Wedding Bells and Happily Happily Married!!

So I know I have tons of stuff to tell you but I thought I would maybe start out with the most important and certainly the biggest blessing in my life since I last blogged in June. I hope you all don't mind if I go out of order for the year, but I have a sneaking feeling you all might want to hear about this.  This will be long and has 28 pictures...but once again, I think you will want to see them ;)

One summer night last July Ry and I were sitting out in the garage going through tons of my stuff that I had taken out of storage. As we were going through stuff we were talking about each of our lives, what we had each been through, and where we wanted our lives to go together. We knew we were in love and we knew we loved each other and wanted to only be with each other, but we each also weren't a hundred percent sure we wanted to get married again. Actually, truth be told several months earlier we both said we were very happy living with each other and neither of us had any intentions of getting married. We both had been hurt, been through a lot and didn't want to go through any of that ever again. Like I said, we were so in love but things were good, we had been with each other for a year and a half and were very happy at the point where our relationship was at. Looking back I  now I think in the back of our minds each of us were maybe starting to think about possible marriage again, but like I said we were good and we didn't want to "rush" anything. However, I had no idea that a few hours after our conversation my life would change forever once again, but it would change in such an amazing way!

We worked in the garage until the wee hours of the morning. We are both night owls are were having fun going through stuff and talking. However, we had to be up early in the morning for an all day event we were attending of our friends. At a little after 2:00 a.m, I looked at Ry and told him we needed to go to bed because we had a long day in front of us. I went inside and got ready for bed and Ry joined me a few minutes later. We were in bed talking and I was almost asleep when all of a sudden Ry jumped up, turned on the light and said he wanted to show me something. I remember thinking to myself..."God what in the world can be so important you need to show me right now?" He got up and went to his dresser, opened the drawer and took out this small box. I still had no idea what it was.

The next thing I knew he was standing at the edge of our bed, with this blue box in his hand. I had since moved to the edge of the bed as well. Ry opened up the box and inside was the most beautiful ring! He then said to me, "Baby, do you like this?" I was totally 100% shocked to say the least!! I opened my mouth and replied with, "Of course I like it, it's beautiful, but what the hell is it?" He then said, "If you like it and you say yes it will be your engagement ring." I was still totally shocked!! Ry took the ring out of the box and handed it to me. He then said that he loved me with all of his heart and he had realized that we had each been through so much and I made him so happy he wanted to marry me. With that he took the ring from me and put it on my finger. I was still in shock but I very very very happily said yes!! Ry then told me that if I didn't like the ring I could take it back and get a ring that I wanted. NO WAY was this ring going back, I was so in love with Ry and with my ring, I was going to keep both of them forever and ever!!  Of course the ring was too big for me. (I have the world's smallest fingers) I was super surprised, super happy, and could not sleep a wink that night! So much for being refreshed feeling for our event that day. A few days later Ry told me he had other plans on how to propose to me, but he decided to just do it spur of the moment instead of something big and elaborate. I'm so glad he asked me how he did...I think it was totally romantic in our own way and was totally us. I will remember that night forever and ever!!

We got up a few hours later and went to the golf outing that were were attending for our friends that day. Since my ring was too big, Ry didn't want me to tell anyone about our engagement. I agreed not too until we got my ring sized but it was so hard not too. Every time I turned around that day I wanted to tell someone. I only told our parents, and my two best friends in the morning before we left.  It was also kind of funny because at the even that day people kept asking us when we were going to get married and we both just kind of sat there and smirked at them. Later that night we were supposed to meet a few of our friends. I begged Ry to go to the store so I could just buy one of those cheap ring guards so I could wear my ring and tell all of our friends. He agreed!! So as the next few nights and days went on we told our friends we were actually going to get married. Everyone was so happy for us. Happy with what we had each been through and now had found each other and we given a second chance at happiness. We have the best friends and family!!

A few days passed and we hadn't really talked much about dates. We kind of said when we want to do it we will. We really didn't put much thought into a date. We said it might be weeks, months or even years. We were just happy being with each other. However, as more time passed we realized that we really did want to be married and there was nothing really holding us back from doing it sooner than later. We were both in our mid 30's new what we wanted and also wanted to set a good example for Ry's two amazing kids. So with that by the middle of August we had set a date for three months away!! We got engaged on July 29 and we had a wedding date of October 29! It was fast, but it all made perfect sense and just felt right in so many ways. We were 100% blessed in every way!

We knew we both wanted a very small wedding. We each had big weddings before and we knew we didn't want that again. We wanted it to be immediate family and that was it. We wanted the day to focus on us, the kids and our new family and not so much the "traditional wedding" My parents have a house in Traverse City, right on the bay. We asked them if we could get married up there. They loved that idea and with that we began planning our simple yet very special day. We decorated with pumpkins, fall leaves, and sunflowers. Ry's daughter J.J. got to pick the color of her dress and from there we chose the wedding color. She picked an adorable dress that was shades of dark teal. So once we found my dress I had the original ribbon removed and out a dark teal ribbon on it. We found dark teal shirts for both Ry and Lil Man to wear with black suites. Everything fell into place perfectly. I found an amazing minister who let us do our wedding our way. We met with her a few different times. Our ceremony was truly original and Ry and I did it all ourselves. We also knew we wanted the kids to be involved every step of the way. Our minister did something called a Hand Ceremony, where the four of us came together, held hands and she talked about what it meant to become a family. We also did a sand ceremony where each of us picked a color of sand and took turns pouring it into a special case. This represented the blending of our families into one new family. Ry and I also go to pick the versus that were read and we both wrote our own vows. I can not begin to tell you all how amazingly perfect our wedding day was.  It was everything and more that Ry and I wanted.

The only little hitch in the day was the weather. It was cold...actually freezing! I know...that's what we get for planning an outdoor wedding at the end of October. It would not have been a huge deal except for the fact that a week before our wedding I had the worst sinus infection/bronchitis/laryngitis bordering on pneumonia that I have ever had. Yes friends only one week before our wedding I was sick...as in off of work for a week in bed sick!! I started feeling better about 2 days before we got married, talk about timing.

The day of our wedding we woke up and it was cloudy, with a few little snow flurries in the air. Our original plan was to get married outside under an arch in the back yard over looking the bay. It was about 38 degrees around noon, and the wedding was to happen at 4. Since I was just starting to feel better we kind of decided we would move the furniture out of the living room and have the ceremony with the fire place as our "back drop" I'm not going to lie, I was kind of bummed out. I really wanted to be married outside with the beautiful bay behind us. We all decided to get ready and around for the ceremony. All of our family met at my parents house and we all changed our clothes, and got into our wedding attire. At 3:30 I came out into the living room in my dress and Ry's Grandpa was standing at the widow looking out. Remember I said earlier in the day it was cloudy and kind of windy as well. I came out into the living room, looked outside one last time and realized that it was sunny, bright sun as a matter of fact and the wind had died down a bit too. Ry's Grandpa looked at me and goes, "Looks like someone was watching out for you, knew what you wanted, and made it happen for you" Ugh...that still tears me up. But I think he was right...I think the sun coming out and shining bright was Shawn's way of saying that he was with us all that day and hat he approved. I really do think Ry and Shawn would be great friends. So with that we decided to have our wedding outside and it was awesome, and amazing all wrapped up into one!! It was a day I will never forget and was exactly what Ry and I wanted!!

Now are you ready to see 28 pictures from our day. Trust me, I could of posted all of them, but figured nobody wants to look at all 500 of them!! So here are a few! I tried to upload them in order but for some reason blogger kept messing them up, so they aren't in order of the day...sorry

This was taken at the restaurant where we had our small dinner reception. In this picture is both of our families. My parents, sister, brother and sister in law. Ry's parents, his sister and her family, Ry's brother and his family, Ry's Uncle and Grandparents. The only person missing was Ry's other brother and our dog Bo.

This was the arch that we got married under. See what I mean about wanting the bay behind us. Beautiful huh?

The back of my dress. This was the second dress that I tried on and I fell in love with it instantly! I didn't want the traditional long white dress, but I still wanted something classic. It had a pale blue bow and ribbon on it, but once we found the color we took it off and my mom put this new one on.

Bo was even part of our special day too. He had a tie, was in a few pictures and was even with us during the ceremony. Actually, Ry, myself, the kids, and Bo all walked down the aisle together.

J.J. and Lil Man all dressed up in their wedding attire.

Our cake that my sister made for us.

My dress, shoes and garter.

Close up of my dress. I seriously loved my dress!!

This is quite possible one of my favorite pictures of our wedding day. I love it!!

Our family!!

First hug as a new family!

Holding hands during the hand ceremony.

Our rings

J.J watching us exchange rings. The look on her face melts my heart every time. She was so happy for us that day.

Lil Man, almost ready to walk down the aisle.

Lil Man turning away for the kiss. He thought and still does think that kissing is gross so he turned his head.

"The old person's pose" We joke that we are going to take the same picture in 30 years and see how we have changed.

Us during the sand ceremony.

The finished vase. We now have this in our bedroom.

My shoes...loved them as well

My shoes, our rings, garter, and flowers

First official family picture!

Ry and I. Also one of my favorite pictures of the day.

Us under the arch after the ceremony.

The four of us on the steps a crossed the street.

All of us walking back to the house.

Ry, myself and Bo.

And a picture of our rings in my bouquet.


So there you have it a look into our wedding!! Are you all shocked and surprised? As I've said before our wedding day was perfect and was more than Ry and I could of ever imagined. It was exactly what we wanted!! I would of loved to share this all with you earlier, but as you know I could not. (More on that in another post)

There is much more going on in our lives as well...all that coming in posts in the future...stay tuned!
Boy oh boy did it feel good to write that!