Here Is The Low Down: Our Wedding

Our Wedding

It's finally here! I am FINALLY getting around to posting some wedding pictures/the wedding story/the wedding video! Huzzah!

Maddy and I had been working on putting out apartment together. We were moving things from Provo to Midvale and we decided to exchange our wedding gifts and leave them in the apartment. We also wrote each other little notes and they were kinda like vows. I read Maddy's and it was very real that were actually getting married. It was a really special moment.

The night before our wedding Randy and I exchanged gifts, which was really special. There was a moment when Randy just broke down, and I quickly was trying to figure out what was wrong. All he could say was "We did it. We made it." After all the hoping and planning and waiting and wishing, we were actually here. And it was perfect.

I also got my parents gifts - some amazing handkerchiefs with personalized messages on them. I got them on Etsy as a very personal keepsake for my parents to remember that day! I also got all of my bridesmaids some pearls, and thank you notes.

So the morning of the wedding, I woke up at about 4 AM. Partially to get ready, partially because I couldn't sleep another second! I started to curl my hair which was a process, and at about 6 my makeup lady came. It was so fun to chat - she had recently gotten engaged and it was great to be excited for each other.

I packed my bag and made sure my suitcases were all ready, and then headed upstairs, where Randy was waiting! Let me tell you, that was a crazy moment. The last time we would be in my house NOT as husband and wife. I whipped up some breakfast quick, and my sisters came out to eat Oatmeal Cream Pies (like Moon Pies if you've read "Sister of the Bride" by Beverly Cleary. It's a book I gave to both of my sisters as a gift and it's excellent!) with me before we left. Then, it was off to the temple. Randy and I drove together for some of the few moments we would have alone together that day. We jammed to Taylor Swift, and it was one of the best memories of my life.

On our walk into the temple we just chatted like it was a normal day, which was strange. I kept looking at Randy and thinking "Wow, we made it. We did it."
We got to the temple and got all ready, and our sealing was absolutely beautiful. We had some time in the Celestial Room before we were married, and that was incredibly special. I don't know if I can even explain how perfect it was.

As we walked through the temple, I just thought about how different life was going to be after that day. Waiting to actually be married was the worst! Patience was slim and I was so excited to be married. Our sealer was really solid and we had an amazing ceremony. And just like that, we were husband in wife. That's a really overwhelming feeling. I was so happy. There really isn't another way of putting it.

After we were married we walked outside the temple to cheers and congratulations from our friends and family. That's a once in a lifetime experience for sure. We then wandered around the temple, taking pictures and soaking in the fact that we were married! It was so surreal to me to finally, actually be the bride. To be the one in the white dress with the bouquet and the cheesy grin on my face. I wouldn't trade that day for anything.

Stay tuned for part 2, the luncheon!

Maddy and Randy's Temple Video from Aubree Jones on Vimeo.

HUGE shout out to Elisha Braithwaite and Aubree/Matt Bosen who did our photography and wedding video. They were STELLAR to work with and I recommend them 150%!

Happy Saturday everyone!

Our luncheon was at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and it was a blast! We ate salad, AMAZING Lion House rolls, chicken and rice and veggies, sparkling grape juice, and cheesecake to top it all off. Everything was so wonderful. I had written the order of things on a little card for Randy and I LOVED that Elisha snapped a picture of it.

My sisters read the cutest story about Randy and I that my mom had written. It talked about all the reasons that Randy and I were perfect for each other, and talked about our mutual love for Disney to our music and dancing time together. My mom spent the time to find out about Randy's childhood and compare it with mine to craft a beautiful piece, and I'm so grateful for it.

My sisters then sang a song, "When I Fall In Love." I sang this song at my Aunt Jill's wedding, and then we sang it at my brother's...it's becoming quite a tradition in our family which is really fun. They sang beautifully and my mom played perfectly. It was wonderful.

We showed our Love Story video that Aubree and Matt had done and it was SO perfect. Randy and I love sharing our story so it was so fun to show it to all our friends and family.

The bridesmaids gave me a gift where they all picked an item and explained how it related to Randy and my relationship, and my friendship with each wonderful girl. It was so awesome to reminisce with my best friends about our time together, and my love with Randy.

Caleb and Alexon wrote and performed a song about our love. It was so so so SO amazing. Caleb had asked each of us for an inside joke or a piece of our story that we wanted to be in the song, and he and Alexon incorporated them both into a beautiful song that told about our story. I almost started crying as these high school best friends of ours sent us off to our marriage.

Spencer then gave a toast and it was so perfect. He talked about the temple and how important it was, and about how it was a good thing that I can cook;) I loved hearing Randy's childhood best friend talk about how great we were together.

Both of our dads said a few words which was wonderful. My daddy is amazing. I'm so lucky!

It was an absolutely amazing luncheon, we were surrounded by our friends and loved ones and it was incredible to feel all that love and support from the people closest to us. It was the perfect way to start our marriage. And Elisha captured it perfectly, of course.

After our luncheon, we had about an hour so Randy and I ran back to our apartment because he forgot to pack shoes for our honeymoon! (silly Randy) and then headed right back to the Wight House for pictures! Aubree and Matt and Elisha and Todd spent a good two hours getting all kinds of pictures of bridesmaids, groomsmen, families, and more. It was SO fun to be all dolled up and getting our pictures taken.

Things were getting set up and there were a few mishaps here and there (one with a bird cage instead of a mailbox that I'm still a little upset about. Ok it's fine.)

We were giving back massages and goofing around with our bridesmaids and groomsmen while we waited for people to arrive. It was so fun to hang out with all our closest friends and family!

We had part of our reception inside, and part on the roof. All of it was SO beautiful and so fun. People started arriving, and Randy and I stood in line for a good 2 1/2 hours greeting people and saying hello to everyone! We got to see so many of our friends and neighbors and family and it was just so much fun. It was also HOT. I was dying. Luckily there was a floor vent that I stood over for 90% of the reception so that made things a little better haha! Randy and I were so busy saying hello, neither of us even ate a bite of our food! We laughed about it later, it was all too funny.

Then Spencer announced that it was time for the cake, so we went to cut it! I had warned Randy a million times that if he tried to smash the cake in my face I would kill him, so he politely fed me mine while I smashed his piece in his face! (Funny thing about the cake, later after we left my mom went to ask for the top tier for us to freeze. The waiting staff told her that nobody had asked them to save the top, so they had served most of it! I was SO shocked and a little upset when I found out, but hey life goes on!)

It was the most surreal thing cutting our cake, having our first dance to La Vie En Rose and then dancing with my dad to Butterfly Kisses. In like the seventh grade, I told my dad that we would dance to Butterfly Kisses at my wedding and he always teased me about it, but low and behold it happened and it was such an amazing memory. One that I will never forget.

We then started JAMMING and dancing and having so much fun, and it was so awesome that so many of our friends were there to make the dancing awesome. Rachel and I threw down to Wop which was SO fun and was such a perfect memory. I then tossed the bouquet and my darling friend Heidi caught it, which was so fun. I then rushed off to change out of my dress (we didn't want to bring it on our honeymoon with us) and then everyone was ushered outside to the sparklers! Randy and I said goodbye to our families, and then headed out! We hopped into our adorably decorated car, and off to married life!

We stopped about two minutes down the road for some McDonalds and we were blasting music, just saying to each other over and over, "Hey, we're married!! THIS IS CRAZY!"

Our wedding was the most wonderful day of our lives, not just because it was our wedding day and we got to dress up and spend time with family and friends, but because it was the day that we became a family, sealed together FOREVER. Nothing beats that.

#foreverthelows

5.30.15