Wedding Day Memories: Morning

Our wedding day has come and gone. It's crazy to think this season of my life has come to a close. After a 2-year engagement I had fears of post-wedding blues but I've been surprised to feel the opposite. I have an undeniable peace coming down from the high of our wedding and honeymoon. August 3rd, 2019 will go down in the record books as the most special, memorable, perfect and insane day of our lives. I would not change a single thing that happened. Not everything went as we hoped but those things have turned into hilarious memories we'll cherish forever. To preserve my memories, I am going to break the day down into sections and write about what made each part of the day special starting with the morning of the wedding. Here we go!

1. Something that made the weekend extra special was having our families and friends stay just up the road from our venue in multiple "mountain villas"- we had our own little village to ourselves for the weekend. It was really special to stay in a villa with my parents and my Grandma Pat the night before. Throughout my planning process I wanted to be intentional in my decisions around creating moments with those I love most. Staying in a villa with 3 of the most important people of my life made my wedding morning extra special.

2. I woke up naturally at 6am in a king sized bed to myself. I didn't need to be anywhere until 9am so I spent a bit of time with myself in prayer and meditation before.....watching Pam & Jim's wedding from the Office.

3. The first person I hugged and talked to was my Grandma Pat. My something old was a special gift she gave me 2 years ago. It was really special to have a moment with just her before the hustle of the morning. We both said how we were going to be fully present and love everyone who was going to be there that day.

4. My Mom and I sat outside and painted our nails together. I don't remember what we talked about but simply being with her without distractions was a calm start to the day.

5. My bridesmaids, personal attendants, Mom, and mother-in-law all got ready together in the Spirit Mountain bridal suite. We had breakfast, cold brew coffee from Kind Coffee and hair done by 2-Dye-4 Salon. My gift to my ladies was matching pajamas and earrings made by my Mom & sister. It was fun to have everyone matching and have time alone with my favorite women. The ladies in my bridal party come from 5 different areas of my life: family, high school, college, Rob's family, and Rob's "side of the friend family". It was amazing to see all of these women together, laughing, and getting along like they've known each other for a long time.

One thing I REALLY cared about planning was our dessert which was donuts so you better believe I dropped everything when my Mom said, "Anna, your donuts are here". I had to go see them for myself. ;)

6. It was FREEZING in the building and most of the girls did not have long sleeves with them so they diverted to using garment bags and table cloths until the Father of the Bride showed up with multiple sweaters he grabbed from my Mom's suitcase. Lol!

7. The bridal suite was across from our reception space. I had time where I went to have a moment to myself picturing all of the amazing people who would fill the room just hours later. The room was everything I could have ever imagined. I give all credit to my Mom for the design, the execution was a family effort the day before.

8. My cousin Kari heard me talking about how we named our dog, Laramie after a town in Wyoming. She thought we named her after my sister, Amy and almost sister-in-law, Larissa. Lar-Amy. lol! I never thought of my dog's name the same.

9. My Mom pulled me aside before getting into the hair chair to say how she is grateful to be my Mother. Ugh! I cry thinking of that moment now.

10. My sister did most of my makeup by sitting on my lap. ;)

11. When Amy was getting into her bridesmaid top we realized it was going to be difficult to get in over her head without messing up her hair. It was a team effort to get it on and the picture of my Mom, Larissa, and Shyla watching it go down makes me giggle. I'm still not sure how it went for the other 5 bridesmaids.

Concerned looks watching from afar. hahaha!!

Stick the landing!

12. Getting into my dress was really exciting. I had bridesmaids and Mother-in-law "ooh-ing" and "ah-ing" making me feel like a rockstar. It felt surreal to finally put the dress on as a bride and see the look come together. Of course my Mom and sister made it an emotional affair. I had to walk away. (Also- getting into your dress isn't always pretty- lol!)

My "something borrowed" was the pearl bracelet Amy received from Shawn on the morning of their wedding.

Watching it all come together.

13. In a way, I had a "first-look" with myself. It was such a fun feeling seeing myself as a bride. I looked exactly how I wanted: dress, shoes, hair, veil, make-up, jewelry, flowers, but mostly, happy. So unbelievably happy.

14. My Dad was the first man to see me as a bride. He picked me up to whisk me away to my groom. We both started tearing up instantly upon seeing each other. The Surprenants are an emotional bunch. ;) My Mom & Amy also came in the car to see Rob. I intentionally planned to have us together for that because on my sister's wedding my Mom and I didn't get to be with her in those moments.

15. Rob and I saw each other for the first time on the Lake Superior beach in front of our Bed & Breakfast for the night, Solglimt. We were greeted by our warm & excited photographer, Makayla and Best Man, Allen. As we turned the corner to the beach, I saw the back of Rob and was instantly overcome with emotion. I was able to stand by myself for a few minutes as Makayla went to inform Rob that I was there. I held back tears as Makayla motioned for me to start walking towards Rob. I slipped off my shoes and slowly made my way to Rob and yelled "Hey, you!" about 15 feet out for him to turn around. What I remember in that moment is the feeling I had locking eyes with my love. It was surreal and overwhelming in the best way. We had waited for that moment for so long and we were finally there. It felt like we were the only ones on earth. This may be my favorite memory of our day.

16. After our first look and photos on the beach Rob and I drove back to Spirit Mountain together. This was precious time for the two of us to chat about our mornings before going to see our bridal party for the first time.

To my bridal party and Mamas-

Thank you for being my some of my biggest sources of encouragement and love. You have all touched my heart in a different way and am forever grateful for it. My wedding day was special because you were there by my side. Thank you for loving me and for loving each other.

If you were involved with the morning of our wedding- what was your favorite memory of the morning?

xoxo,

Mrs. Jenson