John & Lianne's Navy Inspired Wedding

John and Lianne’s wedding was genuinely bigger than themselves. The groom’s best man, a Navy diver like him, received orders to deploy nine months before the big day—he would miss it. “When we found out, we knew we had to do a tribute,” Lianne says. The groomsmen donned their Navy whites and the bridesmaids stunned in navy blue; a hand-blown glass diver served as the cake topper. But perhaps the subtlest touch was sincerest of all: The yellow ribbon around the groomsmen’s wrists during the ceremony and the yellow rose presented to the best man’s wife. They’re time-honored symbols in the US military, made famous in the 1949 song “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.” As Lianne explains, “The ribbon represents a soldier who is far away, and their family wishing for their safe return.”