Six months ago today, I married the most wonderful man.
It was the perfect day. This post is long and it has a lot of photos, but it's worth it.
We were married in the Logan, Utah, LDS temple, the sixth generation of my mom's family to do so. It was a risky choice in winter, but it turned out exactly as we hoped, with just the right amount of snow.
Since we and most of our guests stayed in Logan the night before, I had to spend the night before my wedding in a one room hotel room with my entire immediate family and share the bathroom getting ready in the morning with three other women. The men, my dad and brother, wisely steered clear as much as possible, and I only had to call "Bride!" once for mirror dominance. As crazy as it was, it was still really fun to have my mom and sister help me get ready before Blake picked me up to take me to the temple.
The ceremony was, of course, beautiful. To kneel across the altar from my best friend and the best man I know and make eternal covenants with him and with Heavenly Father, surrounded by supportive and loving family and friends, was a precious experience I'll never forget.
By about 10:30 in the morning, we were married and it was time for celebrating!
But first, let's talk about the clothes.
My mom made my dress. I wore her wedding slip, which she didn't actually get to wear at her own wedding, because it somehow got left in Idaho.
We bought matching Chucks, because I wear orthotics and there was no way I was going to go without them that day. Plus they're just awesome and a sly reference to one of my favorite shows.
I made the bouquet from brooches and assorted jewelry donated by family and friends and a few things I picked up on my own.
I also made my earrings and Blake's boutonniere, which is a reference to our first date.
The circlet we found at the Maryland Renaissance Festival.
The cloak was just something I had in closet from a Halloween costume Eilonwy made me several years ago. Perfect for a winter wedding.
After pictures, we had a wedding breakfast at The Bluebird Cafe, a Logan favorite that's becoming something of a family tradition. We'd invited the closest of our families and friends to the morning events and the breakfast gave us a chance to talk to everyone and thank them for supporting and loving us. Our families get along amazingly well and we seriously could not have asked for a better day with them.
We spent the afternoon caravanning back to Utah Valley (Blake and I stopped on the way to get Dr Pepper Slurpees, something we can't find in DC), where our evening reception was held, allowing us to celebrate with many more people! Our decoration theme was" us" and it turned out exactly as we had dreamed and planned with a lot of personality. It was also a real treat to put together with our families, especially all the final touches and seeing it all come together the way we'd hoped.
The book arch was something I mentioned and showed a picture of to my mom one day, remarking how neat it would be, and a couple of days later she told me my uncle would do it! We loved it so much.
The room was filled with love, happiness, no shortage of cookies, and a hot chocolate bar. My only wedding regret was not getting a single cookie. I guess I was too busy hugging people!
I did have some cake. Fran made us a tiny cake, which we topped with a topper my maternal grandfather gave me for Christmas when was I was 18, with the caveat that I not use it for at least five years. I played it safe and didn't use it for almost ten! We cut said cake with my paternal grandfather's dress sword from the Navy.
I convinced my dad to sing "The Wedding Song" by Paul Stookey, accompanied by my uncle, for our first dance, since I'd grown up listening to him sing and play it.
I surprised Blake by singing to him. I chose "I Will Love You" by Fisher, a song I fell in love with sometime in my teens because of its simplicity in its message about undying love and wanted to sing to my husband someday.
Then, I surprised my dad by choosing "You Can Close Your Eyes" by James Taylor for the father-daughter dance, which is our song.
And then everybody danced!
Finally, we made our exit in our cunning hats from AnneArchy under a shower of sparklers.
It really was the most amazing day. So full of love and wonderfulness. I'm so grateful to everyone who helped us plan and prepare everything and everyone who supported us in this decision, whether they celebrated with us in person or not. We're truly blessed by the people in our lives.
And marriage? Marriage is awesome.
Happy six months to us!
Photography by Jasmine Purles, Chris Manning, and Emily Pilmer.
It was the perfect day. This post is long and it has a lot of photos, but it's worth it.
We were married in the Logan, Utah, LDS temple, the sixth generation of my mom's family to do so. It was a risky choice in winter, but it turned out exactly as we hoped, with just the right amount of snow.
Since we and most of our guests stayed in Logan the night before, I had to spend the night before my wedding in a one room hotel room with my entire immediate family and share the bathroom getting ready in the morning with three other women. The men, my dad and brother, wisely steered clear as much as possible, and I only had to call "Bride!" once for mirror dominance. As crazy as it was, it was still really fun to have my mom and sister help me get ready before Blake picked me up to take me to the temple.
The ceremony was, of course, beautiful. To kneel across the altar from my best friend and the best man I know and make eternal covenants with him and with Heavenly Father, surrounded by supportive and loving family and friends, was a precious experience I'll never forget.
By about 10:30 in the morning, we were married and it was time for celebrating!
But first, let's talk about the clothes.
My mom made my dress. I wore her wedding slip, which she didn't actually get to wear at her own wedding, because it somehow got left in Idaho.
We bought matching Chucks, because I wear orthotics and there was no way I was going to go without them that day. Plus they're just awesome and a sly reference to one of my favorite shows.
I made the bouquet from brooches and assorted jewelry donated by family and friends and a few things I picked up on my own.
I also made my earrings and Blake's boutonniere, which is a reference to our first date.
The circlet we found at the Maryland Renaissance Festival.
The cloak was just something I had in closet from a Halloween costume Eilonwy made me several years ago. Perfect for a winter wedding.
After pictures, we had a wedding breakfast at The Bluebird Cafe, a Logan favorite that's becoming something of a family tradition. We'd invited the closest of our families and friends to the morning events and the breakfast gave us a chance to talk to everyone and thank them for supporting and loving us. Our families get along amazingly well and we seriously could not have asked for a better day with them.
We spent the afternoon caravanning back to Utah Valley (Blake and I stopped on the way to get Dr Pepper Slurpees, something we can't find in DC), where our evening reception was held, allowing us to celebrate with many more people! Our decoration theme was" us" and it turned out exactly as we had dreamed and planned with a lot of personality. It was also a real treat to put together with our families, especially all the final touches and seeing it all come together the way we'd hoped.
The book arch was something I mentioned and showed a picture of to my mom one day, remarking how neat it would be, and a couple of days later she told me my uncle would do it! We loved it so much.
 |
| Me and Grandpa! |
I did have some cake. Fran made us a tiny cake, which we topped with a topper my maternal grandfather gave me for Christmas when was I was 18, with the caveat that I not use it for at least five years. I played it safe and didn't use it for almost ten! We cut said cake with my paternal grandfather's dress sword from the Navy.
I convinced my dad to sing "The Wedding Song" by Paul Stookey, accompanied by my uncle, for our first dance, since I'd grown up listening to him sing and play it.
I surprised Blake by singing to him. I chose "I Will Love You" by Fisher, a song I fell in love with sometime in my teens because of its simplicity in its message about undying love and wanted to sing to my husband someday.
Then, I surprised my dad by choosing "You Can Close Your Eyes" by James Taylor for the father-daughter dance, which is our song.
And then everybody danced!
Finally, we made our exit in our cunning hats from AnneArchy under a shower of sparklers.
It really was the most amazing day. So full of love and wonderfulness. I'm so grateful to everyone who helped us plan and prepare everything and everyone who supported us in this decision, whether they celebrated with us in person or not. We're truly blessed by the people in our lives.
And marriage? Marriage is awesome.
Happy six months to us!
Photography by Jasmine Purles, Chris Manning, and Emily Pilmer.
2 comments:
Amanda, this really is perfect. What a beautiful wedding. So happy for you!
You two are seriously the cutest. I'm so honored that you chose Cunning Hats to be part of your big day. And what an amazing (and shiny!) day it was!
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