Alas, my bridal pictures have made their way to my blog!  I know, you thought it would never happen, but I knew it would… I just had no idea when!

We are going on 10 months of being married, and things have finally slowed down (at least for this week) so I thought this would be the perfect time to catch up.

Nicole (who also did our engagements) shot these as well.   We couldn’t have been more thrilled with the end results.  My roommate and friend Tracy did my hair.  I just love that girl.  How cool is it that she came to my house to do it, instead of having me go to the salon, then stayed to help me get in my dress and into the car.  Couldn’t have done it without her.  Thanks Tracy!

And can we talk about my bouquet!  L.O.V.E.D. And it even comes with a funny story!  I called my friend Elaine to see if she could arrange my flowers for the shoot, since she is amazing with flowers, and of course she was more then willing.  However, by the time she could pick up the flowers she had ran out of time and couldn’t go back home to put them all together.  For anyone else, this would be a stressful situation, but not for Elaine!  She knew that she needed SOMEONE to hold the flowers while she put them together and tie the bow, and who better to do that then a HOMELESS man! I mean, he was right there and didn’t appear to be busy.  She seriously pulled over to the side of the road, got out of her car, and asked a homeless man to hold the flowers as she arranged them and tied on the bow and the best part is, he did it!  Who does that?! Elaine, your talents and sense of adventure never cease to amaze me!  You rock!

My Bridal Shower was so much fun!  It was planned by Elaine and Whitney with extra help from Kster and Sheena.  They all did such an amazing job!  From the invitations, to the decorations, down to the drinks, not one thing was overlooked or  unplanned.  Here is the cute invite Whitney put together from scratch!  She is awesome at invitations, birth announcements, and holiday cards.  So cute!

It was so much fun to get together with family and friends to celebrate the upcoming big day.  The gifts I received were beyond my wildest dreams!  Everyone was so generous and I am proud to say we didn’t take a single thing back!  A big thank you to Elaine for all of her hard work, it was the ultimate party and I walked away feeling like the luckiest girl ever!   In fact, I’m pretty sure I heard several people refer to it as a “small reception” it was that amazing.  But lets be honest, are you surprised!?  Elaine is the Queen of making things happen.

Elaine and Whitney, I love these ladies!

Whitney was one of my best friends growing up, and she has always been nice enough to share her mom with me.  They moved next door when I was 8 years old.  I remember the first day that they moved in I marched over and  knocked on the door to see if Whitney could play.  She was babysitting and said no, however that didn’t stop me.  I knocked on the door every hour all day long until Whitney was finally able to play; now almost 21 years later and we’re still playing.  The only difference between then and now is, now I don’t have to knock.  

Stephanie, Laura, and Annalise Felt

Wow, I could go on forever about these lovely ladies.  I met the Felts when I was about 8 years old when they moved into our ward. I remember I was really big into babysitting and Stephanie had the two cutest boys named Malcolm and Wyatt.  I really wanted to babysit them and got my big chance when Stephanie got called as the  activities day leader in our ward.  Later came Bria, Annalise, and Jensen and ever since then we’ve been hanging out doing the best activities ever!

Right to Left: Amber, Whitney, Kster, Sheena, Jill and Tammy.

Amber, Whitney, Sheena, Tammy and I all grew up in the same ward.  We all are pretty much within a year or so of each other.  We spent all our time together going to Sunday classes, youth activities, girls camp, and school.  It’s rare that you find of group of girls like this that grow up together and still remain friends.  Kster and Jill have become my very close friends through Jr. High, High School, and College.  I am so glad to know each of these ladies and call them friends!

Grandma Waters

Is she not just the sweetest Grandma Ever?!  Both of Jason’s Grandma’s are just the sweetest ladies in the whole world.  It meant so much to me that they both came.   (somehow Grandma Evans got away without getting a picture.)

Lana

This is Jason’s Aunt who made me the cutest “flirty apron” you ever saw!  She is also the best baker in town!  Holy cow she can make anything taste good… Even Gluten Free stuff!

Sisters

I love her.  It was so much fun to have so many of my sister in-laws here too!  They all helped so much in helping to get me ready for the big day!

The Food – Everything tasted amazing!

The Flowers – Yes they are Tiffany blue!

Even the drinks were the right colors!  Go Sheena!

This cute table display was put together by my best friend Kster.  She gathered tons of pictures of Jas and I and put them on a table with little cards for people to write down their favorite memory with me, as well as give us advise on being married.  The cards turned out so cute!

Also, I have to point out the center display.  Elaine hand made that from tissue paper.  Is that not the cutest thing ever!? Her skills for decorating go unmatched.

Right after the reception, since so many of my friends and family were all in the same place, we decided to jump into the car an go dress shopping.   This was really the first Saturday that I had time to think about a dress, and having everyone around to help put in their 2 cents was perfect! We ended up trying on dresses all afternoon.  I loved it!  I really didn’t think that I would, however there is something magical about being in love, putting on a white dress, and standing on a petal stool, that just makes you feel like a princess.   This whole day was more then I could have ever dreamed.  It really was perfect.

Our engagement was crazy-short but so fun!  Honestly, the whole time I was laughing to myself saying…. “Who does this!”

After getting engaged, the very first questions everyone asks are;

-How did he propose?  You can read that story below, it’s kind of amazing.

-When are you getting married?  We had always talked about having a long courtship and a short engagement, which we held true to!  Six weeks is long enough to plan a wedding, right?

-Where are you getting married?  We knew we wanted to get married in the Salt Lake, Timpanogos, or Redlands Temple in California, however deciding on which one (with them all being so beautiful) was so hard.  We finally decided that we would get married in Timpanogos…. or so I thought.

Less then 24 hours after getting engaged I boarded a plane to Mississippi where I spent a week away on a business trip.  Who does that!  (not that I really had a choice and I would not recommend it.)

Immediately after I returned home from my work trip you would think that I would jump right into the wedding planning, but I didn’t.  Instead, Jas and I packed up the car and headed up to Bear Lake for his family reunion.  Every year his family goes up to Bear Lake in August where we stay for a week making memories and having fun!  Yes, you heard me right, 1 week!  Who is this girl!  Who leaves to go out of town with only 5 weeks remaining to plan a wedding?!  That would be me!  Just the thought of having to think about all that “girl stuff” for the wedding was enough to make me head straight out of town!

These are the only pictures we took at Bear Lake this year…

<<pictures>>

When I arrived home from my trip I got a call from my friend Elaine (Whitney’s mom) saying I needed to come over to meet with her.  I said I would love to come over but what do we need to meet about?  She said, um Shalauna you get married in 4 weeks and I have a checklist of all the things you need to be working on.  There’s lots to do! HA!  Isn’t that just great!  I just love that girl!  I would have been lost without all of her checklist and followup phone calls.  Elaine I love you!

Ahhh, and here is where the craziness begins!