The Wedding Post

It's only taken a little over 2 months, but here is the wedding post!

The entire wedding weekend was perfect. I couldn't have asked for anything better. The last year of planning paid off as all of the details came together just the way I imagined it.

Our guest list was pretty small which was what I wanted. About 90 of our closest family and friends joined us in celebrating our marriage. It meant so much to have everyone there, especially since the majority of them had to travel from out of town.

My prayers were definitely answered as we had perfect weather. I was a little nervous since we were getting married the first weekend of October. In the mountains. With an outdoor ceremony. But, the sun was shining and the wind died down and it was gorgeous! We even had a baby deer stop by to check out the beginning of the ceremony. I felt like I was in a Disney movie!

I posted my absolute favorite pictures from the day. We got over 600 pictures back from our photographer...so it's been challenging trying to narrow them down. They turned out great and captured the entire day perfectly! There are A LOT more that you can check out here. Or, I have some candid shots that i've collected from friends that you can look at here. But, here are my absolute favorites. They're a bit out of order, but whata ya do?

This is the outside of the chateau at the end of the night. I love the lighting.

This picture cracks me up every time I look at it. These guys definitely know how to have a good time together and aren't afraid to do the can-can dance

This is one of my favorite pictures, even though my sister and I aren't looking at the camera. My parents look so happy and it just reminds me of the good times we've shared together as a family

The Father-Daughter dance. My dad and I danced to Return to Pooh Corner by Kenny Loggins. This song has such a special meaning to us and there was never any question of what song we would dance to. It makes me tear up even listening to it now!

Ben and I's first dance.

This picture makes me smile. It captures the personality of our Pastor perfectly. Pastor Darius did a great job! He is my parent's pastor and has picked on me from day one. Every time Ben came around, Darius would always harass him about taking SO long to propose. He is an amazing man of God.

These were our wedding favors/place cards. My mom came up with the genius idea of doing ornaments as our favors. My dad actually carved every ornament himself. We did an elk design since they're known to be found wondering all around Estes Park.

A shot of the head table in reception area

The cake! It turned out just as I wanted- really simple and pure chocolate. I saw the bride and groom strawberry cake toppers in a magazine several years ago and fell in love with it

I love the aspens in the background and the way my dress is flowing in the grass

This is one of my favorites. It was our Christmas card picture

These are our first moments as a married couple! This picture was right after the ceremony. The gazebo was right behind where our guests were seated during the ceremony and Ben and I hung out here while the guests were dismissed for cocktail hour. Glasses of champagne were waiting for us.

This is me heading down the stairs right before the ceremony started. Surprisingly I wasn't that nervous at this point

What a gentleman my new husband is!

This picture is of our first prayer together. Our photographer actually suggested we pray together and I'm so glad he did

I think this picture belongs on one of those chic wedding websites. I feel like we're models. HA!

I don't really have much to say about this one. I just like it

Another fav! It's just fun

This picture still gives me butterflies looking at it. This was moments before Ben saw me for the first time. Our photographer captured from the time you could barely see me walking out of the chateau up until Ben turned around. If you check out the first link above, you'll see a few more pictures from that series. Walking out from the chateau was one of the more nerve-wracking walks of my life!

I felt absolutely beautiful

Another one of my favorites. Pastor Darius praying over our rings....right before he dropped mine!

I just like it

My dad and I walking down the aisle! I actually didn't cry all that much, just teared up a bit. Before we started walking, my dad asked if we needed to talk about football or something. My dad has a way to ease your nerves- even moments before the ceremony

The ceremony site. The mountains provided such a beautiful backdrop

I had my shoes dyed to match the bridesmaid's dresses. I think they turned out pretty great

My fabulous friends

Ben and his boys. Doing the GQ look

The Witter Clan

The Burcham Fam

My mom putting on my veil

My beautiful flowers. Callas are my favorites!

My handsome husband

I really like this shot

My reception shoes- sparkly Converse! My mom got these for me as a Christmas present last year. I had so many compliments on them and they were truly a life saver! I don't know if my feet would have survived an entire night in heels

Checking myself out

Getting all dolled up

Our rings. I think they look great with the branches

My purple shoes!

And my dress

Our First Christmas

This year was our first Christmas as a married couple! It's been so much fun having someone help put up the tree and decorate the house in Christmas decor. We had a great afternoon together getting in the Christmas spirit!

Ben working on the tree. This is the 1st fake tree I've ever had. Well, except for my little Charlie Brown tree

A little tree hugger

This is our coffee table. I bought this table 5 or 6 years ago when I fist moved out on my own and it is the best! It has a drawer on the side so that you can change the inside display. It's looking very festive I think.

Our little tree all lit up and decorated. Growing up, my mom would give us a different ornament every year. She usually got us something that went along with our interests that year. I'm so grateful that she did this for us. If Ben and I ever decide to have kids, this is definitely one tradition I will pass on to them.

This weekend, we celebrated Christmas together. We're going to be in Nebraska over Christmas, so we wanted to do our own little Christmas before we left.

Ben and I must think alike, because we both got each other new shoes!

Ben also got me this scarf. I love the colors on it

I also got him some cold weather running gear and socks. Although, with this crazy weather we're having, I don't know when he'll get to use it!

After presents we celebrated with pancakes and mimosas!

What a great first Christmas together!

Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love the crazy family togetherness and all of the delicious food. It was Thanksgiving weekend last year that Ben proposed to me. So that makes it extra special. This year, we stayed in Colorado instead of traveling out to Oklahoma. Thankfully, my sister stayed in town as well, so we spent the entire weekend with them. Our weekend was jammed pack of activities. Everything from hockey games to ping pong tournaments to shopping to go-karting to tree decorating. It was a blast!

Wednesday night we headed up to their house and went to an Eagles hockey game.

Thanksgiving morning, Casey, Melissa, and Ben ran in the turkey trot that my sister's work put on. It was about 12 degrees and way too cold for me to run! I enjoy it, but not that much!!

This year I made 2 desserts to take over to my sister's in-law's house. One is the traditional banana cake. My aunt Julie has made this cake for as long as I can remember. It's so delicious! A few years ago I was blessed to have her pass her super top secret recipe on to me. So of course I had to make it so me and Melissa could get our yearly fill.

My other dessert was a new one, which was a big hit! Pumpkin spice cake balls. Pumpkin spice cake mixed with cream cheese frosting all dipped in white chocolate. Delicious and a new fall favorite!

My sister's mother-in-law is a very crafty lady. She had a crafty afternoon planned for us and we made these cute little snowmen.

Later that weekend I helped my sister sit up her Christmas tree. Growing up putting up the tree was always a family affair. So it was fun to get to do it together again.

Needtobreathe

The band Needtobreathe came to town so Ben and I double dated with my sister and Casey. (Have I mentioned that i'm SO happy they're back!?!) We had a great time at the show. They're an amazing band and sound just as good live as they do on their albums. Definitely recommend checking them out.

We're so excited and just can't hide it

They're SO good

Double date at the Ogden

My friend Tara and I actually saw Needtobreathe earlier this year. They did a small little free concert downtown. As we were leaving we ran into them on the stairs. Of course we had to get our picture taken with them!

Me and Tara with the lead singer

Me with the guitarist

CU Games!

I love CU football. Even though they have been terrible for the last several years, i've still cheered them on. Thankfully, they finally fired their coach half way through the season this year. So hopefully next year we can start making a comeback!

I went to 2 games this year. One with just my sister and one with my parents and Ben. Both games were a lot of fun, but they actually pulled out a win when we went with my parents.

One of my favorite things about CU games- Ralphie

It's kind of hard to tell in this picture, but the marching band is out-lining a buffalo with CU in the middle

Ben and my dad

Some pregame warm up action

Me and my mom

My sister's in-laws have season tickets right off the 50 yard line. They're amazing tickets. Luckily, they gave tickets to my sister on a day her husband couldn't go. So she took me! We had a great girl's day together. I'm so proud to say that she has come a LONG way in understanding football since our 1st CU game together several years ago.

She's crazy, and i love her

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom

It’s been way too long since I’ve posted anything. I’ve tried to upload wedding pics, but it’s not working out. I don’t know if the files are too big or what, but I promise to figure it out and post some. They are awesome. Everything about my wedding day was perfect and needs to be shared. And I’ll do a honeymoon post or 2. It was such a great trip! And I’ll update you on things that have happened in last 2 months, but for now, I’ll leave you with some words of wisdom.

Don't be afraid of the space between your dreams and reality. If you can dream it, you can make it so.
~Belva Davis