Matt's Vow To Me (10-10-10)

This is the vow that Matt wrote to say to me:

"I, Matthew Michael Stoltz, take you Jessica Nichole Sherman, my best friend, to be my love, my life, and my wife. I promise to love you forever and always, through hard times and good times. I promise to always be the strength you need when you need support to continue on, or even a push out of bed in the morning sometimes.

I will always protect you Jessica and the “knuckleheads” before myself and give you the best life possible. I will trust you and honor you till the day I die, I will laugh with you and hold you when you are sad. I will care for you when you are ill, and warm you when you are cold. You’re the only one I want see when I go to bed and smile at when I wake up.

You will never be alone; I will always be in your corner and back you with everything. I will be your rock, my Love will never waiver for you only grow stronger. You have made me a better man, you have turned me into a father figure, and you and your boys have given me a purpose in life, for that I will always be eternally grateful.

You’re the girl of my dreams Jessica, you gave me what I wished for, So in return I give you my heart, my soul, my life. I promise to give you your Disney fairytale happy ending that is long overdue and so deserved for the rest of our lives together. I love you Jessica and I promise this will never change."

My Vow To Matt (10-10-10)

This is the vow I wrote to say to Matt:

"When we decided to write our own vows to each other, I knew that it would result in a problem for me. When I get flustered or nervous the first two things that go are my memory and my ability to be able to communicate an intelligent thought. Thus leading me to decide, for the sake of embarrassment, that I was going to need a cheat sheet.

We live in a world full of modern conveniences and technological advances like cell phones, texting, email and facebook. With all these advances, there has been a significant decline in couples writing each other love letters, so that’s when I decided that I was going to type my vows as a love letter to you.

My dearest Mattie Matt,

These past 14 months since I met you have sincerely been some of the happiest months of my life. I rarely stop smiling or laughing when I am around you. You have opened up a side of me that I thought had gone away. We joke when we aren’t around each other that we are missing an appendage, but I really don’t feel complete when I am not with you. I have come to depend on you and lean on you for everything. When something good or bad happens I can’t wait to talk to you about it.

I want to thank you for the amazing man that you are. Thank you for loving me, taking care of me, supporting me and always being there. Thank you for loving my sons and taking them on like they were your own. Thank you for the hours you spend helping me and helping them, and sacrificing all “alone” time that you may have had 14 months ago. Thank you for encouraging me when I get frustrated with life and school and parenting. Thank you for always hugging me when I am down and telling me that I am doing a good job.

When I think of you the first word that comes to my mind is selfless. You have literally but yourself aside and put 4 people in front of you and you never once complain. I am absolutely sure that God sent me the most perfect man for me when he sent me you.

I vow to love, honor and cherish you, I vow to be ever faithful. In sickness and in health till death do us part. I vow to support you and encourage you in all your dreams and aspirations.
I love you more than words can clearly express, and I thank you for asking me to be your wife.

Love, Jess "

10-10-10

Our wedding day! October 10, 2010. What a gorgeous day. Everything went perfectly. The weather was warm and sunny, which was good being that the wedding was on the water. Our colors were purple (lots of shades of purple), silver, black and grey. The groomsmen were in black tuxes with silver vests and ties. Matt was so handsome in a black tux with a purple vest and tie. Peyton and Zion were our ring bearers, but they carried the rings down on an LSU football (Matt's college team), and a Saints football (Matt's NFL team). We tied purple ribbon around the footballs and attached the rings to the ribbon. Matt was born and raised in New Orleans, LA. So he is a die hard Saints and LSU fan (not just since the Saints won the Superbowl :)). Peyton and Zion matched Matt with black tuxes with purple vests and ties. They looked like quite the little stud muffins. :) My maid of honor was my sister Emily, and my bridesmaids were dear friends, Stephanie, Jackie, Melissa, and Nicole (also my sister in law). I let my girls pick out their own dresses, any style, length or shade of purple. The array was gorgeous! They all looked so beautiful! My "bubble" girls were my two precious nieces, Lilly and Caroline. I had them come down the aisle blowing bubbles instead of throwing flower petals. They were adorable. They walked down first with Matt as he went to the alter.

Matt and I wrote our own vows to each other, and it turned out so well. I will post our vows as soon as I get a copy of Matt's vows. After the ceremony, we had hors de vours while the pictures were being done (and there were a lot of pictures, I have a large family). After that was a sit down dinner that my Mom and my cousin Sean prepared. It was so good!!!! Then was the toast given by Matt's best man (Justin, childhood friend), and my sister. After that was the first dance (Our love is a song by Switchfoot), the father/daughter dance (Unforgettable by Natalie Cole), grandfather/granddaughter dance (to Somewhere out there, it's been my and my Poppa's song since I was a little girl), and the Mother/son dance (Mamma by Boys II Men). Then Matt and I slipped away for some romantic pictures taken by Melanie Wasko and Amy Bare. Since we were on the water we did a lot of pictures way out on a dock as the sun was setting. I can't wait to see them!!!!

After the pictures we cut the cake, and the grooms cake. The main cake was actually a cupcake tree with 5 different kinds of cupcakes. Me and my sister in law made the cupcakes. We had red velvet with cream cheese icing, peanut butter with peanut butter icing, chocolate with mint icing, strawberry with strawberry icing and banana with caramel icing. We put food coloring in the icings so that we had purple, white, and black icing to go with our colors. I made fleur de lis candies to go on the top of each cupcake for an edible decoration. We did have a small 6 inch cake to put at the top of the cupcake stand (which by the way, when I post pictures, my awesome brother Aaron made the stand!!!!!). We wanted to have a cake to cut in to for pictures. As a surprise for Matt I had a special grooms cake made for him, a replica (smaller in size of course) of the Superdome in LA (where the Saints and LSU play). He was so surprised!!!! The 6 inch cake topper was banana (my favorite) and the grooms cake was strawberry (Matt's favorite). I also had a blast the day before putting together all our flowers. I used flowers in different shades of purple, white and added in some "black" roses (more like a very dark, deep, red, but they added a gorgeous touch). The bouquets for myself and the girls were all roses. I made the corsages and bouts as well. Since it was a sit down dinner, we had centerpieces to do. Over the past few months I had ordered off of ebay about 30 amethyst vases, all sizes, shapes and different shades of purple and amethyst. Each table had about 6 centerpieces on it (10 foot long tables). I loved the variety!!! Each centerpiece was unique from another, no two alike. Of course now I have 30 purple vases that I have no idea what to do with. :)

What an amazing day. I am so happy and so thankful to the Lord for blessing me with the best man in the world. :) It makes me smile to hear people call me "Mrs. Stoltz" now. :)

Pictures to follow!