wedding moments, part 1

all our wedding festivities have culminated. we had a really wonderful time celebrating in texas in the boy's hometown on the 18th and last saturday was our palo alto reception. we are just blown away at how beautiful, lovely, and fun all of the events have been. we are so incredibly grateful for all of our loved ones who helped to make this happen.

i've spent some energy in the last seventeen days or so trying to figure out if my feeling that our wedding was just so so so tremendously magical and perfect and lovely and the best is just because it was our wedding, or if it really was that good...! i mean, i really can't get over it. i think i was worried that, knowing myself, i would be let down by how things turned out in some way or another. but the complete opposite was true - it was so much better than i could have ever imagined. it was so amazing and happy and fun and special and wonderful. all the work planning really paid off, an hundred fold (and i think our friends and family who put in so much work behind the scenes on the actual weekend and the following saturdays in texas and california feel the same sentiment :) ). it's so crazy that it's all over - that feels simultaneously tragic and triumphant.

during all the festivities in utah (and the other locations, too!), i just tried so hard to sear how everything looked and sounded and tasted and felt right onto my heart, super permanently. and on the plane home to california from utah after our mini-honeymoon, i wrote in my journal some of the moments from our wedding weekend that i want to remember forever, ever.

i felt such a total and luxe brand of calm throughout everything (except a couple moments of rush and chaos, of course!), which was surprising and so wonderful. i was euphorically excited and buoyantly happy, but the calmness pervaded everything entirely, like a super sweet coating on my glowing heart. it was pretty amazing.

until our official pictures come through, i'd love to share a collection of haphazardly collected iphone/sibling camera photos along with some of the favourite moments that i wrote down in my journal. {gosh, i wish i had a perfect picture of every single minute!} this will have to come in installments since there was just soooo much magic and joy october 8th, 9th and 10th (and october 18th in texas and october 25th in california!)

-i felt incredulously happy that my wedding eve had come and that i had so many people i love so dearly around me to celebrate as i looked down a table at my favourite restaurant filled with my favourite women.
{my best friend from basically birth planned a little "bachelorette" lunch for sisters, moms, sister-in-laws and bridesmaids. after eating my favourite meal on earth (dodo roasted turkey sandwich), many of us went to a random little nail salon for manicures and pedicures}

 -i heeded some sage advice of my sister saydi and stopped in my tracks to soak in the merriment and pure goodness at our family dinner. {we gathered our immediate families at the common space in my parents' downtown apartment building for pizza and toasts/roasts and getting to know each other.} in that sliver of time, i was just overcome with love and gratitude for the family i grew up in, the family that gave me my soulmate, and the new family the boy and i were creating together. as i surveyed the room, everything seemed slow and clear amidst the loud, messy, colorful chaos (lots of excited kids!). my heart was floored.

-as the last clean-up was happening after the family dinner, i stole the boy away for a walk across the street to temple square. the autumn weather was so kind, and the temple was bright and white against the indigo night sky. we sat on a bench underneath a tree, our entire vision filled up by the temple in front of us, and shared a moment of such true love sharing some gifts and saying a prayer. it was very tender and golden.
{my sisters and i took a walk around temple square a little later, too, and our conversation and the moment in time felt so surreal but really incredibly glad}

-i woke up on the day of my wedding and put on my running shoes as the dim first light of day snuck in the windows and the house was super silent with sleeping. when i left the house, my lungs were immediately invigorated with mountain air and all the cells of my body were awake with this biggest-day-of-my-life thrill. i ran up the hill, turned around and bam! there was the nearly full moon, hanging so soft in the pale sky above the ruddy colors of fall just barely being illuminated, seeming like a calming little gift from heaven. i prayed and i practiced what i wanted to say at our wedding dinner that night as i ran. and i felt so tremendously peaceful and so ready.
-my mom and i drove together to the sisters' breakfast we had on the wedding morning - just the two of us. the autumn colors coming down parley's canyon to east canyon to emigration canyon were just breathtakingly beautiful, swimming in the crystal clear morning light. we ooohed and ahhhed and then, when we parked the car, we shared a misty moment laced with sweetness that only a mother-daughter relationship can generate.

-my sisters and sister-in-laws presented me with a special-made book of advice and recipes as we ate breakfast at ruth's diner (the same place the boy picked me up from when he surprised me with our proposal trip!). i sat in the very middle of these women that i admire, appreciate and adore more than i could ever put into words and felt like my heart was clobbering all my other organs. also, the biscuits at ruth's diner are really out of this world delicious.

-after i got my hair done and did my makeup at my parents' condo downtown, i said goodbye to my sisters and mom and rode down the elevator by myself, everything silent and still. on the ground floor, i turned the corner to the lobby and there was the boy, waiting for me, beaming, with a rose in hand (bless him!). i don't think we said a word, just hugged so tight. i felt joy from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet. we walked across the street together, sat on the edge of the reflecting pool and said a prayer, and then entered the temple.

to be continued!