Our first anniversary is tomorrow! Time has flown by so quickly, it doesn't feel like it has been a year at all. I've been thinking about our wedding a lot the last few days and realized that I don't have a written down account of the day anywhere, so I'm going to at least type one up. I'm going to omit a few details though for the sake of it not getting back to some people. Anyways...
So I woke up early and went down to get my hair done at Valerie's (a lady that lives up the street that I've known since I was a baby). I think it took about an hour and a half to get my hair done and then I headed back home. I'd made sure to pack all my bags the night before so I wasn't stressing. My mom told me to change my clothes that I was wearing to the temple though because she thought the outfit I wore to our dinner (we did that instead of a lunch) the day before was cuter. So I changed my clothes and then mom, dad, and I were off to the Salt Lake temple around 8:00ish.
We get to the temple and we get the marriage certificate and our witnesses (Chris's dad and my dad) in order and finalized. After we got all of that done we went our separate ways to get ready. I took my temple dress in case they said my wedding dress was too ornate, but they said it was fine (minus needing a little jacket since it was short-sleeved) and I was so excited! The temple worker kept getting upset with me though because I handed the key to my locker to my mom; I guess she thought we'd get separated and never see each other again. By this time I was so giddy and excited. I'd been getting so tired of people asking me "are you nervous?" and "are you sure?", seriously, isn't it bad if I'm as nervous as they expected me to be?
The walk to the celestial room was the longest walk of my life but at the same time it barely took any time at all. The temple worker left we at the door and I walked in and Chris was already there. I could see his eyes light up and he told me how beautiful I looked and then we sat on one of the couches. There was another couple on a couch opposite from us and I guess Chris had been kind of grouped with him because Chris kept giving him a silent countdown until it was to be our turn. It was adorable how excited he was.
They finally came to get us and took us down the hall to our sealing room and had us wait outside so that Elder Jack Goaslind (the man to do the sealing) could give us a few instructions. We finally got to walk in and I was so happy to see almost all of the people we love most in the world (minus a few that were in the waiting room due to age, not being endowed yet, etc) there to support us. I was so excited that I don't really remember much of the ceremony, and because I was crying so hard. I'm really glad I had thought to bring some tissues and that my mom was smart and gave me some waterproof mascara! When the ceremony was over we exchanged rings and then Elder Goaslind handed me the marriage license and said "Here's the deed to your property." After that we hugged and talked to everyone and then we headed down to get ready for pictures.
After we filtered out of the sealing room we went back to our dressing rooms to get ready to out to do pictures. I somehow got done before Chris and was waiting by the doors. A male temple worker went off to find him for me and came back with the wrong guy, but then Chris walked around the corner. Picture taking was good at first, but then it got colder and rainier. I think I managed to not get the veil too dirty though, which is good since I borrowed it from Katrina. When we got done with the pictures we went back to change into our regular clothes to get ready for setting up for the reception. An interesting turn of events though is that Chris went with his family who then decided to go get something to eat (which I didn't find out until later) and I went with my parents and went home and took a nap. So right after we got married I had no idea where Chris was for hours.
I had to run and get my hair touched up while everyone was eating lunch because Chris kept pulling on my ringlets during the pictures. I got back home and we were setting up for the reception and then the photographer showed up. She wandered around taking pictures while I got my dress and veil back on and while the rest of the family showed up. We decided to do all the pictures before the reception so we wouldn't have to deal with it when we were trying to talk to all the people coming through. We had Brian take less formal pictures throughout the reception. We got so caught up that we cut the cake and did the garter/bouquet toss in the last 20 minutes before we left. I thought Chris was going to mash cake in my face so I did it first and then he was nice...he still brings that up from time to time.
Some of the guys from my side of the family decorated the car, I guess Chris's brother's didn't remember/want to; we especially liked the balloon structure attached to the antana and were sad when it flew off on the freeway. We finally escaped to go change our clothes. My friends Beth and Bri were up there helping me to track everything down. It was nice having a few minutes with them alone. I also took a few minutes to run around and give out my bride's maid presents and the gift I got for my parents. We finally got all our stuff in the car and then went back in so that we could re-exit with everyone blowing bubbles (instead of rice throwing). And then we were off!
Wow, that was long. Mainly for my own records so if you actually read it all the way through you're awesome!
Both of our flowers. Mine's on the right and Chris's is on the left, it's hard to see but his is black and red. (P.S. Delynn, I love those Halloween towels and the pumpkin!)
The Art Institute guy finishing the end of Chris's flower.
