St. Paul's Catholic Church

Wedding Day

Wedding

511 Palafox Place, Pensacola, FL, United States

Reception

Our Wedding

Ian and I are like a boiled egg. Hang with me on this. It's not the sexiest metaphor, but to understand our relationship it might be helpful to think about the process of boiling an egg. You have an egg. It is easy to crack, it will spill everywhere if you drop it, and then the egg is unusable and must be cleaned up and thrown out. I was that egg when I met Ian 10 years ago. But if you take that same egg and put it in some hot water, and wait a while, things start to change. You don't notice it at first because the egg itself doesn't look like it's changing in any way. It looks the same, acts the same, and seems the same - but when you pull it out of the hot water you realize that the fundamental composition of the egg has changed and hardened into something sturdier. That's me and Ian. We met at the 9th grade orientation for Booker T. Washington High School in 2007. I remember nothing else about that day except for that he was wearing a red and brown striped polo shirt and walked right past me to talk to someone I was standing with. He asked where Mrs. Baker's homeroom was, and I excitedly told him that I was also in that homeroom, and that it was in the first hallway. We were lab partners in 10th grade and by Junior year Ian had convinced me to join Cross-Country. Senior year, I watched as one of my best friends signed to run for the University of South Alabama, and although I was sad we weren't going to college together, I was so happy that he got the opportunity to pursue what he loved doing. We would meet up and see each other every break we were home from college. Eventually, our relationship changed, and the friendship we had been cultivating for the past 8 years turned into a stronger bond. The thing about us is that we have grown up together. We got through high school together and saw each other through the ends of our college years. Since then, we've gone through the process of getting jobs, paying rent, keeping a dog alive, and buying a car. Years cruised by and holidays began to run together and somehow, this kid I knew at 14 turned into the man I get to marry. We went to Bayview Park for a run, just like we had done hundreds of times before over the past ten years. We laced up, started our watches, and talked about our routes. Just like we had done since we were teenagers. But then something different happened. Instead of striding away, Ian looked at me and got down on one knee. Things had changed. See? We're just a couple of boiled eggs.

Our Story

Details

Photos

Wedding Party

Q + A

Registry

Please call to make a reservation and tell the front desk that you would like to purchase a room under the Bordelon-Bradley Wedding Block. Keep in mind that there are only 10 rooms available at the discounted rate. The group code is "AIB."

Aryn & Ian

Aryn & Ian

Registry