In July, walking around with that big rosey rock on my finger made me feel like Daisy from the Great Gatsby when all you can see is her hand draped over the back of the sofa and white curtains billowing everywhere as she says lazily, “Is that you my love.”
By the time early December came around, I was throwing bean bags at walls and ceilings to signal for my fellow Alpine Village residents to cease their unconscionably loud jabber. I’d like to say I remained the picture of elegance throughout the process, but, beanbags.
But getting married at Christmas time—it's something else. Checking entire classes off your list as you finish each final is euphoric, but it's even more euphoric when your wedding day is at the end of it all. You get to go to the salon a lot like a total diva. You get to buy Christmas presents for your future husband to put under the 4-foot tree in your little 1950's house. Packages are delivered to your doorstep every single day. Your wedding dinner can be set in an elegant restaurant in the Riverwoods so that people walk through streets of Christmas lights to get there. You get to decorate with evergreens and winter citrus fruits.
This was truly the best weekend of my life. Firstly because I made it official with the the boy I've loved ever since he called me Zo the first time he spoke to the more shy, more tan 15-year-old me, and also because of what so many people did for me behind the scenes. I'll let these beautiful photos tell the story, but I'll fill in the gaps with a tribute to the unseen moments of the day.
What you don't see here is my sweet bridesmaid Cailee picking me up at 6am to blow dry my frizzy hair to perfection. You don't see Ad and Lex waiting for me when I got back, bright and early, to do my makeup (in Lex's case) and to provide moral support (Addie). You didn't see us laughing and hugging one last time as the best roommates the lanes of London and the pools of Provo have ever seen. You don't see my dad calling me every morning to profess himself my "man slave" and take errands off my hands. You don't see him driving me to the temple in the sunny Salt Lake City morning listening to the Father of the Bride soundtrack. You don't see my grandparents handing out all the flowers, and you don't see Cam's best friends telling me "Welcome to the family" when they hugged me in the temple, making me feel unimaginably loved by six new big brothers.
With the nerves gone and our capabilities to consume food restored, we secretly snarfed McDonald's in between the temple and the reception. We stopped by Cam's house, where his dad yelled jovially, "Come here and let me hug my daughter!"
When we showed up at the reception, I was dressed in head-to-toe oversized Timpanogos Football sweats like an absolute bridal queen. I was welcomed by the most jaw-dropping floral decorations I'd ever seen. The pomegranates and blood oranges were a stroke of genius.
When we showed up at the reception, I was dressed in head-to-toe oversized Timpanogos Football sweats like an absolute bridal queen. I was welcomed by the most jaw-dropping floral decorations I'd ever seen. The pomegranates and blood oranges were a stroke of genius.
You don't see my little brother Elijah bringing me little creme brulees or my little cousin Livvy opening the balcony doors so I could get some air. You don't see my bridesmaid Kaylee make a store run to get me everything I needed for my honeymoon. You don't hear the gorgeous Jack Johnson-esque acoustics of Max Hill. You don't see how crazy scatterbrained I was so that it was all I could do to nicely boss a lot of people around, and how they all rose to the occasion. You don't see how crazy fun our friends made the entire day just by being themselves.
You do see how hot he is. That you can see.
You don't see my mom pulling ALL the strings. She spent probably ten hours of her life that she'll never get back stringing oranges in our living room. She let me have a sleepover with her on my last night as a single gal where we watched about 20 minutes of My Best Friend's Wedding before we had to call it quits. She was the last person I saw in the temple before Cam and I walked out the doors. It was her, along with all of Cam's cute as heck friends, that I left to clean up everything from the reception.
You don't see University Parking Enforcement giving us a $60 boot even though we told them it was our wedding day.
But the very best part was the contrast between the joyful chaos of December 19 and the blissfully happy carelessness of December 20. Just my husband and me, 16 stories above a snowy city.
You don't see University Parking Enforcement giving us a $60 boot even though we told them it was our wedding day.
But the very best part was the contrast between the joyful chaos of December 19 and the blissfully happy carelessness of December 20. Just my husband and me, 16 stories above a snowy city.