Wedding Photos!

Album 1
Album 2

I couldn't have asked for more perfect beautiful pictures to remember our FABULOUS day. I have a shrine of them at work and I adore staring at my Daniels face as much as possible! haha I am a true dork. I posted these because I realized I had deleted my album post... Its more for my sake than anyone else... This blog is like a journal for me... I'm even more of a dork.

Our Traditional/Non Traditional Wedding

Outside of the Secret Garden

My Dad walking me down the Aisle

Our first kiss as husband and wife!

We were so stinking happy!

The wonderful group that was at our wedding!

I love South Mountain so much!

Brittany's Wedding Diary

You don't need to read this... its my thoughts on my wedding... Its not complete and Its very long...

I was thinking about it the other day and I have not written down my feelings and thoughts surrounding our wedding... Seeing as not too many people read this blog I will write it here as a place to put it till I have my wedding scrapbook done and I can put it in there.

Leading up to our wedding day:

The days leading up to our trip down to Arizona were exciting. I honestly could not believe the time had come for us to finally get married. In the course of just a few months I had moved 3 times and was exhausted. I stayed with Dan's parents the last 5 days before we left for our wedding. I had just finished my 1 class that I was taking spring term and was anxious to get to Arizona. There were so many times that I wanted to just leave early for our wedding but due to a few things I had to do in Utah we couldn't just pick up and leave. It was getting so hard to just be calm and relaxed. I felt like their were a ton of things I needed to do and I had to wait and do them. Having had 8 months to plan our wedding was way too long but things all worked out for the best.

We left for Arizona on June 25th. It was a Wednesday and my work had planned to have a little party for Dan and I as a congrats for getting married. It was fun but the entire time I could only think about how I wanted to leave! Dan was there and we escaped by 1:30. I remember getting back to his house and making sure EVERYTHING was packed in the car. We left Orem by 3 and were planning on going straight to Vegas and staying the night their with Dan's cousin Tom. By the time we made it to Vegas it was 8 pm there and I was so eager to get to AZ we just kept driving. I drove the ENTIRE way and we got to my house at 2 am or so. Dan was upset with me because he wanted to drive because it would give him more leg room. He never actually said this during the drive however but just kept asking if I was "okay" I would say "yes" and I would keep driving. I learned then that no matter how bad or fast I want to get somewhere... I may not be the only person in the car.

Thursday was a pretty hectic day. As much as I tried to sleep in, I couldn't. I got up early and started to do stuff. I can't remember all the errands we ran that day but we went and paid for all the food and the cake and got our marriage license that day. When we got our marriage license, we were fighting. We were both edgy from no sleep and it was super hot. We even argued over how he signed his "s" on his last name.

He was more than happy that night to have me and my mom go over to Lonna's baby shower... Lonna was my maid of honor and also almost 8 months pregnant! Her shower was fun and I got to see a few of my Az friends. My mom and I were exhausted and had to run back to our house to meet up with my sister in law (and photographer) Kate to get some of her equipment so we could take it over to the Secret Garden the next day during our set up time. While Kate was there Dan's oldest brother Dave and his wife Caroline rolled in from their long drive from Texas! This was my first time meeting both of them even thou I had known Dan for nearly a year. It was so fun because I had been told a few times by that point that I reminded the Calkins of Caroline. We left then and went to Outback to get some food and chat some more! It was great talking to them both and I immediately felt a little bit calmer about the how wedding and adjusting to the in laws fiasco that was going on in my head.

The Day Before Our Wedding:

That night was another hard one for me. I went to bed very late and got up very early. When I woke up that morning I started trying to do way too much. I got huge blisters on my fingers from struggling with trying to cut the center piece flowers and would not calm down! I was stressed about everything even though nothing bad had happened. My mom and I were trying to get everything ready to take over to the Secret Garden to set up and I was hardly helping. That morning, however Kate was sweet enough to take me to get a very needed pedicure! We got back to the house just in time to start driving things over to the Secret Garden. My mom was a miracle worker and finished sewing the table toppers and putting together center pieces and making sure all the skirts were hemmed for the bridesmaids.

Set up went great, Kirsten was a huge help, she knows how to do her job very well! She was telling every what to do and how to do it and at the same time was a doll. She really made it so we could get stuff done pronto and it looked great! That afternoon was our rehearsal as well as our bridal/couple photos. I was so stressed it was ridiculous. After setting up the reception hall I was supposed to go out and pick up our flowers for that night but I ran out of gas just as I was going to turn into a gas station in the left lane. I frantically called Dan who was a few miles away with his brother and they came and rescued me despite my frantic phone calls and not so positive attitude.

I finally made it to pick up the flowers and back to the Secret Garden to get ready. That was a fiasco in itself! Everything was going fine until of all stupid things to happen my favorite hair spray would not pump. I got super upset and only Kirsten knows what I said and how crazy I was acting over it! No other hairspray would do because mine was special... lol I am sure other hair spray would be fine but I was not ready to try a new one right before my pictures when I had tried to find one that would not make my curls frizzy and heavy in the heat. ANYWAY I stormed out and went to the three closest stores, none of which carried Aussie Spray Gel. I called my sister in law crying as well as Dan. I think everyone thought I was one step away from the looney bin. I got back up to my bridal suite and tried my hair spray again and it worked. Kirsten had gotten it to work while I was gone. I was embarrassed and quickly got back to work on getting ready.

All this time I was trying to focus on all the little things but had almost forgotten what was important about the commitment I was making the very next day. In the middle of me getting ready Dan and I were to meet with Murray Snow who was in the Stake Presidency of my home stake when I was in high school. I have always loved him and was so excited when he agreed to perform our marriage. In talking with him he reminded me to not stress the little things because in the end they don't matter. He also told us that he has seen lots of people get married and as a judge has seen a lot of people get divorced. He said that he believes that a couple can be completely in love but if they lack commitment then it cannot last. He said commitment doesn't always follow love my love always follows commitment.

He said he would have married us the next day if only we would have said that we were truly committed to each other and even if we couldn't say that we loved each other.. We do love each other and then he made us say why we loved each other and talked to us about what we were truly doing and made us promise him that we would be sealed in the temple and that this was just a stepping stone of commitments we are to make. That talk truly changed my outlook on our "wedding" I just kinda let go of the crazy little details (not to say I wasn't stressed) but I smiled a lot more and chilled out some after he talked to us.

Everyone then went out to have the rehearsal and I stayed up in my room to finish getting ready. Getting all the way ready for the first time took a lot longer than I had thought but I am glad we had done it once the day before our wedding so I knew. Tons of people from the rehearsal were wondering where I was so I was being bombarded with visitors between apply mascara and spray my curls. It was fun to see everyone and I hope I never have to do anything in this life where it takes me that long to get ready ever again! hahaha

I remember the first moment I saw Dan all dressed up in his suit and wearing his gerbera daisy on his collar I wanted to cry but all I could do was smile. My mom was crying however. Kate took a few pictures of us as we just stood their together and talked and kissed. Kate was so great to us and helpful as well as taking really great photos of our entire wedding. I had been kinda edgy about sitting on the grass in my dress but when all was said and done I actually relaxed during our session and I think pretty much did as I was told. I swirled around, drank tons of water and played with my parasol and was so excited. I felt like a princess... Kate did such an AMAZING job! We had so much fun taking pictures and even though it was hot it was not as bad as it would have been because their was a fire burning on South Mountain west of where we were and it gave this weird smoke cover. Their were even ashes falling during our photos.

Cooling down after the pictures was nice. We went back to my house and I just left everything behind at the Secret Garden. That night we even had Dan's siblings over to go swimming in my mom's pool and it was a great way to spend our last single night.

Our Wedding Day:

The next day we got up super early. Thankfully Dan had stayed somewhere else that night so he was able to sleep in. My mom and I went to run a few final errands in order to get stuff ready for drinks at the wedding and all that jazz. We got back home and my mom was making some final adjustments on the bridesmaid skirts before we went to our wedding luncheon at the Olive Garden.

Some sister missionaries showed up at my mom's front door and started talking to me about the church. I didn't interject anything about already being a member I just let the new one talk. Finally they asked me if I had ever heard of missionaries before. Thats when I told them that I was a member, I attend BYU and I was needing to leave for my wedding luncheon right then. They all giggled and asked if they could help. I just thought it was a fun odd thing to happen right then.

The luncheon was nice and fun and it was a good meal before our wedding. After that I went and picked up the flowers and went back out to the Secret Garden for the big show. Getting ready the same way a second time was a lot easier. I knew where to start and what to do first and what not to do, plus I didn't have very many distractions.

We were finally ready for the actually ceremony. I remember trying to watch as everyone walked out and took their place. It was hard to see what was going on from my window. Finally it was my turn. It felt like it was taking them FOREVER to get moving. My dad looked at my window and told me to come out. I was so nervous and excited! I had to walk down a huge staircase and remember thinking how am I going to do this without falling. When we got to the grass everyone was starring and I whispered to my dad how weird it was! I just remember laughing with him as we walked down. When we got down to the end I remember we almost didn't do the "Who gives this women away" because I always thought the answer was "I do" and the "I do" would be from my dad. I love my mom so much and I wanted her to be a part of it because she has had to deal with some of the hardest parts of raising me. Anyway President Snow had spoken to both of my parents and my dad said "Her mother and I do" It was really nice and I am glad we did it that way.

I don't think I could have smiled any bigger through out our entire ceremony. President Snow did an amazing job. He talked about the commitment we were making and he even quoted Fiddler on the Roof after he spoke about love always follows commitment (he quoted this entire song and it was great!):

(Tevye)
"Golde, I have decided to give Perchik permission to become engaged to our daughter, Hodel."

(Golde)
"What??? He's poor! He has nothing, absolutely nothing!"

(Tevye)
"He's a good man, Golde.
I like him. And what's more important, Hodel likes him. Hodel loves him.
So what can we do?
It's a new world... A new world. Love. Golde..."

Do you love me?

(Golde)
Do I what?

(Tevye)
Do you love me?

(Golde)
Do I love you?
With our daughters getting married
And this trouble in the town
You're upset, you're worn out
Go inside, go lie down!
Maybe it's indigestion

(Tevye)
"Golde I'm asking you a question..."

Do you love me?

(Golde)
You're a fool

(Tevye)
"I know..."

But do you love me?

(Golde)
Do I love you?
For twenty-five years I've washed your clothes
Cooked your meals, cleaned your house
Given you children, milked the cow
After twenty-five years, why talk about love right now?

(Tevye)
Golde, The first time I met you
Was on our wedding day
I was scared

(Golde)
I was shy

(Tevye)
I was nervous

(Golde)
So was I

(Tevye)
But my father and my mother
Said we'd learn to love each other
And now I'm asking, Golde
Do you love me?

(Golde)
I'm your wife

(Tevye)
"I know..."
But do you love me?

(Golde)
Do I love him?
For twenty-five years I've lived with him
Fought him, starved with him
Twenty-five years my bed is his
If that's not love, what is?

(Tevye)
Then you love me?

(Golde)
I suppose I do

(Tevye)
And I suppose I love you too

(Both)
It doesn't change a thing
But even so
After twenty-five years
It's nice to know

We then said our vows and exchanged rings and I just couldn't believe it was actually happening. I remember once looking at everyone out in the chairs and they were all fanning themselves with the paper fans we had put out and I was so happy I had decided to buy paper fans. They had been one of my should I do this or is it stupid things. hahaha.

Standing their with my husband was so unreal. I could help but want to just run over and hug him and hold him. He was so handsome and I loved him so much right then I felt like I was going to burst. It was the happiest moment of my life. I can't wait to have more moments like that with the most amazing man I have ever known.

It was such a beautiful wedding day. So many people where there to help! After the ceremony Dan's Grandma came up to me and told me I reminded her of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind coming down the staircase... I just laughed.. Our reception was great. We had a cute little cake that we cut near the beginning and I was happy that it all got eaten. We had plenty of water and lemonade and plenty of people their to enjoy our day with us. My little brother Brett's band did a great job, they even sang while we did our first dance to the song Green Eyes by Coldplay. My dad sang a few songs and I was shocked when I saw people get out on the dance floor and dance. It was so much fun. Dans siblings even got in on the music action and played a few songs.

It was so much fun and I just remember being so excited and happy and tired! At the end of the evening I went back up and packed up my stuff. My mom told me I didn't need to but I wanted to help. So I packed up a lot of things and took them downstairs to my little car... which Dan's siblings had so colorfully decorated. We stayed at the Legacy Golf Course that night which was a block away from our reception. I felt weird leaving everyone else their to clean up the mess but my mom kept telling me to stop helping and to just leave. hahaha

My Birthday:

The next day was my birthday. I woke up to a text message from my mother in law wishing me a happy birthday. I then talked Dan into getting up at 7:30 to meet his family for breakfast. We went to their hotel then drove over to US Egg near Mill Ave. It was fun to sit around with almost all of the Calkins side and hang out. After that Dan and I went back to my mom's house and unloaded my car. We then opened wedding presents as well as my birthday present. My mom got me a wedding/birthday present which she so cutely wrapped (half the box was wrapped in wedding paper and the other half in birthday paper). Dan was to open the wedding part and I the birthday. When I opened it I saw that she bought me Viking sewing machine. I was very surprised and super excited. It meant even more to me when she told me that she had received a viking sewing machine for her wedding and since I was born she has known that this is what she wanted to give me for my wedding! I love my momma! We went over to my Dads after that and did birthday and wedding cards and then it was off to Cibola Vista Resort in Peoria.

Honeymoon:

We spent most of our honeymoon by the pool or at the movies!

I do

Ok I have said it... does that mean we can be married now and fast forward to say July12th?

1 year in the Making

So its almost been 1 year since I met Dan. Last summer was one of the lowest points of my life. Dan met me at the same time I was at the downward motion of hitting rock bottom.

I met Daniel on the fourth of July. I could have been many places that night. That day alone I had wandered from friend to friend and group to group never finding much solace other than in the presence of my dear friend Allyson. Meeting Dan when I did was not planned and had it not been for other events prior that had occurred that week and even that day I don't think it would have ever happened!

Anyway to say the least I met this wonderful, young, handsome, tall guy that I found to be cute and charming yet due to the unforeseen depressive attitudes of the summer of 2007 I didn't pick up on his intentions and when he finally told me flat out what he wanted I still kinda kept him at an arms length and kept playing the woe is me song in my head.

Thanks to a sane and surprisingly logical friend, Brent Jr., I took the chance on contacting Dan after a small hiatus in communication due to a broken phone and fear. I cowardly text messaged Dan late mid august. Not expecting much in return I just texted him something random that I hoped maybe he would remember me. In response, he had deleted my phone number (because I stopped talking to him) and didn't know who exactly I was. I simply wrote back the word "nevermind" and decided that was it I tried and failed. I was not upset or mad at him for not remembering or for having deleted me... I just figured it was not meant to be.

Due to Daniel's personality he put the pieces together quickly and figured out who I was without any help from me. Finally I responded and it is all history now... We spent the next 3 weeks talking all the time but it was not till September 25th that I finally agreed to go out with him. He had been asking me out for the entire month. Never in my life had I had someone who truly wanted to be around me like that. Even past boyfriends were not like that.

Our first date was "not a date" at least thats what I kept telling myself. I went over to his home in Orem and later we went to Los Hermanos and then came back to his house to watch some Arrested Development that I had brought with me. Our date ended abruptly when my ex-whatever he was called to tell me about my other ex-whatever he was. I got flustered and left. I really wish I had not left that night. But I guess the ending of this story is not a tragic one...

On our second date I told him every tragic thing that I could think of and about all the horrid guys I had dated. Keep in mind the depressive attitude I was trying to get out of at the time but was still in... I sound like a psycho. In my head however I figured, I better run him off now because he will be like everyone else and let me down and it will end.

All he said when I was done talking for what seemed like 3 hours straight was "I am glad you told me because it helps me know that I need to earn your trust and go slow." It was so sweet and I couldn't stand it.

On our third date I met his parents. I remember thinking... "this is taking it slow?"

I kissed him within the first week of our first date. I took charge on that one and drove up to a park called Big Springs. Its one of my favorite hiking spots in Provo. We were listening to Elliott Smith and I told him I was "going to be brave." The thought going through my head was, I am not kissing another jerk... He has to be the last person I kiss. Must have been a charm or something.

He told me he loved me first. I remember the moment, not the day. I can't remember if I said it back even. I just know when he said it, he actually meant it.

How we got engaged a little more than a month later, I have no idea, I guess due to all the previous events! We started talking about marriage in October and I was like holy moly ok but we must be crazy! We said that we would get engaged in December and married in May. Well we got engaged on Halloween and are getting married June 28th.

I am so thankful for the way things have turned out for us. I am thankful that we don't have pushy parents that try and force us to do things their way. I knew getting married in December was way too soon for us and I am glad I listened to that prompting. I don't know how I would have managed the first month of marriage with my pseudotumor and health problems like they were.

So now on our honeymoon we will be celebrating lots of things:
1) Our Marriage
2) The end of our 8 month engagement!
3) My birthday
4) Our 1 year anniversary of knowing each other (and Independence Day)

It will be a great week and I can't wait till we are on our honeymoon and away from my general daily worries! I have realized with my wedding that it doesn't matter if I lose weight or not (because every bride wants to), it doesn't matter if everything appears to be perfect... All that matters is that I am committing my life and love to Daniel and he is committing his life and love to me!

12 Days to Go

I am not nervous for one second to marry Daniel! I am not nervous about our future or our ability to live together and love each other everyday! I am however nervous for wedding itself. Its not going to be perfect, something will happen and hopefully for the most part it will go by and be an enjoyable couple of days!

Finished our Annoucements

I am not sure what the final count ended up being but I somehow pulled the last 20 our of no where tonight! Anyway they are done, this is a scanned image of one, I played with the color but I got tired and didn't fix the names on the scanned copy (the invites look normal lol)... Arizona's and random states went out Tuesday I think and we are holding onto Utah ones for a little while longer...

My Wedding Dress is Almost finished!

Engagement Photos

Here is a very very brief sample of some of our engagement photos... We took about a million and ended up with close to 100 fantastic shots! These are just some I quickly pulled out, not even including all of my favorites!

Wedding Planning

Yay for wedding planning. Today I got the chance to run a bunch of errands... We got:

1) The food ordered
2) The cake ordered
3) The flowers for the cake topper ordered
4) Took a swatch of red fabric to the florist for Gerbera Daisies
5) Met with Kirsten at the Secret Garden and planned out the reception layout as well as the wedding layout.
6) Got some fabric like Allyson had for her food table to use on ours because it was so cute!

ARIZONA in 4 days!!!

I am so excited to go home on Friday because I get to:

1) See my family!
2) Meet adorable JACE!
3) Go to Allyson and Jons FABULOUS wedding!
4) Get my and Daniels Engagement photos taken by the amazing Kate Lane!
5) See my friends and extended family!
6) Meet with Cake Lady, Flower Lady, and Caterer!
7) See my dog!
8) Sleep in my bed!
9) HAVE BAHAMA BUCKS (Seriously my favorite thing ever is there kalua coffee shaved ice... I will probably be getting it daily!)
10) We get to fly on a plane and NOT drive 10 hours!
11) Dan gets to have in and out... not that exciting for me but he is super excited about it.

Cibola Vista Spa & Resort

Because of school and traveling and limited time we wanted to get in as much time as we could squeeze in for our honeymoon!
We were going to drive up to Park City, Utah for our honeymoon and stay at the Marriott their at the base of the mountain but our honeymoon would only be 4 days and 4 nights that way. Now we are going to stay at Cibola Vista Spa and Resort in Peoria, Arizona and now our honeymoon will be 7 days and 7 nights!!! We are excited!

Another Sewing Project

I made the sash for my wedding dress...

Yay for wedding things!

My Parasol came!!! It matches perfectly with my shoes, the ties, the shirts, and the fabric for my red sash!!!

I am so excited! I will update this later when I pick up my veil this afternoon!!!

Goodbye Swirly Parasol... Hello Plain Red One

So my parasol came and it was too orangy red... way different from the rest of our reds...

So I returned it and ordered this one:

My Veil will look like Chaz's and Susan's

This weekends Events

1) We signed our contract and paid our deposit for our apartment!

2) I ordered my custom veil that I am really excited about.

The Story of the Heat Stamp & Tie!

Skip to which ever sounds most interesting to you... (none of which probably, but they are all interesting to me!)

HEAT:

So today I was pretty happy about having electricity and heat for the first time this week. My roommates are making a formal compliant and asking for compensation to BYU. BYU sets up our mediation and we basically take our landlord in and hopefully something will get done about all the problems we have had this year.


We typed up a 5 page summary of all the bad things that they have done this year and what we want! The heat was like the final HUGE straw that broke the camels back... You put SEVEN girls in a house for 3 days without HEAT OR LIGHT during midterms and there is HELL to pay!

STAMP:

I stopped by the post office today to ask one of the post men if he knew if I could get pretty stamps the week that the rate changes... He said NO! He said they release new stamps a few weeks later and for the first month or so its only flag stamps. He said the only way I could do pretty stamps was to buy 41 cent stamps I liked and then add the 1 cent stamp too it. EH I thought to myself... Pretty stamp would then look cluttered by UNpretty 1 cent stamp and seeing as I am a matching FREAK! I am sticking with the liberty bell forever stamps... They go in the trash before the announcement does anyway, Right!?
TIE:

I had a fantastic find today!!! I had found some ties online for my wedding that I really loved. They had them in XL Regular and Kids, all the same color and they were silk! I really loved them and the fact that the site had Free shipping and 30 day money back return policy! I was caught up thou on the fact that they were going to cost me a ton. I kept telling myself, ties for one day for all the guys to match should not be this much and I was sure I could find something cheaper.

So I went to the local tie store in the mall... What a hellishly fun event that has been over the last 3 weeks! Trying to get those moronic 16 year olds to tell me own to get 5 of the same color xl tie at one store was like trying to teach my dog French! I told Dan that the only reason putting up with their crap was worth it was the fact that the ties seemed to be a pretty good quality, they matched and they were CHEAP.

LONG STORY SHORT! I found today that the original ties I wanted were on SALE! (well the XL) and we needed 6 of those so it was divine!

As the table turns

So no fun stamps for us on our wedding invitations. We are planning on sending our invites out on the 19th or so of May (somewhere around then) and the stamp price changes to 42 cents on the 12th! So I don't know if their will be any nice 42 cent stamps that week. I was going to buy 41 cent ones but I don't want to stick 1 cent stamps all over.

So whatever!

Mary Dempsey helped me figure out finally what I am doing for my centerpieces. She guided my mental ideas and encouraged me to look for an interesting red vase and I found these fantastic hand blown blood red vases that are about 12 inches tall... They have a small opening at the top and are the perfect fit for my three flowers!

They will go on top of mirrors which will go on top of our red square toppers... So the same flowers from the last post will be the 3 flowers in each of the vases.

We finally settled on doing some flowers for the bridesmaids to hold and I ordered my flowers from Cactus Flowers in Tempe. My sister in law Kate used them for her wedding. I am so excited!

We finally have found enough Christmas lights for our reception. We did not buy enough right after Christmas and found it near impossible to find them off season, but thanks to posting my need on Craigs List, a very nice old retired man had 60 boxes of lights unopened that he had gotten from Lowe's after Christmas and was willing to part with them for below what we found them in December! I am very thankful to him!

So my original ideas have changed over the last 4 months and we have 4 months to go until our wedding! But hey, I figure my ideas can't change too much anymore now that we have actually purchased a lot of the items we will need!

I am not entirely sure what the theme of my wedding is but this is how its going

Bridesmaids outfits... Matt's wife Kandice was the first to try on the whole look... Her shirt and skirt both need to be hemmed like 4 inches but its getting there..
Possibly what I do for my wedding flowers...
I want a parasol! (Dan laughs every time I say this!)
And Paper Lanterns like these (no pink)!


I love these stamps for the invitations...