marriage is better than they say

so much has happened in the last week and half... here's our attempt to sum it all up.

last friday, July 30th, everybody came into town (and when i say everybody boy oh boy do i mean it) and the madness started. friday night the groomsmen and the bridesmaids split up for the bachelor/bachelorette parties. not sure what the guys did but the girls (me, claire,

kirsten, liza, jane, les, maren, amber, amanda, and laura) had an amazing night on the town.

we went to dinner downtown on park ave. at Sinbad's and then headed to the gelato place down the street... after claire set up a little time capsule where we filled out some futuristic surveys and i got my complete "wedding night package" from kir lizer and jane... WOAH BABY!

I stayed up packing for the honeymoon and chatting with my girls on friday night and finally got to bed around 2 am... surprisingly, i slept well. until i woke up about an hour before i needed to and tossed and turned with excitement until it was time for me to get up.

at 10:30 am we arrived at Mario's, a yummy italian restaurant in Rochester where the pre-wedding brunch was held. The food was great (the little that i ate, surprisingly i think chin was a little nervous and didn't gorge himself). The toasts, slideshow, musical performance, and the people present made the brunch even better. Chantiza, our linens coordinator did a great job with the decorations and everything really came together.... besides the candles.

Our florist ordered a huge bunch of light pink candles that were supposedly "Smokeless & Dripless" candles. WELL LET ME TELL YOU. they were the smokiest drippiest least-long-lasting candles we have EVER used. They melted all over the tables, but oh well, it was just a minor mishap.

After the brunch we headed 21 miles to the Palmyra Temple where Christian and I were sealed as husband and wife for Time and All Eternity. Words cannot describe to you how happy and elated we were. it was amazing to have our friends and family with us and to be joined together as one. I AM SO LUCKY! We walked out of the temple to meet everyone and Noel took some fancy dancy pics of us and then we headed back to the house to get ready for the ring ceremony and reception.

When we got home, i was just a little bit (maybe a lot bit) tired and frazzled. I had a meltdown, and yes i know you are saying, "i'm not surprised." I am the queen of meltdowns and had a little bit of a hard time keeping it together. But after a pep talk and some water and my prized drug of choice, excedrin, i was rearing and ready to go.

The ring ceremony was wonderful. Christian's father, Tim, and my father, Gordon, spoke and my sister, Maren, did a wonderful musical number. The ceremony went great. We exchanged rings and said some words to each other, sang a little song by good old jack johnson, and then it was time to PARTY!

The reception was a blast. Below was the candy table and a little preview of what the decorations looked like. I was so pleased, everything was just how i wanted it.

After standing in the receiving line for what seemed like eternity (don't get me wrong i loved talking with all of our wonderful guests... talking is a favorite thing of mine), we were able to do the traditional bride/groom stuff. We cut the cake, had our first dance, the daddy/daughter & mom/son dance, threw the bouquet and garter, and mingled with our guests. We had a great time and Chin and I got our groove on! We got to dance a lot and it was fun to have a night filled with pure celebration and joy.

Finally, it was time to get out of there, and our lovely wedding party has sneakily decorated our car with toothpaste, marshmallows, about 39480923 rolls of toilet paper, and all other nonsense that embodied our car. Thanks guys. :)

For those of you who didn't know, Chin left the whereabouts of our honeymoon as a surprise to me. So i finally got it out of him Saturday night (it didn't take much ;)) and found out that we were going to St. Thomas! Ahhh sweet bliss.

So we woke up Sunday morning, TOGETHER, in our cozy victorian suite at my favorite hotel, The Woodcliff, which was also a surprise to me. Sneaky sneaky boy. It was amazing to wake up next to my best friend and this whole not-having-to-say-goodnight thing is the BOMB.COM!

We had a nice breakfast then headed on the plane to the virgin islands. :)

We stayed at the Marriott beach resort, Frenchman's Reef, and we had a blast! we slept in, went sailing, snorkeling, swimming... We took a day trip to St. John's, went to the beach and went out to dinner every night at restaurants right on the water. Plus i was with my amazing husband. Can you say paradise?!

Oceana, one of the prettiest restaurants in St. Thomas, was where we went on our last night of our honeymoon. It was delicious and i was in great company.

This was at Trunk Bay, on St. John's. The water was about 82 degrees and crystal clear, and the weather was PERFECT everyday. sweet sweet paradiso

dinner at agave terrace overlooking the bay. yum. yum. yum.

Our wedding and honeymoon were everything that i could have ever hoped for. We are so happy, and we've already been married for a week! Being newlyweds is a serious BLAST (miss you elder low).

I am so lucky. I am married to the man of my dreams and being married is better than it's hyped up to be. I can't wait to start this amazing journey with my best bud and to be with him for eternity.

What's next for us? Right now we're back in good old Rochester until Thursday, and then we head out to Denver for a reception on Saturday. After a few days in the 303 we'll head out to Provo to get moved into our APARTMENT and to start our life all on our own. I am so grateful and happy.

Thanks to everyone who has supported us along the way, and to everyone who put in so much effort into making our wedding spectacular. We love you!

and i especially love christian. :)