The best day of my life

And here it is, the wedding post.

We had such a great wedding. The day was beautiful and clear. Being sealed in the temple was beyond words. Having so many friends and family to share the day with us was awesome. And the reception was such a fun party.

I love love love how my wedding dress turned out. Better than I imagined. Hannah is truly amazing. The back was such a fun idea, and I love how she integrated the gold color. For someone who dislikes gold, I definitely took a liking to it for the wedding. Random.

Don't we have cute bums! (well, I do. You shouldn't be looking at Todd's.)

I am glad I was the fifth child in my family to get married, because after each wedding my mom realized the things she was willing to do on her own, and those things she was willing to pay someone else to do.

Growing up I always thought church gym receptions were the worst things. Until Maren's wedding, when I saw how beautifully someone could decorate a gym. Layna is incredible. I loved how the reception looked--it was very Italian villa meets Mardi Gras; totally what I had in mind and then some. And she put a chandelier in the middle of the room! I loved it.

We had purple table cloths with olive runners, and very simple yet elegant centerpieces, and candles (fake but so cool) on the tables and throughout the room. The whole room was just perfect for our personalities and the vision I had for the room. And if I do say so myself, the colors were phenomenal.

Our caterer was also great. She makes the best food I've ever had at a wedding. She put the food in the center of a room in a square, like a buffet but arranged so you didn't have to wait in line if you only wanted more meatballs. It was very cool. Natalie, the caterer, likes to make the food match the reception decor, which is so cool, and it looked so nice.

Try as we might, Todd and I didn't get to eat. Fancy that. We did get some of the lemonade with cucumber, which sounds weird but was SO yummy. And the coolest thing about the food--Natalie made a bag for me and Todd that had several pieces of all the food, so we got to try our food and also have a midnight snack. It was awesome.

And yes, I stayed strong in my "no wedding cake" policy. And we also had rootbeer floats, also like I wanted. We even did a toast.

Mexico (el honeymoon)

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So yeah, honeymoons are totally necessary. Whether it's going to Mt. Charleston for 2 nights, or a long vacation, it's so nice to have time as a couple, and to wind down from the wedding.

We went to Puerto Vallarta and had a great time. We stayed at an all-inclusive resort which was so nice. All our food was paid for, so we just got to pick from their five restaurants (and room service!) for all three meals. It was so nice not to have to worry about it.

We had the honeymoon package, but we didn't get much for that except a cool "honeymooners" sash on our door and these cute towel thingies.

And for the most part, we just chilled. We spent an afternoon in Puerto Vallarta, shopping and walking along the ocean and being tourists. They have a cool old church that is kinda the site in Puerto Vallarta. The top of the church looks like a crown. It was beautiful. I liked this picture because in the left side there's a pinata. I'm a dork.

Our hotel had a private beach, which was so very nice. And being there in an offseason was also great, because the beach was never crowded. At all. And it was 80 degrees every day, so it was perfect.

We could hear and see the ocean from our room. I love the sound of waves crashing onto the sand; it was so loud we thought it was the wind. I loved that.

One day we went whale watching on a sail boat. That was very fun. There were only about 35 people on the boat, which was nice. I get motion sick very easily, but being on a sail boat was fine. I took three Dramamine over nine hours, but I was amazed how well I handled the boat. Sailing was great. And it was nice to be on such a small boat, because every time they saw a whale (or the sea turtle or huge sting ray) they just turned the boat and followed it. We greatly enjoyed it.

The sail boat took us to a small island where we snorkeled for an hour. I've forgotten how much I enjoy that type of thing. We took an underwater camera, so this shot it kinda crappy because I had to scan it (although the scanning affect on this picture is kinda cool). But here's us right before we were done.

We spent a lot of time on the beach, reading and napping and getting free non-alcoholic drinks. Totally my kind of vacation.

Wow

Last Wednesday I again donned my wedding dress, and Todd and I took bridals at a dry lake bed. I wanted to take the bridals when I wasn't afraid of getting a little dirt on my dress.

We used a photographer whose work I'd seen online; his pictures are amazing. When he got out of the car, my first impression of him and his shaved head (yea for bald men) and his long goatee and chin piercing was, "This is going to be great!" And it was. The pictures are amazing.

It was such a fun shoot. He just told me and Todd what to do, and we had a great time. What a fun afternoon, and awesome pictures. He's a great photographer who I absolutely recommend.

P.S. I don't know what happened to the comments section on the post below. That's kinda annoying.

You take the breath right out of me

At our reception, Todd and I had what I consider to be quite an awesome assortment of music. It was totally eclectic and made me happy. We had the normal country love songs that are fantastic, some other great slow love songs, and of course Ms. Celine Dion, but we also had The Killers, Blue October, Metallica (truly. Oh, "Nothing Else Matters," how I love thee), reggae, . . . and Breaking Benjamin. My favorite band. Their song Breath is pretty much my and Todd's song.

Todd and I danced to Play Me by Neil Diamond. I love that song and it gives me chills and I have always wanted to dance to it at my wedding. So we did. Not because it meant anything to our relationship, but because Todd is good to me and lets me have my way. Which rocks.

Also, we danced to Play Me because Breath (1) isn't a slow song, (2) isn't a slow-dance song, (3) isn't even a love song. To wit,

"So sacrifice yourself, and let me have what's left. I know that I can find the fire in your eyes. I'm going all the way, get away, please. ... You left a hole where my heart should be. You got to fight just to make it through, 'cause I will be the death of you."

Not really lovey, huh.

BUT, in the spot where the "..."s are, it says, "You take the breath right out of me." I LOVE that line. Any songs dealing with taking breath away is just so awesome to me. And a bit sensual. I just love it. And the fact that line is in the middle of a great song with electric guitars just makes it better.

I have been mildly obsessed with Breaking Benjamin for about 5 years. Last year when Todd and I started IMing frequently, one time he asked about music as an excuse to talk to me (cute). So I told him about le Benjamin, and Todd agreed they're awesome. After we'd started dating, he set the ringtone when I call him to be Breath, specifically the "You take the breath right out of me" part. Which was very sweet. And since then it's been our song.

Below is the music video for Breath, just in case you're interested in hearing the song that defines us but wasn't appropriate for our first dance (and you can also take a gander at the band that is Breaking Benjamin. If they're ever in your town, see them. They're awesome live.).

(Sigh)

We're back. The wedding is done. And everything was perfect. I love that! All the planning and worrying and hoping, and everything was great. Better than great.


I'll do a longer post of wedding pics and some honeymoon pics. Puerto Vallarta was beautiful, and it was so nice to be on vacation together for a week. After the stress of a wedding I can absolutely see the necessity for a honeymoon.


Thanks for everyone for making our wedding day so wonderful. We have great friends and family.


Here's my requisite random trip picture to tide you over until I make a longer post. I can't promise anything quick--I'm loving this marriage thing.

Longest week ever

So the wedding is in 2 days, and this week has just dragged. Being excited makes time stop. Today is my last day of work for 10 days, which is fantastic (Mexico, here we come!). Also great is knowing the week is almost done, so I can stop stressing about all the things that could go wrong.

Most of our siblings are in town or arriving tonight, and it has been so fun. I love having time to hang out with family. It's so weird to think Todd and I will very soon be our own family. So cool.

And it's cold! Like, the temperature dropped 20 degrees and it's windy. The forecast for Saturday is warmer, so I'm hoping that's true. If not, maybe I can wear my snazzy new purple coat. There's nothing wrong with that.

Yesterday we got a present from my grandparents who are on a mission and not coming to the wedding (sad). We've been opening all the presents we get before the wedding, because (1) we're way excited and opening presents is so fun, and (2) we figure we'll have more presents after the wedding, so it's easier to stretch it out and enjoy opening all the gifts. Anyway, back to my grandparents' gift: they sent the cutest framed quote by Dr. Seuss. It says,

You know you're in love when you can't sleep . . .

because reality is finally better than your dreams.

Awwwwww.

G-I-R-L-S . . . just wanna have fun

Last Saturday my friends gave me a bridal shower. It was so much fun. I really enjoyed being able to spend a few hours with so many great people. A bridal shower is a great excuse for a few hours of girl time.

They did a video of Todd answering questions (luckily they didn't make me put bubble gum in my mouth if I got it wrong--yea!) and he was pretty darn cute in it, if I do say so myself. And we got most of our answers the same. We're total dorks. We even had the same inflection and response time on a few questions. I'm so proud. My sister was taking pictures and got a very cute shot of me watching the video of Todd (I'm totally twitterpated). I like this picture.

My polls are way more fun than CNN's (and more accurate)

So it turns out I have more than 4 friends who read this blog--apparently there are 13. Woo-hoo! And of those 13 people, 53% think it's not tacky to include in our wedding invitations information about where we're registered. Thanks for the input.

I am in a gray area--I think it's tacky, especially when printed directly on the invitation; but I also know it's a necessary evil to avoid weird gifts, and also to make our guests' lives easier (if they choose to bring a gift. Which is not required, future wedding guests of ours. Therein lies my issue--telling people where we're registered seems to imply "bring a gift if you're coming," which I dislike and is not true.) (that was a very big aside).

We are indeed telling people where we're registered, but printed on an insert. And in small font. And mainly to avoid, as was suggested, hummingbird bookends.