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!

And God Blessed the Broken Road, Part 10

To catch up, you can read Our Love Story here.

Once Husband had asked my dad for permission to propose, I figured it was only a matter of days. After all, it was after Easter and almost to May – my self-imposed deadline for proposal. I said he couldn’t propose before May, so I thought for sure we’d be engaged on May 1 – why wait any longer?

Well, May 1 came.. and went. May 2 came… and went. On and on, every new day came and went and I kept wondering WHERE my engagement ring was.

I was awfully busy with finals and moving out, so I couldn’t dwell on the issue too much.

Finally, we were at graduation week. Husband was there with me the whole time, helping me celebrate during our Senior Week (even though he graduated the next December). We had a great time with my family during the pre-commencement ceremony – this is the part of graduation ahead of the big ceremony with the typical commencement speaker, where your name is actually called and you walk across the stage. With a school as big as ours, we do this by school so it doesn’t take years to graduate the students.

That night, we were unwinding at my new off-campus apartment while the roommate was off somewhere else, because it had been a long few days. I was sitting on an awful, small little couch that we had sofa covering on that didn’t really match anything else. I loved that it was my first non-campus apartment but it was so low to the ground, it was almost impossible to get out of gracefully!

I had taken off my gown and hung it up, and sunk into the low couch, and closed my eyes. I called out to Husband who was doing dishes in the kitchen how happy I was that my family enjoyed having him around at the celebration earlier in the day. I said that it felt like he was part of the family already!

Something made me open my eyes, and I saw Husband kneeling in front of me, with a small ring box in his hands. He smiled and said, “Well, why don’t we make it official?”

I immediately burst into tears and he put the ring on my finger. It was amazing. Beautiful. A perfect moment. Just the two of us in what would become our first home together, starting our lives.

He claims that I didn’t answer yes for a few minutes. Well, I had to go into the kitchen and see it sparkle in the light! ;) After he prompted me with the question again, I finally answered with a big ole yes!

That was May of 2006, and we were married the next April. Five years later, we are still going strong!

And God Blessed the Broken Road, Part 9

To catch up, you can read Our Love Story here.

We had said I love you, we had shopped for rings, we had learned that we could travel together. There was one other thing that had to be tackled before Husband could propose.

He had to ask my dad for permission.

Now, I’m a strong-willed, professional, modern woman, but I’m also traditional. I told Husband in the beginning of our little adventure that he was going to have to ask my dad for permission to propose, there were no ifs, ands or buts about it.

After our spring break trip to the Grand Canyon, we started making plans to visit Dallas over Easter break. That would give Husband some time to get to know Dad, we could plan graduation festivities, and he could ask the big question.

We were there for a long weekend, celebrated Easter with my extended family who lives in the area, and then it was Monday. We were flying out late that night, and Husband still hadn’t asked the question. I had been pestering him all.weekend.long, because, seriously? That’s the main reason for the trip!

Finally, he went into the study and asked if he could talk to my dad for a few minutes. From the way he tells it, he told my dad that he loved me very much and would like my dad’s permission to ask me to marry him.

And what did my dad do?

He said (and I QUOTE!), “I think that would be a good idea.”

And that was that.

No questions about how much he loved me, how he was going to take care of me, nothing like that. Just a simple statement and that was that!

Husband was relieved, Mom was annoyed that she wasn’t included in the questioning as well, and we were done, and on a plane back home to school to finish out the semester.

More to come…

And God Blessed the Broken Road, Part 8

To catch up, you can read Our Love Story here.

Before we went to my parents’ house in Texas to celebrate Easter that spring of my senior year of college, we spent Spring Break travelling together. Both Future Husband and I love to travel and we figured if we were going to spend the rest of our lives together, we should make sure that we could travel together well!

Since we didn’t want to buy plane tickets, we settled on an old-fashioned road trip. Husband had never been to the Grand Canyon and I have fond memories of driving trips across the Southwest with my family when I was a kid. So our itinerary was set – the old Route 66! We had a blast, staying in dive hotels along the way, eating at the famous Big Tex and seeing the Cadillac Ranch, on the way out to the Grand Canyon. We even stayed in the National Park when we got there, and took a sunrise tour of the canyon.

Then we turn around and started driving back! We actually ended up spending a night on the way back from the Canyon at my parents’ house, because of wildfires in Oklahoma that were directly in our path on the way home.

Once we decided that traveling together was a-ok by both of us, it was full speed ahead to popping the question! More to come…

And God Blessed the Broken Road, Part 7

To catch up, you can read Our Love Story here.

After only dating a few months, future Husband and I were already looking at rings. Crazy, I know. Let’s just say I didn’t bring that up in conversation with my parents on our weekly call! I think that might have freaked them out, no matter how much they liked the guy or not.

In those late night conversations that college seniors are wont to have, we dreamed about our future together – what types of jobs we might get after graduation (side note: before I met future Husband, I had my sights set on a cruise ship after graduation to be a cruise director! What a different life God had in mind for me), where we could live, how many kids we might have. I told him during one of those dreaming sessions that he couldn’t propose until May. Because that was so much closer to graduation (the same month even!) and that’s the only way that this thing was going to work. Mom and Dad wanted to see me close to being done with college, and know that their little girl would be on the right path and officially out of the nest. So that’s the way it had to happen.

But before one can propose, one has to find a ring. In between studying, rehearsals, and other fun senior things, Future Husband and I spent a bunch of weekends at the mall, going to every ring shop there was, over and over again. One afternoon, we were at a store that no longer exists in the Galleria, and we found it. The one. Well, it was a gorgeous engagement ring by itself, but it wasn’t until they added the wedding band on one side and the anniversary band on the other side that I fell for it. So many sparkles! [By the way, I’m still waiting for that engagement band to appear! I think five years would be a perfect time. ;)]

We picked out a few others that were also gorgeous and called it a day. We didn’t walk out of there with a ring because I wanted some kind of a surprise on the day of our engagement. We discussed what I wanted in a ring, in addition to the styles we had just looked at it. I thought color was more important than clarity, because let’s face it, who carries a jeweler’s loop with them wherever they go to see the microscopic inclusions in a particular diamond? Yeah, me neither. ;)

Our closest friends and roommates knew that future Husband was getting very close to purchasing the ring but we tried to keep it under wraps for the time being. But we had a looooong few months to go and as time passed, we started telling more and more people our little secret.

During those spring months, future Husband apparently bought the ring with his father, without me knowing it. While he waited for the ring to come in from the manufacturer (it had to be specially made to fit my small ring ringer – it’s a size 3.75!), we started planning the trip to my parents’ house in Texas for the Easter break.

Because Future Husband had to ask my dad for permission before he popped the question. Oh boy.

To be continued…

And God Blessed the Broken Road, Part 6

To catch up, you can read Our Love Story here.

So we had the typical first date at the on-campus Mexican restaurant. And it was awesome. That was in early October, 2005. What happened next was simply a whirlwind.

We hung out almost every night of the week, studying together over lattes, going to campus activities, doing the typical senior in college while dating thing. He met my friends.

This is our first picture together! Weren’t we babies?!

October passed, and then into November, we had to begin to deal with holidays. He stayed in St. Louis with his family for Thanksgiving, when I went home to Texas to tell my parents about this amazing new guy I met. They were happy and eager to meet him. November also had a lot of rehearsals for me, as I was cast in a studio show that would open in December. It would be the first time that future-husband would see me act, which was kind of cool [I say that, but he remembers seeing me act way back in our freshman year, I think! So not technically the first, but the first that I would remember].

My mom flew in to see my show, and so he got to meet one of the parental units. She loved him, and I checked off that one from the checklist of good things to have in a guy – the parents like him! At some point this month, future-husband suggested I go with him to Disney World for the New Year’s holiday. Unfortunately, I had foot surgery scheduled for that same time period back home and the idea of being pushed around the World in a wheelchair with a broken foot didn’t really sound like my idea of a vacation. This was before I was such a Disney fan as I am now. In fact, if I had agreed and went with him on that vacation, we may have even had our wedding/honeymoon there in the World, because the minute I got there I fell in love!

December was also the time we started to shop for rings. Only two months in, we knew it was right. We had “the talk” and said I love you a few weeks before and the idea that spending the rest of our lives together just made perfect sense to both of us. So a-ring shopping we went!

To be continued…

And God Blessed the Broken Road, Part 5

To catch up, you can read Our Love Story here.

Where we last left our fearless actress heroine and adorable hero, they were on a quest for dinner in a date-not-date scenario in the student union.

Future-husband was hungry that evening and so was I, so rather than the coffee we had planned on grabbing, we ended up in the on-campus Mexican restaurant in the student union. We ordered our food and then found a table, and then had that first real conversation. That was when I realized we were on a date. Yup, I realized on the date that it was a date [to be fair, Husband has a different version of events – which I might have him tell you at some future date. But not now].

We were talking about our backgrounds, and somehow past girlfriends came up. I have no idea how. Husband said that he had only dated three girls and all three of them were the daughter of lawyers, so he only knew how to date lawyer’s kids. I laughed and said, well, “I guess that makes four, since my parents are attorneys too!” We both had that awkward look at each other because I had mentioned the elephant in the room – the fact that we were on a date. I am sure that I looked like a deer in the headlights, but the moment passed, and then we settled into the traditional first date conversation.

And that’s how I realized that we were on a date, while actually on the first date – I put my foot in my mouth. But then again, if I hadn’t done that, we might not be together. Which would be really sad.

And God Blessed the Broken Road, Part 4

To catch up, you can read Our Love Story here.

Now that future-husband and I had reconnected after poster-ing a Bread Company, we were now chatting on Facebook every few days.

But we had a show that was opening shortly and there was lots going on with that. I was a senior, and had an internship at a local professional theatre. Big things were happening and a boy really wasn’t in the cards.

Even more than being busy as a senior, I was going to audition to be a walk-around character at Disney or maybe be a cruise director and see the world. I was graduating in the spring and wanted to set myself up to hit the ground running when that happened. There didn’t seem to be any time for dating.

So when future-husband suggested we go have coffee, I thought that would be nice. He was such a cute guy and he seemed really interested. But then again, I was really busy. I ended up saying saying yes and we set up a time to meet at the student union to grab a cup of coffee.

Future-husband claims that I stood him up three times but it totally wasn’t the case. Like I said, I was busy! And I honestly thought “grabbing coffee sometime” wasn’t a date. Would you have thought it was a date? I didn’t think so.

He would email me and set up a time, and then I would call him as we got closer and say that I couldn’t make it because there was another monologue to rehearse or something had to be done for the professional theatre’s street team.

Finally, we connected at the student union. Third time’s the charm, right? I showed up at the place we were agreed to meet and he was so cute sitting there, with his backpack and spiked up hair.

We headed up to the coffee shop, but halfway up, I asked him if he was hungry. Turns out he hadn’t eaten dinner yet, and neither had I. So the only logical solution was to get dinner rather than coffee. Which is exactly what we did.

To be continued…

And God Blessed the Broken Road, Part 3

To catch up, you can read Our Love Story here.

My future-husband and I spent most of college apart, not really hanging out. Every once in a while, I would see his name pop up in the AIM friends list and wonder what he was up to. But he had his friends and I had mine.

Our paths crossed again in our senior year of college. We hadn’t seen in each other in at least two years.

It was September, and I was once again involved in a production in the college theatre. I had auditioned, and unfortunately, wasn’t cast. Over the years, there were many auditions that didn’t go my way, many parts that I didn’t land. That’s the life of an actress and I am prepared for it. But as a senior, it kind of sucked that I didn’t get a mainstage role in my last year at the theatre. I thought I kind of deserved it after all the blood, sweat and tears that I’ve put into the program. So not getting cast – kind of sucked. And I wasn’t happy about it.

My assignment that semester, instead of being cast, was the publicity team for the production. It was an obvious choice, because PR was my major after all. Since I was the only one of the committee that had a car, I was assigned the role of putting up posters in the Central West End, since no one else could easily get there without a car.

To be fair, I should have put up those posters earlier. I was sulking for most of the production, annoyed that I wasn’t cast, and wondering what was going to happen if I didn’t get cast the next semester and didn’t have any recent credits on my resume when I graduated. But things were busy with school and my internship, so I avoided putting up those posters until the week before the show opened. I put it off as long as I could.

One Wednesday after classes, I loaded up the posters and my route list in the car and drove to the CWE. It’s a neat little neighborhood of great restaurants and coffee shops and old homes near the campus. Lots of the managers of those places allow us to put up posters to promote the show. We had a list of those, and that was where I was supposed to go. St. Louis Bread Company was the first stop on my list.

I walked inside the restaurant and started looking around for the manager, to get his permission to put up the poster. As I stood in the entrance, holding a poster and push pins, I heard someone call my name.

Thinking that it was someone calling another “Jessica,” I didn’t turn around right away. When he called my name again, I did turn and saw him. Future-husband sitting on one of the comfy chairs near the window, with a book in his lap. He was smiling.

I went over to say hello and we started to catch up. Honestly, I have no idea what I said in that meeting. It went by in a blur. I remember I put up the posters and then went back to hang out with him some more.

We exchanged phone numbers and a promise to Facebook each other when we got back to our dorms. We had graduated from AIM to Facebook in those few years of college. He asked me if I wanted to get a coffee sometime and catch up, and of course, I said sure.

I had to finish putting up posters and he was waiting on someone for a meeting.

The best part of this story? Husband wrote down the time wrong – he was an hour early for his meeting. I put off the poster work until the very last minute. Something pushed me to do the posters that day.

And the name of the play we were producing that semester?

“All in the Timing.”

And God Blessed the Broken Road, Part 2

Read Part 1 here.

I hung out with future-husband’s friends for the first few weeks of school, and they were a lot of fun. I would join them for dinner or snacks after class. On the first anniversary of 9/11, I was there outside the residence hall for the memorial service hosted by one of his friends. He was from New York and was very close to the attacks. It was an emotional experience, lots of tears in the darkness, punctuated by candlelight in the parking lot.

But as things happen in college, people come together for a time and then float apart. With a good distance between his residence hall and mine, and his classes in the business school and mine in the theatre, it got harder and harder to find the time to meet up. After all, I was dating someone and so was he. He was just a friend I met that first week of school and somehow, things just start drifting apart.

Whenever I signed on to AIM, I would look down the lists of friends and every once in a while, I would notice his screenname at the bottom and wonder what that cute kid from the local high school was doing then.

A few months into my freshman year, the boyfriend that I followed to college broke up with me. And immediately started dating the girl he insisted he wasn’t into. That was a tough pill to swallow. I was 18 and thought the world was going to come crashing down on my head.

And still, every once in a while, I would see future-husband’s name on my AIM list and wonder about that cute guy in the residence hall across campus. But the thought would pass and I would head to rehearsal. That’s where I spent most of my college years, in the theatre.

I never realized that the cute guy I saw on my AIM list would eventually come back into life in a HUGE way.

And God Blessed the Broken Road, Part 1

When I posted a few days ago about blogger’s block, Meghan of Unintended Housewife suggested I write about my wedding day – how it went, and how I would change things, given my profession as an event planner now. I thought it was a great idea!

But before giving you the wedding detail, I feel like I should back up and tell you how the whole thing started. See, in the beginning of this blog, I gave a very brief introduction of how I met my husband and got to where I am now. After reading the Pioneer Woman’s novel on my nook last week, I’ve got the urge to write down the full story for all posterity. Or at least as long as I keep this blog. So stay tuned for the whole story, in segments!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I picked my college because of my boyfriend.

Ok, so that’s not entirely true. But it’s close!

My dad went to SLU back in the day for multiple degrees. When looking at colleges, he insisted I tour his alma mater, just as I toured my mom’s. Hers wasn’t really my style (it’s ok, because my brother fell in love with it, and it was the right choice for him) but SLU had a beautiful campus and was a really great education, and it was good that we visited.

The boyfriend of mine at the time had chosen to go to SLU right around the time that I had visited the campus. He was a year older than me. Knowing that it was Dad’s alma mater and falling in love with the campus, it all came together. Seeing a show at the campus theatre that fall just sealed the deal. I wanted to act upon that stage. I turned in my deposit the day that I got accepted. It was the only school I ended up applying to.

Fast forward to orientation, the week before classes started. The boyfriend was still in the picture, and I was so excited to get started on the college adventure. Both Mom and Dad went with me to help with move in and all that jazz. I can remember the specific moment when they pulled into the driveway near the Olive Compton garage, to drop me off for a big game of kickball with all the other rising freshmen. We were sectioned off into groups and I was looking for mine across all the other fields but couldn’t seem to find them. While I was looking around, starting to get anxious, because my parents had left and I didn’t know a single person (that’s what the orientation groups are for, so you can have a familiar face on campus), one of the groups popped over and asked me if I was lost. I explained that I couldn’t find my group and a sweet Indian kid who would later be one of the groomsmen in my wedding came to my rescue and asked me to join their kickball team.

As I was being introduced to everyone, most of them I wouldn’t remember their name the next week, I came across a cute guy from a local high school. He had this great short hair cut spiked up with gel and was great at kickball. I found out later that he played rugby in high school, and hence had some awesome thighs, perfect for sports. That was a nice thing. :)

We exchanged AIM names [remember AIM!? This was WAY before Facebook]at that point, to stay in touch. A bunch of soon-to-be-husband’s friends lived in one of the dining halls south of campus, so I joined them for dinner.

I didn’t know back then, but it was the beginning of the story that I would tell my future children about how it all began.

To be continued….