being happy – Sarah Faith

our wedding story

once upon a time, a boy messaged a girl on Instagram about songwriter’s rounds in Nashville, she responded, and now we’re here…

OBVIOUSLY that’s extremely abbreviated, so lemme give you a few more details…

when Matthew had proposed in February (the day AFTER Valentine’s Day because ON Valentine’s Day would’ve been too cheesy, and he didn’t want to be cheesy), we knew we didn’t really want a long engagement. there were a couple reasons for this:
• Matthew would melt in a mid-summer occasion
• we’ve been talking about marriage basically since day one so why wait?
• we like to make things interesting…

so we decided to look at the calendar, skirt around baseball tournaments if at all possible, and make a choice.

i’ll admit, i did have a little bit of thought on the date because the day we started this whole thing was 12.1.21 and i think that’s kinda neat. so i thought 4.27.24 would be a cool wedding date / anniversary… never mind that it would mean planning a wedding in about 70ish days…. i left that part up to Jesus because an April wedding sounded good to us. and we sent up a double prayer for weather.

venue wise, we didn’t really have a clue where to start. we had considered somewhere local, but didn’t necessarily know of anything too picturesque, didn’t wanna spend $10K, and didn’t need anything too fancy… we’re super simple people and we wanted our wedding to reflect that.

in Tennessee, there are soooo many beautiful places, but lots of them are 3-4 hours away from where we live. that didn’t sound all that appealing… so i started looking for mountain-esque things which led me down a path toward a place called The Leeric Lodge… the views on this place… holyyyyyyy moly… and it wasn’t 4 hours away. i had no reason to believe they would have our date available on such short notice, but when i found out they did, i was pretty dang excited. we needed to work a few details out with them based on our tiny ceremony, but it all ended up getting sorted – than you, Jesus!

we stayed in an AirBnb not far from the venue with EVERYONE in the same house – Matthew and me, his parents and step parents, his sister + brother-in-law with their brand new baby, my parents, and our kids. it was DEFINITELY a house full and required some air mattresses, but it was honestly the best time, and i couldn’t have imagined a more perfect arrangement.

after the wedding, (for which we were granted absolutely PERFECT weather!!!), we opted for a family dinner in town before spending our last night in the AirBnb before loading everyone up in the morning and heading back home to Clarksville.

we decided to have our reception the following day, Sunday, at The Amsterdam Local where all our friends would be able to celebrate with us. We had a whole Table -Sized charcuterie spread, the most beautiful cake, mini bundt cakes, macarons, and lotssss of community. just really simple.

there were definitely a lot of hands-on details for this whole thing, but honestly, i don’t think we could have dreamed it any better. the biggest takeaways for the whole weekend is we are: 1) grateful for every single human that came to celebrate with us 2) unbelievably grateful for the weather and 3) sooo glad we kept it soooooo simple.

being a part of this family is such a blessing, and there’s no way to create a wedding day that encapsulates all the blessings this marriage will grow into and bring us in the years and years to come. so if there was any advice to give to anyone in a similar situation, i’d definitely say: keep your ceremony to the Absolute Must-Have VIP people, invite your close-to-the-vest circle to your reception, do it all really small and beautiful, and allow yourselves to really celebrate what God is going in the midst of the whole thing. don’t get too caught up in the details of one specific day because at the end of the day, you’re still going to be married. the details will be nothing but things you spent money on to a certain extent. make it count.

HUGE Thank You to:
– Leeric Lodge
– “The Hoot” AirBnb in Silver Point
– BHLDN Bridal (dress)
– Alterations by Hanna (amazziinnggg)
– Briggs Clothiers (custom suit)
– The Amsterdam Local ♥
– Kristen Paige Photography (THANK YOU!!!!!)
– Ellie Beans Cakes (yummmmm)
– Thistle Sweets
– Nothing Bundt Cakes
– Snap Dragon Wagon!!! (Jen…. don’t even get me started)
– Jesus for thinking putting us together was a good idea
– our families for driving all over the country for us
– our friends for loving us, supporting us, and celebrating with us

“‘Til the End, Forever + Again” ♥

contentment

// con-tent-ment // : (n) the state of being happy or satisfied; the acceptance of things “as they are.”

full disclosure, i struggle on and off with this. i’m feeling moved to write about it, but i myself do wrestle with it.

something about the way society keeps making “more” look like it equates to “better.” something about the way i keep desiring, keep wanting, keep looking, scouting, hoping, wishing… makes it pretty hard to feel content when i can’t seem to keep my eyes from wandering everywhere else but the path in front of me.

i think i’ve also got this silly belief that “contentment” means “giving up” or “losing hope” or “get what you get and don’t throw a fit.”

but i think those definitions are sorely mistaken. that kind of contentment assumes it’s never gonna get any better than this, so you might as well get used to it. which is actually really sad.

i don’t actually want to carry around those lifeless, hopeless definitions of contentment anymore, so i’m going to ~~put~~ keep trying to put them down (and leave them there… because i seem to somehow keep picking them back up…). if you’re feeling yourself carrying anything similar, i invite you to put it down with me. i desire for us to find more mental peace, and the more we keep assuming that we have to strive in order be happy, the less of that peace i believe we’re going to find. we’re also not super likely to find peace in the thoughts that we’re “settling for less” or that we’re “damaged goods” that don’t deserve what we’re dreaming of.

truly, if we’re responsible and content with what we’ve currently got, there’s no reason we wouldn’t in the future be entrusted with more. it’s being content with what i have in the here and now that i know i’ve gotta keep working on. the ability to steward properly the things i’m currently holding in my hand. focusing on my ability to be grateful for all of this good stuff i’m to blessed to have – that’s when the blessings come. the blessings multiply. and i believe a really good first step is contentment in your present circumstances and situation.

sometimes that’s really hard, because sometimes the current stuff we’re going through is just not that pretty. it’s not fun, it’s not easy, and we’re ready to be done with this valley season. to that i say – the valleys mean peaks are on the way. the lows help us appreciate the highs, and there’s still a good amount of contentment to be found in that. even when we don’t feel like smiling. even when the “oh, it’ll be over soon…” is like, the most annoying thing someone could possibly be saying… it’s worth trying to take a second, take a breath, and find a mini moment of contentment. it will pass, and when the next person you know is going through their own personal valley, they’ll have someone to lean on who’s living proof that even the darkest of nights have a glimmer of hope at the end.

i’ll doubly admit – contentment is definitely something i’m always working towards. but. maybe by sharing this, i’ll help you feel less alone if it’s one of your battles too. and i’ll find some accountability partners along the way.

♥, SF