Paul and Kait

Date: January 1

Location: Boulder, Colorado

We love a good dance party, so we chose New Year’s, and the whole wedding had a festive feel, with tons of twinkle lights from the Christmas tree. We used the lobby of a big church that we knew in the area for our reception, which had an industrial feel, and a team of people transformed it into a place where we could celebrate.

One of the sweetest parts of the day for me (Kait) was getting ready with not only my friends, but multiple women who had mentored me.

They showed up like an army in the morning (with coffee, of course) ready to do everyone’s hair, and brought a spirit of joy. They walked with me through so much life, it was special to have them help me get ready to walk down the aisle - just like they got me ready (spiritually, emotionally) for most other major things during my college years.

We felt like our people took care of us so well, especially our bridesmaids and groomsmen. The maid of honor Allie was a champ: Kait’s grandpa broke his hip in the middle of the reception (praise God, he recovered well and was fine!), and we didn’t even know until he was already on his way to the hospital because she handled it completely for us.

One of Paul’s groomsmen even spent the morning of our wedding with him shopping for new underwear, because that was the moment that he realized he needed some for the honeymoon!

The ceremony space was special to us. We could have picked somewhere prettier to do the ceremony, certainly. But we picked our church, the place we had spent our college years praying, laughing, worshiping, learning and crying. That room was important to our story, and God used it to transform us - it was fitting to do the wedding there, even if we could have had a more beautiful backdrop somewhere else.

“We didn’t want it to be a light thing, as if marriage was something that could come and go.”

In our ceremony, we tried to honor God by using weighty language to express how much the responsibility of marriage meant to us. We didn’t want it to be a light thing, as if marriage was something that could come and go. The seriousness of our vows honored the Lord, and revealed that we took his plan for marriage earnestly.

Taking photos together was one of our favorite parts of our day as well. We waited to see each other, so after all the family photos and wedding party pictures, we finally got a minute “alone” (with our photographer, haha). But at that moment, after we were finally married, all we wanted to do was tell each other how much we loved each other, hug, and kiss. And that was exactly what we got to do while our amazing photographer, Elizabeth, took photos of it all.

We went and took pictures at our alma matter since we were just down the street. Not only was it beautiful, but that really is the place where our story began. It was where we met, fell in love, broke up, and got back together…twice. All the good and the bad happened right there, and it was such a fitting place to be taking our photos.

We did some things to love other people well. We honored our parents and grandparents by sitting at a head table with them during our rehearsal dinner, and we hand-wrote messages to each guest on the back of their escort card. But truthfully?

We could have done a lot more. Here’s our confession: looking back, we wish we had been a little less selfish.

“Here’s our confession: looking back, we wish we had been a little less selfish.”

Even on the day of, I (Kait) found myself wondering if people were having fun. But it wasn’t for them, to know if I was serving them well, it was for me. I really hoped they were having fun at my wedding, because then it would make me look better. Yuck. That attitude stole from the sweetness of a beautiful day.

Our Best Advice: We are even more convinced now, a few years in, that marriage really isn’t about us. Which means that at it’s core, a wedding day shouldn’t be about us either. When we put ourselves on the throne that day and try to make everything pleasing to us, it’s actually a burden. The freedom comes from letting a wedding, and a marriage, be about Christ himself.

With love,

Paul and Kait Schirmer

Vendors:

Photographer: Elizabeth Ann Photography

DJ and Photobooth: DJ Maestro

Florist: Sarah Cioni, Belle Terre Floral

Catering: Greens Point Catering

Ceremony Venue: First Pres, Boulder

Reception Venue: Ascent Community Church

Rentals: RC Event Rentals