Wedding Day: The Exit

I have been to so many weddings where only like one or two people are there when the bride and groom left, and I was terrified that no one would be there to fulfill my dream of having a sparkler exit at my wedding. Luckily, when we walked out of the venue, there were two long lines, packed with friends and family holding sparklers. It made me ridiculously happy to see. 

Wedding Day: The Bouquet & Garter Toss

Ethan wanted all things traditional at our wedding, so of course we had a bouquet toss and garter toss.

During the bouquet toss, we had "Man! I Feel Like A Woman" by Shania Twain playing.

Wedding Day: The Dances

Ethan and I did our wedding dances a little different than most people do. Because my dad, Mark, and Alec are all important men in my life, I wanted to make sure I got to honor each of them during the dancing. 

First, Ethan danced with his mom

 to a song called "A Mother's Song"

Wedding Day: The Entrance, The Shoe Game, The Cake & The Toasts

Our entrance was supposed to be grand, but it wasn't planned or executed very well (my fault). We came in to Jason Derulo's "Want to Want Me" and it was a lot of fun. The bridal party came out dancing and then Brooke and Preston came out with a sign introducing us. 

Wedding Day: The Details

Okay, so I am not kidding when I say that my wedding was the most beautiful wedding I've ever been to. I don't even feel bad saying that because my mom did 99% of everything, therefore all credit goes to her. 

Since Ethan and I were up in Idaho in the months prior to our wedding, this superwoman of a mom put together this gorgeous, princess-like, perfect wedding in THREE MONTHS. 

I told her I wanted it to be light pink and silver/sparkles and glam, but not over the top. I asked for fresh flowers and she basically spent three months texting me pictures and calling me to make sure everything was perfect. 

I can't thank her enough for making my dream wedding come to life. She is incredible, but not offering her services to anyone else, anytime soon because it was a lot of work :) Here are just a few details to capture how perfect and gorgeous this wedding of mine was, all thanks to her. 

Wedding Day: Getting Ready

Since I originally got ready at 5am, I definitely needed to retouch my hair and make up by 4pm. Luckily, my mom was there to help me. I didn't get pictures of me getting ready early in the morning, but I'm so glad my mom convinced me to take some while I was getting ready before the reception because I love how they turned out. 

Wedding Day: The Bridal Party

As explained previously, Ethan and I got married in a temple. You can read all about my temple marriage here. Because we got married in the temple, there wasn't an aisle for either of us to walk down. 


Ethan and I still wanted our families to be included in our wedding party, so we had our brothers and sisters be our bridesmaids and groomsmen. There were so many of my good friends that I wanted standing beside me on my wedding day, but since there was no place for them to stand during the actual ceremony, the bridal party served a very different purpose. 

I am so grateful for my close friends who understood, loved and supported me despite this decision. Sometimes, people can get touchy about who is/isn't in the wedding party. Planning a wedding is stressful, so it was nice not to have to worry about my best friends being mad at me. 

The bridesmaids were my sisters: Katie and Shelby, 

and Ethan's sisters: Crystal and Veronica. 

The groomsmen were my brother: Alec, and Ethan's brother: Ian.

The junior bridesmaid was Ethan's youngest sister: Emma.

And the flower girl and ring bearer were Brooke and Preston.

Wedding Day: Temple Guests & Family

Here is almost everyone who attended our temple sealing. About ten people who were there didn't make it into the picture, but boy are Ethan and I lucky that so many people love and support us. Most of these people had to wake up early in the morning and drive anywhere from 2-15 hours to come support us that day. I know that many other people would have been there if distance and the ability to go inside the temple weren't a factor. Thank you to all of you as well. If you look closely, you can see Ethan and I somewhere in the middle :)

Wedding Day: Temple Exit

As explained previously, Ethan and I got married in the temple which you can read about here.  Exiting the temple shares the same excitement as the newly married bride and groom kissing at the alter. Mostly for record sake, here are some pictures of us exiting the temple hugging our family. 

Wedding Day: The Temple

It was absolutely surreal.

On August 29, 2015 at about 5:30 am, I woke up next to my mom at the hotel we were staying at in San Diego, CA. I knew once I was officially married, I would be sleeping next to Ethan every night; so I decided to find comfort next to my mom, the woman who created me and raised me to get to this point, just one more time.

Waking up, it felt just like any other day. I was calm and well-rested. I felt peace and comfort. I got up and took a shower, when there was a knock at the door. It was Joanna, the only woman I trust to cut or style my hair. The next knock came from Meagan, my best friend from high school. They came in the early hours of the morning to my hotel room in San Diego to do my hair and make-up because it was not just like any other day.

It was absolutely not just like any other day. It was the day I would kneel across the alter in a temple of God and commit to loving Ethan and standing by his side, as his wife, forever. And it was perfect.

(PS, Look at how he is looking at me, I love these pictures.)

Honeymooners (Part IV)

Okay, okay. You're probably wondering when the honeymoon posts are going to end... probably never because we love each other lots! But our actual honeymoon ended at one of the best places ever, Disneyland!!

Since we were only 20 minutes from Disneyland after our cruise ended, we called my friend from high school who worked at Disneyland and asked if she was working that day to get us into the park. She said yes, but it wouldn't be until 4pm. At first we hesitated, but Ethan hadn't been to Disneyland since he was 8, and I'm genuinely obsessed... so we couldn't resist the offer!!

We got breakfast and hung around Downtown Disney while waiting, but the moment she got to the park, we were so anxious to get in. 

Honeymooners (Part III)

Every morning on the cruise, Ethan and I ordered breakfast in bed, free of charge! That's the biggest perk to a cruise: everything you need is paid for!

Honeymooners (Part II)

After our relaxing stay in the condo, Ethan and I drove to Long Beach where we left on our cruise to Catalina Island and Mexico. Neither one of us, nor our families, had ever been on a cruise before, so we had no idea what to expect. 

Honeymooners (Part I)

After the most perfect wedding, Ethan and I arrived at our condo for the weekend. Since it had a full kitchen and living room, it was fun to relax in a little apartment for a couple days before we left on our cruise. My mom called ahead and had it decorated with sparkling cider, chocolate covered strawberries and rose petals everywhere. It looked beautiful. I had to sneak a few pictures while Ethan was bring stuff up from the car. 

Bridals

As I said in the previous post, taking pictures ahead of the wedding was seriously the best idea ever. I know a lot of people do get the chance to walk down an aisle, so if you want that element of surprise, go for it! 

However, if you don't mind doing it ahead of time let me tell you...being able to have pictures taken before my wedding made things so much more easy-going. I wasn't in a rush, I had loads of time to get my hair and make up done, and we got to choose the weather and location! Take it from the queen of stress, it was well worth it. Plus, it saved us tons of time between the ceremony and reception. 

The First Look.

A week before our wedding, we decided to do a photo shoot in our wedding attire. This means that I was I okay with Ethan seeing me in my wedding dress before the ceremony. I was only okay with this for three reasons...

The Proposal- May 9, 2015

It was a Saturday night, he took me to my favorite food place available in Idaho... Olive Garden.

He said we should dress fancier because "we haven't been able to go on a real date since we've been up at school because we've both been so busy."