Lists are Fun

Things I Like:

• The sound of these words: epitome, paradigm, onomatopoeia
• Words that make me giggle (some examples: poop, wiener, aye ca rumba, testicles...yes, I am in fact a twelve-year-old boy.)
• Crazy amazing thunder storms
• Being at home
• Comfy and cute new shoes
• Having dinner parties
• Being married
• My husband
• Lazy weekends (though those don't happen often)

Photo Booth

Like I said, we had a photo booth at the wedding.  Here are are few of my favorite people...photo booth style:

Lovely bridesmaids

6th grade teachers...We are AWESOME!

Those preciously adorable Duncan ladies...These are my mom's neighbors.  I met the oldest (the cute redhead in the red shirt) when she was a baby.  Oh, how they've all grown into beautiful ladies.  Want to know why I really really like them?  They read my blog.

9 people in a photo booth = bad idea.

Edit: Sorry Shamie!  You are for sure one of my favorite blog readers/cousins!

The guys

The Guys' wives...all our names start with As...Amanda, Amanda, Adelina, Ashley...Crazy pants!

Using picnik to collage those two pictures together...probably not the best idea but at least the wives are by the husbands now.

 Photo booths are an excellent idea for a wedding...you should all do it and invite me to the wedding because I didn't get to enjoy this nearly as much as I wanted to.

Reception

Our reception began at 7pm.  Even after the self-imposed drama of the night before, the church looked most excellent.  I was very pleased.

Before the reception, we took the standard family pictures (which are not the cutest if you ask me but you decide):

 Then people began coming...and coming...and coming.  I did not expect the non-stop flow of people.  It was awesome.  We felt very loved.

We had a candy bar...I really wanted to eat all those cinnamon lips but I didn't get one.  Drats.

 We also had a hot chocolate bar with  cookies and cupcakes...I hear it was delicious.

The entertainment was the photo booth.  Oh, man.  I wish I could have enjoyed this more than I did.

See some of the pictures here.

We cut the cake and almost knocked it over.

 I threw the bouquet...it got caught in the tulle...no big deal.  It came down eventually.

 And Dianna caught it.

 I was full on giddy from excitement this day.  I don't remember a whole lot of what happened but I know it was a great day.  Wedding are pretty much awesome.  Everyone should have one.

**All wedding photography by Matt McFarland.

The Word of the Day is Amazing

So I've almost been married a month...one whole month, that's crazy bones.  It doesn't seem like it has been that long.  Everyone says it's so hard to start living with someone or that "the first year/month/whatever is the hardest."  So far, everyone is a bunch of lie faces.  So far, nothing but wedded bliss (Now that I have a husband, it's perfectly fine to be super sappy and disgusting, if you can't tell).

Anyway, this is about the wedding day not my life since.  So here we go...WARNING: There will be a butt ton of pictures...love it or leave it...

The day started out amazing.  I woke up early and lovely Rachel (who is amazing and does my hair so stinking cute but she's moving to AZ March 1st and I'm never going to have cute hair by her again...sad face) came to do my hair and make-up.  She did such a good job and I was so excited and ready for the day to begin.

The temple was amazing.  The sealing was amazing.  I loved the sealer.  He was amazing.  So many people told me after what a great sealing it was.  I was beyond.  What a fabulous way to begin a fabulous day.

When I came out of the dressing room in all my bridal glory, I made my mom, Court and Dev immediately begin to cry...bam!  I'm so beautiful (and humble).

I already posted a lot of these...see what I said about them here.

Lovely Jenny.  She's the one who made my dress.

Ah, Meredith.  I love her.

That's my mom...she's crying.

That's Court...she's crying.

That's Dev...she's crying.

Court fanning Dev's tears away.

Ah...those shoes...love them.

Everyone

Anthony's family

Friends

Tri-Fec-Ta!!!

My dad's side

My mom's side

Sisters and mom

Sisters

For the end of January, it was surprisingly warm.  I was so happy about that.  It wasn't snowing, the wind wasn't blowing...again, it was amazing.  We were able to get some really cute pictures and enjoy our time with everyone.  I loved this day...and it had only just begun (cue seriously sappy song by The Carpenter's)

And that was what happened while everyone was at the temple...stay tuned for me and the hubs at the temple and the reception.

Just Pay the Extra Money for a Reception Center

is my advice to any bride who thinks they'll save a butt load of money by using the church cultural hall for their reception.  Yes, the money will be saved but you pay for it in being a crazy person.

The night before the reception, Anthony and I and a bunch of fabulous friends and family members decorated the cultural hall.  While trying to decorate, I almost canceled the reception...twice..., I cried and locked myself in the bathroom...twice..., I wanted to scream at EVERYONE and punch holes in the walls...but I didn't, I held my composure that much at least.

After all of that, I want to discuss one simple fact: from the time we got engaged until the moment we began decorating the church for the reception, I was the most calm bride IN EXISTENCE.

I never had a meltdown, I never worried about little things.  I was a whatever works kind of bride.  Nothing bothered me.  Yep, I wanted things to look nice but I didn't care that the blues weren't the exact shade I had imagined or that the bridesmaids wore different colored shoes or that the groomsmen's ties didn't really match the green in the decor.  Whatever.  No one really notices those things anyway. 

That all changed the night we decorated for the reception.  All I wanted was a beautiful cultural hall that didn't look like a cultural hall.  Is that too much to ask on a wedding day?  I think not.  I had a vision but it refused to work...for a while. Anthony had shown me pictures from his friend's wedding in which they hung tulle and white Christmas lights from the ceiling of the church and it looked really nice.

Kirsten and Joe's reception...Awww...so lovely.

I thought "Easy peasy mac and cheesy.  I can do that."  It wasn't.  The tulle and lights were way too heavy for the fishing line and the tulle was hanging about 3 feet from the floor. (Cue first meltdown)

It looked horrible and about 99% of our guests were taller than 3 feet so I knew it wasn't going to work out.  We tried everything.  Still, 3 feet off the ground.  Ugh times one billion.  I was devastated.  Looking back it didn't really matter but at that moment my life was over.  I was freaking.  We tried a few different things for a few hours and nothing worked.

(Cue Jaynee's entrance)  Jaynee saw that I was upset and having a difficult time being there.  We left to find a ladder.  We came back, she suggested something brilliant, said it was my idea and everything finally worked.  Ahhh...I love her.  It finally worked but it was about 1am by the time we got out of there.

Here's what it looked like after four hours of headache and breakdowns:

It really did look a lot better than this in real life...promise.

Moral of the story: just use a reception center.