Why an Outer Banks Wedding?

Deciding to have a beach wedding was an easy choice for Matt and me. When we are near the ocean, we feel at home and at peace...we've both always felt that that is where our heart and souls belong (and why we plan to live near the ocean one day). There are two reasons why we decided on the Outer Banks, specifically though.

The first reason? "Nights in Rodanthe" by Nicholas Sparks. I had watched the movie long before our relationship had begun and it made me long for that kind of love. After Matt and I found our way to each other, the movie took on even more significance for me. If my life could be summed up by a movie trailer, this one would be pretty close:



Of the many quotes that touched my heart, "Who keeps you safe?" was at the top of my list. When Matt and I talked about this movie when we first began talking seriously, I got a Twitter DM from him later that night when he got off work. It read, "Who keeps you safe?" *melt*

Other significant quotes:

• "It's all about choices, Adrianne. You chose that life. You chose that man. Do you even remember who you really are anymore?" (No, I didn't remember who I was anymore.)
  
  
• "I want you to know that any man is a fool who doesn't know how lucky he is to have you." Oh, how I longed to have someone say something like that to me, to feel that way about me, and Matt did and does.
  
  
• "You and I are done pretending..." as they run into each other's arms. That was us. Totally us.
  
  
• "It's never too late for a second chance of a lifetime." It really isn't and it's worth walking through fire to get to if you have to.
  
  
• "We saved each other." We really did.
  
  
• "It was you that I've been looking for all along." It was him and only him, then, now and forever.
  
  
• "There's another kind of love. One that give you the courage to be better than you are. I want you to hold out for it." I wanted my kids to know that they deserve to be loved fully and unconditionally and that they should never settle for less.
  
  
• "You came along and helped me find those parts of myself that I thought I'd lost forever." I really had thought love was a lost cause for me and that I was meant to suffer and be unhappy and lonely for the rest of my life. God showed me otherwise when he gave me Matt and blessed me with a love that is greater than anything I could have ever dreamed of.

"Nights in Rodanthe" takes place in the Outer Banks of course, where horses really do run wild along the beaches (we're hoping we get to see that during our week-long stay before our wedding). But the area near Duck and Corolla had even more meaning to me personally.

During a really rough time in my life and my marriage, a friend of mine let me stay at her parents' beach house in Duck. I went there by myself to find my strength and to try to find the person I no longer remembered.

I ate dinner alone one night at the Sunset Grille and I watched in envy as a couple walked down the pier there hand in hand, so obviously in love. When Matt and I had our vendor day in the Outer Banks not long ago, we stopped at the Sunset Grille and we went to that pier.




As I stood in his arms there, safe in his embrace, all of the pain I had felt all those years ago just melted away and it was replaced with the most incredible love, wholeness and comfort that words cannot even begin to describe. That couple I saw before had nothing on us! :)

I also remember, all those years ago, standing alone on the beach. The waves were extremely rough and the wind was so strong. A hymn came to my mind..."If you pass through raging waters of the sea, you shall not drown." It's from the song "Be Not Afraid."

I attended church and I was hoping to get a sign from God that He was with me. The first thing the priest said to the congregation was, "You are here for a reason. There is something that God wants you to hear." The theme for the mass was..."Be Not Afraid." That God is with us always. I had chills, and when the choir started singing that song, I broke down in tears. But I left with renewed strength and the knowledge that God was walking before me every step of the way.

In my hand during most of my time there was a baggie filled with sand and shells that my friend had given me. She told me that she wanted me to have it to remind me of my strength.



When Matt and I began our relationship, I gave him that bag of sand and shells. I told him that he was my strength now and I no longer needed it. He keeps me safe.

Matt ended up carrying them with him everywhere he went. Little did I know just what he had planned with the sand and shells and how instrumental it would be at a crucial point in our relationship. I'll be writing about that soon.

But the Outer Banks was where I was lost and then found, it was where God reminded me He was with me, it's where I found my strength, it's where we feel most at home, it was where Matt healed my wounds on that pier, and it will be the place we will celebrate the incredible love that we have for each other and commit to spending the rest of our lives together. There really isn't any other place on this earth that could be more perfect for us.