mr. & mrs. crabtree

My wedding day and the couple weeks leading up to it were perfect. Granted, there are things you can't control, like the temple being covered in orange scaffolding, but overall, it was perfect. 

I woke up the morning of August tenth, showered, and dried my hair before Tasha was supposed to come to the house to do my hair. Tasha and I set up camp in my bathroom and chatted about who knows what while she proceeded to rat and douse my hair with a ridiculous amount of hairspray. I wasn’t sure that my thin, fine hair was going to recover from that much schtuff, but nearly 75 bobby pins and three hours later, it looked incredible. Tasha is a miracle worker. The end.   

After she left I decided to go to the reception center, Highland Gardens. When I got there, I was amazed at how beautiful everything looked. The girls had taken care of everything: the flowers, the candles, the photos, the centerpieces—all of it. We adjusted a few tables to make the setup more cozy and then I headed back to the house with my mom to eat some (not much) lunch, get my makeup done (by my mom), and lace me into my wedding dress (Mom again) for group photos with our immediate families before the ceremony.  

Meanwhile, Colby and his menfolk were fishing in the Provo river 

 and my soon-to-be-husband was the one who caught something!

We all met up at the temple in the early afternoon and, miraculously, it was overcast. The entire week the temperatures had been hot (sunny and in the upper nineties), and I was a tiny bit worried that our families would want to injure us because they were sweating to death at one in the afternoon wearing all black. I was crossing my fingers that we wouldn't die of heat stroke and/or that it would be cooler and/or cloudy. It started sprinkling as we pulled up into the parking lot, which seemed a little less perfect than I was expecting, but the drizzle fizzled out in about three minutes and we were home free from then on. It started to warm up near the end of our photoshoot when the sun came out from behind the clouds, but it wasn’t too bad.  

After the initial distraction of the rain, I immediately realized that there were more brides and families taking pictures at the Timpanogos Temple that day than I had ever seen there. It was what I imagine the Salt Lake Temple being like in the middle of summer--crazy. I figured that a Friday would be a lot less busy than a Saturday, but apparently not. I talked to one of the temple workers about it later and she said that on average they have about 16 weddings a day on summer weekends, but on August 10, 2012, there were 32. What was amazing was that even though there were loads of people swarming the grounds outside, there wasn't really anyone inside. Thankfully we were sealing number 27 of the 32 that day, so by the time it was our turn, the bride’s room was practically deserted so it didn’t feel busy at all.

Rewinding a bit—group pictures went really well. It was a really smooth process because, being the crazy organized person that I am, I decided to write out a list of photos we wanted taken so that I could give it to our group photo photographer, Gwen Woolstenhulme, and make things easy. Well it was basically the best idea I’ve ever had, besides marrying Colby of course. 

After each photo, Bree whipped out her clipboard and announced the names of everyone who was in the next photo. All it took was one hour for us to take all of our family and close friends photos. Brilliant. We did the same thing for pictures after the ceremony when all of our extended families were there. The efficiency of it all was superb, if I do say so myself.

Colby's immediate family

(Kristy, Ron, Lauren, and Aaron)

my immediate family

(Deveren, Kiara, Brad, Nicole, Brielle, Brian, and the kids:

Brek, Bailie, Beckett, Cougar, Calloway)

 all of us

 

 sisters

 Colby and Lauren

(They took a few photos at Lauren's wedding and duplicated them at our wedding, 

so I put together a little "then and now" collage.)

my favorite sisters and me

looking beautiful, as always

Mom and Dad

my train carrier (and Colby's best man), Daniel

my very best ladies

Haley, Katie, and Bree

 the Houston clan

 The amazing 

Gwen and Bree

We went back to my house to change into our church clothes to go into the temple and when it was time I went downstairs where the men-folk were changing out of their tuxes (aka watching sports) to let Colby know it was time to go. (It was just before 3pm at this point.) He immediately looked at me, confused. 

“We’re getting married today . . .” I said, drifting off at the end as if it were a half question. 

“It’s not 3:30,” he responded. “We have until 3:30.” 

Apparently he had forgotten that everyone else was supposed to be there by 3:30, but we needed to be there by 3. I think he was a little nervous, so nervous that he didn’t say anything to me on the drive over. I grabbed one of his hands and smiled at him; I think he tried to smile back at me and was only mildly successful, so he reverted to nodding instead. 

Before our sealing, I was only getting ready in the bride's room with one other bride. It was so peaceful and perfect. I guess there was one other girl (that I don't really count) laying on the couch in the in her wedding dress. I gathered from her whining that she was waiting for her turn to do her big exit. There are so many brides and grooms that they organize everyone to exit in order, so my guess is that there was a holdup with the bride and groom before her and they were clogging up the area by the doors. Apparently she was feeling extremely claustrophobic and she just wanted “to get out and see her husband!” I don’t know how you can be so cranky after you just got married for eternity, but I paid no attention to her and had a great time with my mom. After our sealing, I was the only bride in the room, so that was even better. I would definitely recommend getting married in the late afternoon. It was fantastic.

The entire experience from that point on was so beautiful it was almost surreal. Colby was confident and back to normal and when we walked into the room I was pretty overwhelmed. It was the first time I had seen all of my family that had come into town for the wedding and I couldn’t even remember the last time we had all been together. I felt so blessed to have a family that was willing to travel as far as some of them did to support me and my almost-husband. I was especially happy to see my sisters in the front row to my right; the thought of all of us being in the same club (if you will) in a few minutes was wonderful. My parents definitely did a lot of things right to get all of their daughters to the temple. I immediately smiled and I don’t think I stopped grinning like a lunatic for the rest of the day.

Once it was our turn to make our big entrance outside as husband and wife, my mom left to give everyone outside a heads up that we were on our way out, but that didn’t happen quite like we thought. There was some miscommunication and, long story short, both Colby and I ended up sitting alone, waiting for each other for 5 or 10 minutes, even though both of us were ready.

When we were finally reunited, we walked through the main level of the temple toward the door and I felt like a princess—the happiest princess alive. We stood behind the door for a second until I said, “Are you ready?” As soon as we pushed those doors open, there was immediately an uproar of cheers coming from our family and friends outside. It was so incredible and I was actually stunned! I loved it, but all I could do was stare at everyone. Those pictures are a little awkward to look at, but as soon as I’m pulled back to reality, I was laughing and smiling and kissing Colby—my husband. 

My niece Bailie ran up to me, looked up at me, and put her hands up on my dress. I picked her up and she told me that I was married and that Colby was her uncle now. 

the paparazzi

  

 

We took pictures with the whole gang and some smaller groups 

and then everyone dispersed to head to Highland Gardens. 

the whole gang

Colby's family

my family

our friends

Colby and his manly men

me and my girls

Jill, Kelley, and Denise

(three of my favorite ladies)

Highland Gardens

Once we got to Highland Gardens, Kiara met up with Mom and me and snapped a few photos, but I didn’t even have time to spruce up my makeup (good thing I didn’t cry) before I was ushered out to Colby so we could make yet another entrance. 

We walked in to clapping and cheering 

and sat down in two chairs at the front of the room 

while Colby's grandpa, Ron, came up to the front to start the ceremony.

It was a really fun experience and I’m glad we did it. Colby and I each wrote vows, which we said to each other in turn (Colby first, then me) before we exchanged rings. I was intimidated by the thought of speaking in front of everyone on my wedding day when I was sure I wouldn’t be able to think, but it was wonderful to get to talk to each other and give everyone there some more background about us and our relationship.

We kissed and sat back down so Ron could do his thing. He is so sweet and definitely entertaining, so it was great. 

He gave us some great words of wisdom which included saying "I love you" as often as possible and focusing on each other instead of on ourselves. After that, my lovely girlfriends Hannah, Haley, and Bree had clipboards with names and table numbers on them, so they led everyone in the right direction for dinner. 

The food was great and the caterer was a champ. We started dinner a little late and she managed to keep our food warm. We had a summery fruit salad followed by blueberry chicken, rice, and fresh veggies. For dessert we had the choice between strawberries and crème tarts or chocolate coconut pecan pie. Loved it. 

As soon as all of us at the head table were done with our main course, we started the program. Each of our parents and sisters got up to say something. Dad did his “Top 10” list of advice, which I requested; Ron talked about how I didn’t “bug” Colby, which was apparently a new thing; our moms presented baskets for each of us (Kristy did one for me about Colby and Mom did one for Colby about me) and went through all of their contents and explained how they related to us; and our sisters each told a story and gave us a gift.  

My family had worked out getting me a very rare copy of 

one of the worst movies ever made, TOGE+HER.

It's awesome. 

 

 And then my mom read a slightly embarrassing writing assignment 

of mine from when I was a kid.

 My oldest sister, Brielle, told a story about me and how I was so amazed that her husband (fiancé at the time) invited me to go get ice cream with the two of them and opened the door for me. Apparently I told her that I wanted a husband who would do things like that (and I got one!). Bri got us a gift card to Coldstone to go along with it. 

 Lauren got up second and told a story about how Colby couldn’t keep a secret when he was little and he spilled the beans too soon about what he got for Lauren for Christmas one year—a cowgirl Barbie. Lauren got us the Australian Barbie (it was the closest she could find). 

Then Kiara got up and told a story about both of us—how she spied on us on her porch after our first date. She talked about my reaction when I came inside and she asked how it went. I guess as soon as she asked I immediately fell on the floor and said, “I’m in love, I’m in love, and I don’t care who knows it!” (That’s an Elf reference, for all you non-movie goers out there.) She gave us the binoculars she attempted to spy on us with. 

Lastly, Daniel Wilkes, Colby’s best friend and best man, got up and talked about the first time Colby told him about me—after our first date—and Colby decided to keep our relationship restricted to friends with benefits. Joke’s on him!  

Finally, Colby and I got up. 

We told the abridged version of how we met and then gave my cousin Heather a gift because she introduced us. I had the brilliant idea of giving her the supplies to make Oreo balls, which we made the first time she told me about Colby, and the movie we watched—Wait Until Dark. Lastly, we thanked everyone for loving us and coming to support us on the best day of our lives so far. 

Then it was time for the reception!

I danced with my dad and it was amazing. 

I had to take my shoes off before we danced because my heels made me 

significantly taller than him, so I hiked up my dress and we danced.  

He is the sweetest man I know and the things he said to me in those couple of minutes made me cry. I realized that it's such a miracle that he's alive and that he was there to see me get married, so all of my thoughts mixed together and oozed out of my eyes. I love my dad and I knew it would be different having my own family compared to being in his. Obviously I’m still his daughter and I always will be, and obviously it’s not like I’m straying too far, but it was still an emotional few minutes.

Then I got to dance with Colby. My dad finished our dance by walking me to a chair where I sat down while Colby walked toward me from the edge of the room with my shoes on a silver platter.

He put on my shoes and then we did our dance, complete with a few spins and a dip.  

Luckily all the turns and such only required me to lift my right arm because I'd ripped the left armpit of my dress and the rip was making its way around the sleeve seam and down the seam of the bodice. Trouble. That's what I get for trying to bend over and move my dress out of the way so my mom wasn't swimming in it during dinner. Whoopsidaisies!

Then my cute niece and nephew joined us, 

followed by our parents and a few other couples.

Before and after our dance, the reception guests had started to trickle in, so we chatted with people and then after two more regular dancing songs, Justin Bieber's song Baby came on. I looked around the room to find my single girlfriends. We exchanged knowing glances and they started clearing people off of the dance floor. 

I grabbed a chair and set it down in front of the crowd, but still on the edge of the dance floor, and interrupted a conversation Colby was having with someone (whoever you were, I'm sorry!) to sit him down in the chair. I started lip-syncing to him, along with Justin and my background dancers, and once the second verse started, all my ladies and I started our choreographed dance! 

 It was amazing and another one of those brilliant things that I’m so glad I thought to do and even more glad that I actually did it. One of the greatest parts was when Daniel and Thomas did the rap part. Classic.

We have a video of it online, but unfortunately some of our sweet dance moves are missing because James was focused on getting Colby's reaction, but you can get the general idea, so I’m really happy to have it. Thanks James! 

I still laugh over how much I surprised him with that dance. It was one of my favorite parts of the day because he was shocked. And it was really fun to do that with my girlfriends. The sad thing is that a lot of people didn’t get to see it because it was so spontaneous. A few people requested that we do it again, but Colby and I were a little busy and it just wouldn't have been the same without the shock factor.

After our time with Bieber, we socialized with all the reception goers, danced a tiny bit more, ate a little bit here and there, threw the bouquet, and then it was time for our send off. Let's just talk about the bouquet toss for a second. Dear girlfriends, I know it was a crappy throw and I apologize. I momentarily forgot that my dress was in the process of falling apart, so halfway through my kettle bell toss I realized that I wouldn't be able to move my left arm nearly as far as I was planning. Can I get some slack, please?

We were so busy that night that I barely had time to register that it was windy and pouring rain outside. Thank heavens for my stubborn insistence that we have our reception inside! 

Right around 10pm I went back to the bride’s room and changed into my send-off dress while our sisters handed out bags of mini marshmallows for everyone to throw in the air above us as we left (like rice, but better). That was Colby’s idea. We waited until we got the green light from Kiara (she had readied her camera, apparently) and we ran through the line of our family and friends as they pelted us (someone didn't tell them the rules . . . ) with mini marshmallows as we ran to the car. 

It actually hurt! I was blocking my face from nasty blows, 

but once we got out of the fray I couldn't help but laugh.

 

Then we got into the car and waved our goodbyes.

 And left our families to take care of the cleanup.

Let's be honest, we had no regrets about that.