Nicole & Cody Get Married! A special tribute to Cody & the armed forces!

This post is about a wedding that I did in the fall, but flowers aside, there is a greater story behind the couple that I am so excited to share! So sit back and enjoy!

Meet Nicole & Cody! The photos that you are about to see are from Nicole; she allowed me to share them with you along with her and Cody's awesome voyage! So thank you Nicole!

I asked Nicole to share a little bit about her and Cody so here are her inspiring words....

 From Nicole:
 "A little about him and us...He joined the army after graduating college. He deployed the first time in 2008 (3 days after we met). During this time we were casual aquaintances. He liked hearing about things going on in the US, I found it fun to have a pen pal overseas. When he came home, he came to visit me on his leave (he gets 30 days off work to see friends and family when coming home from a deployment). It was then that we actually began dating. We dated for 17 months, got engaged, and about 5 weeks later he deployed again to Afghanistan. Ironically, our wedding was about 5 weeks after he got back from this deployment!"


"His job in the army is infantry, so he is on the frontline. I don't know a lot about exactly what his job entails, but I can tell you the soldiers you see on tv, dirty, sweaty, and tired look familiar from pictures I have seen of him during deployment. From what I understand, he patrols an area of Afghanistan, looks for roadside bombs (before they go off...), and trains the Afghan army. When he is here in the US, he is training for deployment. He is also an Army Ranger, which is an elite group in the army. He had to go through special training, which most soldiers don't make it through to earn his "ranger tab". If you see his groom's cake, that's the ranger tab on it. He is very, very modest about his accomplishments, but that's what I admire so much about him! Right now we are stationed at Ft. Campbell, but we have orders to go to Hawaii in January. You never know with the army, things change so much and nothing is in your control."

~Such a great photo~

 From Nicole:

" I will share about that day that he came home. The feelings you feel when you know he is coming home are difficult to describe, but I hope the photos show the joy and love we felt that day. Deployments are so, so, so hard on a couple, I can't even explain it. It's so much more than being away from that person. It's every moment of every day worrying about their safety, their physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being, and also worrying about your relationship. When you don't see one another for a year, and talk about 20 minutes a week, to say it is a test of your relationship is an understatement. Anyway, I could go on and on, but I won't bore you with that!"

 From Nicole:
"The day he came home...wow! I was excited, scared, nervous, relieved and everything else you can be. A lot of people would ask me things like "are you excited for your wedding?" and my response was always "I am more excited for him to be home". The wedding was something I used to take my mind off the loneliness, but it was him coming home safely that was always dear to my heart. Getting to marry him when he came back was just a big bonus!!"

I start crying every time I look at these ~Holly

 Now for wedding bells!!!!

Nicole's dress was bead heaven!!! I loved all her detail of this dress and it fit her AMAZING!!

I told you it fit her AMAZING!!! She looked beautiful!

 

Her fall bouquet included calla lilies, roses, sweetheart roses, hypericum berries, and stephanotis!

                           

I loved the "Eggplant" color of the girls' dresses!

 

The girls' bouquets included calla lilies, roses, hypericum berries, and bupleurum.

Cody and Nicole's 1st meet that day! Their "HUG" photos are MY FAVORITE!!!

The Wedding Party!!!

HUSBAND & WIFE!!!!

Precious!

Nicole & Cody, I can't tell you how happy I am for you both! Cody, thank you YOU for Serving US here in America! I feel we can never be thankful enough to our troops! Nicole, a big thanks to you as a military WIFE for everything you do so your husband can keep us safe in this BEAUTIFUL, WONDERFUL country that we call HOME! May God bless you both tremendously, protect you, and shine his LOVE on you forever! Love Always, Holly