Gettin' hitched: A very delayed post on tying the knot.

Dear Blog World,

It's been awhile. More than a year actually. Time for an update? I think so. A lot has happened this past year:

I married this handsome man

and we moved away from Utah/Wyoming to this gorgeous state (which will be explained in the next blog post.)

I have fantastic stories about both of these events. Let's start with the getting hitched part, shall we?

Justin proposed the end of September above a waterfall near the wind caves in Darby, Idaho. This is where we officially "met" and started to get to know each other. Isn't he the cutest! I'm a little biased but I think it was a pretty great proposal:) and the views were incredible. Fun (or not so fun) fact: Before Justin proposed we saw saw a guy slip, fall, and slide to the very edge of the waterfall! He didn't fall thank goodness but it was a close one. That woulda put a damper on the whole getting engaged thing.

Justin did such a great job picking out the ring! Its a solitaire diamond and it goes great with my promise ring:)

Then came November 21, 2012 when we tied the knot! It was the best day of my life. Cliche, I know, but its so true:)

Spent our last day as an engaged couple setting up for the festivities.

We were married in Logan LDS Temple in Logan, Utah in the morning.

 Coming out of the temple:

THANKS to all who came! We love you all!

The Walkers:

The Carlisles:

Yes, I know, these are some incredible boys right here and no that is not our baby. He's our nephew;) (although we wish we could say that all of that cuteness came from us:) 

We had a lunch reception directly following the wedding in the Lewiston Utah Ballroom:

It was catered by Jack's Wood Fired Oven. Thanks Chef Mom and Dad! They made a delectable variety of autumn soups (can anyone resist a bowl of their tomato soup? I think not!), crackers, cheeses and fruits. Yumm...

 www.jacksoven.com 

Some facts about our wedding:

1) We made and hung a timeline that included; baby photos, photos of when we were dating, photos of Justin's mission, a few of the letters we wrote to each other during those two years, and engagement photos:

2) Whenever someone asked how they could help with our wedding we would tell them to make a batch of cookies and bring it! We then made a cookie buffet with all the tasty treats in place of a full size cake.

 3) For our entertainment we had board games and an array of toys and gadgets from Oriental Trading. The toys were actually a hit. I guess who doesn't love balloon powered cars, twisty helicopters, and etc.

4) We did our whole wedding, including the rings, around $1,500! The average wedding is $25,000. So I'd say we did pretty good;) How'd we do it:

•  SIMPLE. We kept things as simple as possible

•  Used our family and friends talents wherever possible. My parents and I made the food before hand, our friends took our pictures, and a friend made my dress. Some did it as a wedding gift which went very appreciated! A big THANK YOU to:

   - Karen Gillmore who made my dress. She is fantastic and she sews great pioneer clothing. http://www.pioneertrekdesigns.com/

 -  Neil D. Johnson who took our engagement photos and bridals. He is super talented. Check out his  stuff. http://500px.com/ndonaldj

  - Kyson Dana who is also very talented. He took the day of pictures. Check out his stuff as                             well. http://www.kysondana.com/

-Jacks Wood Fired Oven. Mmm. I sure miss their food!  http://www.jacksoven.com/ 

•  Utilized our talents wherever possible. Justin and I put together all the centerpieces, made the  boutonnieres and corsages, my hairpiece and also made my bouquet! 

• Opting out on flowers definitely helped our budget. We used feathers for the boutonnieres and wheat for the center pieces. 

•  Getting married in the temple is free! The ballroom is a local place that costs $50 dollars a day.

•  This is Justin's ring. It's made out of tungsten. He loves it and gets compliments. You would never guess it was $20 on amazon.

 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005CD7QNE/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

• Having the cookie buffet as dessert definitely helped out as well and it was so much fun to make                 cookies!

•  Researched for deals. We got a screaming deal on Justin's suit, picture frames, shoes, suspenders.                Really, a lot of our savings can be chalked up to a little bit of internet research.

I would not change a single thing about that day. It was absolutely perfect! And now I get to wake up next to the love of my life every morning. I fall more in love with that boy everyday. I could not be happier:)