Ceremony Sites

After debating on whether to get married in Kristen's hometown or in the area we currently live in, we decided to get married down south. It would be too hard for certain family members to travel, and those people were important to us to be there. Also, since both of us are in school, it made it a little easier planning when things are close by.

James and Kristen are part of the Disciples of Christ (DOC) and United Church of Christ (UCC) Churches. We've been attending a DOC church for about two years now (three for James). We had tossed around the idea of getting married outside, but with our date being in July, we opted for indoors, since neither of us like the heat.

We decided on July 17th because it was smack dab in the middle of summer. The weekend before was Shannon's birthday (we promised we wouldn't get married on her birthday) and the weekend after was James' mom's birthday, so we figured July 17th was perfect for us, because it was just enough time after school got out to have time to relax and plan, and just enough time after to be able to enjoy being newlyweds before school started again.

In the end, the best choice for us was getting married at our church - it's perfect: it's pretty, woodsy, right around the corner from our house, and just the right size.

So we'll have an open ceremony here, at our church!