wedding: part I

Why do we girls have blogs if not to shamelessly post pictures/stories/details of our wedding after we get married? Am I right?? But hey, you volunteered to be here so I can be as obnoxious as I want! August 7th, 2015 was the day I was sealed for time and all eternity to Drew Tekulve in the Washington D.C. Temple. Our wonderful photographer Monika Ottehenning documented this special occasion and I am THRILLED with how the pictures turned out. She did a fantastic job all weekend and I am so happy that we have such beautiful photos to cherish for the rest of our lives.

The D.C. temple is one of my favorite places on Earth. I mean, how could it not be? LOOK AT IT. I think it is the prettiest building ever and will always hold a special place in my heart. Being sealed in any temple to the person you love most is one of the most unique and beautiful feelings in the world. It's difficult to put into words the way I felt that day. All I know is that marriage rules, guys. 5/5 dentists would recommend.

Can I just say that bouquet was so heavy? Major workout carrying that thing but I didn't complain because LOOK AT IT. Fun fact: my mother/wedding planner extraordinaire planned most of my wedding in less than six months while I was on the opposite side of the country. I obviously had a say in most aspects of the event, but she was the one who had to deal with the vendors, caterers, decorators, etc. I never met or even talked to the florist and most people involved in making my wedding what it was. With that said, I was so pleasantly surprised with how the flowers turned out because all I told my mom back in February were what my colors were and flowers I liked and I wanted ribbon trails and the end. And then BAM they came up with this masterpiece and I was so in love. Holla at Splints & Daisies for my beautiful bouquet plus all the other floral arrangements at the wedding. I wish I could've kept them forever.

I will never be able to adequately express my gratitude to everyone who made it out for our wedding. We had so many family members and friends travel in from all over the country to show their love and support for us. Not to mention the fact that I made everyone drive from Maryland to Pennsylvania and back again during that two day extravaganza. Sorry I made everything as difficult as possible. Thank you to those who housed any of our friends and family members from out of town too! I'm sure every single person involved thought I was a nightmare to deal with at some point, so thank you for still loving me. Guaranteed your wedding will cause you stress, but having so many sweet people to rely on made things a little less hectic for me. :)

Moment of silence in remembrance of how HELLA FLY my bridal party looked all weekend long. I couldn't be happier with how well the outfits came together. I get that the trendy thing to do now is just have your bridesmaids pick their own outfits in your color palette and I'm sure that would've been the nice and easy way to go, but I am fairly confident I succeeded in choosing an outfit that looked beautiful on everyone AND they all liked it. Holla at me if you disagree and/or secretly hate me for forcing you to wear it, and I will edit this out. A lot of people asked where I got these outfits and the skirts were actually handmade by someone from my hometown (shirts were from Loft though!) It was just impossible to find the perfect tulle skirt in the right color/style/price range so yeah, I opted for custom-made. The boys though!! I've always wanted QP Collections for my bridal party and I die for floral ties, so the choice was obvious. Plus look at lil Harvey in his matching bowtie! I cannot. Thanks for agreeing to wear matching outfits all weekend guys, you pulled it off so so well.

After the temple shenanigans, everyone who came to the sealing dined with us at Mrs. K's Tollhouse. Same place Ynna had her wedding luncheon because I guess it's the thing to do. But really, it was the quaintest little restaurant with the perfect setting for a relaxed, and delicious(!) dinner with friends and family. The weekend was mostly chaos, but these few hours let me enjoy my people, which was much needed since this was my only chance to see them for a very long time because we live hundreds of miles away from most of them (trying vv hard to not cry rn). We laughed, we cried, we ate too many macarons and it was the happiest time.

PHEWF. I'm so impressed if you're still here. I don't want to break any records for writing the longest known blog entry, so I'm saving the reception photos for a separate post. I am so so excited to finally share these pictures with anyone who cares, so thanks for reading and stay tuned for even more wedding happiness!!!