Our Wedding

July 10, 2010

I was the little girl who dreamt about her wedding, down to every last little detail. I watched show after show about weddings and could have pulled off a wedding at age 14 without much trouble. But first, you kind of have to find a man. 

So I waited eight excruciatingly long terrible years. Kidding, but I was a pretty melodramatic teenager.

Evan proposed on July 9, 2009, at a park in Billings that has been a significant part of our relationship. It was perfect. We spent a year week planning our wedding, which just so happened to be the week before. Coincidence!!!

We were married in a gorgeous wedding event center on the outskirts of Billings. The moment I saw the place I knew it was where I would say "I do." It was the most perfect culmination of every little thing I had expected my venue to be.

Inside the reception hall.

Planning a wedding is actually a lot harder than it sounds.....and than they make it look on TV. (Liars!) I used theknot.com like it was my lifeline. And it was also the death of me. Every single time I looked through reception pictures I changed my idea for centerpieces, about colors, about my dress, about my bridesmaid dresses, about the overall theme. Nightmare. Early on, I should have picked a theme. But I didn't because yes, I was a young bride. Everything turned out perfect, I loved my centerpieces, I loved my colors, everything was fine. But, planning ahead is so, so key.

I went simple. I found a ton of vases at Good Will, thrift stores, bargain shops, etc. At first I wanted everything to be the same. I have a hard time with different sizes and heights and colors. But when I realized I was going to spend no more than seventy five cents a vase, I could get over it. I found fish bowls, Tiffany-esque "crystal" vases, long lean vases, and everything in between. I put two flowers in the round, squat vases: one spider mum, one Gerber daisy. With everything else, I let my bridesmaids improvise and went with it.

My maid-of-honor, Jamie, folded hundreds of paper cranes for me. I didn't do the "thousand cranes equals good luck" nonsense because that would be ridiculous to make her fold that many. Jk, because she did.

As we were decorating, being the last minute person I like to be, I was like "OMG! We should string these up and hang them on the wall in front of the windows!!!!" (Rather than put them on the tables like we had been.) I'm sure my bridesmaids and friends and cousin and parents and in-laws punched me in the mouth in their minds for that. I even went so far as to call my brother and ask him to bring me some fishing wire. I was set on this. At like 1 in the afternoon when I was suppose to be getting in my dress for pictures. Good move, Larissa. We ended up keeping the cranes on the tables because sometimes my brilliant ideas just don't work out. But it would have been neat. (I still have bags and bags of cranes we saved didn't use that I plan on putting to good decorating use....someday.)

Evan and I didn't see each other before I walked down the aisle. I was so set on that one part about my wedding that I almost broke down every time someone suggested otherwise. I wanted that picture of his face the first time he laid eyes on me (which I have somewhere). I'm still so happy we stood strong on that aspect, but I think our pictures definitely suffered. We didn't get as many as I would have liked, but I made that choice and I have (and will continue to) re-put on my dress and take a million more pictures.

We also were set on taking communion together. It was so intimate and special and one of the events that stands out most in my mind. We took a moment to ourselves, prayed for each other and our marriage, and laughed and cried. Our musicians played "Beautiful" by Shawn McDonald, which has been one of our favorite songs since the first month of our dating relationship.

Everyone told us to practice our kiss so our photographer would get a good picture. But we didn't. And Evan put his hands on my face. Oh well. haha

And that was that. Mr. & Mrs. I don't remember the sermon, I was trying too hard not to cry, and to stop shaking. We were both so nervous our fingers swelled like 4 sizes and we both had issues putting the rings on. (But we remembered the rings and that's the important part!) Evan's finger lost circulation because his ring was so tight (and it fit him a week prior). Evan also tripped going down the stairs and almost died, so that was my first heart attack (oh yes, there will be many more. Like when he built that ladder in Ethiopia of termite filled wood and then proceeded to stand on it while an Ethiopian hammered and sawed it.) of my married life.

He is funny. That's why I like him. We took group pictures immediately after the ceremony (together finally!) and then got our party on! We ate a delicious catered dinner, well I didn't because I was too nervous/excited/happy (which usually means I would eat....so....). We ate the best chocolate raspberry cake and DID NOT stuff it in each others faces. We danced to "Then" by Brad Paisley as the first dance song, "Butterfly Kisses" by Bob Carlisle as the father daughter dance, and "What a Wonderful World" by Louie Armstrong as the mother son dance.

We brought people on the dance floor for all the usual dances and games and then got our real party on. We danced into the night with our closest friends and family and had such a wonderful, perfect night.

There were some hiccups. Like when those two girls crashed my party like an hour early and were basically the first two non-wedding party people to see me. And how they were dressed inappropriately for a wedding and how they told the bartenders that they were in the wedding party to get free drinks. And then Evan caught them peeing outside (Helloooooo indoor plumbing). Yikes. It rained. Oh yes it did. It monsooned on my wedding day. It was tragic then, but the indoor party, albeit humid, was still great. Time flew by faster than it ever has in my entire 23 year existence. It went from 6:00 to 9:30 in less than 60 seconds. All 900143 wedding mints that I made disappeared. I had my bridezilla moment about 10 minutes before the ceremony when I thought no one put out communion. And that was it.







Looking back, everything was so perfect. Of course, if I had another year to plan, and a million dollars, things would be different. But in reality, the important part isn't the party. It's the relationship, the couple behind the party. And we are as happy as can be. I would have married him under a bridge in the freezing cold if it meant I could spend the rest of my life with him. So I forget about the little things that didn't work out (ie: hanging cranes) and remember that I love him and that we will spend forever together.