Engaged people

Although we were only engaged, it felt like we were already married! Any time we weren't at work or school we were together, despite living in different cities. Ben would drive down to Provo almost everyday to see me and I'd drive up north on weekends to see him. Those were funny and awkward weekends. Whenever we went to my parents, we had a curfew...yes, two 22-year-olds. My dad would come down stairs and, depending on the day, would send Ben home between 10:00 PM and 12:00 AM. It was always really funny to hear him say, "Alright Benjamin, it's time for you to head home." We'd say goodbye for about and hour and then he'd leave. (My dad was smart. I think he caught on that it took us forever to say goodbye, so he started telling Ben to leave earlier and earlier. :))
ADD PHOTO FROM PARENTS
People constantly asked me how the wedding plans were going, but I didn't really understand what they meant. We had everything planned in about two days...We picked our wedding colors, had a friend of Ben's do the flowers, my dad and mom found the most beautiful reception hall, my uncle's friend, Craig, made the beautiful cake, Ben designed our announcements with his cousin, Joe, and my old bishop printed them for us. My last job was finding photographers. I had SOMEONE, who I found online looking at blogs, take my bridals and I asked my old high school friend, Tiffani Herpel, to be our photographer.

 I actually found my dress while shopping with my dad. We went to The Bridal Shop in Bountiful, Utah and my dad was the one who suggested I try the dress on. It wasn't something I thought I would like because of the chiffon and all of the embroidery, but to make my dad feel a part of the shopping experience, I tried it on. And then I fell in love! It was beautiful! The only problem was the size. I, being a slim 0, made the size 6 dress look tentish. BUT, after lots of tailoring, it fit like a glove. I also got my veil at the The Bridal Shop, a simple lace cut, scalloped at the ends. Completing my look of elegant-modernism, came my white Chucks.

My mom made my garter using a cute purple silk and white lace. Ben and I picked out his suit and tie at Nordstrom Rack suit and my mom found ties for the other guys in the wedding at Costco, believe it or not. Finding dresses for all the ladies in the wedding proved more difficult than I wanted. After I picked 2 dresses out, each with complaints from a few of the girls, my mom said I should just have everyone wear something with my colors in them. It didn't turn out the way I had dreamed, but it ended up being nice and everyone wore cute clothes.

A few weeks before the wedding, my mom threw me an awesome bridal shower. It was a recipe shower, so everyone brought their favorite recipes, the ingredients and the cooking wear used to cook the food. We got so much stuff! They also made us a quilt and it was awesome! My mother-in-law also threw me a wedding shower, also a recipe shower. We got lots of food there. It was so fun! That's where I learned Ben had wanted to marry me since the mission. :)
Before the big day, we found our apartment and moved everything in. My parents got us a bed for our wedding gift, so that was basically all of our furniture at the time. We spent time with our families and with each other, kissing, talking, laughing, and looking forward to the big day. And it came quickly. Engaged November 26th, married January 14th.