Our Wedding

Neal and I left Rexburg Friday morning before our big day and headed to St. George.  We planned to stay the night with Neal's family and then spend Saturday with Neal's grandma before leaving for Phoenix.  A few things changed, so we headed to Phoenix Saturday morning and surprised my parents Saturday night.

I spent the rest of the week getting things checked off the to-do list my mom made for me.  My mom was absolutely ah-mazing!!  She took care of EVERYTHING!  I didn't have to think about or stress about one. single. thing.  I didn't have to worry about the expense, how my dress was getting to/from anywhere, that things were scheduled/booked, that the candy was ordered, if we had the right jars, that the chairs had bows, that the invitations were made, stuffed, stamped and delivered…or that we had pink flowers at the wedding.  I'm sure there are a million other things that never even crossed my mind, but I digress...

That week I mostly spent time with Neal as we both got more and more excited about our big day.  I got a few personal grooming items checked off the list Monday morning…including getting my nails done.  After that, I went with Neal to get our marriage license.  

On Tuesday, I went through the Temple for the first time and then had dinner at Macayo's with both sides of the family and a few close friends.  On Tuesday the flowers were also delivered.  My mom had arranged for the flowers to be delivered to my Great-Grandma's house in Gilbert, but her basement flooded a few weeks before the wedding.  The house was under construction the week of the wedding, so my mom arranged for the flowers to be delivered to her Aunt Barbara's house in Mesa.  My mom flew her cousin Jen in from Chicago to take care of the nearly one thousand hot pink roses.  Unfortunately, the flowers that were delivered were not pink.  They were red.  And they were tiny and nearly dead.

Honestly, I didn't stress about it…or really even give it a second thought.  I knew my mom and my aunts would make sure everything was fixed before my big day.  I heard they visited almost EVERY Costco in the Valley to hunt for pink roses.  My Aunt Richelle also enlisted a few of her friends to help pick roses up too.  Randi, Richelle and my mom drove all over the valley finding the roses and then drove them all to Mesa to be arranged by Carol and Jen.  Lucky for me, I didn't have to pick up one flower or go inside one Costco or make one phone call.  I'm so thankful to everyone who helped with the flower mess!  If they didn't all love me so much, they would have just let Jen use the red/dead flowers.  There is no way to thank them enough for working tirelessly fixing the flower mess.

Wednesday started with getting my hair done at Stacy's and then Randi came over and did my make-up for my bridal photo-shoot!  After all the primping was done, we drove out to Villa Sienna.  Natalie met us out there…so did Neal.  My mom, all my aunts and my Uncle Mike were already there starting to get everything set-up.  I am so glad I didn't have to do any of that stuff.  Everyone spent so much time and money to be there to take care of everything.  It's so amazing to have so much love and support.

When I entered the bride's room, everything was already laid out for me.  All I had to do was get helped into my dress.  Randi helped me and then I was ready for pictures.  Neal and I were super excited to see each other all dolled up and ready for our pictures.  We planned it all out so we could turn and look at each other.  The way Neal looked at me made me feel like a Princess…it was such an incredible feeling.  We spent the next 3+ hours with Natalie.  We took a bunch of pictures at Villa Sienna and then we went and took pictures on the Temple grounds.

It was so much fun!  Randi tagged along to help me with my dress.  My dress would have been black and ripped without her help.  I am so glad she took the time away from helping at Villa Sienna, or spending time with her new baby to help me.  She kept stopping me from walking and dragging my dress…and she had to keep squatting down to straighten my dress.  I can't imagine doing that many squats for three hours straight!

Randi helped me out of my dress and then I left with Neal.  Randi drove to buy more flowers and everyone on both sides of my family headed to my parent's house for dinner.  Neal and I realized my wedding band had been stolen out of his glove box when his truck was detailed earlier in the week, but it really wasn't a huge deal.  It was obviously a crappy thing to happen, but luckily it was just a gold band…nothing expensive.  And not my engagement ring.

Dinner that night was awesome.  My dad and my Uncle Doug whipped up an amazing meal…as usual.  Everyone came over to start our wedding celebration with us.  I couldn't believe how many people took the time and spent the money to come to Phoenix just for me.  What an amazing thing…to be loved by so many.  Even my mom's co-workers drove and flew in from out of state to help Neal and I celebrate the start of our life together.  I was overwhelmed.

When I dreamed about my wedding week, I invited my aunts to spend the evening with me Wednesday night…the last night I was a single gal.  I'm so glad I took the time to do that!  We laughed the entire time.  It was so much fun to have all that girl talk one last time.  I knew once I got married, life would never be the same.

Sadly, in my real life…I spent Wednesday evening with Neal.  And then we got married and moved in together…and spent EVERY night together after that for the rest of eternity.

It was finally Thursday!!  It was finally my wedding day.  The day started early with Stacy coming to my parent's house to do everyone's hair.  After my hair was done, Randi was there to do my make-up.  They both did such a great job!  I know I can always count on them to make me look perfect. Not one hair out of place…and my make-up always looks perfect…not orange or anything over-done.

I rode with my parents and Richelle to the Temple.  My mom and Richelle helped me get ready for our sealing.  The sealing was amazing.  I was so happy to finally be married to my best friend.  What an amazing feeling!  I had dreamed of this day for so long…I can't remember ever feeling happier than I did at that very moment.

After a few obligatory pictures on the Temple steps, we all headed to Villa Sienna.  We mingled with family and friends while we waited for lunch, but mostly we just hung out together.  I was starving, so I was so happy with the Italian food that was served.  Neal and I sat together to eat and had such a nice time talking to each other.  It was a nice 45 minutes or so of just getting to talk to each other.  Our parents joined us to eat at the table, but we never even had to get up and mingle with anyone.  It was relaxing.  My mom surprised us with soft serve ice cream for dessert!  It was one of my favorite surprises!

By the time I was getting back in my wedding dress for pictures and the ring ceremony, we were running a few minutes behind.  I guess we sat too long at lunch.  Oops! Natalie wanted to get some shots of my aunts helping me get into my dress (since you can't get those pictures in the Temple), but I didn't care about having any of those.  I just wanted them to hurry so I could get back out to Neal and have more pictures taken of us in my dress.

Natalie took a lot of pictures and then the ring ceremony began.  My Grandpa Rodgers conducted the ceremony.  Neal and I didn't want it to be ANYTHING like a civil wedding ceremony, so we made sure to be in charge of ALL the details.  We had a runner that covered the aisle, two beautiful flower girls (who dropped petals as they made their way down the aisle), a handsome ring bearer that also walked up the aisle, and then Neal and I made our way to the front by way of the aisle….to music.  Grandpa spoke about our rings being never-ending, just like our marriage…our love.  He did a great job!  It was especially great because I never told him what we wanted him to say.  He did the entire ceremony off the top of his head with only a few moments notice.  He was awesome!  I'm so thankful he was healthy and able to be there for our special day.  What an awesome memory.

After the ring ceremony, we had Hors d'oeurves and beverages on the patio.  Everyone mingled and enjoyed being together until the reception started.  Our reception was amazing!  There isn't one thing I didn't love about it.   I loved the photo-booth, the candy table, the Miami Vices, the ice cream at lunch, the kids table, our wedding cake, Neal's groom's cake, the centerpieces…including all those gorgeous pink roses!

I loved dancing with my dad.  I loved dancing with Neal.  The song we danced to really rang true for us…I love Neal so much more now than I did one whole year ago when we met…and more than I did six months ago when we got engaged.  I feel like I know him inside and out.

We spent two hours dancing, having our picture taken, and eating at our own table. My mom was even thoughtful enough to have Neal's favorite picture from our engagement shoot printed, framed and on our table.  She thought of everything.  

When it was time to leave, everyone made a walkway and lit sparklers!  It was so much fun to run to our waiting limo under all that sparkly magic!  We rode off in style to the Ritz Carlton.  My mom booked us two nights at the Ritz!  How awesome is that!?  I'm sure it will be years (or never) before I can afford to stay at the Ritz again!  It was such a fun experience!

I don't think I will ever be able to thank my mother enough.  She did more than any other mother has ever done for their daughter's wedding.  She made this experience completely stress free for me.  I never one time had to worry something wouldn't be perfect.  I don't know how she does it.  She works so many long hours…mostly out of state away from home.  She must have spent every waking moment for the last six months thinking, worrying, and planning every perfect detail of our wedding.  There wasn't one thing that wasn't done perfectly.  Every single detail was thought of and perfected.  I doubt my mom even had time to sleep.  I am so grateful to her for her selflessness.  She spent a fortune…in both money and time, I'm sure, to make my wedding absolute perfection.  I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day.