Wedding Bells

I left early Friday morning to fly to Denver for my friend Alicia's wedding. I feel so lucky that she changed her wedding date so I could make it because at 32 weeks pregnant, I won't be flying again any time soon! Getting out there was awful (why is there always some issue when I fly through Chicago? Remind me never to do that again!), but after having problems with my luggage the last time I was traveling for a wedding, I carried on my luggage so it made it there with me safe and sound. I arrived later than planned, but I was still able to help with some of the preparations. Alicia and Andy are both really creative and fun so their reception was full of cool details. Their wedding colors were red, purple, and brown and they had an Asian theme (since Andy is half Japanese). First I helped some of Alicia's family stuff and seal these little Chinese takeout boxes with chocolate dipped fortune cookies for all of the guests to take home. Alicia's sister made all of the takeout boxes and of course Alicia special ordered the fortune cookies to all have sayings about marriage and love in them. They were so cute!

Then while Alicia and Andy had dinner with their families, I met up with some of their friends to begin setting up for the reception. It was held in a funky building in an industrial area of Denver called the Taxi Building and I can't even begin to describe it. I wasn't sure what to think of it when we arrived, but Alicia and Andy had a vision and it really made it work. They made 1001 paper cranes for good luck to hang all over the building. I can't even image how long it too them to make all the cranes because it took ages just to hang them up.Here's Alicia celebrating as we got ready to hang the final two cranes.It was a late night, but it was fun. The next morning I hung out with Alicia while she got ready. When Andy came to pick her up I was impressed that they both seemed so calm and said they were just ready to get the day over and start their life together.

Everyone kept telling me that the Denver Temple was small, but it is huge compared to the Columbus Temple. I don't think I'll ever get tired of attending sealing ceremonies (in the Mormon church we call them sealing ceremonies instead of weddings because we believe when you're married in a temple you are sealed together for time and all eternity). Each ceremony that I've attended since I've been married remind me of my own wedding day and how grateful I am to be marreid to Larry, which always makes me even happier thinking of the couple getting married as I think about all that they have to look forward to. Alicia and Andy glowed after the ceremony, but I didn't take a lot of pictures because I didn't want to get in the photographer's way (I hated it when I worked for a wedding photographer and all of the relatives and friends kept taking pictures so we couldn't get the shots that we needed).

Alicia looked so beautiful! She had her dress made for her and I had a hard time picturing it when she described it to me so it was exciting to see how perfect it was for her.
Continueing with the Asian theme at the reception, Alicia bought tons of white paper lanterns to hang in the entrance to the Taxi building. I love how they looked.There was origami paper spread out on all of the tables with directions to fold origami.

There was origami in the boutineers and coursages

There was even a sushi chef.
And you know I love cupcakes so of course I loved this. As amazing as all of the little details were, the best part was just seeing Alicia so happy. I'm glad that she found someone who is so supportive and appreciative of her, and I'm glad I had the chance to be there for such a special day.