The New Guys: Wedding Festivities

When we were trying to decide how we wanted to celebrate our wedding, there were so many people we loved in so many different places we decided to have 3, yes 3, different wedding receptions. I loved all of them and it was so fun to see all the people, but man it was a lot of work and a lot of stress planning them all. Looking back, there isn't one I would want to do without, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it for someone else planning a wedding! So here's a little break down of each reception:

Utah Pre-ception
After living in Utah for five years going to school and teaching, there were a lot of people I wanted to celebrate with! Not to mention most of my extended family. My second graders were so excited about my wedding, I really wanted them to be able to celebrate it with me somehow. My parents were also going to be in town because I was graduating from BYU, so we decided to take advantage of their presence and have a little party! So the weekend before the wedding we reserved a room in the Provo Library and just had ice cream and played a slideshow Tyler made in a corner. I also had my second graders draw some pictures to decorate with that turned out super cute! It was really low key, but I really enjoyed seeing so many of my dear friends and family! My aunt Joann saved the day with the flowers and table cloths!! It was kind of weird wearing my wedding dress and having a reception-ish activity without even being married! But it was fun to pretend! We just took pictures on our phones and I think my Aunt Carma snapped a few on her camera :)

Debut of my dress. I loved it!

I got my two degrees in two weeks. BS and MRS :)

The art done by my second graders

St. Louis Reception

This reception would not have happened without all of my Mom and Elizabeth's hard work!!!! My older brother and sister both had their reception at my parent's house and they were both so beautiful and fun I decided I wanted to do the same! Unfortunately, I was living in Utah so it was kind of hard to plan long distance. Luckily for me, Elizabeth was living at home at the time and volunteered her amazing planning services. She pulled it off and did a much better job than I ever could have done!! We decided to do this reception the day after our wedding so we wouldn't be as stressed or rushed the day of our wedding so we could be more focused on our actual sealing, which was a great idea I must say! Especially considering it POURED the whole day of our wedding!! It stopped raining the day of our reception which was such a BLESSING!! We had people park at the church and then chauffeur them to our house, which is like a mile away, so that would have been trickier if it had been raining. (Elizabeth also took control of that project and did a fantastic job!) This reception was more of an open house with cookies and milk. We did a bouquet toss, but that was the only formal wedding activity we did. We had a photo booth for people to take pictures, in honor of our engagement photo booth :) We got a copy of all the pictures and they are so fun!!! A lady in my parent's ward, Sierra Martin, took the pictures for our wedding and reception. I LOVED everything about this reception!! I think it was my favorite because ALL of my siblings and ALL of Tyler's siblings were able to come! No small miracle!!! It was the best!!

So many yummy cookies!!

Beautiful wedding wreath!

Notice the awesome garland in the left corner Elizabeth made!

We handed out "Proclamation to the Family" because that's what it's all about!

Sippin milk through a st

Ohio Reception

Of course Tyler wanted to have a reception in his home town, and he wanted something a little more formal with dancing, cake cutting, garter toss, the works! So we scheduled this reception for mid July to give us time to move from Utah to Ohio, get settled and help plan this a little more. Since we were local, we were more involved in the planning of this reception along with Tyler's mom, Anisa. She saved the day for this reception! She had such a busy summer with Girl's Camp, Youth Conference, and other Stake YW responsibilities and then planned a wedding on top of all of it! Amazing :) We held the reception at their church building in the cultural hall. It was transformed thanks to the help of so many people!! It was so beautiful!! We had yummy food, fun dancing, a bouquet toss, a garter toss, cake cutting, and lots of pictures!! My dad and I danced to Billy Joel's Lullabye, and we were both crying pretty much the whole song. Anisa and Tyler danced to some Boys to Men song they didn't pick, so that was kind of funny. :) We had a sister from the Guy's ward, Brandi Schneider, take the pictures for this reception.We were able to take a few pictures we missed in St. Louis because it was raining, so that was nice. She did a great job! Joann Stoddard made the cake, cupcakes, and cake pops, which were all divine!! We had a carrot cake, which is my favorite and she did a fantastic job!! Beth McConnell also helped a ton with the decorations! We made a couple trips to Hobby Lobby to figure things out! My parents were able to come, along with my sister Elizabeth and her husband Andrew and son Clark. Tyler's dad DJ-ed the dance part of the reception and he did a great job! I was gettin down even in my wedding dress!