Rings, Announcements, and Chaos

Ring shopping was good times--it's surreal to know you're about to be engaged. We were so close to choosing the pretty nugget on the left, but in the end I couldn't get my mind off the rose gold beaut on the right.

So when Jared got down on one knee in the middle of a trail run up Dry Canyon, rose gold was what hung upside-down from the top of the little box that he was too nervous to open the right way. My priceless husband.

He wanted a plain sterling silver band. We found his favorite one online and I had it engraved in German at a nearby jewelry store. Oh, priceless German.

The brilliant Sarah Kay designed our wedding announcements. I think I might have accidentally promised to put these on here months ago, but when you get engaged half of your brain takes itself hostage and refuses to compromise until after your last name changes and your new husband slaps some sense into you at the reception with cake-to-the-face.

Our announcements turned out better than I could have hoped for. Imagine these on beautiful beautiful beautiful paper, and imagine the "our story" section with alternating colors for each speaker so it's easier to read. It was mostly a design element, but we still get comments on it all the time. Everyone likes a unique invite with the story of your whole entire life on it. The story was on the back of the invite, and the picture and ceremony invite were separate items. Click to enlarge.

The day before the wedding was madness. I did all the flower arranging myself for the reception, and the wholesaler where I planned to get the flowers was closed for the July 4th weekend. So I drove up to Salt Lake with my mother and spent the rest of the day arranging in the basement. Meanwhile, Jared was eating pizza at his bachelor party.

Roundabouts 7:00, my bff Julie came over. I don't know why I didn't call her over sooner--something about thinking I could do it all myself probably. She calmed me down, helped with the flowers, and guided me through the last of the shopping that needed to be done for the centerpieces. Maybe it was good to have the contrast of the pre-wedding insanity so that when I was able to relax and enjoy everything on our wedding day, it was the best thing ever.