Wedding Vow Renewal June 2012?

Around our 2nd wedding anniversary, we decided that we'd really like to renew our wedding vows someday. We agreed that our 5th anniversary would be perfect for that. Now that we just celebrated our 4th anniversary & our 5th is a year away, I can start figuring things out about renewing our vows. We aren't 100% sure if we will be doing this but it is definitely something we are thinking about.

There are several reasons we want to renew our wedding vows:
#1 We had the most beautiful wedding but we want a fresh start. We didn't have a nice house to go home to since we were moving to Oregon right after the wedding. We struggled alot for the 1st 4 months of our marriage. We're in a better place right now than in 2007. We still face the everyday struggles but we're doing better now & things will just get better between now & June 2012.
#2 I wasn't totally happy with our photographer. He did a fine job & I'm very happy he video taped the wedding but he didn't do anything special, he didn't come prepared with a list of traditional wedding poses so we missed getting those & he didn't do any unique poses. If we do the vow renewal, I would hire a much better photographer & get alot more pictures & more of what I want.
#3 There were alot of people that missed our wedding & have said that if we chose to do the vow renewal they would definitely come. Our wedding had a small turn out but it was still beautiful & perfect. The renewal ceremony would give everyone who missed our wedding a chance to come to this.

Since I've been a stay at home mom for over a year & we decided 2 years ago that we wanted to do this, I've had plenty of time to start getting ideas. Again, not 100% sure we'll be doing this next year but it's fun to think about it & start planning it. I won't start making any official plans until it gets closer but for now, I can have fun coming up with ideas. So I thought I'd share what I've come up with so far. Before I share my thoughts, let me start by saying that I've been doing alot of research on proper etiquette for a wedding vow renewal ceremony & there really isn't any. So that gives me the freedom to do whatever I want.

LOCATION - We aren't sure where we would do this at. I wanted to have this at Christ the King since that's been my church for years & that's where we got married. Neither one of us was planning on moving back to AZ in late 2009. I would have it in AZ but a majority of the people that want to come are in WA, the church is in WA & the photographer I want is in WA. That is a decision that is totally in the air & can be changed no problem. Definitely unsure of where it'd be but again, everything is up in the air & won't be decided or booked until it gets closer to June 2012.

DRESS - I am planning on wearing my dress again. The dress is so breathtakingly gorgeous & expensive that it needs to be worn more than once. I want to dress it down a little so I won't wear a veil & the train will be bustled the entire time. I want to wear my jewelry & shoes that I wore for the wedding day as a fun memory. As it gets closer I'll decide on the smaller things like hair style. I'm determined to fit into the gown again especially since we will be paying for this ourselves, I want to save the probably $200 it would cost to alter the gown. I'm already down to my pre baby weight & know I can get down to my wedding weight in a year. If it needs to be altered then so be it but I will find a cheaper place.

When I 1st started thinking about this, I wanted to order the same tux for Garyn & one for Hayden. Now that I think about it I don't want to rent a tux for my boys. Since we will be paying for this ourselves, I'm trying to figure out ways we can cut cost corners as much as possible. I figured renting a tux for Garyn & Hayden would probably be upwards of $300 or so. Plus they both would be incredibly hot especially if we do it in Arizona! Instead, I want to buy both of them khaki pants which will tie in with the champagne color of my dress, a white button down shirt & a light blue tie. The way I shop & the places I shop, I can probably find all of that for around $100. Plus I think it would look so awesome! Garyn looked so handsome in his tux but I think this would be better for a vow renewal ceremony.

I want to order a little dress for Rya. I wanted to get her the same dress our adorable flower girl, Kaylee wore but I've already checked David's Bridal & they no longer carry the dress. I do want the color champagne in Rya's dress so it will match mine. I'm sure we'll be able to find her a sweet dress & she will look so beautiful. Kaylee was a wonderful flower girl & looked so cute!

RECEPTION - We will most likely not do a reception, nothing big anyway. We will most likely just have a gathering of the people that attended at the location of the ceremony. A big reason I want to do this is get alot of wonderful pictures that we didn't get at our wedding so we'll most likely get some before the ceremony, mingle with people afterwards & then finish getting pictures done. If we do this in WA, I have a photographer that I really want! We went to high school together & we on the cheer squad together & she's the most amazing photographer! I love her work & really would love pictures done by her. If we do it in AZ, then I want to try to find someone with the same style as hers.

Since the reception won't be anything big, we won't do dinner. I definitely want lemonde to drink (maybe coffee too, small details that would be figured out later) & cupcakes. I loved our wedding cake & at 1st I wanted a small replica made for the renewal but looking around online I found these cupcakes that would be perfect. Plus I thought cupcakes were more laid back than a cake & that's what I'm going for - a more laid back & casual feel. I want to order cupcakes like the ones pictured which will be perfect! They have the yellow & blue colors of our wedding & the little dots on each cupcake is perfect because that will represent the dots that were on our wedding cake!

We won't be ordering alot of flowers either. Most likely something for the alter that will hopefuly resemble our original alter flowers. I would like a small bouquet to carry. Just a few white roses & blue carnations which is what my wedding bouquet was made from. That will most likely be it for flowers. Since there really won't be a reception, I won't need to order flowers for centerpieces. Since this is just a renewal, I don't think it's necessary to order a boutineer. I think we will order yellow rose petals just to scatter on any tables that are set up or maybe just a few yellow tulips. I will definitely order a single yellow rose in memory of my Mom. We had one at our wedding & it was very special to me to have that there & have it again. Definitely not many flowers but a few.

One thing I really regret was that we never got a honeymoon. After the wedding, we flew back to AZ & had to leave a week later for OR. Neither of us liked AZ & Garyn was offered a job in OR that he used to do & loved. Since we had to be in OR for Garyn's new job, there was no time for a honeymoon. We still haven't taken one & it really bothers me. Our 1st anniversary we spent the weekend in Seattle but that doesn't count as a honeymoon since we only lived about an hour from Seattle. Idealy, I'd love to do our renewal ceremony & leave the next morning for a small delayed honeymoon. Obviously, depending on where we lived & do the ceremony would depend on where we'd go plus we'd need someone to watch the kids for those few days & I think that will be really hard. I think I might just need to accept the fact that we won't get a honeymoon for another 18 years or so. LoL

Anyway, that's really all the thought I've put into this so far. I would love to do this ceremony but it's a long time away so we'll start saving & planning & hopefully we'll be renewing our wedding vows for our 5th anniversary next year!

I've already figured out about what this entire thing will cost. The most expensive thing will be the photographer but it will be worth it. Again, this isn't a for sure thing but something I'd love to do next year for our 5th anniversary if we can afford it. If not, then we will just wait until we can afford it & do it then.

Reminicing about June 22, 2007

Today is our 4th wedding anniversary! I noticed that the past few days, I was thinking alot about our wedding & reminicing about all the planning we did for it & the actual wedding & reception. We had such a gorgeous wedding & reception (Thank you Pop & Kim!!). Just thought I would share some of the things about our wedding. Like how we came up with the date, how we chose the colors & flowers & some other things. It's fun for me to think back on all this & I thought it'd be fun to share it.

DATE - Garyn propsed on December 8th 2006. I always thought it'd be sweet to get married on my parents annivsersary which is also my grandparents anniversay, February 23rd. But I realized that I wanted a summer wedding so we wanted June 23rd. That way I'd get my summer wedding but it's still on the 23rd. Unfortunately, the place we chose for our reception (The Kitsap Golf & Country Club) was booked on the 23rd. The 22nd was available & it was as close to the 23rd as we could get.

COLORS - This was one of the 1st decisions we made & one of the toughest. My 1st choice was pink but since it was Garyn's wedding too, I didn't want it to be too girly. We threw out pink & purple. I knew I didn't want red because EVERYONE does red. Black wasn't a summer color. I then chose green & yellow but Garyn wanted blue & yellow. We agreed that blue & yellow were the perfect colors for a summer wedding! The only problem we had was finding the bridesmaid dresses in the perfect color. We ordered the tuxedos from Men's Warehouse so we were going off that shade of blue. I finally found the perfect bridesmaid dresses. They were short & sleeveless so they also fit in perfectly with the summer theme. Unfortunately, since I had to ship 2 dresses to WA & 1 to CA, the saleslady told me there wasn't enough time to have the dresses shipped & sized to each bridesmaid. We ended up finding great dresses at JCPenney for only $30 each! They matched the groomsmen tuxedo's perfectly & looked great with the yellow tulips & the champagne color in my dress!

CAKE & FLOWERS - At that time, the only wedding I remember going to was my sister's wedding in 2004. I loved her flowers & her cake was delicious! So we chose the same people for our wedding, Safeway.

The flowers were easy, tulips are my absolute favorite flower! We chose yellow tulips for almost everything to make sure the color was incorporated in the wedding. I wanted my bouquet to be a beautiful waterfall one with blue flowers. They did an amazing job but it was heavy! I remember being nervous because it's hard to plan a wedding in another state. We were living in AZ but getting married in WA. I think I called serveral times just to make sure they had my order right. To save money, I did the centerpieces myself (another idea I got from my sister). I found the vases at the $1 store & just ordered yellow tulips. We arrived at the reception hall the morning of the wedding to drop of the cake, check out the decorations & set up the center pieces. It definitely saved alot of money doing it ourselves!

The cake was another easy decision. I wanted the same flavor my sister had at her wedding. We did a vanilla cake with fondant frosting. It was so good! I didnt' want the bride/groom on the top of the cake because I did want a few things about my wedding to be different. We had Safeway floral department make a beautiful flower arrangement for the top of the cake. It was breathtaking!

MY GOWN - I had come home in December for Christmas. The day I had to go back to CA, my stepmom, Kim & I went dress shopping. This of course was what I was looking forward to most about planning the wedding. We went to Benita's in Silverdale. They had a pretty good selection & I was happy with the attendant that helped me. The first 3 dresses I tried on were okay. The 4th dress I tried on was it! I rememeber my jaw hitting the floor in the dressing room. I came out to show Kim & she was in awe of this dress. I loved it anyway because it was exactly what I wanted. It was strapless, corset top with alot of detail. When the salesgirl showed me the train, I was sold. This was THE dress! I knew I didn't want anything under the dress (tulle or a hoop skirt) because I knew I'd get too hot. My sister offered for my something borrowed to be her veil. It matched my dress perfectly & I loved the idea of wearing her veil. I also didn't want alot of jewelry because I wanted the main focus to be the dress. The only jewelry I wore were a gorgeous pair of diamond earrings my stepmom gave me that belonged to her. I still treasure those diamond earrings! The dress was amazing & I felt so gorgeous in it! We are planning on renewing our wedding vows on our 5th anniversary next year & I'm planning on wearing the dress again!

THE RINGS - When Garyn propesed to me in December he didn't have a ring yet. Once he told me why, I was happy he chose to wait. He said he wasn't 100% sure on what kind of ring I wanted & he wanted to make sure I got exactly what I wanted. He knew I wanted white gold but that was about it. Once I moved to AZ, we went to the mall one day & he took my hand & led me into Fred Meyer Jewelry (our go-to place for all our jewelry). The saleslady was wonderful. I told her what I wanted & what our budget was & she fully kept that in mind. Garyn showed me the ring he had picked out. It was a round cut diamond with 2 smaller ones on each side. I did like it but everyone has that ring. I like to have things that are unusual. I chose 3 rings that I loved & told him to pick one. He chose the ring that is now on my ring finger. I love this ring so much! The engagement ring was a set & came with a beautiful wedding band. Unfortunately, I no longer have my original wedding band. A couple years ago, a diamond fell out & instead of them just replacing the diamond, they wanted to give me an entire new ring. We didn't like the new band so thanks to layaway, I got a better one that we love even more!

There are still so many wonderful memories I have about our wedding. Garyn & I chose not to do bachelor/bachelorette parties because the typical party wasn't our thing. We also think they are rather immature. Instead of a bachelorette party, all my bridesmaids & I met up at Azteca for margaitas & then we went & got our nails done. It was so nice beause none of my bridesmaids knew each other so it gave them a chance to meet & I hadn't seen any of them in awhile so it was so nice to chat over margaritas & pedicures.

I think my favorite thing about the wedding (besides becoming Garyn's wife!!) was getting ready. All my bridesmaids & I got our hair & makeup done about 2 hours before the wedding. We then went to the church to get dressed & ready. It took awhile to get into my dress but once it was on, I knew that I chose the right dress & I was so happy to finally be wearing the most gorgeous wedding dress & marrying the man I love!

My favorite thing about the reception (everything was my favorite) was the crystal decorations hanging from the ceiling. When I was home for Christmas, my Dad, Kim & I went to look at the reception hall. It was perfect. I loved that it was at a golf course, there was a beautiful pond in the entry way & plenty of space for dancing, tables & the cake. When we walked in they must have had an event coming up because the crystals were hanging up & that's when I saw them & mentioned to my Dad that I wanted them. The morning of the wedding, Dad, my bridesmaids & I arrived at the reception hall to drop off the cake & set up the center pieces & I remember walking into the hall & seeing the crystals & getting tears in my eyes because for some reason I thought we forgot to order them. I was so beyond excited! The Country Club did an amazing job! I had called several times to make sure everything would be set up in time & that they didn't have any questions for me. We just had white table cloths with blue napkins & the yellow tulip center pieces. We also had yellow lemonade at each table which I thought was a fantastic idea since it went along with the summer theme & the yellow color. I wanted candles but didn't want to spend much so we just got a big bag to tealites & they were perfect!

We had such a gorgeous wedding & reception. I'm still so thankful that I'm able to look back on our photos & the video & not have any regrets about the wedding. It was everything I'd wanted since I was little. I'm so happy that we are now celebrating our 4th anniversary & know that we have many more ahead of us!