My Love Story, Part 6: I Do

It’s no secret that I love working with couples.  One of my favorite parts about meeting couples, is hearing their love story!  I’ve never heard the same one twice, and it’s always so fun to hear the excitement and feel the love they have for each other.  I also really love romantic comedies.  And Hallmark Christmas movies.  And, I’m not admitting to anything, but I hear Nicholas Sparks knows a thing or two about love stories.  Who am I kidding, “The Notebook” is one of my favorite movies ever!

Ok, but real life love stories are my absolute favorite.  I mean they’re real!  And real love is just about the happiest thing ever!  So, I had this idea…

I’m a real person.  And I’m in love.  And it all started somewhere.  So why not share my love story?!  From the very beginning to the right now. All of it.

Part 1: Girl Meets Boy
Part 2: The First Date
Part 3: The First Kiss
Part 4: I Love You
Part 5: I Think I Wanna Marry You
Part 6: I Do

Part 6: I Do

That guy that bought me a taco, proposed, and I said yes.

We were engaged!

I remember waking up the next morning, staring at the ring on my finger, and being overwhelmed with happiness and excitement and a little bit of disbelief.  I was getting MARRIED.  Which meant I would be a WIFE.  And even though I was still SO young, I knew it was what I was supposed to do, and I knew he was the guy.

Now we just needed to plan a wedding!  And Pinterest hadn’t been invented yet.  Which meant magazine cut outs and a very organized wedding binder.  I began putting everything from dresses and flowers to venue options to timeline to guest list in that binder.  It was classic.  And I’m pretty sure I still have it somewhere.  Take that Pinterest.

We set a date.  I found a dress. We had engagement pictures taken (on the beach, obviously). Scheduled our ceremony.  And I had the flowers and the cake all figured out.

Searching for a reception venue was kind of like searching for a husband.  There were a few ok options, a lot of heck no options, and then, the one.  Right on the beach, with balcony views of the ocean, just minutes from where we would be married.  It. Was. Perfect.

My aunt offered to make all the bridesmaids dresses, which was equally sweet and cool.  I learned that wedding cakes are extremely expensive, and decided I could probably make my own (what?!!).  I also learned that if wedding cakes were expensive, flowers were REALLY expensive. I was a DIY bride before that was even a thing.

My mom and I picked up a pile of my favorite flowers (Gerbera daisies) from the Los Angeles Flower District the day before my wedding.  And I made a bunch of cake layers, at my future sister-in-law’s house, froze them, and delivered them to the freezer at the venue.  Then my sweet grandma helped my mom assemble it in-between the ceremony and reception! My grandma even brought a kitchen mixer and mixed the frosting up right there on the cake table.  It was awesome.

Shockingly, none of this stressed me out.  Apparently, in my mind, doing things like making your own wedding cake (when you’ve NEVER made a wedding cake before), and buying all the flowers the day before, were totally normal.  And, it all worked!  I loved everything about our wedding.

We were married in the San Diego LDS Temple, on July 12, 2005.  Our dream reception venue, the La Valencia Hotel, lived up to being the one.  We danced our first dance, to a country song, with a view of the ocean.   Jesse played his guitar and sang me the most beautiful song, with everyone we loved the most watching.  I had never been so happy.

That guy that bought me a taco, played the guitar, could dunk a basketball, wore designer jeans, and loved all of me, was my husband.  And our story was really just beginning.

St. Louis Wedding Photographer

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Your moments matter.

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