Wedding Day!

The ceremony was so beautiful. We were sealed by an old family friend, President Jon Martz (he's in the Temple Presidency, hence the title.) "Mormon" or Latter Day Saint (LDS) weddings aren't the same as traditional weddings. They take place in one of our sacred Temples, therefore only members of our church in good standing can attend the actual ceremony. This usually causes our non-member family and friends to feel left out, as if our church is trying to seperate us from them. Nothing can be further from the truth. ANYONE can obtain a recommend to go inside our Temples...you just have to accept the message of the gospel, be baptized by one having Priesthood authority, be a member at least a year, and study the importance of the sacredness of the Temple. It's not a secret...it's just sacred. We want everyone to partake of the blessings of the Temple...you just need to understand what it is first, and that takes a long time. Lots of my family members were married before I had prepared myself to enter the Temple, and I had to sit outside like everyone else. But I never felt left out. I've understod the importance and the big responsibility of attending the Temple, so I've understood why I wasn't ready to go in. It's unfortunate, but those who don't understand why they can't go in to see the marriage of a loved one and get angry, don't understand the importance of the Temple and therefore shouldn't be let in...it's a catch 22.
Although the marriage ceremony is different from traditional weddings, the reception usually isn't (except for the lack of alcohol! :). We had our reception in Palmdale at our church, an afternoon reception. That helped us keep costs down, and helped us to have things wrap up earlier and be able to have some time alone that evening. So many friends and family helped us out, and there were so many little "wedding miracles" that made our reception so lovely. Our bestest pal was our friend Aracely Hoskins, who for a very modest sum made delicious soups and appetizers for our gusts, and our amazingly beautiful and soooo delicious cake! Her & her family are AMAZING! I'll forever be in their debt for their service to us that day!
The reception was a little chaotic for me...I decided to save on a DJ and just set up an itunes playlist with the integrated speakers. We found out right before that when you turn the volume up, it got very scratchy. It was fine for the soft music in the background, but for our first dance, when we turned up the music, it was so sad! We had this funny dance planned, where it started out slow, and then had a fast song in the middle, and then slow again. We hadn't rehearsed it much and combine that with the horrible sound and it was kinda sad! We had fun though, and it was easier for me than just swaying with Cody for 4 minutes, and it was kinda funny. It would have been so much better with proper sound...lesson learned...hire a DJ! :) That was the ONLY thing that went wrong, so we were very lucky!
It was stressful for me being the center of attention and trying to talk to all our guests and stay on schedule and everything. Maybe we should have had a 4 hour reception so that I could talk to everyone! I was very honored that so many of our loved ones came to support us, and sad that I couldn't properly spend time with them.
I'll do a proper post when I get pictures from our amazing photographers, Angela Meyers & her husband Ty. She got lovely shots of all the details that I want to share with you.
Our reception did run 30 minutes late, and after our beautiful send off we drove about 8 minutes to the hotel. :) My old Boss Zack was kind enough to give me a free room at the first Marriott I ever worked for. Not only that, but he and his wife left us some yummy treats too! It was a blessing, because I hadn't eaten all day! I devoured those pretzels!!!! Thank you Bird Family!!!
I hadn't been feeling well all day. Stress + medication = sick Heather...I even threw up what little I was able to get down for breakfast on the way to the ceremony! I was unable to eat at the reception, even though I tried. So it felt so nice to take off that huge dress, lay down & relax, and nibble on our treats. I lay there and basked in the joy of the day and thought about how wonderful our friends and family are, and what a wonderful day it had been. I am so thankful!
The next day we went back to my dad's house to open our presents and to watch the superbowl with family. Weird, I know, but my family always watches it together and my mom Jill makes the best tacos! It was fun to open the presents with almost my whole family and to be able to enjoy the festivities and pack for our real honeymoon, our trip to Indian Wells.

To be continued... :)