First I have to start with how we got together ~ to read our beginning CLICK HERE to see how we met
I will tell the story of JUNE 4, 2005 (our wedding) through the Wedding ABCs (I got this idea from a friend's blog ~ A Sarti Party and I thought it was really cute) so here we go...
Attending ~
120 family and friends from around the country (furthest location: Orefield, PA) came to Prescott, AZ to celebrate with us (this was 1 of 2 stipulations that Ryan had for our wedding... it HAD to be in Prescott)
Bridesmaids & Junior Bridesmaid ~
Brandi Robles (Matron of Honor), Best friend and twin sister
Lacy Rivera, our childhood friend & my best friend since 2nd grade
Alissa Brice, friend from working at Golden Corral
Amy Norton, friend of ours and wife of Best Man
Laura Leyva (Junior Bridesmaid), Step-sister of Ryan's
Danielle Hamilton (Flower Girl), Sister
Jessica Conway (Flower Girl), Friend
Jaclyn Horowitz (Guest Book Attendant), Ryan's Cousin
Catering ~
The Prescott Resort was the site of our ceremony and reception. We had booked the Granite Mountain room and I was very specific that I wanted a buffet-style dinner with lots of variety BUT actually having a buffet was out of our price range so we opted with hors d'oeuvres (and to be honest I cannot for the life of me remember what those were except for one of them was chicken something).
The cake was NOT a high priority for either Ryan or I, we both do not really like cake... we wanted to have one but it really didn't matter what flavor as long as it had a look that I wanted. We actually had Basha's make our cake! I was pleased at the time for what they did... looking back I could have found someone to do a better job (that looked prettier, not that our cake wasn't pretty, it could have been prettier!) The flavor was chocolate with raspberry filling and white frosting. I DID care what it looked like... had to have red on it and be white and have BUTTERFLIES!
Dress ~
Right after Ry proposed to me we were in Albertsons in Prescott (it was the summer of 2002 and we were visiting Prescott for some reason... I was spending the summer in Vegas with Ry, working at a daycare before I came back to Prescott for school... that was the ONLY summer I did not have summer school for college) and I jokingly was flipping through a wedding magazine and I came across "the one", I literally tore the picture out of the magazine and stuffed it in my pocket. I jokingly told my mom that I was going to have this dress... she responded with "oh sure". So when we got back to Vegas (because they have WAY more wedding dress store than Prescott) I called around just to "see" if they had the dress. First shop I called HAD the dress... Ry's mom, step-sister Melissa and I went down to the store to "look" and they had my size! So of course I tried it on... Ry's mom cried (secretly so did I)... this was THE ONE! And the best part... it was only $550! SCORE!!!!! So I put $100 down on the dress for them to hold it so I could wait until I had saved enough (I think I needed to wait 2 paychecks ~ after all, I was only working at the daycare part time during the summer). About 2 weeks after I had put a deposit on the dress the shop called to tell me that they had another customer that wanted that dress in my size and they wanted to sell it to them but NOT TO WORRY they were going to order me another. Ok fine no problem... PROBLEM they wanted me to come and put MORE money down on the dress so that they could order the dress. UM NO!!! You are selling MY dress, YOU order it back for me. So I told the shop I would be right down with the rest of the money and I would be taking MY dress WITH me... they refused!!!! They had already sold the dress and it had left the shop but they wanted more $$ from me and were refusing to give me back my deposit! AHHHHHH I cried so hard about a silly dress! (they got what was coming to them... the shop was shut down by BBB). Anyways I was out of a dress, out $100 and now back in Prescott where I cannot find another. Ry's mom came through like a superhero... she found the same dress, same size and ordered it for me online! They even gave us a discount because of what happened! YEAH!
Here it is... in all its glory! I LOVE this dress still! (I sure hope Peanut wants to wear it someday... hope). I found this BEFORE a splash of color was popular!
It was like a Cinderella dress and I felt like a princess in it!
Engagement ~
On the day we got married we had been engaged for 3 years (yes you read that right, THREE years!) There are a couple of reasons we were engaged for SOOOOO long: biggest reason ~ I was still in school (and when Ry and I got together I told him that as much as I cared for him I would not let him or anyone else stand in the way of my education... I was on the fast path to get my degree and I was going to get it! I DID!) the other reason was my parents (and his)... they liked that we were together and did not oppose to us getting married but because we were SO young when we got engaged (I was 20 and he was 22) they wanted us to make sure that was what we really wanted... after all we hadn't even been together for a year.
Flowers ~
I wasn't too picky about my flowers, I knew what I wanted and knew I didn't want to spend a fortune on them. In keeping with the color theme (Ry's only other request) roses are the pretties in red and white (plus roses were the first flower he had ever gotten for me, so it had significance). At that time I was an eBay QUEEN and luckily found exactly what I wanted for an awesome price... and they were fake! I think I spent a total of $150 on ALL of my flowers! I still have my bouquet! Of course I made some personal touches to them... to my and my matron of honor's bouquets I added red ribbon and butterflies!
Groomsmen & Ushers & Ring Bearer(s) ~
Chris Norton (Best Man), best friend of Ryan's for over 20 years (since kindergarten)
Jon Norton, friend for over 20 years, best man's brother
Joseph "Bobby" Curfman, our friend & co-worker of Ryan's
Andrew Yozamp, Ryan's childhood friend
Arturo Robles (Usher), Matron of honor's husband
Justin Horowitz (Usher), Ryan's cousin
Nicolas Lozano (Ring Bearer), Ryan's cousin
Dylan Brinkmeyer (Ring Bearer), Ryan's cousin
Cade Sexauer (LAST minute Ring Bearer ~ because he was dressed like the other boys and WANTED to do it), Ryan's cousin (not pictured below)
Honeymoon ~
Right after the wedding we left for a 7 day cruise to the Mexican Rivera: Cabo San Lucas (our FAVORITE), Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. I had already been on this cruise in November so I knew the ship but it was a whole new experience with Ryan... SO much fun! Cruises by far are our favorite! I really hope for our 10 year we can go on a cruise again! Again sorry for the poor quality pictures (taking pictures of pictures doesn't work well when its late). We didn't buy too many souvenirs on our honeymoon EXCEPT pictures from the boat ~
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| Cabo |
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| Mazatlan |
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| Puerto Vallarta |
Invitations ~
6 years ago is when all of my craftiness started... I made our invitations (and saved SOOOOO much). I also made our wedding programs... booklet style (so nice).
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| Front |
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| Inside |
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| RSVP |
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| Wedding Program book |
We were very honored that my youth pastor, Matt White performed the ceremony. I wouldn't have had it any other way! He is someone who we love and trust... he knows both of us and it was a perfect match. He will also be performing our children's dedication as well!
Keepsakes ~
Wow! Where do I begin?! For our guest favors I had candles in the shape of hearts (red) that I put our initials and date on as well as a little box with wildflower seeds with a tag that said " Thank you for helping our love grow... for all our friends and family who share our special day, we thank you for the seeds of love you've shown along the way. Please plant these seeds as symbols of our new and growing love and pray that God will keep us in His sunshine from above. Then may the blooms remind you how much you are a part of the memories we cherish in the garden of our hearts." For our bridal party I made the following:
Mothers of the Bride & Groom ~ Mother of the Bride/Groom Emergency kit, frame (shadow box) for wedding corsage and boutonniere and embroidered handkerchiefs
Maid of Honor & Bridesmaids & flower girls ~ handmade picture frame and wedding picture, rose necklace & earring set (worn for wedding) & maid of honor/bridesmaid emergency kit (flower girls got their dresses which I also altered with red ribbon and red butterflies)
Fathers of the Bride & Groom ~ Engraved beer mug with their respective favorite alcohol beverage (with custom thank you label) & engraved money clip
Groomsmen ~ Engraved beer mug with their respective favorite alcohol beverage (with custom thank you label)
Ring Bearers ~ Engraved mug & cream soda
Grandparents, Aunts & Uncles ~ Bottle of wine with custom thank you label
Keepsake for us ~ our unity candle and stand (custom made just for us)... to this day it has NOT been lit (it wasn't because at that moment the wind picked up and it would not light ~ maybe we can finally light it tonight?)
Late Night (otherwise known as Bachelor & Bachelorette parties) ~
This was about a month prior to the wedding. ME: DO NOT HAVE PICTURES cause the camera was stolen... which I am sure that is a good thing LOL just kidding. My friends took me out on the town (in Vegas) to a club in Caesar's Palace (its got a different name now and I cannot remember the name of it) but we first started the night at our apartment for some XXX games and stories! FUN! I had a few too many that night! RYAN: his friends took him to a nice dinner, dance club and I think strip club. But I felt bad for him because he ended up babysitting one of his drunk friends that night and ended his night early... but he had his share of fun!
Music & Money Dance ~
We hired my friend, Wyatt with DJ Man Entertainment to spin tunes at the wedding. He did a great job and had the crowd on their feet... he even let Ryan and Chris karaoke ~ granted Ryan was feeding him drinks all night long!
Music for Special Dances ~
We had a special order to our dances, for a special meaning ~
First dance: Nick Lachey - "This I Swear" ~ to us this song just had meaning... the words are beautiful!
Second dance: Incubus - "Stellar" ~ to this we had our Best Man & his wife and Maid of Honor & her husband join us
Third dance: Savage Garden - "Truly, Madly, Deeply" ~ for this we had both sets of parents join us because it is BOTH of their wedding songs so we felt it was appropriate
Forth dance: Father-Daughter Dance: Nat King Cole - I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the song... my dad picked it out
Fifth dance: Mother-Son Dance: Boyz II Men - "A Song for Mama" ~ I LOVE this song (and since I picked these songs I had Ry and his mom listen and she cried listening to it and he felt it was perfect... I HOPE Bubba wants to dance to this at his wedding with me!)
We had a money dance and made out like bandits! We scored a whopping $600!
Newlyweds ~
Old, Borrowed, Blue ~
My something old was... my grandmother's diamond watch (it didn't work, but it was the point of wearing it because she wasn't there; I felt by me wearing it she was there in spirit). Ryan also wore my grandfather's watch.
My something borrowed was... Ry's mom graciously let (actually she ASKED) me to wear her grandmother's (whom we affectioning call Gummy) diamond necklace (again by wearing this I feel like it helped that part of our family be there in spirit). It was beautiful! It made my look complete... I hope one day Peanut can wear it for her wedding!
My something blue was... I CANNOT REMEMBER!!!! LOL I think (pretty sure) it was my garter!
Photography ~
This is THE ONE AND ONLY area of my wedding where if I could have a do-over I would!!! I WISH I wold have had Matt do our pictures as well... woulda, coulda, shoulda! Overall, our pictures are not bad but seeing pictures from my friend at RED Photography my pictures SUCK! I hired the same photographer as Lacy because I was planning a wedding from another state (as well as planning a baby shower! for 2 days before the wedding). His presentation was horrible! I got CDs from Sam's Club (at least I have rights to all of them!) I wish I had certain shots that I don't, some of the lighting was HORRIBLE! Some of the shots we did made NO sense! Oh well! You have seen some of the good (above), now here are some of the bad...
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| WHY am I covering his face? |
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| BAD background |
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| WHY even include this... and we don't have ANY other entrance pictures... not really |
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| Again background issues |
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| Lighting ???? |
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| Cute picture idea BUT really this background? its so distracting! |
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| REALLY?! The groom's hand is BEHIND the bride's! |
Questing Popping ~
For those of you who have heard this before... I am sorry... but this is a walk down memory lane, so ~
how he proposed: It was 6:00am and he left the room (I was staying with them in Vegas) to "go to the bathroom" I started to get a little worried because of noises I heard and he was taking so long. So I got up to go look for him, I looked in the bathroom and then in the downstairs bathroom then finally asked John if he knew where Ry was and he said the bathroom, I responded with "can I look" nope not in that bathroom finally I gave up... he was somewhere (their house isn't huge so somewhere) and I went back to bed. Finally Ry came strolling back in when I asked where he was he told me he was helping his mom with laundry. Then the phone rang, he answered it... he acted as if he was pissed telling me it was the police and he was pissed that someone had just rear-ended his truck. So outside we ran... I went with him and the first thing I see as we come around the bend to the parking area is a cop car and 2 police standing there. Ry says where is my truck I am pissed... I look and there appears to be NOTHING wrong with his truck BUT 2 cars over I find on my car writing... "Amber will you marry me!" Ry was at this point on his knees and grabs my hand and pulls the ring out of his mouth and instead of handing me the ring hands me the shoe polish to "go mark my answer". Inside my car was balloons and 2 doz roses. He was so nervous he popped balloons while trying to blow them up and fell down the stairs (those were the noises I heard). What a unique way to propose... I knew he was going to do it (his family kept asking me when the "big" day was ~ which for his sake was close to my birthday so I assumed they were talking about that).
Sorry these are from my scrapbook so the quality of pictures isn't that great (before digital)
Reception ~
Originally we wanted our wedding to be held at the Brinkmeyer house but due to the steps being OLD they were unsafe so we moved all of our wedding activities (day of wedding) to the Prescott Resort. Our rehearsal dinner was held at the house (a fun compromise).
Shoes ~
Most brides care about their shoes as much as the dress, me... I did not! My dress made me feel like a princess so I wanted something that made me feel like a princess as well... I found glass slippers (sorta). I HAD to wear these all night because if I didn't my dress was way too long... by the end of the night my feet hurt SOOOOOO bad. But beauty is pain!
The one cool thing I remember BEST about my shoes... my dad HAD to put a penny for luck in my left shoe (photo op that was missed here! AHHHH). I looked tonight... that penny is STILL there!
Toasts ~
We had many toasts at our wedding; the typical ones from the Maid of Honor (tear jerker: she MADE me read before the wedding so I wouldn't ruin my makeup) , Best Man (which was so funny ~ thanks Chris); family & friends, etc. BUT the best 2 were from my Dad and Ryan. My dad's was funny and sentimental, Ryan's was plain o' funny but ended with a sweet thank you to his grandfather
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| Laughing my a@# off because of Ry's toast... |
Unique ~
3 years to plan a wedding = NOT being nervous on the big day! Seriously! I was not nervous at all; Ryan on the other hand WAS! There are lots of ins-and-outs of our wedding that made it unique... our love story is unique; our marriage is unique; WE are unique!
Vows ~
We had traditional vows.
Wedding Woes ~
Well... one major one comes to mind... I almost tripped going up the stairs to the altar! Ryan didn't even help me; in our video you can hear people whispering "help her". Instead of him actually helping me I shove my flowers into him and pick up my dress and proceed! Another major wedding woe... I lost a diamond in my engagement ring the day after the wedding! I was so sad! Thank goodness it was a small one!
X-Rated ~
Can I say LAUM-BA-DA??? Let's just say Ryan had one too many drinks and was telling the entire Prescott Resort what we were going to be doing on our wedding night... and the BEST part is... we have it on video!
Young kids ~
We allowed children at our wedding, I even provided special wedding favor bags (with activities for them to keep them busy) for all the kids that I hand stamped with each of their names (AGAIN MISSED PHOTO OP HERE!)
Zzzzzzzz ~
After the reception we went to Ryan's parent's room and opened all of our wedding gifts (to make sure none of it was something ($$) we could take on our honeymoon) then to our room where we were welcomed to an upgraded room (Presidential Suit ~ YES the Prescott Resort has one); chocolate covered strawberries and a huge jacuzzi! We did get some sleep because we had to be off to Phoenix the next day for our flight to LA for our cruise.
So to my husband of 6 years... I love you! Thank you for the memories (and precious children)... here is to MANY MANY more years!
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