Our Wedding
I hope I never forget the picture I have in my mind of Mitchell coming to pick me up that morning to go to the Salt Lake Temple to get married. He smiled up at me from the bottom of the stairs, looking every bit the tall, dark, handsome prince I had always wanted to marry. I just felt glad. Glad about him and about this journey we were about to begin.
It sounds a little cheesy but the sealing ceremony in the temple was my favorite part of the day. Such a beautiful place with such a sweet feeling inside. It was really emotional for me to be there with all of our family and to feel so much love from Heavenly Father. I wish every couple could have a moment like that for their wedding. Together forever. What could be better than that?
I love that our culture makes weddings such a big deal. They are such a celebration of life and include a lot of things that I love - family, friends, flowers, cake, music etc.
The Hallers did a great job with our luncheon and the food was amazing! The reception in my parent's back yard couldn’t have been better. If I had to do it all over again I would do it all exactly the same. Everything we chose was perfect for that time of year and was perfect for me.
My older sister, Katie created this from flowers from a craft store. This is what we stood under when we greeted guests.
My talented sister-in-law, Sara, designed and set up this table display that is one of my favorite things at our wedding. It is a compilation of pictures of our parents, grandparents and ancestors weddings. I loved paying homage to them and the sacrifices that they made for us.
Also, my sister-in-law, Haley made this GORGEOUS wedding cake as a wedding gift to us. Talk about incredible. Not only was it gorgeous but it was also delicious. I told you our families are talented.
My Mom was worried about the weather from the beginning but I had remembered going to an October outdoor wedding a lot of years ago and remembered how beautiful it was. Up to the very day, she was still convinced that it was going to snow on us. But it was 75 and sunny all day.
These stunning people that make up the wedding party are our siblings and their spouses and kids. We really lucked out in the family department.
We’re missing two of Mitchell’s brothers who were on church missions at the time in Ireland and Brazil.
I have a theory that the things people most care about at weddings is the people and the food. Everything else kind of just sets up the stage for those two things to really shine. My aunt Julie did the food and it was AMAZING. I still have people tell me how much they loved the food at our wedding.
I wanted donuts so we set out to find the best ones in the valley. When my Mom was out and about she’d bring home a few for us to sample. My sister had found this tiny little donut shop on State Street called Fresh Donut & Deli. Hands down THE best.
We also served soup, bread, and salad. Because we did the food ourselves and it wasn’t catered the food cost didn’t end up being too crazy. It was way cheaper than any caterer and delicious. We served tomato basil, potato cheese, and chicken noodle. Soup is easy cause it was all pre-made and then just heated up. Bread was from Stone Ground.
One of the biggest highlights was all you can eat caramel apples from Mrs. Cavanaughs. I love how they served them. So cute.
Another thing that we did that I loved is we had the food running down the center of the party. This really helps with flow and makes it so people can get their food quickly by going on both sides of the table rather than pushing all the traffic to the side of the party. We did it this way at my little sister’s wedding at a reception center and it was the same story. It just makes a lot less lines and brings people to the center creating more of a party atmosphere letting them come and go instead of cramming to the sides.
During the reception I got a moment to myself to stand back and take it all in and just think “this is perfect.” I really have to give most of the credit to my parents and siblings.
My in laws threw us a luncheon, my oldest brother hung the lights and chandeliers, my sisters/sister-in-laws designed and decorated all the display tables, my aunt did the food with my Mom’s friends helping, my sister-in-law made the cake, lots of borrowing wedding stuff from neighbors and my sweet parents were there to execute it all. What’s that saying again? “No man is a failure who has friends” or something like that. That certainly proved true for me.
And of course I loved sharing it all with my handsome Mitchell.
The day from beginning to end was a fairy tale. I wish I could bottle it up and put it on a shelf next to canned peaches.