Wedding Picture Carnival

I was so excited to see that Rachel @ In His Hands decided to do a Wedding Picture Carnival. Even though I over indulged myself last October for our anniversary, I thought that I would join in. So without further ado...

Kent and I were married on Fort Morgan beach, October 13, 2007. As a little girl, I always dreamed of the big church wedding with the poofy princess dress, that is until I met my husband. He's not really into large gatherings, he's quite a social-phobe. Anyway, he suggested that we get married on the beach after his mom did, and I decided that was a great idea! Fort Morgan is about a 3.5-5 hour drive for all of our friends and family, plus stay a couple extra days and you can have your vacation too! We rented two houses directly on the beach, one for my family and one for his. There was an empty lot right beside us, so we set up the reception there. I did most everything. I picked out all of the decorations, had a couple of friends come over early in the day to help with the centerpieces and decorations, so I was my own wedding coordinator. A little stressful, but everything turned out exactly the way I wanted it. I decided that we would see each other before the wedding, because I wasn't going to stay cooped up in the house since we were on the beach. Prior to finishing getting ready, I learned that my wedding cake was locked in the delivery van. Kent came to the rescue and broke into it, so this is him seeing me for the first time and telling me how he broke into the van:

He even teared up a little. :) My new in laws and family built this awesome arbor and table for our sand ceremony from bamboo the morning of the wedding. I loved it!

See the oil rig off in the background-Kent LOVED this!

We sent out about 75 invitations, and I think that just about everyone showed up. I bought a guest book with slots for polaroid pics of each family and it was completely full plus some stuck in at the end. I counted 102 people and I am sure everyone didn't sign in. We didn't have enough chairs, but the actual ceremony didn't last long, so it wasn't too bad for them. I turned out to be a very non-traditional bride. I walked down the aisle to "Waltz With Me" by Tonic. Our sand ceremony song was "Feels Like Home" by Chantel Kreviazuk... and we left to "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" by Stevie Wonder. The weather was perfect and it was definitely a day I will never forget a single detail of!

My sisters were my maid and matron of honor. Their dresses were going to be handmade by my mom's neighbor, until I saw the finished product and cried my eyes out on the way home. I felt terrible but didn't want to say anything, so my mom and sister's went to David's and bought these as a back up. Man was I glad! My flowers turned out great since the florist lost my order and they were a last minute throw together. Talk about crying my eyes out! I had given them a picture of the exact bouquet I wanted and they lost it! It's pretty good to have been described over the phone!

After the ceremony was over, we walked down the beach and had some sunset pictures made:

At the reception, mosquitos were terrible! My sister's back was solid welps and my arms were ridiculous! I was so glad that many of my coworkers were able to come! We had such a great time! Feasting on boiled shrimp, chicken fingers, corn on the cob and green beans! I love fireworks and really wanted to have them at our reception, but it was definitely not in the budget. I settle for sparklers as we left and I love this picture:

I love the way everything turned out even though we had a few bumps in the road that day. (lost flower order, late photographer due to traffic, and cake locked in the delivery van.) But all of that makes for a great part of "Our Story!"