Our Bozarth Mansion Wedding

I'm a Mrs! At least, on the marriage certificate. I still need to do a LOT of name changing with the state, my licensing board, and a flurry of other agencies. Our wedding was beautiful and we were so glad that we kept our venue despite having moved away from the area. We were told that ours was the most intimate wedding of the summer, with most people opting for guest lists in excess of 100, and in most cases 200. The smallness was so wonderful. I wasn't at all stressed and had an opportunity to speak with nearly all of our guests, except a few shy folks who took off quickly after the reception.

Having over TWO YEARS to plan was a blessing and a curse. In the time that we waited for the "right time" for our wedding, two other friends were engaged and married, and one even forgot that we had been engaged first and began telling us all about how wonderful engagement/marriage was! This fully activated my competitive spirit and jealousy. I was so in love and our date seemed so far on the horizon. When I left my job for greener pastures I had some regret that we hadn't just had some sort of shotgun wedding.

In the end, though, it was so worth it. I created a schedule and began purchasing all of the items I could dream up to create a whimsical and perfect day. Including 2 pairs of shoes. Just in case.

We were married 8 months after I began my new job. Without any sustained effort, I had lost 10 lbs because I was so much happier in my work. A dress that had a large gap in the back when my generous grandmother purchased it for me fit like a dream on the day of the wedding and was incredibly comfortable.

Bit by bit, in classic bride style, I splurged on details for our big day. Instead of planning seeming to be a chore, it began to get really fun as each month for a period of about 7 months, I would look forward to packages showing up on our front porch.

Hand-painted signs from Etsy. Upcycled spoon bracelets for my bridesmaids; a part of their thank-you gift(s) along with regional honey and a "7 year pen."

In true groom fashion, my now husband wasn't terribly interested in planning for the details but happily accepted the chore of finding us a classical guitarist for the ceremony and reception. SO MANY of our guests raved about this guy in the weeks afterward. And he only broke my "No Disney, No Broadway!" rule for music once. And frankly, I didn't even notice because he disguised it so well, until one of my bridesmaids pointed out that he snuck in something from Aladdin. Egads! ;) He was fantastic and if he was messing with me, I love it. My kinda guy.

Our greatest find was our wedding photographer: A laid-back Montanan with a background on photojournalism. As someone who likes to protect my privacy on the web, it wasn't difficult to find all of these beautiful shots of detail to post to my blog. He had an amazing eye and really captured the spirit of our day. (Photo credit: Mike McCall, McCall Media, http://mccallmedia1.com/)

Another fantastic decision was to book a caterer who took care of all set-up and centerpieces. This left only wedding party flowers to purchase, which I splurged bit on. No close-ups of those, but trust me--worth the splurge. It was so nice to not have to worry about tear-down or setting up our decor. They did a fantastic job and was one of the reasons that the day was utterly stress-free.

Pies from my favorite bakery in Montana, regional wine, and champagne rounded out the laidback feel that we were hoping for. We purchased a small cake for a cutting, which was AMAZING (Sweet Frostings Bakery), but the pies really stole the show (The Break; Missoula, MT).

I could write so much more; and maybe I will another day. My husband was so gracious with letting me integrate pieces of MT into the day: logs that we set pies atop of, and even a Montana Blessing at the end of our ceremony. So even though I didn't get married in my homestate (I didn't ever really think that I would)...it felt like a MT wedding to me. Most of all, it felt like a wedding. I found a really beautiful quote online months before the wedding: "Remember that this is a wedding and not a production. As long as two people are married at the end, everything went okay." I used this as my mantra and ended up relaxing about the whole thing. Amazingly, nothing really went wrong on the day itself with exception of 10 or so RSVPs not showing up due to various emergencies or personal circumstances. Something we could've never planned for, anyway. It's really true what they say about your wedding day being over so quickly, and so I soaked up advice about soaking in the day and taking time to enjoy. It didn't feel slow, but it also didn't feel like a crazy production that was over in a flash. It felt: Perfect.

Setting a Date

It is DONE!! We have a wedding date (for 2013...enough time for even me to plan...) and we have a wedding location:

This will be my dressing room:

Wedding to take place in the courtyard...

Then appetizers & wine inside while giving staff an opportunity to transform the courtyard to something like this:

Hopefully with evening lighting provided by overhead white lights and these babies, complements of an Etsy seller:

We haven't decided on much else (we hope to have acoustic guitar during the ceremony & dinner)--but we have decided that the food will be the main event (that is: No Dancing. None)...with formal dining and deserts served rather than wedding cake, and blood orange martinis for toasting rather than champagne.

One of my bridesmaids is working with the caterer on menu, another bridesmaid has taken over procuring all of the wine & making wedding invitations (holy shit, have I mentioned that my friends are amazing??), and my maid of honor is running the show on setting up a bachlorette party, AND has offered to come to town 2 days early to help with any last minute needs. The best part is that I finally get to marry my fiance. I actually tear up when I think of how special he is and how much I'm looking forward to this day, and to being his wife. I might be a total mess at the wedding, but I'm sure my friends will bring handkerchiefs.

Getting Engaged Made Me Prettier

A little over a week ago, the man I have loved for nearly 2 years (in March--wow)! asked me to marry him. We have talked about marriage a lot, but the question still came as such a surprise that it took a few moments (okay, days) to sink in that we were actually engaged.

He asked on a Wednesday, and we went ring shopping the following weekend. By Monday we had picked the ring (and isn't it beautiful??!!) and by Friday it was on my hand.

Since this date, I have been pretty stinking happy. Nobody I pass on the street knows my huge smile is correlated to the ring on my hand, so they reciprocate with a big grin and say things like, "My, you have the most beautiful hair!" Or on the more benign end, "Good morning! Beautiful day, isn't it?!" It's true that we tend to find people who smile more attractive. Thus, I have concluded that getting engaged made me prettier. (Okay scientist friends, don't point out the errors in deduction on that one--I am savoring this!)

My heart feels light and happy. I haven't yet written "get engaged" or "get married" on my "Before 30 Bucket List;" (which I am still writing...it's a hard list to make!)however, there was a big part of me that wanted to reach this milestone in my 20's. I think it is my 12-year-old self, who once wrote in a journal a life plan that looked like this:



17 - Graduate High School
21 - Graduate College
23 - Get Married
24 - Have First Baby


Despite my huge diversion from this life plan; I think that if my 12-year-old self met me today, she would have been pretty proud. And that makes me feel good inside.