriously gorgeous, isn't it??

The most beautiful part of the wedding was not the venue--it was the vows that Megan and Derrick wrote for one another. They were real, honest, emotional and heartfelt expressions of their love for each other. They agreed, in Christ, to a lifelong covenant that left our hearts and eyes full.

Megan and Derrick met at a Chick-Fil-A grand opening (the perfect place to fall in love, right?), where they were both working. I remember Megan texting me all about him. The kind of text you get when you just know your best friend is in love. I know because I, too, have been there! I could tell by her excitement that he was the one long before she ever even told me.

The rest of their love story will be written over time as they share day-to-day life together. I am so excited to watch the adventure unfold, and I am so thankful I got to be a part of the beginning of their beautiful journey!