MM- Our wedding :)

I really can't believe it, but we celebrated our 5 year anniversary this past Friday! I feel so fortunate to be able to say that these past 5 years have been some of the happiest and easiest of my life. We heard several lectures on how hard marriage is, etc. but luckily I haven't found that to be true. Grant, I guess you're just an easy guy to live with :) Thanks...

For memory Monday today, I thought I would take a look at our wedding day, on that beautiful May day in San Diego in 2004. Grant and I had both been in SD for a couple of days before the wedding, finishing last minute plans, eating Mexican food, visiting with family, etc. We had both been staying at my Grandpa's but decided that the night before the wedding he should stay with his family as to not see me before the wedding. The morning of, I got up early, got dressed, Jen came over and did my hair and helped bustle my dress, and we were off to the temple for a 10 am sealing.
Note on my dress...it was an off the shoulder designer gown that we found for an incredible deal, but obviously had to have altered to have sleeves. The lady was going to charge an insane amount to do the beading (which she told us after the fact), so I decided I would take on the project. I beaded the entire top of my dress to match the rest of it, Grant and I spent hours watching movies and beading in the weeks preceding the wedding, kind of annoying but it's a good memory and made me feel like I contributed to the dress. This is a pic of the dress before, so you can better see the intricacy of the beading (sorry, still sort of hard to see).After getting to the temple, we both went and got ready and met each other just before going into the sealing room where we got married. The couple before us apparently was late (who is late to their wedding!) so Grant and I sat out there, waiting for the room to be ready for close to probably an hour, plenty of time to back out, but we were ready and excited for the events to come. We were getting married! Here we are, coming out of the temple, happy to be married.
I loved my bouquet and was so grateful for my florist. I REALLY wanted a lady slipper orchid or 2 in my bouquet, as I fell in love with them while looking through magazines. She said that would be fine, but when she went to order them, could not get one from anywhere! So last minute, she was able to find a plant, took care of it praying the orchids would open in time, and it worked! I got my green lady slipper orchid.
A cool "fish-eye" view of the temple behind us. It really is my favorite temple in the world! Our rings! I have since added a wedding band to my finger, but at the time, I just wanted the one ring. A princess cut in the middle with a trillion on either side. I hadn't seen anyone with one similar and Grant designed it and had it made. Very cool.
Resting after taking pictures for hours, but it just happens to be one of my favorite pictures of the day.After pictures at the temple, we took off to our reception site, the Bali Hai. We had a lunch reception, which meant not only did we get to sit down and eat, but we also were done with all the festivities by 5. It was perfect. We had an amazing buffet and I am SO glad we got to eat. I think the excitement of the day effected my appetite a bit, but I still enjoyed what I did eat. Yum! The view was incredible. The room had huge windows on almost every wall and everyone got to enjoy the view of the ocean, harbor, and downtown San Diego.Since my wedding I have become much more obsessed with the planning and details of weddings. I have bought more Martha Stewart Wedding magazines since I was married than before, etc. but my centerpieces are one thing that I am very proud of, as I conceived the idea on my own and together with family put them together the night before the wedding. Fresh lime slices lined the square vase with gerbera daisies and fun green filler. Loved them, probably because I have a bit of an obsession with limes.My cake! I have obviously become more educated about wedding cake since then, as I have started making them now and had NO experience in cake decorating at this point, but luckily, I am still happy with the way my cake turned out. I like the vertical ribbon which is different from the traditional horizontal ribbon lines, and the flowers were a fun touch. The cake was delicious. I didn't actually eat any at the wedding (not a huge cake person) but we had a fun cake tasting appointment several months before where I got to taste it all. Since high school, I always said I was going to get married in flip flops. I was definitely NOT the type who was planning my wedding, or even thinking about marriage in high school, but it just shows how in love with them I was. It wouldn't have been right (at least at this point in my life) to have worn any other type of shoe wear. Made for a cute pic with my bridesmaids (Holly, Karleigh, Cecily, and Rachel) too :)We had some fun with some dancing (yes, the large dress did get a bit in the way, but it made it really fun too!) Our first dance was "It's Your Love" by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, which we actually heard on the radio, totally randomly on Friday when we were driving to dinner to celebrate our anniversary. I thought that was pretty cool.I'm not a fan of public displays of affection, but I thought this was an awesome picture, and decided I could pose for a few kissing pictures, I mean it was my wedding day
A perfect day, even 5 years later I am happy with all the details and couldn't have had a better time or chosen a better person.

I love you Grant! Happy 5th Anniversary!