One Year

On July 19th, 2014 I married the man whom I had come to build a life with, who had become such an integral part of my life that I couldn't think of what life would look like without him in it. I married my best friend.

In the past year, we have done so much and grown together in ways that I hadn't anticipated. This past year has been filled with highs and lows, all of which have made us even stronger. We have spent the past 365 days filled with love, laughter, and having our partner by our sides.

We have filled those 365 days with...

Buying 1 New Car 

Completing Countless Hours of Physical Therapy for 1 Knee 

Tailgating at  3 Chiefs Games 

Cheering on our Royals at 1 American League, 2 World Series Games, and Numerous Home Games 

1 Plaza Lighting Ceremony for Thanksgiving with My Uncle 

Hours Spent Working on Our Home 

1 Trip to Mexico for a Destination Wedding 

1 Enrique Iglesias and Pitbull Concert 

1 Cider Fest 

Thousands of Margaritas

Hours Playing Video Games Together

Hundreds of Pictures of the Boxers

Hundreds Spent in Vet Bills for the Boxers

Unknown Number of Rando Dance Parties in our Living Room 

And I wouldn't change any of it.... 

From Ms. to Mrs. {{First Dance and Party!}}

You guys have gotten a good look at all the small details of the wedding, so here is the great big fun one- the PARTY! Immediately after our ceremony, we had our first dance. Gabriel picked out the song and you guys will never, ever guess what song was our first dance song.... Mirrors by Justin Timberlake. Yup. Mirrors by Justin Timberlake was our first dance song. We also didn't do a traditional first dance, were we had a solo dance for the entire song. 

Instead, we danced for little bit, then we had couples come out by how long they had been married. Gabriel's parents were out there (40+), my parents (30+), and more of Gabriel's family for almost the entire song!

My parents are trying to get some of their friends to come up and dance too. 

After asking couples to come dance, we opened up the floor to everyone for the end of the song. 

I had to take a photo with my sorority sisters who were there! I love how a few of them went into the sorority girl pose immediately! You just can't shake it. 

My besties from college! If only Jess lived closer now. 

My besties from college, Jen and Lucy! 

The candy bar was a huge success! 

I love this photo! It is such a cool shot of Gabriel and his family. 

Slide to the left! Left foot left stomp! 

 You'll notice you don't see Gabriel or myself in most of the dancing photos-- he was only 60 days out from his patellar reconstruction surgery so he could barely walk and I don't dance well, I just shake my booty!

Not to say I didn't shake my booty! Cuz I totes did! 

My Mom and her cousin-in-law. They were getting down on the dance floor. 

Turns out the way to get a bunch of white folks out on the dance floor is to turn on the Cha Cha Slide and the Cupid Shuffle. Then, errbody gets on the dance floor. 

Including the babies! Miss A was getting down with it! 

You know the most fun out of the entire night? Moving around the tables catching up with people. 

There were also lots... and lots... of photos taken. 

We didn't do a cake cutting, even though we did have a cake. Truthfully, we totally forgot about it and everyone was having fun. Everyone was getting down on those cupcakes though.  So, we took home the cake and ate a piece. It was delish! We also didn't do a big go away, since most of the guests went across the street to Dave's Stagecoach Inn to keep the party going. We got a ride back to the hotel and passed out! 

From Ms. to Mrs. {{Family Moments}}

One of my favorite moments from our wedding day is taking photos with our families. We did this prior to the ceremony itself, to make sure that they got taken. These are pictures that I will treasure forever.

My dad, Big T 

My mom, D

My family, minus my older brother 

G and his momma, P 

G's family, including his littler sister 

G and his dad, Big Poppa

My biggest fear was that our family photos would look like those awkward family photos you see on Buzzfeed. Thankfully, the came out beautifully. 

From Ms. to Mrs. {{the Ceremony}}

For our wedding, we had the ceremony and reception all in one room. All of the guests came into the ballroom and at 7:30pm the ceremony started. 

The ceremony itself was less than 10 minutes long and was in front of a backdrop that my parents made. It was perfect, very laid-back, relaxed and totally us. We didn't have a wedding party, ring bearers or flower girls. It was us, the officiant and all of our loved ones. For there being 100 plus people, it felt extremely intimate this way.

Gabriel walked in with Rebecca, our officiant. At the suggestion of our DJ, Derek, the song playing as we walked in was "Secrets" by One Republic. Ya'll if you haven't listened to this song, go do it now. Perfect song. Perfect. 

My dad and I stayed in the room off the entryway until the song played a symbol crash, about 40 seconds in. Then, the doors to the ballroom opened and we walked in. I have to admit, I did the ugly cry the moment I saw Gabriel. I just couldn't help myself. Then the music faded down. 

My dad gave me away, then walked to the back of the room with my super sparkly bouquet. When it was time to say our I do's, Gabriel said "A thousand times I do." Ya'll I broke down and did the ugly cry again. It was too much for me. Gabriel is not the most emotive person and for him to bare himself like that in front of all our loved ones did me in. 

Our first kiss as Mr. and Mrs. 

We spent a lot of the night laughing and having fun, starting with the ceremony itself. 

For our introduction, we had "Beautiful Day" by U2 playing. It was the perfect start to our reception. It was amazing to have all of our family and friends present to celebrate with us. 

From there, we went and signed all the necessary paperwork, with our father's acting as our witnesses. Rebecca, our officiant, made everything so much fun, was so easy to work with, and made sure that we LOVED every second of our ceremony. 

From Ms. to Mrs. {{Getting Ready & Photos}}

The day of the wedding, I got up and worked out, loaded my car (cough, Jen's car I didn't have a car, cough) full of food in coolers, and off we went to the venue to help set up and decorate. Mostly, I just did what my Mom told me to do. It's safer that way. I was so incredibly lucky that many of my parent's good friends, my family and my two good friends came to help with all this. At 2pm, Jen, Kala, and I went to the hotel to get ready.

This is the only photo from the hotel time. We didn't have a photographer during this time and I got ready with Jen and Kala.  Leslie from Classically Chic Designs did our hair and makeup. My mom also came and got her hair done after a bit. The girls and I ordered pizza, listened to guilty pleasure music and had fun! My goal was to have big, bouncy hair with lots of volume, so I totally used clip in extensions. I also wanted to make sure my eyes popped and my makeup stayed on all day, so I had air brushed makeup done and lashes applied. You guys, if you ever are on the fence about extensions, air brush makeup, or false lashes JUST DO IT! They are all totally worth it and make a huge difference. 

At 5pm, Gabriel showed up so that we could go take photos with Barbara Danielle. 

My bouquet is something I will keep forever. I made it. Blood, sweat, and a whole lot of hot glue later I had a bouquet that I love. 

Our bling. This is also one of my favorite photos. Gabriel did such a good job picking out my rings. For his, he chose a brushed platinum band. 

I really loved the time that Gabriel and I had taking photos, we just walked around Westport and it was really easy going. We didn't have any specific shots that we wanted, so much as we wanted pictures of each other having fun. 

(Kissing is fun, right?!)

This was a candid shot as I was doing touchups. It is such a great picture because that's my dad standing in the reflection of the mirror. How cool is that?! 

What's your favorite wedding photo?