One Year!

I seriously can't believe that it's been a year since I married the sweetest, most handsome guy!  It has gone so fast, it really does remind me that time is so precious and to enjoy life, every little bit of it!

So today I wanted to reminisce a little about our great wedding day!  I remember the countless hours we spent buying, planning and working on all things wedding.  It was so much fun and a lot of work!  We loved planning it together, and making it our own special day.  

I can't forget our families too!  I still remember calling my mom at work and complaining (many times) about how my dress STILL hadn't arrived.  She was always so patient, and was willing to help with anything and you bet your bottom dollar she called the dress shop! ;) I also remember Brittany working on ALL the chalkboard signs for HOURS!  She seriously is so talented.  My mother in law also made loads of print outs, stickers and truffles to help with the candy bar at our reception (one of my favorite parts).  Thanks for helping us with our special day!  

So I thought I'd share a few highlights from that day.

If you want to see more from our day and all the adorable details we worked on for months, I have a post at the Temple, and Reception Part 1 and Part 2!  It really was such a fabulous day! 

The night we got engaged...

Just for memory sake I thought I'd add our Engagement story here.

 

Dallin did such a perfect job at planning this special night.  He is so awesome!  While he was in the planning phase of the proposal he would drop little comments like "So do you want your family there or just us?"  He is so thoughtful.  I actually did want my family there.  But when the night rolled around my little sister was in her pj's just chilling while I left and my Mom told me to have fun and she was off to visit her best friend so I thought for sure they weren't coming.  But let's start from the beginning...

 

Even though I knew it was coming I didn't know what he was going to do so he took me on a trip down memory lane.  We started by going to La Jolla Groves at The Gateway (now closed but there is still one in Provo).  Our first date we went to a burger place down town and the chalk festival at The Gateway.  We had the most amazing fancy dinner of pasta and macaroni and cheese at La Jolla Groves!

 

While we were driving back to Sandy he stopped at the church that we had our first real conversation at one FHE and had a special secret agent make it all fancy with our dessert-DOUGHNUTS!  Even though it was cold it was so much fun to reminisce about the last time we were there and how we talked till midnight in that parking lot. 

 

We made another stop at Granite Park where we first became "official". I remember walking around and thinking how gorgeous the stars were, it was a perfectly clear winter night.  We walked around for a little while and found some flowers the special secret agent placed for Dallin. 

 

We headed over to Draper and I thought for sure we were going to the place we first kissed but he stopped at the Draper temple.  My childhood temple that holds a special place in my heart.  He said he just wanted to walk around for a second while we were up there.  When we reached the north side with the beautiful view he popped the question.  Funny story so while he was getting ready to propose I saw my little sister run behind a pillar and I knew they were all there. It was the best!  They were able to take all these cute pics, and somewhere there is a video of it.   I love my cute fam!

 

After we drove up to the place we first kissed overlooking Alpine and had our first real kiss as an engaged couple.  I can hear all the "ooo's" and "aww's" now.  haha

 

It was perfect and I love this cutie of mine! And thanks to all the people that helped Dallin make this happen so smoothly-he had his best friend Jared be the secret agent of the night and he was perfectly on time to every spot. 

 

December 23, 2014

 



 

Candy Wrappers

I remember my Mom coming home from a wedding reception a long time ago with a personalized candy wrapper on a little candy bar.  I thought it was the cutest thing ever!  So when our big day came along I knew I wanted to take that idea and run with it.  My mom, mother in law, sister and I all brainstormed and came up with a few different ideas.  My cute mother in law printed all of them and designed them so they looked exactly how we wanted them, with the perfect colors, sayings and pictures!  She even thought to put a little picture of Dallin and I to personalize it just a little bit more. 

 

 

We also put some on the bottoms of Hershey Kisses. 

 

 

 I love that you can personalize simple candy bars for any kind of event or gift.  You could customize them for a birthday party, birthday gift, church lesson, school activity, or anything.  It is such an inexpensive and cute way to add a little flair!

 



Taking Bridals/Groomals the Easy Way

We took our Bridals/Groomals at the Temple Quarry at the base of Little Cottonwood canyon.  It was the perfect place to catch the mountain scene without stomping around the mountains in a white dress!  We loved how they turned out and again Jenn did an amazing job!

After taking these and looking back on what worked and what didn't I thought I'd share some tips to make it as easy as possible for everyone involved.

 

Taking Bridals/Groomals the Easy Way

 

-Scope out locations a couple months before to see what kind of feel you want to go for.  Remember some (MOST) venues charge for you to take pictures on their property, some photographers cover the fee but some do not so keep that in mind while planning and budgeting. 

 

-Make SURE you have your dress ordered and that it will arrive with plenty of time to spare if possible!  Remember to consider that alterations take time and rush orders can have additional fees. 

So plan ahead!

 

-Coordinate schedules well before expected date.  Contact everyone from the suit vendor, wedding dress shop, photographer, videographer, hair and makeup help (if using).  Make sure you're all on the same page and the timeline is mapped out.

 

-A few weeks before the Bridal date make sure you have all accessories for both the bride and groom.  Order your flowers for that day, remember the bouquet AND the boutonniere. Double check jewelry, tie, shoes, everything! Do a test run if possible and try on everything before so you can make sure it works! If you decide to have the groom wear his ring remember that too.

 

-Think about time.  Your photographer and videographer will know all about this, but there are two specific times that are perfect and golden for pictures and videos.  And that magic time is usually around sunrise or sunset-it's called the golden hour! It's when the lighting hits just right and the results make your pictures pop.

 

-While considering the golden hour make sure to schedule your photographer and videographer at the same time.  We couldn't because schedules didn't work out as we'd hoped but man it would have been easier if we could've done them both at the same time.  My hair wouldn't have fallen flat, we could have got the same footage.  BUT I did love the variety of two locations so that is a bonus!

 

-Take a family member or a friend.  Even though this is kind of a boring time for them it helps a ton when you need them to hold the bouquet or other necessities. My mom came with us and she was a total angel, she made sure everything always looked right and we had everything we needed.

 

-Bring an emergency kit full of makeup for touch ups, baby wipes in case you get something on your dress, safety pins to pin back any loose clothing, snacks and water.  This sounds nuts but I wish I would have brought insect repellant.  When I was in the big field in the pictures below I got a pretty stellar mosquito bite and I wished I planned ahead.

 

-Protect the dress!! The last thing you want to do is get a hole in your dress or get it dirty before the big day.  I've heard horror stories of people washing their dress before the wedding and they had to get it altered AGAIN because it shrunk.  So try to avoid that.  We were at a location with a lot of dirt, rocks, twigs and so on.  We brought a white sheet with us and someone would lay out the sheet, while I would hike up my dress and slowly get in place on the sheet, then we'd tuck in all the edges of the sheet so it looked like nothing was out of the norm.  I've also heard you can use a shower curtain, whatever you have on hand works.

 

SO in recap just plan ahead and have fun.  Don't sweat the small stuff and try to keep on schedule. And finally wait for the pretty pictures to come...

 



Engagements

I absolutely loved our engagement pictures.  They turned out exactly as I hoped.  Jenn had some perfect locations for us to catch what we wanted.  She did so amazing and flash forward to just a few weeks ago...we lost our files for the engagements and Jenn STILL had them.  She totally saved the day.  She is such a sweetheart too!! If you'd like to see more of her work you can find her at Barnhouse Photography!

 

The Reception: Part 2

Last post about the reception, I promise!  We (mostly Dallin, but deep down I did too) always wanted to have an amazing dance party, and I think we got it.  Our DJ was such a cool guy and he kept everyone dancing!  But before I get ahead of myself we should start with the bouquet toss.

Bethany was pretty stoked that she caught it.  Then there was the first dance.

And a dance with my dad and Dallin's mom.  Back in the day Mr. Ralph here was a very impressive dancer, trust me he has boxes of trophies in the garage.  

 

It's always so fun to dance with my sweet dad.

 Then the party started!

Everyone was dancing-even Grandma!

Like mother-like daughter.  Goodness I love these fun women!  My incredible Mom deserved to dance the night away especially after dealing with me and all my wedding things for months.  She is such a sweet, patient and kind lady.  

Dallin had an impromptu solo dance.  He LOVED it! 

Eventually he roped me into it too.

Since it was the weekend of the fourth of July we could totally have all the fun fireworks we had always dreamed of.

We had a sparkler send off.

And surprised everyone with some bigger fireworks right before we left.

 Right about now Dallin looked over at me and we were both just grinning from ear to ear.  It was so fun to just drive off and talk about how perfect everything went and how much fun we had.  I will never forget how we both agreed that, that was THE best reception we had both ever been too. :)  What a perfect day!