Celebrating Life and Love

Holy smokes!  Can you say slacker?!?  Good gracious.

Life has been nothing short of crazy around these parts since the end of September!

The craziness is thaks to school, work, personal obligations, yada, yada, yada...
And as a result my blog has suffered.  Severely!

So today I'm going to backtrack and discuss two important things, life and love. 

LOVE:
Two years ago on October 2, 2010, Matt and I were married.  We spent about 9 months preparing and planning the festivities.  To keep the mushy gushy stuff to a minimum, the whole day went off with out a hitch and was everything I had hoped for!  There were so many details I want to share, but your attention span is only so long!

Here are some of the biggies...

Matt's wedding ring was custom made by The Jeweler's Bench of Marion, Illinois.  For those of you who don't know, it is a replication of a duck band.  Often times ducks are caught and have a steel band slipped on their legs for identification and to track their flight.  FYI: Every waterfowler wants to shoot a duck or good with a leg band!  Matt was adamant that he got a duck band ring and I liked it so he would have a constant  reminder of our anniversary!  

 Yes, I wore cowboy boots under my dress!  The whole day, not just for pictures.  They were also my 'Something New'!  I'm a country girl, what can I say?

When my aunt and uncle were married in this church over 30 years ago they had their photographer take a similar picture.  In our family, it's referred to as "The Picture" and I wanted one too!  I think it's beautiful with the church all lit up and the windows glowing.

I loved my hairclip and birdcage veil!  I wanted the wedding and reception to have a rustic, vintage vibe and I think it was a success.  My necklace was my 'Something Old', purchased at an antique mall in Clinton, IL.  I also made the boutennier's that all Matt and the guys wore that day!

We got married in a late ceremony, just so we could exit the church and have everyone holding sparklers!  

Since I wanted a sparkler exit from the church, we had to do all of our wedding pictures before the actual ceremony.  So instead of Matt seeing me for the first time in church we did 'First Look' photos instead.

 

Our photographer, Alida, did an amazing job capturing moments I knew I wanted and ones I had no idea about!  She is stellar!  Since the wedding we've become great friends and are even in a book club together.  
Speaking of, Alida, have you read the book for this month?!?!

LIFE:
Our family lost an amazing lady two weeks ago when Matt's Grandma Betty passed away.  She passed away mear minutes from her 93rd birthday.  People came from near and far to pay their respects to Betty and the family, which told of the many ways she impacted the community.

Betty was a:

School Teacher

Church Organist

Sunday School Teacher

Wife

Mother

Sister

Aunt

And a wonderful grandmother to Matt!  He always speaks highly of her cooking, intelligence and wit.

She will be missed.