Just in time for Valentine’s Day, we’re showcasing Miriam Sparks’ gorgeous wedding, full of breathtaking details. This wedding will give you all the heart eyes! Many thanks to Miriam for sharing her beautiful wedding story, photos, and words of advice with us. Lovely photography is by George Tshuma, Infallible Proofs Photography. Don’t miss the links to a gallery of more photos + Miriam’s wedding highlight reel at the end of the interview. . . . Enjoy!
~~~~~~~~~
Thank you for sharing your gorgeous wedding with us, Miriam! You had so many beautiful details in your wedding. How did you come up with so many amazing, unique details?
I have to give all the credit to my absolutely amazing mother! She was the creative mastermind behind it all. I was never a girl who thought much about my “dream wedding,” so once the engagement happened, I realized I had no idea where to start. My mom and I have very similar tastes, so knowing a general look of what I was going for, she helped me pull in all the amazing details. We used wedding accounts on Instagram for design inspiration, as well as Pinterest, Etsy, etc., and went from there. We would take one part of the wedding and décor at a time and really focus in on specifics of what design we wanted to achieve in that area before moving onto the next; I think that’s why we were able to be as detailed as we were.
How would you describe your wedding theme?
I would call the theme rustic elegance. Over the years, I’d seen some really beautiful barn weddings with the cute cowboy boots and mason jars. I loved the barn idea, but the boots and mason jars were not completely “me.” In everything, I love to keep it classy and elegant–so I wanted to mix the two! I really wanted the contrast between the rustic barn, with the barn being the only rustic element, and everything else, which I wanted to keep classy and elegant! To me, that was a lot of glass, candles, and drapery. I loved the contrast of the two and was very careful not to let any other part but the barn be rustic.
What are some of your favorite, or most special, memories of your day?
There are so many! The wedding day itself was absolutely beautiful weather. It was Oct. 20th in Michigan (late fall), and yet we had a perfect 75 degrees, sunny, and blue skies. If you know Michigan weather in the fall, the weather alone (especially for having an outdoor wedding) was a miracle from God. The week before, it was hailing! Even at night, there was a warm, cool breeze.
I will never forget arriving to the barn house to get ready and having the warm breeze and the wind chimes ringing, and feeling like it was a summer day stamped with God’s blessing.
My favorite part of the ceremony was definitely my husband’s vows. They could have been out of a Nicholas Sparks’ book, and some actually thought they were–but nope! He wrote them himself, and they could not have been more perfect. He had everyone in tears with how beautiful, sweet, and eloquent they were!
And last, a special moment that will forever be etched in my memory was the drive down the long dirt road to the ceremony in the backwoods in the 1964 Rolls Royce we rented, holding my Dad’s hand in the back seat as he was about to give me away. He told me he would take care of my family once I relocated with my husband, and assured me everything was going to be okay . . . He also gave me one last chance to reverse the car and back out now–hah! But I remember never having so much joy and peace about a decision.
Were there any funny moments or things that didn’t go according to plan?
Probably one of the funniest moments was during the ceremony. We wanted to change up having the mothers light a unity candle or pouring the sand, but we still wanted to honor them. So we had our florist make these beautiful flower bouquets that Darrien and I would present each of our mothers during the ceremony to honor them and have a special moment. So, we get to that part of the ceremony and turn around to grab the bouquets, and we both are looking all around for these bouquets that we do not see anywhere!
It felt like my eyes were darting side to side at 100 mph, only to look at my mom and see her mouth, “We forgot to put out the bouquets!” We both just started laughing. It was in that moment I remembered the words of wisdom from the manager at Dollar Tree who I bought all my wedding favors from: “No matter how much planning you do, something will go wrong; don’t stress, and enjoy it.”
So that’s what we did–we laughed, and instead of giving our mothers the beautiful bouquets, Darrien and I played it off and just gave our mothers the biggest hugs ever. Even better.
How did you find the perfect wedding dress?
The wedding dress I ended up going with was one of the first I had tried on and didn’t like at all originally!
I was actually leaning towards a couple other options and went to several dress boutiques–and ended up circling back to the first wedding boutique to place my order for another dress. My sis-in-law was with me and insisted I try on the dress just one more time, and for some reason, I LOVED it when I put it back on–and it instantly made sense of how we could add fabric to the sleeves and other areas to line the dress and make it more modest. It was the only dress I had found where adding alteration to make it modest would not compromise the look of the dress at all, so it felt like the perfect fit!
Any advice you have for future brides?
Enjoy the season of being engaged! It seems like such a blur with all the wedding planning you instantly have to start doing, but enjoy the last moments with your family, friends, and even your fiancé as a “miss,” because it will fly by!
Also, keep people in your wedding party who you know 100% will be “lifelong” people in your life, are amazingly supportive, and are ready to help in whatever way you need. Whether that be just calling to check up on your mental sanity with all the planning, or with all the events leading up to the wedding. I’m not saying be a bridezilla or over-demanding! But there is so much work and planning that goes into a wedding, and having a bridal party who will be eager and excited to help and be a part of the process, and show love and support when you need it makes all the difference!
Anything else you’d like to share about your wedding or your love story?
My husband and I were long distance the entire time from dating until marriage. And not just a couple hours long distance, but from Michigan to Oregon: literally across America. Yet dating him and progressing forward felt the easiest it’s ever been. It was natural and completely unforced. The amount of effort he put into the relationship from day #1 made the distance nonexistent beyond the fact of just missing each other.
It sounds cliché, but there is truly nothing more beautiful than when God writes your love story. When you’ve found the right person that God has for you, it suddenly will feel so easy. I encourage young girls to stay faithful to God, stay faithful to the standard of being a godly young woman, stay pure, keep your standards high, and don’t settle, because God will truly grant you the desires of your heart if you are faithful to Him.
Photography: George Tshuma | http://www.infallibleproofs.co/sparks-wedding
Wedding Video: Ryan Trimble | https://www.ryantrimblestudios.com/#/miriam-darrien/