Wedding Day

Wedding Day 8/19/11 (recorded 8/24/11)

The day started way too early on August 19^th, 2011.  I woke up at 5:30 after getting to bed past midnight the night before.  I got in the shower and tried to relax which kind of worked, but not really let’s be honest.  I then got out around 6:00 and had to get my hair dry before Jen arrived to do my hair at 6:30.  I then realized my good blow dryer was in Utah….so I pulled out a very crappy blow dryer from my early high school days (it was probably 7 or more years old…) and went to town.  After about 10 minutes and very little progress I went to get a box fan to put in front of myself.  So, for the next 20 minutes I stood in front of the fan, blow dryer in hand trying to tame my mane of hair.  It got dry about 2 minutes before Jen got there so all was well.  Jen then did a beautiful Job on my hair and my stomach wouldn’t stop making noises the whole time.  I didn’t feel nervous though, just excited.  I then did my make up, grabbed my stuff, and my mom and I proceeded to the temple.

We left 2 hours before we needed to be there and didn’t hit any traffic so we were there VERY early.  Jeff and his family did the same.  Jeff and I did see each other though contrary to tradition before we were married because we had to be together to check in at the front desk of the temple and make sure they had our marriage license…we didn’t exactly think that one all the way through when we thought we could keep that tradition.  It’s not important. 

After all the little things were taken care of I went up to the Bride’s room with my mom where she helped me get dressed for the ceremony.  I wore my wedding dress in the temple and I was able to tie a hankie my mom had given me into the sash of my dress.  It’s a family tradition.  My mom carried a hankie from my Grandma the day she was married as well.  It was great to have that memory of her so close to me as I was married.

Jeff and I were then taken to the celestial room to be together-and it was a bit of a wait.  That’s okay though, I enjoyed the wait.  We then went to the sealing room where we were married for time and all eternity with our close family and friends there to witness it.

The people at the sealing were:

My parents, Jeff’s parents, Brooke, Scott, Casie & Joseph Wilcox, Fayone & Steve Gabrielson, Bro & Sis Sweeney (our marriage prep teachers), Grandma Giles, Grandma Andrus, Brian & Jill Andrus

After the sealing my mom helped me finish getting ready with my veil and other accessories.  I met Jeff and we exited the temple.  It was a glorious morning and we then proceeded to take a MILLION pictures.  It was really great to have Deborah there as our photographer because she has such a good eye and was so willing to take the pictures that we wanted.  After all the pictures and getting all hot and sweaty in the sun (it’s better then getting rained on!) Jeff and I left to go check into our hotel.   After that we found some food at the house and headed for the Stonehouse (reception hall). 

The Young Women and some other sisters from the ward had set up the stonehouse and it was absolutely beautiful.  The cake decorator refused to let Brooke take the cake in her small car so he ended up delivering it.  Other then that, the night was perfect.  I couldn’t have asked for more.  We talked, we laughed, we danced, and cried.  It was a dream.  My dad told me as we were dancing, “This has been one of the best days of my life.”  I would have to say it was the same for me.  Jeff drove off in the stick shift and we pulled off into a parking lot and switched drivers.  It was, my fairy tale wedding day and I’m so grateful for everyone who made it that way.

Events Surrounding the Wedding

 Wedding Festivities 8/24/11

Jeff and I are sitting on a plane right now, headed back to Utah as I write this and he looked at me and said, “where do you start? “ That really is the question….I guess we’ll start with the day Jeff’s parents arrived to town.

They arrived the evening of Tuesday August 16^th just after dinnertime.  They came over to the Andrus home to eat and we all sat around and talked for a few hours.  Nothing too exciting happened on Tuesday night.  We all attempted to go to bed early that night because of the early morning we had the next day for my endowment appointment.  We weren’t very successful however because Grandma Giles also arrived Tuesday night and we wanted to stay up to visit with her.  I think we probably made it to bed around midnight that night. 

We all awoke early the next day to leave for the temple so I could receive my endowment.  That’s a whole other journal entry.  After the temple, we all went to lunch at Olive Garden and had quite the interesting server there.  The first thing we noticed was how sweaty he was and hoped it didn’t get into our food.  But, we had a great time visiting with each other and eating.

Next began the errand-running, pick up the tux, etc. etc.  After all that, the girls went to get their nails done and My dad and Jeff met Jeff’s family in DC for a tour of the monuments. 

I then again attempted to get a good nights rest but with no luck.  My mom and I left early Thursday morning to pick up the flowers.  That’s where the day from satan’s crib began.  We got to the flower shop and the man rustled through papers telling me he had no order or flowers for me.  After calling upstairs, and a couple different places he finally found my order and we got the flowers.  For that 15 minutes, I thought I was going to have a heart attack I was so stressed.  That was only the beginning.  The man who we picked up the flowers from said they needed to sit in water for 2 hours before being un-packaged.  So, we took them home to get them soaking. 

This put us back 30 minutes later then planned but that didn’t seem to be a big deal at the time.  The boys were going to go out to the batting cages and golfing while we did flowers- until we found out Brooke’s car wouldn’t start.  So the boys had to delay their trip to help Brooke and we had to start the flowers without her (she was the one who knew how to do them the best).  So we pressed forward, the blind leading the blind. 

After beginning the flowers, things started coming along okay.  I then found out Brooke’s car had to go to the shop so she couldn’t pick up any of the things she had volunteered to pick up that day.  She was supposed to get the Stonehouse (reception hall) key and the rental linens.  So, another thing was added to my own list of things to do.  We got done with all the boutonnieres, corsages, and bouquets and then Brooke and Deborah finally arrived.  I pulled the bridesmaids flowers out to work on them and my creative juices were fried.  Luckily Deborah (being a photographer having been to a bunch of weddings) came up with very cute corsages with the daisies we had left. 

After that I had to run to get the rental linens with Jill and Mom went to get the stonehouse and mechanical closet (for the church, for the rehearsal dinner) keys and went to Sams club to get some things for the reception.  Well, when she got home she discovered her wallet was missing-another thing to add to to the mishaps list.  Well, she ended up finding it in a crevice of the car so that worked out okay. 

We all then ran to the church to set up for the rehearsal dinner, which went very smoothly: many hands make light work.  We got back to the house just in time for a shower and to intercept Casie and Joseph before we returned to the church.  We got back to the church and everyone was STARVING.  Well, after the catering was 10 minutes late I made a phone call to Boston Market.  They had NO ORDER for us.  So, luckily they pulled it together.  We placed an order then and there on the phone and yy mom and Grandma Giles went to pick it up.  The food was 45 minutes late.  I will say, it was probably much more appreciated by the time it got there.  It was delicious, and everything else with the dinner went quite well-we just didn’t have food for a long while….

We packed up everything when we were through and tried to load the cars in the pouring rain.  We ran out of room for people but luckily Julia showed up to pick up her bridesmaids attire right as we were leaving.  After a rushed goodbye with Jeff (we thought we wouldn’t see each other again until the celestial room) Trevor and I got in the car and headed home with Julia. 

I stayed up way too late that night because I hadn’t packed for the honeymoon yet and I was still worried about everything for the reception.  After about 4-5 hours of sleep the wedding day began….

 

Jeff at the rehearsal dinner...