Preliminary Wedding Reception Pictures

I thought I would post some fun pictures of our reception so that you can all enjoy the work my mother put into the party. She did a fantastic job! 

Food Boxes!

These are the treat boxes we made before hand. You can see what was in them on the table: A carmel apple from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Popchips, and a little bag of candy that includes M&Ms which have either our names or fingerprints in the shape of a heart printed on them. This took a lot of work in the beginning, but made the party run really smoothly. Our neighbors, who offered to help (absolutely wonderful people), just had to replace the boxes as they depleted.

Beautiful Water Jars

These were full of lime water. There was also an LED light at the bottom of the bigger one. The reception was at dusk, and combined with the hundreds of twinkle lights strewn all over the yard, the scene was stunning.

The Cake

This was a design combination of a couple cakes that I found on Pinterest. My baker, Sara, did a fantastic job putting the two together features together. I also like to be slightly unconventional, so we decided to have the actual cake topper to the side of the cake. (We wanted it to be more practical so that we would keep it out in our home, and the trade off provided us with a "topper" about a third the size the overall cake...It would have looked odd on top.) 

Couples Retreat

My mother bought those pillows specially for my wedding. They were the perfect color. 

Green and Silver

If you couldn't tell, my colors were granny smith green and silver. These were right next to the pool which was a great place to sit and listen to the live band. They were fantastic!

Card/Money Jar

We found this at a neat consignment store in St. George. An interesting alternative to the prevalent birdcage idea. 

 A room full of lamps!

Before hanging all of them, Husband and I popped up all 80+ lamps. (There are more that were not in this room.) It would have been so much fun to jump around and play in them, but we needed them to look good. 

More pictures are coming. These pictures were taken with my phone, and when we get the ones from the photographer I'll post several as well.

The Cooking Dilemma

When I cook, one of two things happens when something doesn't taste right.

First: Disgust and rejection

Second: Salvage the food! (which usually happens when it's the only food in the house)
During this stage I attempt to apply what years of watching the Iron Chef should have inadvertently taught me: How to add seasoning. In my case, this entails making it taste better by not-so-judiciously dumping selections from the wide array of spices that I've accumulated from past roommates who have left them behind into the would-be-meal. The concoctions end up with things like cumin, which is something I don't really know how to pronounce let alone use, combining with chili powder and half a can of olives that I found in the fringe. At this point, I'm usually starving and will throw just about anything into the food in the hopes that each additional additive will solve the issue. It results in something even more disgusting then I started with. But, as I already mentioned, it's the only morsel remaining that could have become a meal, so I either eat it and hope that each bite doesn't get steadily worse, or I make myself a peanut butter-and-honey-sandwich-of-shame as a token to my ineptitude.

Husband is different. He carefully smells every spice before choosing which ones go in the food beforehand. It's like watching a real Ratatouille at work, minus the rodent. Though his additions of spices go unmeasured and seem as erratic as my own, his gift for smelling and combining complimentary ingredients usually turns out fantastic.

When it doesn't he sits and plots the next attempt, reworking what was arguably an acceptable dish to begin with into utter culinary perfection...or as close as a newlywed budget allows. For instance, tonight he thought of two very different ways to perfect the spaghetti squash that didn't taste quite right, but was much more ostentatious than the macaroni and cheese that I assumed would have became our common fare.

I'm glad that one of us can cook. I'll stick to baking. I make a mean chocolate chip cookie.

Birthdays, blankets, and baking.

Sunday was my birthday. In preparation for this event, Bryan and I bought cake! Not just one cake, but three cake mixes so I had options. Chocolate, Spice and funfetti! After returning home from church, I texted our downstairs neighbors about using their washer and dryer. They are kind enough to let us intrude once a week to do our laundry. Realizing we had gotten our comforter a little dirty, we decided to take advantage of our laundry day and wash it. We began stuffing it into the washer with the water running. After stuffing about 1/3 of it into the washer it began to make some horrible noises. Yet, we continued to stuff. It made a few funky noises, but I insisted that it be just fine. As we ascended the stairs, the noises intensified. Bryan opened the washer and began extracting the comforter. It was sopping wet at this point and had not reduced in size as other blankets and clothes do. After some exasperated screams and personal alarm noises (see Dogs don't understand basic concepts like moving. by Hyperbole and a Half), Bryan ran upstairs and retrieved a trash bag which we inserted into our laundry hamper. In the process of freeing the comforter, we managed to drench our neighbors' floor, front of the washer and probably other things we didn't realize. We quickly cleaned with the help of some other clothes that had yet to be cleaned and quickly vacated their apartment. After franticly looking for some quarters, we drove to a laundromat. Bryan, sweet man that he is, still needed to cook me my birthday dinner. I told him to leave me behind and he reluctantly did much as a soldier would if a comrade asked him to (For the record, if he could have, he would have stayed but I insisted because I had invited friends over for cake later). That is how I spent my birthday... In a laundromat.
Bored, playing with a dying phone while trying to ignore the awkward marital problems of the couple who had brought their adult kids to do their laundry. One moment they would be yelling at each other, the next they would be pinching each other's butts... I don't see this as healthy.
Bryan retrieved me after the comforter had mostly dried and I had had more that enough of The Real Housewives of Provo. To be honest, I was not in the best of moods after this.
But then came my favorite part. CAKE! I chose the funfetti! We had some leftover frosting from my bridal shower that was several different colors. This barely covered the double layer cake, but looked really cool! I began placing candles on it and the thought came to me... we don't have a way to light them. Bryan and I had only been married a week and didn't realize this would be a concern. However, a quick text to my friends solved that issue.
Funfetti makes everything better.

Unintentional Retribution Cycles

Remember that time when Husband left me at the laundromat on my birthday? Well I accidentally threw my keys at his eye on his birthday. The cycle is complete.