We’re happy to welcome Chelsea Robison to the blog today as she shares details with us from her big day. Sit back and enjoy her story and beautiful gallery of photos!
_______
Thank you for taking out time to be with us today, Chelsea! How would you describe your wedding decor theme?
Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve always loved elegant yet simple weddings where the love of the couple outshines the decoration. This illustration of love caught my attention in Bible college when I studied the biblical customs of marriage. Traditionally, the wedding was performed under the bridal canopy and was symbolic of God’s presence at the wedding and in the home being established. I loved the classy look of the bridal canopy — and the fact that my husband could build one for us! It wasn’t for its Jewish symbolism that we used the bridal canopy, but because we felt it captured the love we have for each other before God to be showcased in a “simply elegant” fashion. The floral touches were added because you can never have enough flowers, right?
What are some of your favorite memories of your wedding day?
It started as the dawning of reality sunk in as I was getting into MY white dress.
My hair was done, and I felt so special because I had never seen it this way before. With bouquet in hand, my girls helped me up the majestic staircase of the church lobby — the one I’ve always dreamed of coming down, even as a little girl.
Then I saw him, at 10:30, and my heart stopped as my breath shallowed. He wasn’t facing me at that moment, but I began the descent down to him. At halfway, I called my husband-to-be, and he turned and began to tear up. We embraced in sheer joy, and that first-look moment will always be one that I hold dear to my heart.
Another instance that stands out happened on Friday evening at the rehearsal. Our wedding party was rather large (18 total), and with family and special ministers there, my husband made a simple comment: “I just can’t get over how my entire world is in one place at one time, here, for us.” I stopped, took the moment in, and realized he was right, and how special that was. As I observed each bridesmaid, I realized that we represented a close group that has now been scattered across the US. Among all who had come, almost everyone had traveled eight or more hours just to stand by us for one day.
Were there any funny moments or things that didn’t go according to plan?
Well, we never actually came into unity at our wedding!
Let me explain: As our favorite song “For a Lifetime,” was sung by the incredible duet of Georgeon Pedigo and Natalie Hill, we walked down to light our unity candle. It never lit. We would try to light it, set down our individual candles, and then my husband would try to scrape some of the wax away with his finger. This happened over and over until the minister came down to us so that he could sign the marriage license and a groomsman gave Charlie his pocket hanky to get all of the candle wax off. We take our candle-lighting very seriously and now we fear that we will never be in unity. =)
To make matters worse, we had foreshadows that we were cursed from the beginning of the day. During my picture session before the wedding, I had three different spiders crawling on me — and not just your tiny household spiders; these were Mississippi, softball-sized, furry, devil-reincarnate spiders that were crawling on me! Thankfully, my husband fearlessly knocked them off my dress and killed them for me.
How did you find the perfect wedding dress?
Finding the perfect wedding dress was quite the adventure, to say the least. I went to several wedding shops on this particular weekend to find the perfect one. However, as most women who search for modest apparel know, it can be difficult to find either something that is lined or that can be built onto. So we prayed that we would be led to the right people to capture our vision of a modest wedding dress. We finally made it to the last shop for the day, and we picked out four to try on. As a last resort, they picked up this pink dress that did NOT capture my eye. But to appease them, I tried it on. Outside of the pink hue it had, I knew I’d found the perfect one. The seamstress really listened to my requests, and they were so willing to make sure I felt beautiful even if it went against the world’s stereotype of how much skin you should show on your wedding day.
Any advice you have for future brides?
Be cautious about stereotyping your “perfect husband,” because only God knows what you need, and truly, He knows what you want better than you do.
Charlie could have very easily been someone I overlooked, but God helped me to realize that He knows what is right greater than I do. In addition to that, be open to friends (and especially mentors) who recommend someone in your life. We were brought together by mutual friends urging both of us to give the other a chance. After we started dating, we allowed ourselves to be submitted to spiritual authority, and there were times where our submission helped us maintain our relationship through rocky times.
Anything else in particular that you’d like to share about your wedding or your love story?
I can remember before we started dating, I was stuck in the label “always a bridesmaid, never a bride.” I had been in 6+ weddings, and it seemed as if all my friends were married, had moved on, were having children, were working in ministry, and were living the dreams that were mine.
Through the process of dating and engagement, I could look back and see that in times where I felt marriage may have passed me by, those times were actually growing periods for my husband and me. It brought us to the point so that when we met, we were compatible and at the place where we could fall in love.
Your photos are beautiful! Who was your photographer?
Jason and Candace Rushing are based out of my husband’s home church in Peoria, Illinois. They have been a professional photography team for more than a decade. When they so generously offered to travel from Illinois to Mississippi to shoot our wedding, we could not help but say yes. Of course, their pictures captured every special moment of our day, but more than that, we admired the teamwork and camaraderie they offered us, providing support for a smooth day, even when hiccups came. https://www.evokeimagespeoria.com