Our 10th Anniversary Party ~ the Ceremony

A friend of ours was kind enough to take pictures for us, so the following pictures credit goes to Greg Gerbrandt ~ thanks!

Just like our wedding, we wanted our party to be fun, celebrate what God has done and to reflect our unique personalities. I think we managed to accomplish that. The ceremony began with us dancing in and inviting everyone to join a mini dance party. Song here.

My parents (left) dancing while David dances with his sister, Tabitha

Huge participation points go out to all the children - Aisha shows her super high kick!

It was super fun to see everyone participating!

Norm, our friend, who officiated, shared about marriage and why we were there to renew our vows. During our marriage ceremony David and I read the following bible verse:

"Two are better than one,
    because they have a good return for their labor:
 If either of them falls down,
    one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
    and has no one to help them up.
 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
    But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered,
    two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Over the last 10 years our three stranded cord (represented by God, David and I) has grown into a large knot thanks to our friends and family. We showed a visual representation of what that looks like in a monkey's fist knot. We thanked everyone for being a part of that knot that keeps our marriage together. We've been so blessed by community and support!

David explains the monkey's fist knot of our marriage

Something that we wanted to share was our vow renewal. We figured that one of the hang-ups of doing vow renewals is the pressure to throw a big event or party, and since we had the party and the officiant already, we figured we would invite the married couples to join us in renewing their vows. We told our parents ahead of time so that we'd have someone participating, but we were pleasantly surprised to see most (if not all) the couples stand and join in. We handed our ring pops to exchange and I pre-made certificates to hand out to each participating couple. 

We exchanged ring pops and vows - Abigail is standing by to "steal" one of our rings

David and I shared communion with each other and used Dr. Pepper (a throw back to our wedding ceremony) and Mum Mums (baby crackers for the stage of life we are in).

Communion with my love

We ended the official ceremony with confetti rockets.

We had a great time and it was great to renew my commitment to David. I am so thankful for 10 years with my best friend and co-founder of our Gingras family.

I still have more party to share, stay tuned.