My wedding day and the couple weeks leading up to
it were perfect. Granted, there are things you can't
control, like the temple being covered in orange scaffolding,
but overall, it was perfect.
I woke up the morning of August tenth, showered, and
dried my hair before Tasha was supposed to come to the house to do my hair.
Tasha and I set up camp in my bathroom and chatted about who knows what
while she proceeded to rat and douse my hair with a ridiculous amount of
hairspray. I wasn’t sure that my thin, fine hair was going to recover from that
much schtuff, but nearly 75 bobby pins and three hours later, it looked
incredible. Tasha is a miracle worker. The end.
After she left I decided to go to the reception center,
Highland Gardens. When I got there, I was amazed at how beautiful
everything looked. The girls had taken care of everything: the flowers, the
candles, the photos, the centerpieces—all of it. We adjusted a few tables to
make the setup more cozy and then I headed back to the house with my mom
to eat some (not much) lunch, get my makeup done (by my
mom), and lace me into my wedding dress (Mom
again) for group photos with our immediate families before
the ceremony.
Meanwhile, Colby and
his menfolk were fishing in the Provo river
and my soon-to-be-husband was the one who caught
something!
We all met up at the temple in the early afternoon and,
miraculously, it was overcast. The entire week the temperatures had
been hot (sunny and in the upper nineties), and I was a tiny bit worried
that our families would want to injure us because they were sweating to death
at one in the afternoon wearing all black. I was crossing my
fingers that we wouldn't die of heat stroke and/or that it would
be cooler and/or cloudy. It started sprinkling as we pulled up into
the parking lot, which seemed a little less perfect than I was expecting, but
the drizzle fizzled out in about three minutes and we were home free from then
on. It started to warm up near the end of our photoshoot when the sun came
out from behind the clouds, but it wasn’t too bad.
After the initial distraction of the rain, I immediately
realized that there were more brides and families taking pictures at the
Timpanogos Temple that day than I had ever seen there. It was what I
imagine the Salt Lake Temple being like in the middle of summer--crazy. I
figured that a Friday would be a lot less busy than a Saturday, but apparently
not. I talked to one of the temple workers about it later and she said that on
average they have about 16 weddings a day on summer weekends, but on August 10,
2012, there were 32. What was amazing was that even though there were
loads of people swarming the grounds outside, there wasn't really anyone
inside. Thankfully we were sealing number 27 of the 32 that day, so by the
time it was our turn, the bride’s room was practically deserted so it didn’t
feel busy at all.
Rewinding a bit—group pictures went really well. It
was a really smooth process because, being the crazy organized person that I
am, I decided to write out a list of photos we wanted taken so that I
could give it to our group photo photographer, Gwen Woolstenhulme, and
make things easy. Well it was basically the best idea
I’ve ever had, besides marrying Colby of course.
After each photo, Bree whipped out her
clipboard and announced the names of everyone who was in the next
photo. All it took was one hour for us to take all of our family and
close friends photos. Brilliant. We did the same thing for pictures after
the ceremony when all of our extended families were there. The efficiency
of it all was superb, if I do say so myself.
Colby's
immediate family
(Kristy,
Ron, Lauren, and Aaron)
my
immediate family
(Deveren, Kiara, Brad, Nicole, Brielle, Brian, and the kids:
Brek, Bailie, Beckett, Cougar, Calloway)
all of us
sisters
Colby and
Lauren
(They
took a few photos at Lauren's wedding and duplicated them at our wedding,
so I put
together a little "then and now" collage.)
my favorite sisters and me
looking beautiful, as always
Mom and Dad
my train carrier (and Colby's best man), Daniel
my very best ladies
Haley, Katie, and Bree
the Houston clan
The amazing
Gwen and Bree
We went back to my house to change into our church clothes to go
into the temple and when it was time I went downstairs where the men-folk were
changing out of their tuxes (aka watching sports) to let Colby know it was time
to go. (It was just before 3pm at this point.) He immediately looked at me,
confused.
“We’re getting married today . . .” I said, drifting off at the
end as if it were a half question.
“It’s not 3:30,” he responded. “We have until 3:30.”
Apparently he had forgotten that everyone else was supposed to
be there by 3:30, but we needed to be there by 3. I think he was a little
nervous, so nervous that he didn’t say anything to me on the drive over. I
grabbed one of his hands and smiled at him; I think he tried to smile back at
me and was only mildly successful, so he reverted to nodding instead.
Before our sealing, I was only getting ready in the
bride's room with one other bride. It was so peaceful and perfect. I guess
there was one other girl (that I don't really count) laying on the couch in the
in her wedding dress. I gathered from her whining that she was waiting for her
turn to do her big exit. There are so many brides and grooms that they organize
everyone to exit in order, so my guess is that there was a holdup with the
bride and groom before her and they were clogging up the area by the doors.
Apparently she was feeling extremely claustrophobic and she
just wanted “to get out and see her husband!” I don’t know how you can be so
cranky after you just got married for eternity, but I paid no attention to her
and had a great time with my mom. After our sealing, I was the only bride
in the room, so that was even better. I would definitely
recommend getting married in the late afternoon. It was fantastic.
The entire experience from that point on was so
beautiful it was almost surreal. Colby was confident and back to normal and
when we walked into the room I was pretty overwhelmed. It was the first time I
had seen all of my family that had come into town for the wedding and I couldn’t
even remember the last time we had all been together. I felt so blessed to have
a family that was willing to travel as far as some of them did to support me
and my almost-husband. I was especially happy to see my sisters in the
front row to my right; the thought of all of us being in the same club (if you
will) in a few minutes was wonderful. My parents definitely did a lot of things
right to get all of their daughters to the temple. I immediately smiled
and I don’t think I stopped grinning like a lunatic for the rest of the day.
Once it was our turn to make our big entrance outside as husband
and wife, my mom left to give everyone outside a heads up that we were on our
way out, but that didn’t happen quite like we thought. There was some
miscommunication and, long story short, both Colby and I ended
up sitting alone, waiting for each other for 5 or 10 minutes,
even though both of us were ready.
When we were finally reunited, we walked through the main level
of the temple toward the door and I felt like a princess—the happiest princess
alive. We stood behind the door for a second until I said, “Are you
ready?” As soon as we pushed those doors open, there was
immediately an uproar of cheers coming from our family and
friends outside. It was so incredible and I was actually
stunned! I loved it, but all I could do was stare at
everyone. Those pictures are a little awkward to look at, but as soon as
I’m pulled back to reality, I was laughing and smiling and kissing Colby—my
husband.
My niece Bailie ran up to me, looked up at me, and put
her hands up on my dress. I picked her up and she told me that I was married and
that Colby was her uncle now.
the
paparazzi
We took
pictures with the whole gang and some smaller groups
and
then everyone dispersed to head to Highland Gardens.
the whole
gang
Colby's family
my family
our friends
Colby and his manly men
me and my girls
Jill, Kelley, and Denise
(three of my favorite ladies)
Highland Gardens
Once we
got to Highland Gardens, Kiara met up with Mom and me and snapped a few
photos, but I didn’t even have time to spruce up my makeup (good thing I didn’t
cry) before I was ushered out to Colby so we could make yet another
entrance.
We walked in to clapping and cheering
and sat down in two chairs at the front of the
room
while Colby's grandpa,
Ron, came up to the front to start the ceremony.
It
was a really fun experience and I’m glad we did it. Colby
and I each wrote vows, which we said to each other in turn (Colby first,
then me) before we exchanged rings. I was intimidated by the thought of
speaking in front of everyone on my wedding day when I was sure I wouldn’t be
able to think, but it was wonderful to get to talk to each other and
give everyone there some more background about us and our relationship.
We
kissed and sat back down so Ron could do his thing. He is so sweet and
definitely entertaining, so it was great.
He gave us some great words of wisdom which included saying "I love you" as often as possible and focusing on each other instead of on ourselves. After that, my lovely girlfriends Hannah, Haley, and Bree had clipboards with names and table numbers on them, so they led everyone in the right direction for dinner.
The food was great and the caterer was a champ. We started dinner a little late and she managed to keep our food warm. We had a summery fruit salad followed by blueberry chicken, rice, and fresh veggies. For dessert we had the choice between strawberries and crème tarts or chocolate coconut pecan pie. Loved it.
As soon as all of us at the head table were done with our
main course, we started the program. Each of our parents
and sisters got up to say something. Dad did his “Top 10” list of
advice, which I requested; Ron talked about how I didn’t “bug” Colby, which was
apparently a new thing; our moms presented baskets for each of us (Kristy did
one for me about Colby and Mom did one for Colby about me) and went through all
of their contents and explained how they related to us; and our sisters each
told a story and gave us a gift.
My family had worked
out getting me a very rare copy of
one of the worst
movies ever made, TOGE+HER.
It's awesome.
And then my mom read
a slightly embarrassing writing assignment
of mine from when I was a kid.
My
oldest sister, Brielle, told a story about me and how I was so amazed that her
husband (fiancé at the time) invited me to go get ice cream with the two of
them and opened the door for me. Apparently I told her that I
wanted a husband who would do things like that (and I got one!). Bri got
us a gift card to Coldstone to go along with it.
Lauren
got up second and told a story about how Colby couldn’t keep a secret when
he was little and he spilled the beans too soon about what he got for Lauren
for Christmas one year—a cowgirl Barbie. Lauren got us the Australian Barbie
(it was the closest she could find).
Then Kiara got
up and told a story about both of us—how she spied on us on her porch after our
first date. She talked about my reaction when I came inside and she asked how
it went. I guess as soon as she asked I immediately fell on the floor
and said, “I’m in love, I’m in love, and I don’t care who knows it!”
(That’s an Elf reference, for all you non-movie goers out
there.) She gave us the binoculars she attempted to spy on us with.
Lastly,
Daniel Wilkes, Colby’s best friend and best man, got up and talked about the
first time Colby told him about me—after our first date—and Colby decided to
keep our relationship restricted to friends with benefits. Joke’s on him!
Finally,
Colby and I got up.
We told the abridged version of how we met and
then gave my cousin Heather a gift because she introduced us. I had
the brilliant idea of giving her the supplies to make Oreo balls, which we made
the first time she told me about Colby, and the movie we watched—Wait Until
Dark. Lastly, we thanked everyone for loving us and coming to support us on
the best day of our lives so far.
Then it
was time for the reception!
I
danced with my dad and it was amazing.
I had
to take my shoes off before we danced because my heels made me
significantly
taller than him, so I hiked up my dress and we danced.
He is
the sweetest man I know and the things he said to me in those couple of minutes
made me cry. I realized that it's such a miracle that he's alive
and that he was there to see me get married, so all of my thoughts mixed
together and oozed out of my eyes. I love my dad and I knew it would be
different having my own family compared to being in his. Obviously I’m still
his daughter and I always will be, and obviously it’s not like I’m straying too
far, but it was still an emotional few minutes.
Then I got to dance with Colby. My dad finished our dance by walking me to a chair where I sat down while Colby walked toward me from the edge of the room with my shoes on a silver platter.
He put on my shoes and then we did our dance,
complete with a few spins and a dip.
Luckily
all the turns and such only required me to lift my right arm because I'd ripped
the left armpit of my dress and the rip was making its way around the sleeve
seam and down the seam of the bodice. Trouble. That's what I get for
trying to bend over and move my dress out of the way so my mom wasn't swimming
in it during dinner. Whoopsidaisies!
Then my cute niece and nephew joined us,
followed by our parents and a few other couples.
Before and after our dance, the reception guests had started to trickle in, so we chatted with people and then after two more regular dancing songs, Justin Bieber's song Baby came on. I looked around the room to find my single girlfriends. We exchanged knowing glances and they started clearing people off of the dance floor.
I grabbed a chair and set it down in front of the
crowd, but still on the edge of the dance
floor, and interrupted a conversation Colby was having with someone
(whoever you were, I'm sorry!) to sit him down in the chair. I started
lip-syncing to him, along with Justin and my background dancers, and once the
second verse started, all my ladies and I started our choreographed
dance!
It was amazing and another one of those brilliant things that
I’m so glad I thought to do and even more glad that I actually did it. One
of the greatest parts was when Daniel and Thomas did the rap part. Classic.
We have a video of it online, but unfortunately some of our
sweet dance moves are missing because James was focused on getting
Colby's reaction, but you can get the general idea, so I’m really happy to have
it. Thanks James!
I still laugh over how much I surprised him with that
dance. It was one of my favorite parts of the day because he was shocked.
And it was really fun to do that with my girlfriends. The sad thing
is that a lot of people didn’t get to see it because it was so spontaneous. A
few people requested that we do it again, but Colby and I were a little busy
and it just wouldn't have been the same without the shock factor.
After our time with Bieber, we socialized with
all the reception goers, danced a tiny bit more, ate a little bit
here and there, threw the bouquet, and then it was time for our send
off. Let's just talk about the bouquet toss for a second. Dear girlfriends, I
know it was a crappy throw and I apologize. I momentarily forgot that my dress
was in the process of falling apart, so halfway through my kettle bell toss I
realized that I wouldn't be able to move my left arm nearly as far as I was
planning. Can I get some slack, please?
We were so busy that night that I barely had time to register
that it was windy and pouring rain outside. Thank heavens for my stubborn
insistence that we have our reception inside!
Right around 10pm I went back to the bride’s room
and changed into my send-off dress while our sisters
handed out bags of mini marshmallows for everyone to throw in the air above us
as we left (like rice, but better). That was Colby’s idea. We waited until we
got the green light from Kiara (she had readied her camera,
apparently) and we ran through the line of our family and friends as
they pelted us (someone didn't tell them the rules . . . )
with mini marshmallows as we ran to the car.
It actually hurt! I was blocking my face from nasty blows,
but once we got out of the fray I couldn't help but laugh.
Then we
got into the car and waved our goodbyes.
And left our families to take care of the
cleanup.
Let's be honest, we had no regrets about that.
