Lively Family, Est. July 25, 2008

The wedding was great! I will post more pictures later as soon as I get them, but for now here's one of our cake. Isn't it adorable? And...it was so delicious. The bottom layer was key lime, the middle was black forest, and the top was german chocolate. Mmmm. The wedding day went great...I couldn't have asked for a better day. Or a better man to marry.

Our sealing was at 11 a.m. at the Jordan River Temple. It was amazing. Seriously one of the happiest moments of my life. I just felt so lucky and blessed to be there with such a wonderful man by my side surrounded by all our wonderful friends and family. I am just so excited to be with my best friend for eternity.

The sealer gave us lots of good advice, but the two things that stuck out to me were 1) He told us to make sure we prayed together as a couple every night. He said that the family that prays together stays together. 2) He told us that if I want Matt to be Prince Charming, I need to treat him like Prince Charming. And I need to act like a princess if I want to be treated like one. And if Matt wants to be married to a princess, he should treat me like one and if he wants to be treated like a king, he should act like one. What great advice.

I also really loved that the sealer had us look into the mirror with our parents and grandparents. They are who got us to this point and one day we will be there with our posterity. What a beautiful thing!

After the sealing, we braved the 100-degree weather to take pictures outside the temple and then at the reception center. Then we went to Marie Callendar's for our luncheon. It was delicious.

Our reception that night was beautiful. It was held at Le Jardin Chateau at the Rose Shop. It is a greenhouse located in Sandy, Utah. My friend Liesl did our flowers, and they looked amazing. Great job Liesl! We didn't really have to decorate because of all the pretty plants in the greenhouse, so it just looked so pretty.

For the first hour and a half of the reception, we just greeted all the guests. It was so fun seeing everyone! Then we had some entertainment and festivities. I know that many of you were wondering what those were going to be, so I'll reveal the secrets. :)

First we had each of our parents do a tribute to us. My mom wrote a poem and read it to us...it was hilarious! I'll have to get the words from her and post it. The other parents said some really sweet things to us, and it was fun to hear what they had to say. Then, we had my cousin Rachel sing the Hawaiian wedding song. She was accompanied by a ukelele player. It was awesome! My brother Scott played "Better Together" on the guitar for us.

Then we had the bouquet/garter toss. We decided that we didn't want to this in the traditional way, so instead of rounding up all the single people (Let's face it, everyone hates that.) we picked the people we felt were most deserving to receive the bouquet and garter. We wrote their names on a notecard and put them in an envelope and had our emcee Garrett announce the winners. It was hilarious! We nominated Almarie Barnard and Raymon Naisbitt from our ward. It was much better than the traditional toss.

Then Matt and I each did a tribute to each other. I wrote a song and played it on my guitar. I was so nervous though, that my voice was shaking the whole time. Oh well...it was cute anyway. I'll have to post the words.

After that, we had our first dance. Our song was "At the Beginning" from the Anastasia movie soundtrack. I just love that song and it totally tells our story. It talks about how they were on a journey and they didn't expect to fall in love, but now the only place they want to be is at the beginning with each other. It's soooo cute!

Then we just had a big dance. It was so much fun. We played a good mix of line dances, ska music, swing, and slow songs. It was a little tough doing the Electric Slide in my wedding dress, but I had a blast!

After the dance, we left the reception center in a horse-drawn carriage. Everyone lined the path from the reception center out to the carriage and blew bubbles and threw rose petals at us. The best surprise though was as soon as we came out and started walking to the carriage, a bagpiper started playing! We had wanted one, but couldn't find one so we were a little bummed, but someone surprized us and hired one for us! It was the best! Then we rode off in the carriage.

We stayed that night in the Anniversary Inn in the Treasure Island Suite...it was so cool! Then the next day, we were off to British Columbia for our fantastic week-long honeymoon. It was amazing. I will post more pictures of the wedding day as soon as I get them back from our photographer. It seriously was the best day ever. I'm so glad I married Matt...he is the best!