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wedding week

It's Wedding Day (at least here on the blog)! Wedding day started out for me by waking up with my little brother's Pomeranian (MJ) sleeping on my pillow and my face hanging off the bed and my Golden Retriever (Pippin) sleeping in the space between the wall and the bed that I needed to walk through — both dogs could definitely tell something was up.

My two Matrons of Honor and I left for my hair appointment and then had to back track because we forgot the veil (whoops). Upon arriving I told my hair stylist that I wanted to do something other than what we had planned — nothing major, but instead of curls in a pony tail in the back, I wanted a simple bun. The idea of curls had really been driving me crazy because with the dress being as "flowy" as it was and the veil being more chic than Princess, I wanted a hair style that would bring together all of those different elements. And, if I don't say so myself, I think this hair style pulled that off completely.

My mom and I
After that a whole bunch of other exciting things happened (including me stabbing my eye with eyeliner and dropping to my knees asking God to stop the rain) but you don't want to hear all of that mundane information. After all of those minor details fixed themselves, I finally got to put on my dress.

My best friend Brandon "tied" me up and Anne pinned down my "hide away" straps (for the reception)

On goes the garter. You may remember this picture from last summer. But I thought it only fitting that Lyndsey get to be the one to put the garter on.

And before you know it I'm headed upstairs to see D for the first time.

And a few other random pictures...

Before the ceremony, to calm the nerves, of course I had a copy of "Pride and Prejudice"

We could hear the music upstairs but had to stay hidden so we took a minute to our selves and danced

At the dance they played "All That Jazz" — a song Puffer and I knew very well!

Best Friends!

Dan, my little brother, and I

The Reception Hall: Notice the lights and balloons!

The Cake!!

The throwing of the garter. Notice how hardcore those boys are!!

And, would you believe it, my BFF Button caught the bouquet!
At the end of the day I walked away with my best friend and my soul mate — what a ride! I can't wait to show you all the professional pictures that were taken from the wedding and of course pictures of our new house and (my favorite room) the small sitting room or, as I like to call it, my mini-library.
In the end, I can't believe everything came together. All that advice I was given about "everything will work out" was true! The day was absolutely perfect; I wouldn't change a single detail (except perhaps the eye liner in my eye).
If you're in the wedding mood and haven't already checked out Shanyn (Chick Loves Lit) , Michelle (Hooked to Books) , Beth (A Foodie Bibliophile in Wanderlust) , and Lorren 's (The Story Girl) beautiful Wedding Day photos — please click on their names! It's like a whole bunch of happiness on my blog right now!

Well, ladies and gentlemen yesterday concluded the guest Wedding Weeks posts. Huge thanks to Beth, Lorren, Shanyn, and Michelle for all the hard work and time that went into writing those posts and hunting down those pictures. I am so glad to join such a great group of women who can say that they are married and had amazing wedding days.

D's surpise Grooms' Cake. D is a fan of the Red Sox whereas I prefer the Twins. It reads: Together We Have A Ball.
As many of you know, I've had quite a crazy couple months. During the month of May I finished my first year of teaching, found a teaching job in North Dakota, bought a house in North Dakota, attended BEA, and moved. After BEA (as in the Monday after) I moved the 7 hours north and began the tedious practice of unpacking. The following Monday (June 6th — the Monday before the wedding) I began teaching summer school.

You'd never believe that the whole ferris wheel thing was my idea
Summer school has proven to be a bit more work than I had anticipated. I have 25 students for four hours a day — the same 25 students. So basically not only are we covering four different lessons a day (almost a week worth of classes) but I am also challenged to remain interesting that long (and, really, who can be interesting THAT long). So the first two days were extremely stressful — but thank goodness I had a great substitute who came in Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of my Wedding Week.

On Wednesday two of my best friends (a personal attendant and a Matron of Honor) came to visit and help out. This was much needed as D left (the state) for his Bachelor Party on Wednesday morning*. Mary and Puffer ran around Bismarck with me constantly getting things off my To Do list. I owe a lot to these two amazing people — Thank You!

On Thursday we had the dress rehearsal. In retrospect everything went flawless, but when I was living it I was a hot mess. A matron of honor (I had two) and a bridesmaid got lost and were late, I didn't have a slip for my dress and it was apparently see through (Mom ran to Target), D's family got him a shirt that had a bride and groom on it with the groom having a ball and chain saying GAME OVER (I was perhaps being a bit overly sensitive), the priest refused to run through it twice (we didn't get to hear the music until the wedding day), and the list goes on. But it all worked out in the end and really, I had forgotten most of those details already.

After dinner we noticed that the very small amusement park next door to us was open (despite the flood warnings) and that it was completely empty. So, bridesmaids and groomsmen in tow, we all boarded the ferris wheel. It was a great photo opportunity and it gave D and I a chance to talk alone — the only one on one time we had Thursday and Friday. It also holds special meaning to us because it was the amusement park where D took me last summer after we had started dating.

All in all, this day was a complete success. Tomorrow stop by for perhaps the final post of Wedding Week showcasing (obviously) my wedding day!

* I told D that if he wasn't back by 4:30 on Thursday evening (dress rehearsal was at 5pm) I could make no guarantees that I'd be walking down that isle on Friday.:)

As part of Wedding Week (I'M MARRIED), today we are featuring Michelle from Hooked to Books! Michelle has become a great friend these past few months and I am so excited to share her wedding story with you!

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My husband and I didn't have the typical date for x number of years and then get married. Nope, we got married after being together for 9 months. Crazy, right? But let's back up. See, we knew each other for years before we started dating — he tried to go out with me for at least 5 years before I gave him the time of day. And the only reason I went out with him when I did was because my mother made me. So yes, we have my mother to thank for our marriage. Which is okay.

So, back to the wedding. We started dating in August, got in engaged in October, and married in March. But that wasn't the original plan. The original plan was a June wedding at the beach. We are both beach bums and I had all these ideas of how I wanted it to be, what the bridesmaids would wear, my dress. Everything! And we had started planning everything. I had the caterers picked out, was getting ready to book the photographer, and knew the dress I wanted. And then — my twin finds out she is pregnant and due in June.

... Really?! Talk about annoyed. (But that's okay because I got my beautiful niece out of it who I adore.)

So, time to change the plan. We decided to do a church wedding at my grandparent's church with the pastor I have known all my life. We had from November until March to plan it. I was in Grad school and working full time, my mom was working, and my twin was pregnant. All I could think was — this is gonna be a disaster. But you know what — it wasn't.

Me and my mom started planning right away. I found the perfect dress (I only tried on two and it was the first one I tried on), I found pictures of how I wanted to decorate, I changed the color scheme, picked out my flowers, and fell in love with a cake. I found a photographer online who was amazing and a reasonable price — and have suggested to several friends who has loved them as well. Everything was falling into place! It was like this was the wedding that was meant to be — not the beach wedding that didn't happen.

After only 5 months of planning, Scott and I were married on March 31, 2007. It was absolutely perfect. Even though it was fast and stressful and not what we had wanted it at first — I am so glad that that was my wedding day. We had almost 200 guests — family and friends who probably wouldn't have made it to the beach made the occasion that much more special.

I adore this picture, Michelle!!
Everyone thought we were crazy for getting married so fast — but here we are, almost 5 years after we started dating, and still just as much in love and happy as we were when we first started dating.

************************** D and my relationship is sort of similar. We started dating on June 11th, 2010 (our first date was actually a combination of attending two weddings), we were engaged on October 9th, 2010, and we were married on June 10th, 2011 — a day before our "one year anniversary." I completely know what you mean about people not getting it. But I just say "you know when you know.":)

Congratulations Michelle!

As part of Wedding Week (I'M MARRIED), today we are featuring Shanyn from Chick Loves Lit! Shanyn basically saved me during the planning process. She helped with invitations, save the dates, wedding music, and overall wedding moral. Shanyn, I can't express enough how much your support, excitement, and enthusiasm literally made this process for me. Thank you!!
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I'm not going to lie to you guys — I was not a girl who had all of her wedding details picked out by age ten. It's not that I hated weddings, but I hadn't been to many and didn't really understand why some girls were obsessed with planning something that had no future date in sight. So when I went to college, I went in with a major that would require me to work quite a bit right out of college — I hadn't met anyone and just figured I'd get married after I had done all of that. You can guess what happened next, I'm sure — I met my future husband at college, and kind of changed that whole willing to work eighty hours a week thing (and, looking back, I'm really thankful that it happened this way — I have worked forty hour work weeks and even that was tiring)!

Shanyn, this picture is literally to die for! I love it!
I met Steve my second year of college while playing frisbee. It was a casual meeting — we both hung out with lots of the same friends, as many relationships start — and a few months later we were 'official.' He proposed at a Coldplay concert a few years later (it was awesome and I was totally surprised), and about five years after we started dating we got married. Even through all of this I hadn't started fantasizing about any details — I'm pretty easy going in general. This didn't change much throughout our engagement or any of the planning stages — my biggest concern was that I was marrying Steve, so as long as we got that all sorted I was okay with everything else.

PS: Shanyn, I am also SO jealous of this picture! It's perfect!
This doesn't mean we just signed the documents in a backyard (and I didn't want to do that). Steve's sisters and mom loved the wedding process, and we did lots of crafts and shopping and trips. I found my wedding dress in one try (I love that dress so much I wish there were another occasion I could wear it!), my flowers were done by a friend (my only request was that they included lilies), and we laid decorations out on their kitchen table to play around with table decorations. Since I had a degree in graphic design, I made our save the dates and invitations, and our church happened to change the scenery in the sanctuary to something perfect right before our wedding day.

Thanks to a little luck and my and Steve's easy going attitudes, I think our wedding day went perfectly. The weather outside didn't help with travel (it was very icy, as we had a January wedding), but we had a very small list of friends and family that couldn't make it because of that — and the snow outside made for beautiful pictures. Everything from flowers to decorations to food was excellent. Most importantly, I was able to marry my love Steve, which was my goal in the first place:)

My attitude about weddings has changed a little now — I can't wait until Steve's sisters get married because I can't wait to be on the 'other side' of things to help with food, cake, crafts, dresses. I love to hear about my friend's weddings, and am always willing to offer my opinion or experience on wedding related things now that I've gone through it all (though I'm careful to not inject my opinion when it's not wanted, I know some brides are very particular:) ) .

I am very excited for Miss Remmers and I can't wait to hear all about her wedding when it's over. I've been able to hear a few things about it during the planning process, but hearing about the actual day will be awesome. Congratulations, Miss Remmers:) I hope that your day goes exactly (or at least pretty close) to how you want, and that you'll be able to share a picture or two with us afterwards:)

********************** Shanyn, I'm the same way. The theory to my wedding was "let's wing it" because I didn't really know what I wanted. I figured I wouldn't get married until I was in my fifties! I love all of your pictures and how everything came together! Congratulations!

As part of Wedding Week (I'M MARRIED), today we are featuring Lorren from The Story Girl!
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Hello everyone! I am so grateful to Miss Remmers' Review for the chance to revisit my own little fairy tale. Our story began very simply. I was locked out of my apartment, and when I went to visit my friend, I found out she was hanging out with some guys at their apartment. They invited me to come over and I spent the evening playing Scattergories with my friend and the two men that we would each end up marrying. For the rest of the summer I hung out with them, although I was dating someone else at the time. As I got to know "The Husband" better, I learned more and more things that I liked about him. While he is a goofy and fun-loving guy, he had a very deep and empathetic part of his personality that intrigued me and I found myself growing interested. He and I were each in relationships with other people, but those relationships ended at roughly the same time and in a similar way. We ended up spending more and more time together, at first discussing our broken hearts but later switching to getting to know each other better. After months of hanging out, texting songs to each other, and tentative dates, we finally became official and had our first kiss under mistletoe that he slyly hung above my door (of course, when he called me to come out I was in sweats and make-up-less, but we'll just focus on the romance part).

After an amazing five months (yes, I know) of dating, we both decided it was time to make a further commitment and get married. While I was terrified at the thought of choosing someone to be with for the rest of my life, I knew that his personality, values, and sense of humor were exactly what I wanted and needed. He popped the question on May 29, 2010 at Municipal Pier in San Francisco. I basically giggled through the proposal — I was so excited and I couldn't believe that I was actually getting married. I loved that he proposed in San Francisco because now it will be our special romantic spot for the rest of our lives.

After some deliberation, we decided to get married on August 17, 2010. Because we were each in school and didn't want to deal with moving in the middle of the semester or trying to hurriedly get married over Christmas break, we decided a short engagement was the best route to take. The date also had sentimental value for us — August 17 is "The Husband's" parents' wedding anniversary, and we were married in the same place my parents were married.
Despite high amounts of stress before the wedding, August 17 was as perfect as I could have hoped for. My dress was a gown I'd seen in a catalogue before my wedding, and jokingly told my friends I would buy if I ever got married. I was so excited that I was actually wearing it! I had The Husband's niece and my sister as bridesmaids and The Husband's younger nieces as flower girls. We were married at 10:30 am in the Boise, Idaho Temple (I grew up in Boise and my family still lives there). We believe the marriage ceremony in the temple links us together as a family for life and after death, so it was a very special and spiritual experience. We were lucky to have our families there with us (The Husband's family kindly traveled all the way from California to be there) and several of our close friends from Utah also made the trip. Almost everyone we loved was there, and we couldn't have been happier!

That evening, we had our reception at a golf course near my parents' house. My mom and her best friend had set up everything just how I imagined it, with chinese lanterns and white flowers everywhere. The food was also exactly what I'd always wanted to have at my wedding — a chocolate fountain and amazing chocolate truffles that my grandma and aunt had spent the weekend crafting by hand. The best part by far, though, was the dancing! The Husband and I had been to so many receptions where the bride and groom just waited in a line and greeted all their guests. We did this for the first hour of the reception, but after that everyone got out and danced. I was almost sorry when the DJ called out that it was time to go and I had to hurry and change into my get-away dress... until I realized that now I could leave on my honeymoon with my handsome prince.

In my mind, everything was perfect, not because every aspect of the wedding pulled together flawlessly, but because I was surrounded by people I loved and was so happy with the person I was marrying. Our cake did turn out kind of ugly, my shoes did get ruined when the heel sunk into the mud, and my mother and I were nervous wrecks up until the day before the wedding. However, on the day of the wedding, I decided to just let things fall and enjoy the day as much as possible. In 20 years, I probably won't remember the ugly cake or the dirt that crept up onto the hem of my dress, but I will remember how it felt to dance with my friends and family surrounding me, completely in love with the man across from me.

Congratulations again to Miss Remmers (soon to be a Mrs.)! I hope your day is absolutely perfect!
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Lorren thank you so much for sharing! I love these beautiful pictures! I especially love the picture of you in front of the Temple! What a great story too! I hope your first year of marriage has been wonderful and I'll definitely be thinking of you on the 17th of August! Congratulations!

Once upon a time in the kingdom of Taylor, Michigan, there was a lonely girl named Beth who longed for someone to love her. Despite studying hard in school and working to support herself, she very rarely found herself enjoying life and wondered when people would stop disappointing her.

Then one day, in the neighboring kingdom of Dearborn, Beth attended a yearly music competition. While there, she sat next to an acquaintance she’d known for years who noticed she seemed a little down in the dumps. The acquaintance, whose name was Wendy, said she had just the thing to cheer Beth up — she was going to set her up with her good friend Johnathon.

Plans were made a few weeks later to have a group go see a concert together. It was there that Beth and Johnathon hit it off immediately and a few days later, Johnathon called Beth to ask her on another date the next week.

It was on that date that Johnathon talked excitedly about some news he received at work that day. He was a few months away from graduating from college and his boss called him into his office right before the end of the day to ask if he’d like to go to Germany for three years after graduation. The details of the offer were still to come, but from the way he was talking, Johnathon appeared to already be packing his bags in his mind.

Beth knew at that moment that she shouldn’t fall for someone who was probably leaving the country in a few months, but fall she did, and that proved to change the course of her life forever.

Not long after Beth and Johnathon began officially dating, Johnathon accepted the job offer to go to Germany. Because of this huge, life-changing move, he knew that if he didn’t do something even more life-changing, he was going to let the love of his life slip through his fingers.

So four months after they began dating, Johnathon proposed to Beth. She of course said yes, and despite the short amount of time they had been together, when they shared the news with everyone, most people were supportive since they decided to set their wedding date for a year and a half later on June 7, 2003 so that Beth could finish college.

This meant that the newly engaged couple would be spending a year and a half an ocean away from each other. So web cams were purchased and trips back and forth from Germany to Michigan — and vice-versa — were planned. The couple always appreciated the time they were together but it was always too short.

Finally, a year and a half passed and it was their big day. Family and friends from far and wide came to share in their joy. It was truly the best day of their lives, one that they would always treasure.

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In fairy tales, this is normally where the story ends, but you see, eight years later, and the story is still going strong. Beth and Johnathon have lived in Germany and since moved back to the states. Their life together is happy and fulfilling. They will always remember their wedding day, and equally they’ll remember the time they spent living in Germany and traveling through Europe. But ultimately, they continue to look forward to what other exciting adventures life will bring. That is what marriage is about, that despite the difficulties, you are always looking ahead and seeing a happy and contended future with the person you promised to love forever. It won’t always be “happily ever after.” There will be times when you wonder how you’ll get through that rough patch, but keep looking forward. The future should always be hopeful.

Happy (Belated) Wedding Anniversary on June 7th to Beth and Johnathon! What beautiful pictures and what a wonderful story! Thank you so much for sharing with us! Beth blogs at A Foodie Bibliophile in Wanderlust — stop on by and congratulate her and her wonderful husband!