Grace + Hunter | Classic Christmas Wedding

A cozy and easygoing celebration filled with the colors, joy, and merriment of the Christmas season, with nods to the couple’s football fandom.

What started as a friendship based on a college-football connection, ultimately led Grace to the Catholic faith—and both she and Hunter to a Christ-centered marriage.

Grace and Hunter faced the challenge of preparing for their wedding during COVID-19, but they found comfort in God, the saints, and their beloved home parish.

Surrounded by their dearest family and friends, the couple made a point to incorporate meaningful details into their wedding in memory of loved ones who have passed to eternal life.

From the Bride:

Hunter and I met on Twitter, of all places, in 2016 through our mutual fandom of Tennessee football. We started out as friends and shared a deep love of Christ. 

We became engaged in December 2018. Hunter shared his Catholic faith with me, and I finalized my conversion to the Catholic faith in April 2021. 

I selected Saint Brigid as my patron because in learning about her life, I felt a kinship to her. And also because we both feel so blessed to be members of a wonderful parish that bears her name. 

Hunter is a cradle Catholic, and I have enjoyed learning so much about the faith with him. One of our favorite things to do together is review Franciscan Media's “Saint of The Day,” and we are always so inspired learning about these wonderful saints and their lives

God was definitely in the driver's seat for our wedding due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We learned quickly we were not in control. 

We ended up having a small, intimate ceremony with some of our closest family and friends. 

Deacon Tom, who celebrated our wedding, did a wonderful job getting to know us through our Pre-Cana marriage preparation process and made sure that the homily was personalized and filled with humor. 

Hunter and I are both members of Saint Brigid and absolutely adore our parish, so it was very special to get married there. 

My mom and my sister personalized my dress topper and made the sash I wore on my wedding day.

Unfortunately, both of my grandmothers have passed away, so I honored my maternal grandmother by carrying her rosary wrapped around my bouquet as my something borrowed, and I had my paternal grandmother's brooch pinned to my bouquet as my something old. 

Both my paternal grandmother and my beloved late step-grandmother were of Scottish heritage, so we honored both of them with the tartan accents at our wedding. 

I surprised Hunter with a memorial table and arrangement to his late mother including pictures of the two of them together and her favorite flowers. 

My maternal grandmother was from Ecuador, which is known for its roses, so I made sure my bridal bouquet featured Ecuadorian roses.

Our journey to our wedding day taught me to accept the things I could not change and to trust in God.

Photography: Cooper and Co Photography | Nuptial Mass: St Brigid Catholic Church, Johns Creek, GA | Reception Venue: Naylor Hall, Roswell, GA | Bride’s Dress: The Sample Shoppe by White Magnolia Bridal | Rings: Solomon Brothers | Caterer: Loyal Q Barbecue | Cakes: Henri's Bakery | Floral Design: The Flower Post | DJ & Photobooth: Club Rett | Rehearsal Dinner: Roswell Provisions | Stationery: Calligraphy with Style

Meet Him in the Manger | A Christmas Greeting and Prayer from Spoken Bride

On this sacred night, Love became incarnate. And even in His infancy, Christ gave us the model of virtue, humility, and sacrifice to follow in our vocations.

Whether your Advent season was as peaceful or fruitful as you hoped it would be, don’t be afraid to meet Jesus in manger and invite Him to make His home in your heart and marriage.

PHOTOGRAPHY: ELISSA VOSS AS SEEN IN EMILY AND DANIEL’S CHRISTMAS SEASON WEDDING

Let Your goodness, Lord, appear to us, that we, made in your image, conform ourselves to it. In our own strength we cannot imitate Your majesty, power, and wonder, nor is it fitting for us to try. But Your mercy reaches from the heavens through the clouds to the earth below. You have come to us as a small child, but you have brought us the greatest of all gifts, the gift of eternal love. Caress us with Your tiny hands, embrace us with Your tiny arms and pierce our hearts with Your soft, sweet cries. —Prayer by St. Bernard of Clairvaux

From all of us at Spoken Bride, Merry Christmas! Thank you for your trust, support and participation in our mission, especially in this crazy year—we are full of gratitude for every one of our brides, vendors, and readers. 

We hope you and your family have a joyous and blessed day and that the peace of Christ will reign forever in your hearts and homes.

When the Holidays Don't Go As Planned

MAGGIE STRICKLAND

It was not until I was an adult that I truly appreciated the nuances of the Church’s celebration of Christmas. 

PHOTOGRAPHY: I’M MARY KATHERINE AS SEEN IN MARY-KATE + FARIS’ EMERALD CHRISTMASTIDE MANOR WEDDING

While the world shouts for all of December about magic and happiness and wonder, the Church waits slowly and quietly through the Advent season, until we reach the feast of Christmas and our great joy at the mystery of God become man overflows. We rejoice with the angels and celebrate for twelve days, all the way to Epiphany.

And yet, at the margins of our celebrations, there are small hints, reminders that the story does not stop with the baby in the manger. 

The wise men’s gifts of gold for the baby King, yes, but also the frankincense and myrrh that foretell His death for us. The feast of St. Stephen, the first martyr, on December 26th, which makes clear the price of following that baby in the manger. The feast of the Holy Innocents on December 28th, reminding us that evil has not left the world just because Jesus has come. 

I had known these things all my life, but it took a long time for me to understand just what a gift the Church gives us by her insistence that you cannot have the wood of the manger without the wood of the cross.

I had big dreams for my first married Christmas. We had married in January, so by Christmas I expected that my husband would have finished graduate school and found a lucrative job, we’d have a cute little house that I would have decorated from top to bottom, and if we didn’t have a baby in our arms yet, there would be one on the way.

In short, I was envisioning the picture-perfect end of a Hallmark movie and I couldn’t wait.

By December, it was clear that my vision wouldn’t be reality. My husband had finished school, but he’d discerned a call to teach college, and academic jobs are hard to come by at that time of the year. We were living with my parents to save money, so my few Christmas decorations were packed away. And we were beginning our struggle with infertility; I wouldn’t be holding a baby until our fourth married Christmas. That year, I shed more than a few tears over this reality that so starkly contrasted with what I had dreamed.

But the great feast happened anyway, and I found for the first time that I could really appreciate the miracle of Jesus being born into the mess of our world. 

He didn’t just descend from heaven as the divine Being He is, but chose to unite His divinity with our humanity. He didn’t erase the effects of Adam and Eve’s sin, but allowed us to reconcile ourselves with God and gave us the hope of Heaven. 

My plans may have been a mess, but Jesus was right there anyway.

This Advent and Christmas season may have been difficult. 2020 was, as we were continually reminded, a strange year, and the pandemic may have affected the plans you made for this holiday.

If you are a newlywed and you find yourself disappointed that your first married Christmas is different than you had envisioned, I understand. May you find comfort and hope in the Church’s celebration of this season, and knowing that wherever you are is where Jesus dwells. 

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About the Author: Maggie Strickland has loved reading and writing stories since her earliest memory. An English teacher by training and an avid reader by avocation, she now spends her days homemaking, chasing her toddler son, and reading during naptime. She and her husband are originally from the Carolinas, but now make their home in Birmingham, Alabama.

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Editors Share | Advent + Christmas Traditions in Marriage

The Advent and Christmas seasons in the Church are rich in tradition and customs and every family has their own unique ways of celebrating and observing these liturgical seasons. 

Today, members of the Spoken Bride team share some of the holiday traditions they brought into their marriages and the new traditions they are cultivating with their husbands and children. 

Jessica Jones, Contributing Writer

This year, my husband and I are trying to remember Advent as a time of prayer by incorporating the Rosary together into our lives more frequently! Can’t say we’ve been super successful, but hey, we’re trying! We plan also to steal a friend’s tradition of putting the tree up on Saint Nicholas Day. 

Most of our other ideas so far are food related: we want to do the Feast of the Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve (a tradition I’d like to resurrect from my Italian side) before Midnight Mass, and we’ll make my family’s traditional lasagna for Christmas dinner. I also may try to make a pitta ‘mpigliata, a Calabrian Christmas pastry that my relatives used to make.

Andi Compton, Co-Founder & Business Director

I brought zero Advent traditions into our marriage, I didn’t even start going to Christmas Mass until we were engaged because I didn’t realize it was a Holy Day of Obligation.  I grew up celebrating Noche Buena on Christmas Eve and having a low key Christmas Day.

Now on Advent evenings we dim the lights, sing a verse of “O Come O Come Emmanuel” while we light the candles on the Advent wreath, say a little prayer, and then read the scripture for our Jesse Tree ornament. 

Stockings are filled for St. Nicholas Day, one of our daughters dresses up for St. Lucy’s day and makes hot cocoa (this is usually when we put up outdoor lights), and we have Mexican food for the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. 

We usually do a family gathering on the 24th, then Christmas morning Mass followed by presents and brunch. No present opening until after Mass! Then Los Reyes bring oranges for their shoes and little trinkets on Epiphany. There’s also some Elf on the Shelf thrown in there (we’re up to three elves!)

Catherine Boizelle, Community Manager

I brought the classic tradition of praying and lighting candles on the advent wreath daily—my husband is a convert so this is all new to him! This year we’ve chosen Blessed is She’s advent devotional Maranatha and have been getting up early to pray with our morning coffee at the kitchen table. While not really a tradition, we are trying to attend daily mass together twice a week as well. 

Stephanie Calis, Founder and Editor in Chief

My husband and I have prayed the St Andrew novena for the past 6 or 7 years during Advent, and it is truly amazing to see the big things the Lord can do when we come to him and to Our Lady in complete humility and confidence. More recently, we’ve started having candlelight dinners during the Advent season, which has been really special for our kids. And we always listen to the same album, Bebo Norman’s Christmas from the Realms of Glory, on our drive to Christmas Eve with extended family. The opening song signals the start of Christmas for us—I highly recommend choosing a particular album or playlist as a foundation for your own family’s season!

Dominika Ramos, Contributing Writer

I came into marriage with so many ideas and have had to tone down my enthusiasm after the reality (exhaustion) of kids hit me. We light the advent wreath at dinner, or more often breakfast with the kids on weekdays. 

We put shoes out for oranges and chocolate coins from St. Nicholas on December 6th which is something I grew up with, but I've added the kids getting a Christmas book from St. Nicholas to add to our collection every year. This year I ordered St. Nicholas postcards to write the kids notes from St. Nicholas a la Tolkien letters from Father Christmas style. We'll see if I keep it up.

This year I'm having the kids memorize a poem and carol to share with our family and as a gift for baby Jesus on Christmas day. I'm trying really hard to find a way to avoid the focus of Christmas morning being just the stuff.

My sister usually makes a crazy good seven fish stew for Christmas Eve. We listen to Sufjan Stevens “O Holy Night” and Benjamin Britten's “Ceremony of Carols” on the way to midnight Mass. 

Our whole family comes over Christmas morning and I make biscuits and gravy and my sister brings to-die-for coffee iced cinnamon rolls. Then we go over to my parents in the evening for a traditional Slovak dinner.

Christmas Blessings and Prayers from Spoken Bride

In these final days of hope and anticipation for the birth of the Savior, we retreat with our families and friends in joyful celebration of the gift of Christ’s life. As the season of waiting comes to close, we open our minds and hearts to receive Jesus into our homes. 

PHOTOGRAPHY: ELISSA VOSS, as seen in Emily + Daniël | Christmas Season Wedding

Our Catholic faith is rich with prayers, blessings, traditions, and symbols to bring the beauty of God’s light into the domestic church, the home. Christmas Eve is an opportunity to bring special attention to the beautiful decorations around our homes—especially the Christmas Tree or the Nativity Scene—with an intentional blessing and celebration. 

We encourage you to read and pray the Blessing of a Christmas Tree and/or the Blessing of the Nativity Scene with your spouse or family.

Browse holiday weddings + reflections on Advent and liturgical living | Are you newly engaged or married? Submit your story. | Send us a written contribution

Our team will be taking the next week off from publishing new content and is eager to continue communicating the goodness, truth, and beauty of marriage in 2020! New blog features and reflections will resume January 2. Meanwhile, follow along on social media for continued resources and inspiration, including our top posts of 2019.

From all of us at Spoken Bride, may Christ the Bridegroom be born in your hearts this Christmas season. May God continue to shine his light on you and your loved ones. Thank you for your trust, affirmation, support and participation in our mission—we are full of gratitude for every one of our brides, vendors, and readers and hold each of you in prayer.