Anniversary ABCs

Five years ago today, April 28, I married the love of my life. To celebrate, we’re going to a fancy French restaurant here in town (albeit with a Groupon coupon!) and we’ll remember our honeymoon in Paris. We will remember the amazing journey we’ve taken over these five years and dream about what is next to come. The next five years of our marriage will involve a graduation from law school (wooo hoo!!), hopefully a big lawyer job for Hubs, more work on my wedding planning business, maybe a move and maybe a family expansion. But all of that in it’s own good time. We’re enjoying the two of us in our life together now.

To commemorate the big anniversary, here’s a walk down memory lane from our wedding (thanks to Melissa for the idea last year!):

Attending: We had invited over 230 to attend our big day, but the actual number ended up around 130.

Bridesmaids: We couldn’t say no, so we had a bunch! A few friends from college and post-college, plus a cousin or two thrown into the mix for good measure.

Catering: Fabulous food provided by the company that also does the food for the boys’ dining hall. Strange, I know, but people tell me it was the best wedding food they’d ever had.

Dress: I have no idea who made my dress. I don’t think the tag was in it when I bought it. It came from a shop in South County next to the place where I bought my first dance shoes. I loved that little tie-in!

Engagement: Hubs proposed after pre-commencement at SLU in 2006; my graduation party the next day turned into an engagement party!

Flowers: The flowers came from a shop in St. Charles. They flew in purple calla lilies after I fell in love with them in the sample bouquet. The florist was so nice – when I was worried about the size of bouquet given my petite-ness, I didn’t want to be overwhelmed by flowers. They needed a sample bouquet to use at a bridal show and so they made a sample of mine so I could come and see a real one with real flowers! I saw it in person and starting sobbing. It was SO perfect.

Groomsmen: We had a bunch of these too. There were friends of Husband’s from grade school, high school and college, plus our two brothers. It was so neat to have all these dapper men in our party!

Honeymoon: Hubs surprised me with our honeymoon. He and his mom planned it with our travel agent and I didn’t know where we were going until we showed up at the airport the day after the wedding. Then I found out we were headed to Paris! I was so excited, I burst into tears. It was magical. I wish I had pictures of the fancy dinner we had the last night, but it was the Taillevant – one of the restaurants in the book 1001 Places to See Before You Die. You should go, because it truly is amazing.

Invitations: I wish I had done some more research on these – but I don’t think I even have a picture of the invitations! They were simple cream invites with basic black printing. There weren’t any coloring on there (still hadn’t decided on the color scheme) nor was there any “theming” because our wedding didn’t really have a theme.

Justice of the Peace: Nope, we had a priest perform our ceremony, a la our Roman Catholic tradition. In fact, we had 4 priests presiding!

Keepsakes: After losing my dad two years ago, one of my favorite keepsakes from the wedding (other than the wedding album and all that) was a perfect picture of me and my dad as we walked down the aisle. I love this picture.

Ladies Night: My bachelorette party was a few gal friends and me out at the bars on the Landing in St. Louis. We had a blast dancing at the piano bar all night.

Music: The reason we chose this church (other than my Husband had gone to the school attached to it for high school) was because of the organ. I love organ music and I wanted a big sound on my entrance and our big exit. My cantor was my best friend and her sister played the organ. But the best part? A choir made up of family and friends singing How Beautiful as the communion meditation. It was so amazing, words can’t express it. I’m just glad that I have the video on my computer and can pull it up whenever I want to remember that moment.

Newlyweds: I think we might be beyond this phase! I don’t know if we can call ourselves this anymore.

Old, new, borrowed, blue: Old – my MIL’s high school ruby ring; new – wedding dress; borrowed – antique earrings from my mom/great aunt; blue – little bow on my garter

Photography: Matson Photography

Question popping: I knew it was coming for a while, but he sure surprised that night after commencement! I thought he would have asked much earlier in May.

Reception: We hosted our reception at the Switzer House on the campus of the St. Louis Priory. Technically, the reception was held in the Priory High School’s dining hall. That sounds awful, but I think the wedding party was able to decorate it very well! It didn’t feel like a dining hall at all. Plus, the price was just right. ;) But the real reason we got married here? This staircase.

Shoes: I could never quite find the right shoes for this dress so they were simple white sandals. This was before the idea of colored shoes under your dress got really popular.

Trash the Dress: Hubs really wants me to do this; well, he wants me to get rid of the dress that’s taking up tons of space in the basement. But I can’t imagine messing up my wedding dress!

Unique: I’d say it was pretty unique to have our reception in the boys’ dining hall of the high school. It was so amazing and I wouldn’t have changed it!

I also was serenaded that night to “You’ve Lost that Loving Feeling” a la Top Gun, but it was a tradition in my high school theatre that the leading lady was serenaded on opening night by the guys of the cast. I was never a leading lady at that school, and Hubs remembered that. They dragged me to the center of the dance floor and I had no idea what was going on. I started crying when they started singing. It was amazing.

Vows: In the Roman Catholic tradition, our vows were standard. However, the priest performing the ceremony wanted us to read them ourselves rather than repeating after him. He said it takes him out of the ceremony and places the importance of the two of us speaking to each other in the presence of God. We are marrying each other, he just presides over it. It’s a sacrament from God and as we spoke those words to each other, I completely understood why he wanted it to go like that.

Wedding Woes: As amazing as it was, it is SO tough to be an events person and plan your own wedding. I wish I had hired someone like me to take care of the little details during the day so I could have concentrated on enjoying myself! It would have saved our wedding party the hours of decorating the reception, too. ;)

X-rated: Um, this is a family blog.

Young Kids: We had the most adorable flower girl and ring bearer, plus a few infants around too! The infants were our godson, Moose, and the daughters of two of my cousins. It was great having the little ones there!

Zzzzzz: It was a late night and an early morning. I have no idea why we scheduled such an early morning international flight! We did, however, make hotel reservations for right near the airport on the wedding night so we could be a bit closer for our flight.

So writing all of these memories really made me smile. Our wedding day was wonderful and I am so happy that we were able to celebrate with all our friends and family. What a day!

Happy 5^th anniversary, Husband!