The whole reason for our visit to California this month, was to attend Tiffany and Christian’s wedding. First thing this morning, before I had any desire to be awake, Tiffany had her bridesmaids and hair dresser over to start getting ready for the day, and her photographer was there as well to start capturing every little moment. Everyone else in the house woke up a little later. While everyone else in the house got themselves ready for the day, Kyle and I got all of our munchkins ready, and we got ourselves ready. It was at this point that I remembered that I didn’t actually have anything for Adam to wear. I had been looking for a suit that would go with his peach tie, but I couldn’t find one suitable in his size. The suit that he wears to church is a nice blue color and that was NOT going to go with a peach tie. So he ended up just wearing a onesie to the temple.
Mom & Dad took Tiffany and left for the temple earlier than we did. Wendy took the bridesmaids and , and Patsy took Jonathan and David, and Kyle and I and our kiddos went in our own van. Before we left, Dad called to ask that we grab the bag in the garage that had the bouquet and the rings in it. I got the message and grabbed it and we were on our way. Traffic was terrible! Everywhere we have gone on these California freeways has taken forever, just because there are so many cars on the road that they can’t actually go a decent speed. We haven’t seen very many accidents at all, yet every freeway, at any time of day, has just been congested. So as time ticked on and we weren’t getting much closer to the temple, I got more and more nervous and stressed out. I have no idea where Wendy and Patsy’s cars were, but I knew they were behind us somewhere because we pulled out and left before we did. Dad called from the temple to tell us that it’s not actually a white wedding so to just come in as soon as we get there and not to worry about changing first. Then he asked who we had with us to watch the kids. Nobody had come with us, and I told him so, and he started to flip out about how he said to make sure someone else rode with us so they could watch the kids and we could get right in, instead of having to wait for the others to arrive. I told him that everyone else just seamed to go to the other cars and that we would do the best we could. As we were finally coming up to the temple, I called Wendy to find out where they were. They were still on the freeway, which added to my stress. We parked at the temple and Kyle and I got out and were wondering what to do when I saw Sandy coming up to us. Apparently she wasn’t sure exactly how to get to the temple, but when she saw the white 12 passenger van with Utah plates on the freeway, she decided to follow it, and it led her straight to the temple….yup it was us! 😉
We went inside and saw mom and dad at the front desk, apparently they had talked to the temple workers and it was decided that the wedding would be a white wedding after all. They were saying that they don’t do white weddings any more unless they had special permission, and when Tiffany was upset that she couldn’t have the white wedding that she was hoping for, they decided to go ahead and let her have it. So they had to go back to the chapel and tell everyone to go change, and because they had to send everyone to go change, they weren’t really waiting for us. We had made it. Now I could relax a bit. Wendy arrived and changed and we still had to sit and wait for awhile before they took us to the sealing room. As we were on the way to the sealing room, someone asked me if I had brought in the rings. I hadn’t. We were in such a hurry to get to the temple, that when we got there and rushed inside, I had forgotten all about the rings. My stress level went through the roof at this point. I was afraid that everyone was going to be mad at me for forgetting the rings and leaving them in the van. I quietly waited to see how this was going to unfold. The sealing ceremony was performed and then the sealer said that they could exchange rings. It was then that it was said that we didn’t have them there, but that there was to be a ring ceremony later. Turns out that if they had exchanged rings there in the temple they would have not been able to have a ring ceremony later, so it all really did work out, and I could breath again.
Back in the dressing rooms we changed back into what we were wearing for the wedding pictures and I tried to find the others before going outside. One of the temple workers came to me to ask if I knew where my mom was. She couldn’t find her, and they needed her to help Tiffany to get ready for the pictures. I just walked down the row of changing stalls and called (quietly) for mom. She heard me, and I told her that the temple workers were looking for her. Then I went out and found Kyle and we went outside to wait for the grand exit of the newlyweds. Someone got the bouquet from me and ran it back into the temple so that Tiffany could be holding it when they made their grand exit, and then we waited. We found the kids and my siblings that were watching them. Debby had Adam and asked me if I knew my baby was naked. I said that I know he was wearing just an undershirt and tried to explain the whole issue about not being able to find a suitable suit, and then I saw him and exclaimed “Where is his shirt!?”, she again pointed out that “Ya, he’s NAKED” (aside from the diaper that is). Kyle decided at this point that he was going to go make a run to Macy’s to get the boy something to wear. Macy’s, just being down the street by the freeway, he thought that he could get there and back quickly and everything would be ok. He ended up missing Tiffany and Christian’s exit, and most of the pictures. 🙁
Lydia seemed to really like Sandy:
And the other kids liked watching the water fountain while they waited for their turn to be in more pictures.
I really like this picture of Patsy and Tiffany. I have NO idea what they were talking about, but it sure looks interesting:
Once we were told that they were all done with taking pictures of our family at the temple, Kyle and I loaded up the kids and we headed back to my parent’s house. However, we spent what seemed like FOREVER in the car trying to get to my parent’s house. Living out of state, I really, really do not miss California freeways. We finally got back to the house, and while my parents got ready for the reception. I got our things packed up and back in the van because we had to leave right after the reception to head back home to Utah.
My parent’s and siblings all helped load stuff up to take to the reception and then they left for the reception. Kyle and the kids and I stayed at the house a little longer to get some more of our stuff loaded into the van, before we headed to the reception. The first part of the reception was the ring ceremony:
Their bishop had a few things to say, and then they got to exchange their rings, and then everyone was turned loose to mingle while the music played. A little later they cut the cake, and I just love this picture of Tiffany and Christian. I think I will have to print it out for them:
Here is a better picture of them cutting the cake:
I spent most of the evening wandering around and making sure my kids were all still in the cultural hall and that they weren’t getting into trouble. I did get to talk to a lot of people from my parent’s ward that still remember me, and I got to talk to a lot of our extended family that came. Soon though, it was time for the bouquet toss:
I totally caught the bouquet in mid-air. Caught it in the picture I mean, not actually caught it with my hands 😛
Christian removed the garter. He started out with using his teeth, but it turned out rather difficult to get it off over her cowboy boots using his teeth, so he gave up and used his hands for that part:
Then Tiffany had a dance with Dad:
After Christian had a dance with his mom, and Christian and Tiffany were dancing together they opened up the dance floor to everyone, and Kyle and I started rounding up kids so we could get going. Despite Tiffany’s freaking out, everything turned out nicely, and just like I had told her, at the end of the day all that matters is that you’re married. 🙂
