Oh, Happy Day!

Well friends. As mentioned in the previous post, keeping up a blog is a difficult thing to do when you are working...does nannying even count as a job?! I'm back on the bandwagon for a while though (I hope). My temporary nanny gig ends on Friday and then I will be spending the next month prepping for a big move to San Francisco. Yes. A month. Insane.

Yesterday marked 4 days that Mark and I were married! Marked. Ha.

{i'm probably the only one that laughed at that one}

And this past week also marked the day that we got all our pictures from our big day! Daniel (who is married to Mark's sister) shot our wedding pictures for free. Such a blessing. We owe you big time :) Good thing we will be living a short hour drive from you in a month from now.

Daniel is insane. Not only has he competed in MANY iron mans, but he is also a genius engineer and a great photographer. Check out his incredible work here.

So, with pictures in hand I figured I would share some of our fun from April, 16th! Most of the pictures were taken by Daniel, but some are from my sweet grandma, Grammy, who also had her camera in hand!

Our wedding was held at Double Creek Crossing.

A beautiful place for an outdoor venue.

The rehearsal dinner was at the Kyle House. I think the rehearsal dinner was one of my favorite parts - simply because it was time to just relax and chat with those we loved.

Even some of the guys had something to say...

Even Phillip had something to say...now that's crazy. P.S. Dan. I see your rattail. Props to you for hiding it from me on the wedding day though :)

And on to the wedding day...after grabbing a delicious breakfast from Madden's the girls and I headed off to Double Creek to get ready for the day!

{my aunt, me, grandma, and mom at Maddens}

So many things were already set up! It was such a relief. Most brides or bridesmaids are running around the hour before the ceremony getting everything ready or at least delegating things. I was doing none of that. Our wedding started at 6 pm and all the decorations were easily done by noon. It was amazing.

Here are a couple pictures of the set up:

{trail mix buffet}

we had 5 selections of trail mix and some awesome bags to put them in for the guests to take home! It went well with our outdoor theme. The bags were the brown coffee bags with a stamp on it that had a tree, "oh happy day!" and Mark & Ash written on it. The trail mix seemed to be a hit according to the guests!

{gift table}

The tables were either covered with quilts or an ivory cloth with burlap as runner. This is the gift table with some of our engagement pictures around it.

{centerpieces}

{menu}

I made that chalkboard out of plank of wood and chalk paint. So simple. I now use it for recipes on this blog!

{the tree guest book}

This was set up right before the entrance to the ceremony. An art student at BCS painted this for us and did such a great job! She even put our initials in the tree and put wildflowers on the ground, which went with our theme. The sign says "Please leaf a thumbprint on our wedding tree!" I bought the Kleenex box from Hobby Lobby and placed some baby wipes in it. The little metal trash can was also bought at Hobby Lobby, along with the easel.

{guest book table}

The normal guest book was set up on this table, which was across the aisle from the tree! Along with the guest book were the fan programs and some activites for the kids. Those cards had a word search I made on one side, and a mad lib made up about our wedding day! Some of the kids came up to me at the reception to share me their stories. Some adults did as well...it was fun :)

You can see a bit of the wording on the fans there...it was another simple project to make!

{cake and pie tables}

The cake was a simple cake, but oh so delicious! I had an assortment of pies out and placed little flags in them for some added decoration. The sweet love bunting was a simple DiY project! There was also bunting on the trail mix table that said "Happy Trails!"

{close up}

Anyhow, as mentioned earlier, everything was set up. It was amazing. All I had to worry about was being ready in time to see my soon to be husband at 3 for before the ceremony pictures :)

Hair, check. Make up...almost check :)

While the girls got ready, so did the guys...

And after a long wait I was ready to see my groom :)

{it was so hard not to kiss him}

Along with seeing eachother before the ceremony, we also opted to take pictures with our bridal party before as well. I am SO glad we did this. It meant that after the ceremony we could take our 30 second walk to the reception site and get to partying right away. It also meant Mark and I could have some quality us time (not rushed) before the ceremony while taking pictures. I am so glad we did it this way. Walking down the aisle and seeing him standing there was still just as great even though I had already seen him all snazzed up in his suit :)

The girls had on JCrew dresses in different shades of blue. We got them on sale, which was a BIG plus! They wore various colors of gray shoes and well...you can see their bouquets :)

The guys pants were from Express (along with Mark's coat). They wore gray Toms, which we gave them to as a gift.

Cade got TOMS too, he just didn't have them on yet ;)

We also took pictures with the families before too!

{missing you mike f!}

Here are some shots of the ceremony...

WOO HOO! We're hitched :) CELEBRATE!

{that was my mom's veil}

{flower girls/ring bearers/niece/nephews/adorable}

the rest of the evening was filled with...

dancing.

eating.

dancing.

and eating some more...

 

And after hours of dancing and eating we were out the door and well wishes and lots of rice were thrown our way :)

Wow.

I shared a lot more pictures than I thought I would.

I still can't believe this day happened. I am so glad I have pictures and videos to look back at because it all went by so fast! I am so thankful for each of you that were there that day and each of you who were there in spirit .

Thank you :)

I hope you enjoyed the little recap of our wedding day!