the week of the big day

Rewind slightly (from my last post, but significantly from the current date) to the week before my wedding day . . . 

The week of my wedding was busy, but not nearly as stressful as I've heard people make it out to be. There was certainly a lot to do, but fortunately I'd planned things well enough that I wasn't running around like any of my extremities had been chopped off and I still had time for a fairly spontaneous adventure with Haley and our good friend Joe who had come into town. 

On my way to catch some last minute rays at the pool, the three of us went to Mimi's Cafe for breakfast. Not only was it another one of our hilarious encounters together because we are super funny and clever, especially together (that rhymed), it was also quite the surprising, flashback-inducing type of occasion. 

We were seated quickly and spent a few minutes looking at our menus before our waiter walked up to our booth to ask us what we wanted to drink. As soon as I looked up I'm sure that I immediately had a strangely confused look on my face before it turned to an, "of course he's our waiter" face and I said, "Alex Darrow" almost accusingly. He responded with a confused, "Talyn? Talyn Camp?" as I let out an amused laugh and mentally shook my head in disbelief. 

For those of you who don't know who my buddy Alex Darrow is, let me explain. The first year I went to EFY I didn't go with a friend and I didn't really get along with the group of girls that I was assigned to. I'm not really sure why, but that's what I remember. I ended up making friends with a group of three guys, one of which was Alex. Long story short, we spent a lot of time together and on the last night he tried to kiss me during a slow dance but I turned away so he only managed to kiss me on the cheek. We chatted off and on after that but he lived SO far away (somewhere exotic like West Jordan, Utah) and I was never going to see him again so our dramatic romance fizzled out by the end of the summer. 

Fast forward a few years and we end up texting one day while I was sitting in the hall at UCAS eating lunch with Haley. The conversation took an odd turn and I stopped texting back. A few years later I heard he went on a mission and that was about it. Then, lo and behold, after seven years, there's Alex Darrow asking me if I want orange juice. A few more awkward exchanges later (including him catching a glance of the announcement I gave to Joe, holding his hand out to see it, and trying to one-up Colby based on our photo), Haley and I couldn't stop laughing. Life has a tendency to crack us up. 

Needless to say, that encounter added even more spice than usual to our date and the whole experience was a blast. What else can you expect when Joe-Joe, Hay-barrel, and Falcon's Claw get together?

The next few days included Colby coming into town, picking up my wedding dress, getting our marriage license, and me going through the temple for the first time to receive my endowment. It was an amazing experience and it made me even more eager to be sealed to Colby a few short days later.

I was thrilled that my family could be there with me. Unfortunately we didn't get the chance to take a group picture, but I was overjoyed to have so many of my family members there to support me, namely my parents (pictured below) and my sisters. 

We started off that Thursday (the day before the wedding) with flower arranging. Two of my favorite people in the world, Gwen and Bree Woolstenhulme, led the way with this project. Once again, my family was there to help, along with my would-be aunts, Kelley and Jill. 

It was a lot of work, but it was fun to chat and laugh and watch the progression of my flowers starting in buckets of water and ending up in beautiful arrangements. They really did look incredible--better than I could have imagined. Gwen and Bree, you are amazing--at everything. It's ridiculous.

Mama Camp made such a pretty arrangement. 

Who knew two roses could look so well put together?

That night was our Texas barbecue themed rehearsal dinner and we went all out. The festivities included brisket from Pat's (in Salt Lake City), aka the best brisket in the state of Utah, with salads and flavored lemonade from Whole Foods. We introduced our families to each other and played a couple of games before we chatted, ate, and eventually learned the song "Deep in the Heart of Texas," courtesy of my sister-in-law, Lauren. Not only did we learn the song, everyone was split into groups to choreograph a dance routine to it. It was quite the sight to see.

We ended with a little game of "Colby and Talyn Trivia," courtesy of Ron, my father-in-law. Pretty sure Colby and I would've won if we'd been allowed to play instead of being the who-raised-their-hand-first judges. 

It got dark way too soon and our party was forced to end, but we had such a great time! It was the perfect way to get in the wedding spirit and have some good family fun. Our families still talk about how wonderful it was to get to know each other and my nephews and niece couldn't stop singing "Deep in the Heart of Texas" for weeks. (Thanks a lot, Lauren!) 

Thank you, Crabtree family, for showing us why it was such a fantastic idea to have a rehearsal dinner regardless of the fact that we had absolutely nothing to rehearse!