So I haven't blogged in over a year... and before that post it had been a year as well. To be honest.... this whole blogging thing wasn't really my jam (I blogged to try to fit in with my byu friends) buuuut lucky for you all (I know probably 99% of you don't actually care), I'm going to try to start blogging again because I am done with school and I JUST PASSED THE CPA TEST and I actually kinda like blogging! So...since I have a little free time and I don't live by most of my friends or family so I wanna keep everyone in the loop of my suuuuuper awesome life.... ;)
When I was single, I used to always joke that only married people could blog cause they were boring or something, so naturally my first post back is about GETTING MARRIED! hehe (so stop reading if you hate weddings or don't care cus it's kind of a long post... but here goes!)
March 20th, 2015. I might be biased but, it was honestly the most perfect day. The weather was not too hot, and not too cold. The flowers on the trees had JUST blossomed, and Utah was completely perfect. When we were trying to decide on the date that we would get married.. we were trying to work around schedules, Joram's brother leaving on a mission, my family coming from Uruguay, my family's spring break etc. I always thought I wanted a summer wedding because any other time of the year the weather is so unpredictable... but when I found out that Joram's parents wedding anniversary was on a Friday, March 20th, Joram and I knew it had to be that day. I completely love Joram's parents and they are the best examples of what an incredible marriage is, so it was so cool to be able to be making the same promises, and covenants that they had made on the same day... 29 years earlier and made the day even more special!
Here is a picture that we recreated of Joram's parent's wedding day!
Planning a wedding wasn't the easiest thing for me especially since I don't live in Utah or Oregon. I was also studying for the CPA test, and working 50-60+ hours a week, getting scuba certified, Joram's car had just broke (so we were both using mine - and I was getting rides with my friend Jessica to work, and he was picking me up - he had a long ride from SF to SJ) and we had to fly home to do so many things almost every weekend! Luckily, my mother in law planned pretty much everything for our Utah reception, (and my dad planned everything for our reception in Oregon, which will be on a different blog post). I would tell her what I wanted, and then she would figure it out and come to me and say, do you like this or this... and all I really had to do was pick. It was seriously awesome. (I wasn't much of a bridezilla) My mother and law and I have very similar taste... which made it really easy. And Joram has two sisters that got married, so she knew vendors and was the most organized wedding planner EVER. It was awesome, and I still owe her forever for all of the time and help she put into making it my dream wedding.
Joram on the other hand, didn't care about too many things, just "whatever made me happy" :) but he DID care that he and all of his groomsmen had awesome socks. Luckily we found some really great Stance socks that went with the colors pretty well! I loved how these pictures turned out.
CEREMONY:
We got married in the Salt Lake City, LDS temple. We don't have pictures from within the temple but I'm actually so thankful because it gives you time to completely focus on each other. it was such an incredible feeling to see all of our friends and family in one room. I cried, I laughed, Joram was squeezing my hand so tight and had the BIGGEST smile the whole time. I got to see him in the mirrors that go for eternity. And we were sealed... to be together forEVER. what is better than that? really, nothing. Oh! quick story: It was actually a miracle that we were able to get married! (if you aren't LDS this might not make a lot of sense.. sorry!) But, before our wedding day... I went to get my temple recommend, Joram came with me, we talked to the bishop he gave me a living ordinance recommend for my endowments and he said it could also be used for the sealing. Joram had his recommend, so we thought we were good to go... and we talked to the bishop together so we assumed everything was great. Little did we know he needed a living ordinance recommend for HIM also! so when we got to the temple on the morning of our wedding, they wouldn't let us get married until Joram was interviewed by his bishop... who lived in California and was on a plane ride for a business trip ... after trying to get a hold of our bishop, we waited for about 20 minutes and they told us his stake president was on his way over. We were both like... ??? How!? from California!? Long story short... his church records hadn't been moved to our California Palo Alto ward yet, and his records were still in his salt lake ward and his old stake president was working ACROSS THE STREET. So he came over, asked Joram a couple of questions and by a MIRACLE we were on our way to get sealed. What a testimony to me that Heavenly Father was watching out for us.
VENUE:
We decided to have our wedding reception at Highland Gardens. When Joram and I were dating, we went to one of his friends weddings... and I remember thinking it was the most beautiful venue, and I knew I wanted that to be where I had my reception.... so we made it happen! Its a garden nursery, so you feel like its outdoors, but still good for any weather (perfect for spring or winter weddings when it could be raining) and it was conveniently just down the street from Joram's parents house! It turned out incredible. And Joram's mom, Deanna, put the most beautiful and thoughtful details into it.
(it looks incredible at night with the lights glowing from inside the leaves)
PHOTOGRAPHY:
Tyler Rye @ TylerRye.com took all of our pictures and we LOVE them.
VIDEOGRAPHER:
http://www.jaredwortleyfilms.com/
He did an awesome awesome job. I am in love with our wedding video - I'll post it later probably. Brides - if you are debating between getting a videographer and just having pictures... seriously, you have to do both. It's sooo fun to relive the day.. and you will regret it if you don't get one!
LITTLE DETAILS:
Coloring books: I found the cutest coloring books online and my mother in law went above and beyond and wrapped crayons and got matching pencils to go with it. I loved seeing the little kids drawing during the reception:)
our cute Instagram sign that my sister in law Breanne helped make! So cute. and birdcage for our cards!
FOOD:
I actually don't know much about our food... because Joram picked it out with his mom :) Plus I have a pallet of a 5 year old and could eat cheerios and Mcdonalds for every meal. SO I left that to them... it was suuuuper yummy though.
DESSERT:
we just went with a little bit of everything. Luckily someone (I don't even know who) packed us some in our car to take to the hotel after so we got to try it..... SOO yummy.
LUNCHEON:
I tried to make our wedding as much "us" as possible, yet still kept it very traditional. During our luncheon, my sister sang "Can't help falling in love" she has an INCREDIBLE voice. We had a trivia where each table answered some fun facts about us. We gave Joram's parents a picture that we recreated of their wedding, and my dad gave the most beautiful speech that left me in tears, I love that man so much.
FLOWERS:
I wanted to keep my bouquet super springy. I loved how it turned out. I see girls with giant bouquets and I don't even know how they can hold the 20 pound thing. But I've also seen some gorgeous huge bouquets... it's cool to see every brides styles! So my bouquet was pretty simple, and I loved it. I'm actually holding the throw bouquet in the picture below, so my wedding bouquet was slightly bigger, and just beautiful. Since I had 10+ bridesmaids, I kept their flowers pretty simple and I loved how it turned out! And the centerpieces... our flower lady, Pam did an incredible job!
MUSIC:
Joram and I both LOVE live piano music plus I wanted my sister to sing our first dance song/ father daughter dance. They didn't have a piano at Highland Gardens, because of the humidity. But as soon as I told Deanna that we wanted piano music... she made it happen, it was so so perfect.
MAKEUP:
I went on a trip to Sun Valley, ID and I met this girl named Nicolette Ballif, she is one of the most gorgeous girls I've ever met. She does hair and makeup and is amazing at it. I know almost NOTHING about makeup. I try to wear some kind of blush if I'm trying to be fancy and lipstick drives me crazy. I got my hair done once from this girl who had awful hair... (I don't know how I trusted her) long story short, it turned out awful... and I thought after, duh, why would I trust her when.. I don't even like her hair at all. So after that, my theory has been you have to like the style of the person doing your makeup/hair. So I decided I trusted Nicolette and told her to do whatever she wanted to my face, with a natural springy look.. and I think she did an awesome job :)
DRESS:
My mom flew out to Utah to help me pick it out! We went out with my best friend Caitlin and sister in law, Alyssa, and Mother in law and we got my dress from Fantasy Bridal in Murray. They altered it to fit me perfectly.. and I loved how it turned out! Shout out to my mom for getting me my dream dress! Love you!
BRIDESMAIDS:
Sooooooo I had 14 bridesmaids (15 including my cardboard cutout of my sister lol). Yeah.. it was awesome. I guess it's not typical to have that many but hey it was MY wedding, and I wanted all of my best friends to be a special part of it! SO I did it my way. I think of a bridesmaid as someone who will be your friend forever... and I love all of these girls SO much. Since I got married at 24 (yes that's old at byu), I had to rotate who my best friend was through college (cus they would all leave me to get married) so I have multiple best friends and new family and new cousins and I just wanted everyone to be a part of it... so I'm glad I ditched the imaginary wedding rules and did things my way. Freaking love these girls so so much.
our photographer took some more pictures while Joram needed a break from the endless pictures :) so some had already left for the reception. They turned out pretty cute.
Rings:
I love gold for rings. It's so classic. And when I think about men in my life that I really admire... I just think they all have gold rings. Hahaha so Joram didn't have a choice :) He designed my ring at Rocky Mountain Diamond Company! They make custom rings, and it's exactly how I wanted mine! (We also got his ring from there) I love these pictures our photographer took of our rings!
DADDY DAUGHTER/FIRST DANCE:
I love my dad so so much, he is my very best friend so naturally this is one of my favorite part of most weddings I've attended. It's so sweet to see dads give their daughter away, and it always leaves happy tears in my eyes. My dad surprised me for our dance. Our song that we've always planned on was "Butterfly Kisses" by Bob Carlisle... it was our song. So naturally I went to dance with him, thinking that was the song... but he took the microphone and told me he had a different song that we would be dancing to.. "What heaven sees in you." The lyrics talk about your "white dresses" blessing, baptism, and then marriage... and what heaven sees in you. and my SISTER sang it beautifully. Then when it got to the part of the wedding long white dress, Joram cut in and I ended the dance with my new husband. Naturally, I cried the entire time. Probably one of my favorite parts of the whole day.
Here is the video on youtube along with pictures of the dance:
CAKE:
It turned out exactly how I wanted it! One of my favorite parts of weddings is watching the cake be cut and usually smashed into the others face. I love it because every couple does it differently. Some brides are completely against it and threaten their husbands ahead of time and other couples go ALL out. I literally saw a brides face get SLAMMED into a cake once. It was SO sad and SO hilarious. We went for the gentle yet slightly messy approach. Haha. So awesome.
FLOWER TOSS:
During previous weddings, I avoided these at all costs. At one of my best friends wedding, my dad actually paused the whole thing and called me out because I wasn't standing in the group of girls trying to catch it and he was laughing and yelling at me like "get up there... you need this!!!!!!" ...so embarrassing.. hahah :) Liz Lin caught my bouquet and she got proposed to shortly after so.... it must be true! She was the next one to get married! Congrats Liz!
SPARKLER SEND OFF:
I've always wanted a sparkler sendoff. Luckily, Joram's mom found the longest lasting sparklers on amazon. It was seriously magical walking through a line of all our friends and family, with amazing weather after a completely incredible day. and our photographer got incredible shots of it.
and last but not least, MY GROOM:
Joram Brian Jensen. I never knew I could love someone so much. He makes me laugh, he's smart, he loves sports, he loves to travel and do fun things, he's so freaking attractive, he loves his family and the gospel, and he treats me so well. Before I met him, I had dated a lot. I broke hearts, I got my heart broken and dated some pretty great guys... but I remember being so frustrated because for whatever reason, it just wasn't right with any of them. After marrying Joram, I am so thankful Heavenly Father saved him just for me. We have pretty different personalities, but we are also very similar, so he balances me out and is my best friend and the best partner I could have asked for in this journey called life. There's something I can't describe in the way that he looks at me, that I just know that I've known him longer than our time together so far in life. And sometimes (all of the time) I just stare at him... and wonder how I got so lucky. I could write for hours about how much I love him... and I love him more and more everyday so I'm excited to see how our journey together unfolds.
You made it to the end! I probably (definitely) overused the words "amazing, incredible, beautiful, gorgeous" etc but there is no other way to describe our day then with those adjectives! I will hopefully do another post about my Oregon open house/reception which my dad did an incredible job with as well! Joram and I are now happily living in the Bay area. He works for Merrill Lynch in San Francisco and I work for EY in San Jose so we live right in between in Newark, California. We are loving every bit of this new journey and I look forward to sharing more of our fun adventures. Thanks for reading this incredibly long post! They won't all be this long, I promise!
xoxo,
Brit
