Lindsey's Amazing Wedding Experience

I just attended a celebration that I have anticipated for years. My best friend from high school Lindsey and her sweetheart Adam were married last Thursday. It was such a beautiful, deep, heartfelt union of two amazing people who have waited so long to find each other. They were married in the Washington D.C. temple with a reception at an amazing atrium in Virginia. It was hands down the most beautiful reception I have ever attended. There was a river running through the atrium. How cool is that. (It was about two feet across, but still.)

But back to the actual sealing in the temple.

My favorite moment was when all of the guests were waiting in the sealing room for Lindsey and Adam to come in. They walked through the door, tearful but happy, and my heart leapt. I know that at least for Lindsey, being in the temple and being sealed to her Love was the realization of innumerable hours of anguished and heartfelt prayer. It was reaching the summit. It was awesome.

Here I am making a goofy face with the beautiful Mrs. Pence. Isn't she gorgeous?! 

 

 So beautiful. Did you know she first saw a picture of this dress on a billboard in Utah years ago and took a picture of it because she loved it so much? And then when she got engaged (in Virginia), she called the store (in Utah) and told them about her dream dress and they said it was discontinued but they had one left. And they mailed it to her to see if it would fit without even making her buy it first. And the rest is wedding-photo history.

Did I mention that my mom also made the trip with me...which made this trip WAY more fun that it would have been by myself. Also, by myself (and without the help of my mom's phone's GPS which I nicknamed "Janice"), I would have never gotten anywhere because I would still be trying to get on the 267 from the 28. Those freeways were something else.
My mom and I actually orchestrated our flights so that we met up in Denver. I boarded the plane that she was already on, and there she was, saving me a seat in row eight with a beautiful brown bag from Paradise Bakery in hand with a sandwich and cookie waiting inside for me. Did I mention how wonderful my mom is? We had a great time together. We didn't even yell at each other when we got each other lost on the awful roads. That's true friends right there.

Another fun part of coming to the wedding and reception was that Lindsey had asked me to take care of all her signage at the reception. I made signs saying "Mocktails," "Love is Sweet," "Adam and Lindsey," "Thank You," "Plant One on Us," and an unused photo booth sign. I also painted a bare tree that she used as a guest sign in. I also made little signs for her edible centerpieces that said, "Eat Me," "Bite Me," "Try Me," and "Nibble Me." It was so fun to make everything for her and then be able to see it in place at her reception. She had other people take care of other things like centerpieces and cake pops and these amazing apple flowers, and everything came together SO well. All the little things really made the reception special. Here are some pics of my stuff:
The "Adam and Lindsey" sign is kind of hiding on the left. I also cut little stumps with slits in the top for smaller signs to go in. They were so stinkin cute, if I do say so myself.

Weren't her table decorations stunning?

Here's the tree...I'm so sad I didn't take a picture of it full. The guests did a great job of spacing their fingerprints all around.

And here are all the signs before they were totally finished, just so you can see them better. They are made out of 1/2" MDF (wood). I stuck them on a dowel and used a stump as a base and used green/cream/black ribbon to embellish them.

I was happily enjoying myself at the reception, talking with a few of Lindsey's work friends that I hadn't met before, when someone came up behind me and slapped my butt! It was Nikki from Sierra Vista! I was so happy to see her! Together with April and Lindsey we had a little S.V. reunion. It was so fun to catch up with April and Nikki, and to see Nikki's beautiful girls.

This is us pretending to laugh at something really funny...

Yep, we were goofballs.
One last word about the reception - the music was awesome. I danced the night away. I told Lindsey and Adam that we had to do that every night of my trip but they decided to go on a honeymoon instead. Darnit.
 The next day we got to meet up again with Lindsey, Adam, and their families for a lovely brunch. I just love Lindsey's family. They remind me of bananas foster and St. George...two terrific memories. I look super fluffy here. I think it's because it was really cold and I had on a billion layers. Or it could be all the food I enjoyed...whichever...

The wedding and reception were on Thursday. On Friday we went to brunch and then took off to visit my Mom's friend (from when she lived in Springfield), and to do some shopping in Occoquan and catch a movie later.
On Saturday we drove to old town Alexandria. We walked up and down the main street there and enjoyed all of the shops. One of my favorites had so many cute things...I saw some beautiful cupcakes on a tray and told my mom, "Those are so cute! They totally look real!" And then the shopkeeper informed me that they were real and were for the customers. Call me a sucker, but a gorgeous free cupcake totally made my day. And it tasted amazing too.
I might have loved the ambience of the street more than the shops themselves. I have drawings in the works of these buildings. I loved all of the different colors and the interesting rooflines. If only I had snapped a picture without a glaringly red car in it.

All together it was an amazing trip. I loved seeing Adam and Lindsey in their moment, and I loved spending time with my mom. I'm so grateful that Rus was so supportive of me going. He took time off to watch the kids and went on a little shopping spree of his own. And let me tell you, he spent WAY more money than I did. I'll show you some pictures of Herbie soon.