Dear Husband

I thought I'd start by sharing what I read to Kyle as my part of our "vow renewal." I struggled with figuring out how to write this, not for lack of things to say (I first met Kyle...and then during senior year of high school...and it was Spring Break '08 when...but then he joined the Army...oh and this one time five years ago...), but more due to not knowing how the ceremony was going to go and what people say when the ceremony is very non-traditional and everything. For ours we had our five bridesmaids and four groomsmen, who have all known us through various stages of our lives, share some stories about each of us or us as a couple, so the ceremony was going to be more casual, interesting, personal and fun. It didn't feel right to be standing there going "I vow to blah blah..." over and over, so I just sort of started writing a letter to Kyle as I have done many times, and here's what it turned into.

Dear Husband,

One year, three months and eight days later, and I'm still so excited to call you that. Before that it was fiance for a few months, boyfriend for almost three years, and best friend since 10th grade. We are a pretty awesome couple and we complement each other well. You make sure there is always beer in the fridge, I make sure the bills get paid in time. You know how to start a fire and set up the tent, I know how to make rice and that the mixing bowls go in the left cupboard above the sink. 


With you there is stress, frustration, and Army stuff all over the floor. But with you there is also fun. Spontaneity.  An endless supply of random facts and links to things I may or may not care about online.  There is safety, and stories, adventure, back rubs, random dances in the kitchen, and 5am scavenger hunts for your keys, dog tags or belt.


With you there is fun and love. With you I am my best, my happiest, and most myself. You are my best friend, my favorite person, and the one who knows who I really am.


Thank you for loving me, laughing with me and sharing your life with me.


I vow to love and support you, and to hum the Jurassic Park theme song with you long into the future.

I love you.

Photo Peek

I will be working on putting together a bunch of wedding posts for the future when the professional pictures come in, but here's a few friend photos from the day that have been put up on Facebook! There is so much about the day to relive and write about, so it will take some organization and time to not just ramble on about all of the awesome that the day was filled with. But trust me, you will hear all about it!

 All Canadians! Except Kyle. My three beautiful cousins as Junior Bridesmaids, my Aunt and Uncle, us, my sister, parents and brothers! Clearly not sure which camera to look at haha. 

 Tracy, myself and Christy. Pitt friends! 

Ceremony time! Actually really nice and less awkward and scary as I thought. :) 

 and a little bit of the decoration...

Christy made the wood burned table numbers, and I cannot get over them. 

 the caricature artist was a big hit! 

a couple surprises- an ice cream truck during cocktail hour, and fireworks to end the evening (set off by Kyle himself!)

us with my parents! 

S. 

The Wedding Happened

The last week was crazy crazy, but the wedding was perfect. Completely perfect, better than I could imagine. I will start to share much more now that I am back in Texas, and when pictures com in. Well, there are definitely pictures all about facebook, so I guess I should say when I get used to and comfortable with seeing many many pictures of myself. I especially want to share all the little details and stories from the day, like my littlest cousin being the dancing queen of the night, and Kyle setting off the fireworks at the end of the night (resulting in little charred holes in his tux shirt), how awesome our photographer was, and how hilarious all the caricature drawings are. I just keep going through the memories and they make me so happy. It was the best party, everyone had a blast and noticed all the little details I put into it, so that made me happy as well. Stay tuned for A LOT more!

S. 

Guest Post // Kendall and Adam's Wedding

While our favorite Bride-to-Be is busy getting ready for her big day, I'll go ahead and tell you about mine! You might remember me from a previous wedding Wednesday post where I showed you the ribbon rose bouquet that I made.

{All photos courtesy of Kate Schoener of Paper Heart Photography}

I had a few other crafts up my sleeve as well, so I'll go right ahead and show you those as well as my favorite wedding pictures, moments and accessories!

On May 20th, at the General Potter Farm (coincidentally the same place Sarah will be having her wedding) I became Mrs. Feather! (Awesome last name, isn't it?)

Two of My Favorite Pictures from the Day (although who am I kidding, practically all of them were my favorite):

My Favorite Crafted Detail (Other than my bouquet): With some help from my dad (he cut out all the pieces) I did woodburned table numbers for all the guest tables... they were another one of those crafts that took a huge amount of time and effort, but I've saved them so I can reuse them when Adam and I buy a house and I'll turn them into custom house numbers.

 {above} in progress {below} finished table numbers

And just for fun I also did a special Mr. & Mrs. one for our sweetheart table! (On the back I did a feather, but I don't have a picture of the other side)

My Favorite Keepsake (again, aside from my bouquet, because I love that thing!):  Instead of doing the traditional guestbook that I know I would shove in a box and never look at again, I wanted to do something I could hang up and put on display. I came across this thumbprint tree idea on the internet somewhere (I'm sure you've all seen it by now) and got to work straight away painting in the tree. I love how it turned out, especially with all the different shades of green thumbprints. My only oops moment... when I realized the handiwipes we so thoughtfully provided didn't help in the slightest with getting the ink off our guests thumbs. Whoops! Now I just need to get a frame for it and figure out where to hang it...

My Favorite Accessory: These shoes! So glad I convinced Adam to let me get purple ones...

My Favorite Moments: Our first dance, a funny moment during Father/Daughter dance, and a surprise dance for my brother and sister-in-law. Allow me to explain...Adam and I took waltz lessons for our first dance, so we were ready to wow everyone with our awesome dance moves for this number! We screwed up a few times because we were nervous, but everyone still loved it and I'm super glad we did something special for it. Plus, now I know how to waltz! (Also note that we high-fived at the end after a really romantic dip, so we got a lot of laughs for that one.)

Now the Father/Daughter dance was one of my favorite moments because of something hilarious my dad did/said... Bear in mind I picked the song Cinderella by Steven Curtis Chapman specifically to ensure that he cried. He got all teary-eyed in the middle of our dance and suddenly got serious and said "I love you, Son." And I looked up and go "Did you just say son?" "No...*shakes head sadly then pauses before admitting*... yes, yes I did" and then we both burst out laughing. He told me later that he was going to say "Sunshine" but then changed it to "Honey" halfway through and by the time it came out he knew he was saying it wrong but couldn't save it he just stopped and hoped I wouldn't notice.

The third thing was a surprise first dance that I arranged for my brother and sister-in-law. They married in South Korea in 2008 when he was deployed in the army and they wanted to have a wedding when he got out of the army but for several reasons, were not able to. I wanted to do something special for her to make her feel like she had a little bit of "her day" so I thought it would be fitting to give them a first dance. I had the DJ make an announcement about a surprise first dance and then start describing the couple with a few key details about their relationship and how they never got their first dance before finally revealing who it was for. I was half expecting them to both be mad at us for putting them at the center of attention but she was wiping away tears and he was grinning ear-to-ear, so I'd say it went over well. Plus we got some really cute pictures of it!

What Didn't go as Planned: My bouquet toss never happened because most of the single ladies were out of town guests who needed to leave early since it was a Sunday night. By the time we were supposed to do the toss... most of them had left. However, that day, I didn't care at all! (Tip: Don't stress out about worrying about those little details. If it doesn't mean the world to you, don't worry about it not happening exactly as planned because you won't care or remember anyhow!)

A few more details:

Seed Packet Wedding Favors

Table Placecards

All in all I was completely, utterly, and wonderfully satisfied with how the day went and how everything turned out. And the best part? I'M MARRIED!!!

Sincerely yours,
Mrs. Feather


...


Wasn't the wedding beautiful? It made me so happy, and I love the little stories. Thank you Kendall, for sharing with us! See you soon! S. 

Monday

 our old kitty at home :)

 at my parents house

 coconut chip at the Creamery

sister and going over notes downtown before the flower meeting

 sisters dress and flower meeting

 the farm!

Monday was probably the least chaotic day of this upcoming week. We: dropped off my dress to be steamed, picked up my sister from the airport (then got Penn State Creamery ice cream), met with the florist and wedding planner, and headed out to the farm to talk through things. Not too too much going on but it was still a long, stressful day. There is more going on today and a lot of people arriving! Wednesday we set up the farm, which I am really looking forward to.

En Route

Killeen airport

Arkansas

Tennessee

Day one: Kyle had to sign out at Fort Hood before we could leave, and then he dropped off his motorcycle at the airport as he is flying back next Sunday and I am driving back Sunday/Monday (the Army is to blame for this ridiculousness). So our road trip started at the airport, as they do. Fort Hood is in the opposite direction of where we need to go, though, so that, plus the fact that Kyle had to stop back at the house (forgetting his phone charger- classic travel faux pas), made us only really leave about 2 hours after we left the house the first time. Dumb. But anyway! Day one was quite nice. Easy. We're taking a different route than last time since it is summer and also there aren't tornadoes this time. We went through Dallas, Texarkana, Little Rock, Memphis, and stopped about an hour away from Nashville (where we had such a tasty southern dinner). We both felt sickness creeping into both of us (uh oh), so we mixed up a nice airborne cocktail while on the road.

 rainy TN morning

 we thought this thing was crazy.  but tried it anyway. not too bad. 

 Ohio (not that interesting)

 "you know you're in PA when..."

Day two. Smooth sailing pretty much. We had a rainy start in Tennessee, drove through Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia ever so briefly, and into PA. My favorite places were Tennessee and Kentucky as usual. We arrived in State College by about 7:30pm, so that was nice. My head was feeling pretty sick yesterday, but I think the Airborne has helped this sickness from becoming a full-on cold, and hopefully it won't get much worse. I slept better last night that I have in two or three weeks, so that helps I imagine. I'm excited but also nervous, waking up Monday when everything is really getting going. Today we're taking in my dress to the shop to be cared for, meeting with the florist and heading over to the farm with the planner to check it out. A ton of people arrive tomorrow!

S.