Our Wedding Day: 07.09.11: Part Three

Once I was at the front of the church it felt like the eyes of Texas were upon us! However, with Brandon standing in front of me and holding my hands I knew that God would calm my nerves and let me enjoy this beautiful moment.

We said traditional vows and lit our gorgeous unity candles (Thank you Gloria!) and then it was time to have our first kiss as husband and wife!

and it was perfect!!

I knew from that moment on there would be a huge sigh of relief because we knew we had done it and that was the hardest part and it was over! But once again it was time to take pictures, Brandon's favorite part!

And they came out PHENOMENAL!

My family

Brandon and I with my Grandparents

Brandon and I with my mom, Pat and his siblings

Brandon and I with his Dad, Cindy and siblings and grandparents

Also with his extended family

Brandon and I with his Grandparents

Our Flower Girl and Ring Bearer

Our Wedding Party

Then it was time for our first pictures as just husband and wife while all of our other guests went ahead to the reception.

and finally after pictures it was time to relax for a few moments while we took the limo over to our reception

Until the reception

XOXO

Jennifer



Our Wedding Day: 07.09.11: Part Two

While I waited for the big moment I got word that it was almost time for the boys to come out and stand up at the front of the church however, before they came out they decided to play a little game...

can't you tell my future husband is so much fun..

Meanwhile back in the ladies waiting room...

Once the dress was on, it didn't seem like long until the girls were lining up to get ready to walk down the aisle and warm it up for me :)

and I can not even begin to explain how much it meant to have them all there by my side and support me on that day and I know it meant a lot to Brandon to have all of his best men by his side as well.

Once the girls we off down the aisle then it was time for my dad to join me and then it was our turn to head out on ourselves

and if you cannot tell by my father's joyful expression he was very excited.. again usually very loosely

We gradually walked out of our ladies dressing room and made our way to the back of the church. One of my favorite parts of our church was that the whole back of it was made of glass and I couldn't already see everything (not that it made my nerves any better) and soon my dad and I were standing at the back of the church waiting for the doors to open

and once they did and we started down the aisle and I completely lost it!! My dad reached over and squeezed my hand and then the tears started free flowing and I was trying to remember to not cry so that pictures would be pretty and I finally pulled it together toward the end of the aisle

because once I saw this face there was no way that I couldn't smile and be happy

and then I was at the front of the church ready to take my vows

until next time...

XOXO

Jennifer



Our Wedding Day: 07.09.11: Part One

And the BIG day was finally upon us!! I couldn't sleep the whole night and I woke up relaxed and extremely excited! So we got cleaned up for the day and headed over to our reception venue to start setting up the tables and chairs and decorations for that evening and there we found breakfast waiting and one of the greatest things ever COFFEE!!

Once the reception was set up and ready to go there were more errands to run and then FINALLY it was time to start getting ready!! The first thing I did was make sure that we had our marriage license in my bag that needed to be taken to the church. I have heard too many horror stories of when people forget to bring it with them.

After hair and make up was done I headed back to my moms to pack up my truck and get my dress and then I headed to the church to get ready!! 

and then it was time to put on my dress for the last time and get ready to walk down the aisle



and once I had the dress on there was nothing to do but wait til it was time to walk down the aisle

XOXO

Jennifer

Rehearsal and Rehearsal Dinner

Well the night of rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner was upon us finally!! I could not wait to practice getting married to my best friend and soul mate. My great friend Jennie came all the way from Austin and stayed with me for the weekend and was there for me for whatever I needed her for.

Jennie and I on the way to the church for the rehearsal.

Once we were at the church it was time to practice walking down that looooong aisle and stand up in front of our family and friends and take our vows.

One of the best parts of the night was with my dad standing up there listening to the Pastor tell us how things were going to go and my dad kept asking the whole time "Can I sit down now?" "Why do I have to stand here for this?" He had us all cracking up with all of this ranting about not wanting to stand up there with me and giving me away and such that even that Pastor had a good laugh.

After the rehearsal we all went to Las Rosas mexican restaurant and it was so wonderful to have our closest friends and family there to enjoy a meal with us and share memories with us as we got ready to begin our lives together.

Once our rehearsal dinner was over it was probably around 8:30 pm and we all wanted to continue the part because we were so jazzed up from the evening and the next days festivities that Jennie and I and some of the groomsmen and Brandon's out of town cousins, that we decided to go home and change clothes and venture to the local dance hall for a little late night dancing.

It was so great to have a few more hours to spend with Brandon and our closest friends and family that I completely lost track of time during one of the nights last dances that while I was walking of the dance floor with Jennie I looked at my clock and saw that it was 11:59!! So I ran over to Brandon and gave him my last single girl kiss then I ran out of the door so he wouldn't see me after midnight!! Jennie and I went back to my house to grab our overnight bags and went to my moms house to sleep for the big day!!

XOXO

Jennifer

Bridal Pictures!!

Hello All-

Well shortly after our Engagement pictures it was time for Bridals!! Since our engagment was only around 7 months, everything was kind of stuffed into just a short time frame.

To keep with our "Rustic" theme for our wedding, I took my bridal pictures in Wharton, Texas with my mom and sister and my photographer Mollie and her husband Justin. The one thing that is very important to know is that on this particular day there was hurricane force winds!! Having a catherdral length veil and high winds wasn't much fun but it made for some good pictures.

And this lovely guy wanted to come and enjoy some of my boquet

And then Mr. Cow wanted to come play too :)

Then the winds started to pick up and things got very interesting and I couldn't stop laughing

And then came the veil situation...

So it started like this and it ended up like this...

Kind of just wrapped allllllll around.

It was a super fun day and it was GREAT to wear my dress for a few hours and have my sister and my mom there support me.

XOXO

Jennifer

Engagement Picture Day

So as many of you know Brandon isn't really into taking pictures however I really like to and I love to have pictures around the house. How I see it is in 20 years these are the things we will look back on and remember. Therefore, for our engagement pictures I wanted to make things as easy and comfortable as I could for Brandon so that he would enjoy them just as much as me.



So we our photographers help we chose to go to Old Town Richmond/Rosenburg and take our engagement pictures because we wanted them to be a little more on the rustic side and here our a few of my favorites.

We started off taking pictures here against this BEAUTIFUL old fence line and metal building with a tin roof which was one of Brandon's favorite things about the building.

Then we found this gorgeous light right here in front of this cute little bar in Richmond, so we set outside and took some pictures right outside.

And of course we had to have the ever popular right shot- and it got even better because we got to keep it more of a rustic feel by getting our boots in the picture as well.

And here is what the picture looks like from the top :)

And this is one of my FAVORITE pictures of the whole day. It just so happened that our photographer we changing out her lenses and just to the left of this photograph there was a body shop that was playing some country music and Brandon and I just started dancing along to it and BEHOLD a masterpiece!!

And finally we wrapped up the day on the railroad tracks. One cool thing about taking pictures right here was there was people out there having a fish fry that keep yelling at us telling us how good our pictures we going to turn out and how right they were.

Thanks again for induling me as I relive the past <3

XOXO

Jennifer

Traveling Back in Time: Our Engagement

Well since I am new to the whole "blogger" thing, I thought I should start back a little ways in our life just to catch everyone up :)

Brandon and I bought out house in April 2010 and that same year I graduated from San Jacinto College with an Associates in Business Administration.

Then before we knew it Christmas was upon us! As many of you might know Christmas is my favorite time of year, and since it was our first Christmas in our new home I wanted to make it really special so Brandon and I got a new Christmas tree and all of the decorations to go with it.

Little did I know that Mr. Hayford had his own plan for Christmas day. He borrowed his Uncle John's tripod and set up our digital camera to record what he said was our First Christmas in our new house, but little did I know he was going to PROPOSE!!

And believe me I was so surprised!! We go to all of our families houses on Christmas Day so we thought we would wait to tell our families once we got there, but other than that we called Brandon's grandparents in Indiana to tell them the good news then it was off to my mom's house.

and then to Grammer's house..

All of our family was very supportive and couldn't wait for us to get married and proceeded to tell us that we waited long enough to get engaged!

There was so much love in that day and to this day it is one of my favorite memories of our lives together.

Until Next time

XOXO

Jennifer