one year!

 it has been one amazing year since this beautiful perfect day!

so much has happened this past year and i wouldn't change a minute of it.

 here is to 50 more years babe.

i love you!

one month:: wedding pictures

wow time has passed quickly! clint and i have already been married for a month. it has truly been and amazing month but where has the time gone?

i thought i would share some of my favorite wedding pictures to celebrate our one month of marriage. i am absolutely in love with the pictures that our amazing photographer captured! 

i am so glad that one month ago i was able to marry my best friend and start this amazing new chapter in life with him. i am so thankful that God placed such an amazing man in my life and that we get to journey together through it all.

 

some things that i am learning and being reminded about clint:

this man l.o.v.e.s. his sleep, i knew that before but didn't realize how much!

he is not easily angered 

organization, not his strong point

he cares about how our home is decorated

 he is beyond laid back

he talks, turns lights on, and has whole conversations in his sleep

some things i am learning and being reminded about myself:

i am not good at sitting down and relaxing, there is also something that needs to be done!

meal planning is my new best friend

i am a morning person

i don't need much sleep to function

i love having fresh flowers in the house

 everything has a place, i love organization

 our first month of marriage has been fantastic and i am excited to spend the rest of my life with this amazing man. i am excited to see what our future holds, where God will lead us and the amazing adventurous we will go on.

clinton i am glad that you choose me to share your life with! 

i love you!

photographer: andrea sawatzky personal blog // photography blog
linking with: lisa, grace, laura, and carissa

wedding!

here are a few wedding pictures that my wonderful uncles took! 

they both happen to be photographers as well. 

so happy they were there to snap pictures of all the goings on.

these signs crack me up! clint and i just kept wrapping jute around until they wouldn't fall down but i love how it looks!

we also had a few blankets there in case any one was chilly. however the day ended up being very hot so blankets were not really necessary. some of my friends asked if it was joke because it was so stinking hot out. 

i love my brother-in-law / best mans smirk here, also daves wild hair!

this is a picture i will forever treasure! 

my sweet baby sister and me! 

adore! 

i am using a lot of exclamation marks bare with me.

 i loved our center pieces! they were very us (more me but still us).

smoooooooch! we are married woot!

grandpas button was missing, oh well!

so excited about our big cupcake that i blinked! haha

my amazing friend bethany made all there adorable super yummy cupcakes

photos c/o: sean b photography and  thomas branconier 

dress: david's bridal

love bird cake toppers: sweet shelbys

i will be posting more about our wedding once i get the pictures from my photographer. 

she did such an amazing job and i am excited to see all the pictures!

have a great weekend!

Wedding picture sneak peek!

I am absolutely in L.O.V.E. with the sneak peek of our wedding pictures that Andrea put on her blog. Be sure to check out her amazing photography skills!
branchtwigmedia.blogspot.ca

kitchen wish list

i made a fun little kitchen collection on etsy. 

an etsy wedding registry if you will

it's all blues and yellows and springy 

i love it!

tea towel 

the kitchen is always the most lived in room

so why not have it filled with lovely things?!

 

 so if any of you are feeling so inclined to buy me a wedding gift

just take a peek here!

{just click on the picture to go to the source}

happy shopping!

marriage on my minds: Alesha

Hello Life...Unscripted readers!  My name is Alesha and I blog over at Blessed to be a Blessing!  Amber is one of my favorite bloggers.  So naturally, I'm thrilled to be guest posting here today about my wedding (one of my favorite topics).

My amazing husband Travis and I got married last year on May 28th!  It was truly one of the best days of my life.

Travis and I met in youth group at our church during our sophomore year of high school.  We took several classes together during Running Start our junior year and were part of a very tight knit group of friends.  Near the end of our junior year, he asked me if we could start spending more time together, and so began some of the happiest years of my life! (To read a full story of how we met and how he proposed, go here)

I had always wanted a wedding with sunflowers, but since we got married in May, that was kinda out of the question.  So I needed a new "theme" to design my wedding around.  My favorite color is pink, so that was a must, and my middle sister LOVES (I mean LOVES) orange.  I thought it would be cool to let her wear orange.  So we ended up with pink, orange, and yellow, with Izzies soda as our theme.  I argued with my mom and sisters for MONTHS about what flowers we should have.  (I wanted roses, but they said daisies).  I am SO glad we went with the gerber daisies.  Aren't they beautiful?  And they really do go better with the Izzies.... 

What made our wedding special and unique was that we made it special and unique.  No duh, right?  Well let me explain.

1.  We saved ourselves for each other.  Our first kiss was on our wedding day!  We had a private moment after the "first look" to share our first kiss without 400 pairs of eyes looking on (yes, we had that many people at our wedding!)

2.  We personalized the reception.  There were pictures of us on every table.  The lunch and dessert bar (we didn't provide cake for guests) were labeled with tags telling the name of the food and which ones were our favorites.

3.  We made most things ourselves.  We had a friend make the bridesmaid dresses.  I had an "invitation making party" with close girl friends and my youth group girls.  We made the decorations.  Our families drank the Izzies so we could use the empty bottles.  We decorated the sanctuary and reception hall ourselves (with some creative inspiritation with another lady from our church).  A family friend (15 years old) made the cheesecake that Travis and I cut and ate.  Her mom arranged our flowers.  One of my best friends did my makeup.  A couple of sweet ladies from our church did our hair.  We picked the food (salads) from family recipes that we loved and had several family friends make them for us.

4.  I got my first ever manicure and pedicure the day before the wedding with my mom.

5.  We had music played by dear friends and picked non-traditional stuff that we liked.

6.  We had friends do our photos.  We were comfortable with them, so we were happy and relaxed resulting in TONS OF AWESOME photos!

7.  The entire bridal party (with the exception of the ring bearer and flower girl) wore Chuck Taylor Converse.  (I love converse!)

8.  We had a recieving line where we quickly greet, hugged, and occasionally introduced to each other each of the 400 guests.  It didn't take more than 30 minutes and we personally said hello to everyone who attended our wedding.

9.  We had our MC (also a good friend) announce us when we came into the reception and say that we were going to eat and would greet guest presently.  So we actually got to eat all the amazing food!  And we had already said at least "hi" to everyone so there was no stress about that!

Believe it or not, these simple, sweet little personalizations made it SO special!  We wanted the day to show us, who we were, and what we were like; it did.  The whole thing showed our personalities and love for God without it feeling put on.  They day was designed for US, NOT for our guests and so we were comfortable and relaxed.  It was special because we worked hard to make it that way and I am so glad that we did.

Advice for Planning:

Think about your guest, but not too hard.  This day is for YOU.  Make it comfortable for you and your fiance.

Advice for Your Marriage:

Approach disagreements as if they are a problem that the two of you have to work together to solve.  This way you are working together to fix the problem instead of arguing at each other.

Take time FREQUENTLY to talk and stay updated on every area of life.

Most Importantly

Keep God the center of your marriage.

When you are close to Him, you will be close to each other. 

So excited for you Amber!
 I hope that your wedding is all you both have dreamed it will be. =)

Be blessed.

Alesha <3
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Thanks so much for sharing Alesha and the great advice!
 

marriage on my mind: Everything Espey

Today for Marriage on my mind we have the wonderful Meredith sharing!!
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Hi y'all! My name is Meredith and I'm the mastermind behind Everything Espey. My blog doesn't fall into one specific genre, but is more of a random assortment of (to name a few) of our daily (mis)happenings, my thoughts on faith, marriage, life in Utah, and being a chronic Target shopper and bargain hunter with a little bit of sarcasm and humor thrown into the mix. I'd love to get to know you! I was so pleased when Amber asked me to pitch in for this wedding series. Thank you for having me!

My handsome husband Charlie and I got married last June on a hot, sweltering Texas day. People warned me about getting married outside in the summer...but I didn't listen (20/20 foresight fail). It was "unseasonably" hot (read: 100+ degrees!) and humid. However, according to the New York Post, June 17, 2011 was the happiest day that year, and I wouldn't change the one we picked.

I wasn't one of those girls that had her wedding day planned out from the time I could walk. I knew I wanted to get married, but heck, the vision continued to morph throughout the months we were engaged. I knew a few things about what I wanted for the wedding day: for Charlie to be there (obviously crucial), to be able to eat Tex-Mex, to make it as inexpensive as possible, for it to be a fun party, and to bring glory to God through the events of the day. Quite a list, eh?

I feel like giving wedding advice is like walking a tightrope. When I was planning, everyone had an over-abundance of strong opinions about what I should or shouldn't do. And for me, that was really tough to hear constantly. But, I think it's good to encourage of other women because frankly, this experience is totally unique. So take my advice with a grain of salt, and if it doesn't work for you, chuck it. You won't hurt my feelings.

1. Your budget is your own.

Inexpensive is not a word often associated with weddings. Seriously, call it an anniversary party and you'll be able to save thousands. THOUSANDS! I'm a super cheap bargain hunter at heart and the many dollar signs in front of all things wedding was hard to swallow. But it's very do-able. Recommendations from friends were the best and most practical way to go about doing a wedding on a budget. We chose an inexpensive city garden that had a gorgeous room attached, had a (very talented) college student put together our flowers, a friend of a friend make the cake, a budding photographer cousin of a family friend take our pictures, and one of my bridesmaids and her husband sing during our ceremony. And the list goes on. But it made a tremendous difference in our stress level to be able to automatically cross items off our list because of price when we considered the big picture and our strong desire to not go into debt over a 5 hour party.

2. Pick your battles.

The decisions you have to make will drive you capital c crazy. "Do you want 4 tiers on your cake or 5? Buttercream or fondant? Do you want the bridesmaids to match? How many people per table? Assigned seating or no? Buffet or served dinner? DJ or band?" Just creating that list stressed me out. Learning to pick and choose what is at the top of your list for that day will make your life much better. For us, our ceremony was one of the most important parts of the day. We made it uniquely us and our goal was for it to be God-honoring. We signed a covenant instead of lighting a unity candle or taking communion. The covenant signified the importance of Christ in the new marriage that was being formed. It's a binding spiritual contract that brings together the three strands of Charlie, me, and God. The rest of the stuff? It has to get done, yes, but it pales in comparison when I remembered what the day was really about.

3. Plan for your marriage, not only your party.

This might be one of the hardest parts of wedding planning. The options are endless and the lists can grow exponentially as you get closer to the "big day". But as someone wise told me, it's an amazing day. But it's just that: a day. There will be hundreds of days that follow that will require the same amount of effort and prayer that your wedding day took. Charlie and I did pre-marital counseling with our pastor and I would highly suggest having some counsel prior to your wedding day. We really didn't want to get home from our honeymoon and stare at each other and think "well our party's over, what do we do now?"

4. Remember that you're not super woman.

It is vital to your mental sanity to have someone who can be in the trenches of planning with you. We did most everything ourselves, and with Charlie being out of state, I needed someone to do the dirty work with me and give me very honest feedback on the things we were choosing. It's easy to become obsessed with everything being perfect and thinking you're the only one who can do it the "right" way. But you can't do it alone...your head will definitely explode. And that person may be your fiance, MOH, mom, MIL, or your best friend. I found that so many people were excited for our day that they wanted to be part of tying bows or decorating the venue before the wedding, or throwing a shower. For me, my mom and my sister were my battle partners. I can't count the hours they spent with me working to make June 17 the best party. Thanks y'all!

5. It's okay if you feel stressed. It's worth it!

I kept hearing that this should be the most fun time of your life and you'll love planning. I felt like a mental case because it was hard for me. It's an overwhelming time, yes. And it may not be your peak in life. I personally hope I didn't peak at my wedding and it's all downhill from there on out. But, at the end of the day, the planning isn't what the wedding truly is about. The commitment you're making and the significance and joy of that will outshine the crappy days you may have had leading up to it. And...at the end of the day, you married the love of your life and had a very fun party. It's ultimately a win-win!

That's all I have for y'all today. Did I mention that I'm wordy? I'm impressed if you made it to the end. If you have more questions, be sure to visit me at my blog or feel free to e-mail me. Thanks again, Amber!

--

Thanks so much for sharing!!

marriage on my mind: Liz @ Behind the Scenes

hello lovely ladies (and gents) today we have the lovely Liz sharing about her wedding!
_____________________________________________
Hey ladies! My name is Liz & I blog over at Behind the Scenes! Of course when Amber mentioned anything regarding weddings, I was all over it! Seriously I loved my day, but I would definitely change a few things if I had the option.

One thing I wouldn’t change…

My groom. With him, I made the right choice. I have no doubts about that! He is my best friend. After 6 years of dating we finally said I DO and it was the best moment of my life. Now 2 1/2 years into marriage & I love him more than I did on our special day. I’m serious. That does happen. If you work at it, this will be the most exciting & rewarding journey you will travel.



Now for my favorite part of the day (besides having both my dad & step-dad walk me down the aisle), oddly enough my guests would probably never expect me to say it. The rain! Let me explain a little. All day, the skies looked great. Sunny & bright. But about an hour before my wedding they started getting dark. Me being the optimist that I am (sometimes) didn’t encourage anyone to gather umbrellas or make different plans. My wedding was outside. With no tent. As I was walking down the aisle, I felt the first drop. By the time I made it up the stairs and into the gazebo, it was a straight on down-pour. My bridal party was frantically trying to get under the gazebo. My guests were scrambling to find umbrellas. A family friend was trying to cover the photographer. It was a little bit of chaos. I was horrified. A little upset & a tad bit angry. I mean, it was literally raining on my wedding. Tough stuff for me, since I planned everything to the last detail.



But, it has provided almost 3 years of laughs and memories that I wouldn’t trade for anything. Because what happened when the pastor announced us as husband & wife..it stopped raining, the sun came out, & a beautiful rainbow appeared.



It was incredible. And now, I’m able to look back and declare that was my favorite part.

I think I can sum that up as the unique part of the day too. But as far as what I contributed to the uniqueness, would have to be our centerpieces. The MR. is a huge golfer. So naturally we had to incorporate that. And we did. But would you believe that nobody actually took a decent picture of them?



And the cake. Oh woman, the cake was love.



And moving along to the things I would change. The very sad part of this is that I probably would change my bridal party. Don’t get me wrong, I love those ladies tons & tons. But when ya plan a wedding, things happen. And personalities are shown. Looking back, I would just have family. It’s easier. I think that’s something a lot of people will tell you though. When you look back years later, you want to be able to say those friendships are still there & strong, but sadly when you get married and your friends don’t, a change happens. Not necessarily a bad change, but a change none the less. You have to learn how to still be friends with a hubby expecting & needing more time with you.

Oh and I’d pretty much make it a destination wedding. On the beach. Somewhere warm. With close family & friends. And I’d use pinterest like there was no tomorrow to step up my decorations.



My advice for a soon to be bride: don’t stress the tiny things. They aren’t worth it. Seriously. Your day is all about you and your man. Not you and your dress or your hair or the decorations. I wish someone would have told me that then. I think I would have enjoyed the planning a lot more if I would have just been genuinely happy that I was getting married to my man instead of fretting about ever little detail.



My advice for the newlyweds: communicate. be honest. say I love you. trust. get away. (from family/friends). learn how to be together. learn how to solve problems, without the help of your parents or siblings. I think it is so incredibly important that you start from day one depending on each other for things. You are one now. You have made a vow to each other & God that you would do life together. The two of you. So do just that. Don’t let the opinions and problems of others find their way into your world. Just simply be husband & wife. Be best friends. And whatever you do, don’t say things out of anger. You will always, 100% of the time regret it.



Mainly, if I could tell Amber one thing to remember through this…keep dreaming about life after that wedding day. It’s only one day. When you wake up the following morning, you will be a wife. You will have the rest of your days to spend with your hubby. And you don’t want to start that union carrying the weight of wedding “day” problems!



Thank you so much for letting me share about my special day! It’s so fun to go back and look through pictures & let those memories fill me with happiness! I can’t wait to follow along on your journey!

Congratulations Amber!

You can find me at these places if you are interested in learning more :
Blog / Twitter / Facebook
I’d love to have you visit
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thanks so much for sharing Liz!!

marriage on my mind: Beth, dot...in the city

Good Morning!!
Today we have the lovely Beth here to share a bit about wedding prep and marriage!

Greetings Life Unscripted readers! I'm Beth and I blog at dot...in the city. I'm so thrilled to be here today and even more excited for Amber's upcoming wedding day. I always love the chance to share memories from our wedding day in May 2010. Here's a glimpse back on the big day...

My favorite part of your wedding day:

The weather and how everything seemed to be just perfect. We planned an outdoor ceremony at a neighborhood club with a backup plan to move things inside if the weather didn't cooperate. Thankfully, we had the most perfectly picturesque spring day for our New England wedding. Neither of our immediate families live in the region, so we were especially thrilled everyone who traveled to Massachusetts could enjoy a picture perfect outdoor ceremony followed by reception with live jazz music. I even got sunburned from the great weather!

Our wedding day was unique because...
we had several friends involved in the details of it. A dear friend of mine was our photographer and another did our flowers. It made the day even more special to have people we were close to do the music and emcee the reception.

Also, my veil was made from an outer layer of my mom's wedding dress. It was very special because my mother passed away when I was in college and we had saved her dress. Since I had chosen an ivory dress and her dress had yellowed a bit, the outer fabric with a daisy chain was perfect to be made into a veil. I also had a locket on my bouquet with her photo in it.

Advice for a bride planning her wedding...

I'll pass on the most helpful thing someone said to me, "keep in mind you are preparing for marriage, not just a wedding. The wedding will only last one day, but a marriage is for a lifetime." As much as it was a truly wonderful day having family and friends gathered from across the country, I am so grateful to spend every day with Brandon.

Amber, I wish you all the best in you wedding planning and especially in your marriage!

All photos by Meaghan Elliott Photography and used by permission.

Thanks so much for sharing Beth!

Be sure to stop by and say hi to this sweet gal on her blog.

marriage on my mind: Marigold Road

happy wednesday to you! hope the middle of the week is treating you well.
i am so excited to have Mindy from Marigold Road here today to share for {marriage on my mind}

I'm Mindy, bride to my high school sweetheart, and mother to Wilder & Story. I launched my blog, MarigoldRoad, 4 years ago to chronicle my first pregnancy. Now I write to motivate women to embrace their self-worth. I also blog my motherhood journey in real and applicable ways, whilst including baking/craftiness for the visually intrigued. My Etsy shop offers handmade wool felt headbands, hoop art, yarn wreaths, and jewelry, most of which incorporate vintage materials, and are crafted in the wee hours of the night. You can also shop there for kitschy mid-century vintage decor & housewares.

what was your favorite part of your wedding day?
My favorite part of the wedding day (8.5 years ago! we were 21 and 22) was getting to see Shawn right before the ceremony, for our couple's pictures. I was really nervous and frazzled, until I saw him. It didn't "jinx" anything for us. It calmed me down so I could walk down the aisle less nervous.
what made your wedding uniquely you?
a bright blue wedding cake!
if you could plan your wedding again what would you do/not do over again?
i wouldn't have done such formal photos; would've let the bridesmaids pick a dress they could REALLY wear again; would've done a receiving line (the pastor talked us out of it); would've had a shorter ceremony; would've had gift baskets for the out-of-town guests; would have EATEN that day!
what advice do you have for a bride planning her wedding?
invest in a quality photographer that is going to put an artistic spin on the photos; make sure the photographer does some fun outdoorsy pictures for the wonderful natural lighting. Also make sure you have comfortable shoes for the reception. And do your makeup the way your normally do it, just with extra sparkle. A random friend did my makeup and it just didn't look like "me".
what advice do you have for a newly wed couple?
go with the flow, roll with the punches, make all you do be about giving your partner the best day ever (every day), don't keep record of wrongs, be respectful
i love your cake so cute! thanks for sharing Mindy!
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be sure to come back next week for more marriage and wedding talk!