May the Fourth Be With You : A Star Wars Wedding

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Today is handsome husby’s and my 2nd wedding anniversary and I am overwhelmed with love and gratitude for him and for the life that we have built together, with the boys. And also still so freaking in love with the fact that we had a Star Wars wedding. #nailedit

Star Wars WeddingThree years ago, when we met at the beach house in Port Aransas, neither one of us had any clue what was about to happen. The chance meeting that led to a whole new life – for all of us.

I cannot even imagine what it was like for him to walk into my messy life. He was a bachelor living that fishing life – running his own show – and here I was: a widow with 2 young kids. Holy. Smokes. #redflagwarning

I still look back at that week in Port A and wonder WHY in the world he ever came back? But he did. And on the second day, we exchanged phone numbers and he sent me our first text message and I got butterflies in my tummy like a teenager. 

After that trip, I returned to Austin, and through no less than 10,000 exchanged text messages and photos, and a zillion shared songs and lyrics, we got to know each other better than we know anyone else and we just knew.

Within 6 months we got engaged, within 9 months we bought our home in Corpus, and 10 months after meeting, we eloped in the most magical, perfect wedding.

On Star Wars Day!


May the 4th Be With You

Today I want to share our day with you – because it was special and it was perfect and it was OURS. Eloping was pretty much the best thing ever, tbh. It was just us and the kids – with my sister as the witness, my friend as the officiant, and my photographer. I ordered my dress on Amazon, my jewelry and flowers from Target (my sister arranged them), and my kids wore Vans. Pretty much perfection.

It was a stormy day and our ceremony took place at 9AM on the covered porch, with rain falling all around us. Afterwards we drank mimosas, cut the cake with a lightsaber, and toasted each other in the parlor of the Barr Mansion – with thunder clapping outside. We ran to the car barefoot through the rain, laughing the whole way. It was MAGICAL and the very best day.

Our Vows:

In marriage, two people turn to each other in search of a greater fulfillment than either can achieve alone. Marriage is a bold step, taken together, into an unknown future. 

The most wonderful of all things in life is the discovery of another human being with whom one’s relationship has a growing depth, beauty and joy as time increases. This inner progressiveness of love between two human beings is a most marvelous thing; it cannot be found by looking for it or by passionately wishing for it. It is a sort of perfect accident, which brings new meaning to the lives of those who experience it.

Which is how you found each other – a perfect accidental meeting in Port Aransas, where Brad & Elisabeth sat next to each other on a bench and he downloaded a karaoke app just because she mentioned it would be so fun. Elisabeth later admitted to him that in that moment she knew he was a good one.

Marriage is a commitment to life, the best that two people can find and bring out in each other. It offers opportunities for sharing and growth that no other relationship can equal. It is a physical and an emotional joining that is promised for a lifetime.

Marriage is perhaps the greatest and most challenging adventure of all human relationships. No ceremony can create your marriage; only you can do that – through love and patience; through dedication and listening; through supporting and believing in each other. By learning to make the important things matter, and letting go of the rest. Today marks the day when you two declare that your love makes you partners for life, regardless of where you may go, and that wherever you may go, you will go – along with Hudson and Finn – together with each other’s love and support.

Brad, Elisabeth, Hudson & Finn: you are creating an amazing world for yourselves. 

Separately you are each amazing human being who have and will continue to accomplish awesome things. Together – you are unstoppable. As Brad & Elisabeth have said all along – you are and will continue to be Better Together.

You have a shared vision for what your fullest lives can be, and we are all thankful for it and excited share in it, however we might.

To make a marriage work, we learn to overlook and forgive the things that may frustrate us. You are promising to stick together and support one another through all the early mornings, unfolded laundry and dirty dishes, and in raising Hudson & Finn.

But marriage is also about having someone to laugh with, to hug and to snuggle with on cold nights. It’s having someone who will get your jokes and song lyric references. Marriage is believing in each other, building each other up, and cheering each other on in life. It’s someone you know feels the same way about you as you feel about them. Marriage is having a confidant, a partner in crime, and a best friend.

At the beginning of this year, the two of you began a journal together. You’ve included some of the things you have written in your vows. On the first day you were asked what is love?

Brad, you said “love is absolute admiration. It is about seeing the beauty of life through it all and being able to take it with you no matter where you go.

As you look at one another, I ask you each to affirm your purpose for being here today and read your vows:

Brad: 

“Being with you feels like magic. I will always be open and honest with you, I will respect and care for you, I will cherish our love and our friendship, I will share my life with you, and I will always love you big.

You are my best friend, my love, my favorite human. You inspire me. Anywhere I go, there you are.”

Aaron: When asked what is love, Elisabeth, you said “love is being bold and brave. It is having faith and trust in another person and giving of yourself because you feel incomplete otherwise. It is finding peace and a happy place within another person’s heart.” 

Elisabeth

“Being with you feels like magic. I will always be open and honest with you, I will respect and care for you, I will cherish our love and our friendship, I will share my life with you, and I will always love you times infinity.

You are my best friend, my love, my person. You inspire me. Anywhere I go, there you are.”

Aaron: Your vows are a spoken form of the invisible promises you have already made and kept to each other. Your wedding rings are a visible form of the unbroken love that you know in your hearts. May these rings always call to mind the power of your love wherever you go.

Brad, please repeat after me:

“With this ring, I thee wed.”

Elisabeth, please repeat after me:

“With this ring, I thee wed.”

Aaron: Brad, you have professed your love by exchanging your vows. You have symbolized your commitment by exchanging rings. Do you, Brad, take Elisabeth to be your wife?

Brad: “I’m yours and that’s it forever. I do.”

Aaron: Elisabeth, you have professed your love by exchanging your vows. You have symbolized your commitment by exchanging rings. Do you, Elisabeth, take Brad to be your husband?

Elisabeth: “I’m yours and that’s it forever. I do.”

Aaron: Brad & Elisabeth, you have declared your love for each other. In your decision to spend the rest of your lives together, you also commit to establishing a home for Hudson and Finn. A place where they will find love and security and acceptance. As a part of your love for each other, I now ask you, Brad, to make your promises to them:

Brad: Hudson & Finn – I promise to love and support you, to be there for you, to listen to you and respect you, to cherish and guide you, to help you learn right from wrong, to show you how to respect others and the world around you, to be there when you need us, to take you to the sand dunes, to have epic Nerf battles (with safety glasses), to help you learn to skateboard, to play catch in the backyard, and to always give you love.

Elisabeth: Hudson & Finn – you two taught me to love. You are the sun and the moon and it is my privilege to be your mom. We have been a team for your whole lives and that will never, ever change. I cannot wait for this new adventure with our family. Thank you for always watching out for me, for making me laugh, for not making too much fun of me when I try to do your dance moves, and for being patient with me when I don’t understand Pokemon. I promise to love and support you, to be there for you, and to always give you love.

Aaron: Brad and Elisabeth – you have declared your deep love and commitment for each other. You have stated your wish to continue growing together, as partners in life, and to be a family with Hudson & Finn. You have formed your own union, based on respect, trust, and love.

Therefore, by the power vested in me by the State of Texas, it is my pleasure to officially announce that you are now Husband and Wife. Always remember that there is nothing worth sharing like the love that lets you share your name.

And here we are….two years later…living our very best life in Corpus Christi.

I am overwhelming lucky to have found this second chance at life and love. Star Wars WeddingHappy Anniversary, my love.

The Force is STILL strong with us.

Shop this Elopement:

Photography: Laura Morsman Photography

Location: Barr Mansion, Austin, TX

Dress: Amazon | Calvin Klein

Belt: Ribbon from Hobby Lobby

Husby’s Suit: Men’s Warehouse

Flowers/Accessories/Boys’ Suits : Target

Boys Shoes : Vans 

 

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Elisabeth Tabor
Elisabeth is so excited to be living her best life in Corpus Christi. After years of visiting the beaches of the Coastal Bend, she is loving the salty air, sandy toes, and wind in her hair. No stranger to City Moms Blog Network, Elisabeth began contributing to Austin Moms Blog in 2012 and is thrilled to continue the sisterhood here in Corpus Christi! She is married to Rad Brad and has two boys, Hudson and Finn. Elisabeth enjoys all kinds of music, singing at the top of her lungs - especially in the school drop off line when the kids are getting out of the car - being outdoors as much as possible and is a complete and total proponent of NOT having a television in the living room.