one year

Andrew & Celeste Wedding video from our great friend Caitlyn Cutler Videography 

wedding photography by the lovely India Earl

and now i'm in tears after posting these. i could write a novel about this day but i'll (tryyy to) keep it short ;). but really - warning... because it is a novel for those to care to know about my feelings about this same time last year.

a year ago today, andrew and i got sealed together forever in the glorious salt lake city temple. wedding planning is such an unfamiliar and overwhelming process and it sort of hit me like a train. you always dream about the days you'll be trying on dresses in front of your loved ones and registering with your spouse, but in reality, i just wanted to be married. i believe in keeping all the classic wedding traditions, but andrew and i have such a mellow attitude about things (especially if it's something revolving around us), we were so indifferent about all the tiny decisions. we are also both extremely indecisive, so that definitely doesn't help get things done. but! we managed to wrap my head around the important things and nailed down some decisions that i will forever cherish and i am so happy i have these items, photos and stories to pass down to my children and theirs. here are some of my favorites that i thought made our day unique to andrew and i.

andrew's tie & suit choice. since i've known the guy, he's worn bolo ties more than regular ties. i am obsessed with this, especially since i'm from the south and bolo ties are only worn by respected men, and people who have good taste in style. i think he likes them more because of the fact that they give his neck some breathing room (haha) , but either way, he's cute. all of the groomsmen and our fathers matched andrew and wore their own bolo ties to bring the southwestern theme i wanted. i'm excited to pass down his turquoise bolo he wore at our wedding. his suit was custom made, as well as my dress. this was important to us to have things especially made for us and only us. and a little side note: i chose for his boutonniere to only be my favorite flower, an anemone. but summer brides, learn from my mistakes because those suckers do not stand a chance in the heat without water, haha! i still loved my choice, though.

our venue and theme. when i say theme, i think i mean themes. i don't discriminate when it comes to literally everything in life, so i think our wedding was a perfect depiction of mine and andrew's personalities. those who know me, know i am the biggest floral enthusiast. the earth is my biggest source of inspiration when it comes to my paintings, so it was important to incorporate flowers in anyway. our venue was a quaint indoor & outdoor greenhouse with welcoming hanging flower baskets and foliage that filled every open space. our party favors were little packets of wildflower seeds and thankfully i had some leftovers that will last us awhile to fill our yard with! we served classic southern pulled pork, texas brisket and potato salad with glass bottled ibc rootbeer - who doesn't love a good summer bbq in the garden?! and obviously we had dozens of my most favorite old fashioned blueberry donuts from my favorite donut shop in salt lake city, branbury cross donuts. our cake was peanut butter chocolate & drizzled caramel (we would marry peanut butter too if we could) with a smaller lemon cake with fresh berries for those (crazy) non-peanut butter lovers. i home-made our cake topper with mine and andrew's birthstones in crystal form. amethyst and aquamarine. we tied in the crystal theme with adding some rose quarts and other varieties of quartz crystals to each table. my earrings were made of crystal quartz and i gifted each of my bridesmaids with hand-wrapped quartz rings that we all wore on the wedding day. and lastly, i really wanted to cherish our guest book and i wanted to make it a unique experience. we had each guest snap a polaroid infront of a painting i made hanging off of the wooden arch andrew proposed to me under. they left their love notes on each photo and i have them neatly put away in their own special photo album - this was one of my favorite things we incorporated.

i hand-made almost every single thing, down to my handmade petal papered invitations, to the signs or anything that had to do with this day. although i knew barely anyone would notice these simple and small efforts, i put so many hours and late nights of my work weeks to make these things sentimental to me and to andrew. it's in my blood to create things all on my own, i truly feel this made it 100x more special than having other's do the work for me. and my friends and family involved were angels on this day, to say at the least.

bottom line...happy first anniversary to my love and my light. one year ago i made the best decision of my life. cheers to smacking that bum of yours forever and ever.