So, Austin and I are back in Oklahoma. We have been married almost four weeks (tomorrow) and we still like each other :) So I figure things are going well. We will be driving out to utah in just a few days to start school, but for now we're just relaxing with my parents. It is really exciting that in about a week, we will have our very own apartment all to ourselves! Tonight, we cooked our very first meal together as a married couple. We made a Pasta Chicken Lemon Toss that was pretty good.

For the listening pleasure of those who were not able to attend the wedding, and to get an idea of our thoughts, Austin and I thought we'd blog about our actual wedding day. It may take me a blog or two, and I don't have the professional pictures on my computer so Austin will have to post those, but hopefully it will be of interest to some of you.

July 18th, 2009

7:30ish am Though I start my day here, I should point out that my dear friends, Amy, Ali, and Jen were all staying at my mom's aunt sharon's house (who is really cool) having a last girl's night together, and we didn't go to bed until around 2am. Then I laid awake for the next several hours. I'm not sure how much I slept...it didn't seem like at all. I wasn't nervous exactly; the anticipation simply kept my mind too busy for sleep. Despite my brain buzzing, at seven thirty I was still a bit sluggish and had trouble finding clothes in my suitcase and getting ready. Soon enough, though, I was wide awake and was ready to head over to the hairdresser. My hair turned out really cute. My sister was with me, getting her hair done. After lots of racing around, going back and forth, getting my wedding dress, temple clothes, and other necessary items for the day, Dad, Jen and I drove to the temple. Austin and those few people attending the Temple ceremony would meet us there.

10:40am Despite often running late in my life, I want to point out that I was early to getting to the temple, and meeting Austin there. The people who work at the temple are so nice and so excited for you. Austin arrived, and then we were whisked away to change for the wedding. In the temple you don't do the whole not-seeing each other thing before the ceremony. Which is good because it was nice to be waiting with Austin. There we were sitting in this little waiting room for everyone else to arrive, and my stomach is doing a bit of gurgling which I'm sure was just nerves over this huge step that we were about to take. I was thinking, "okay, one minute I'm not going to be married, and then I will be married. WEIRD." There were two older ladies in the room who talked with us for a bit and then chatted to each other. Austin and I talked some, but really, what was there to talk about? Then someone came in and asked if we minded starting early, since everyone was already there. It was like wait, now? Go get married right this second? I think my heart started pounding then (and continued to for the next 15 minutes) but I knew it would be okay.

12:00 noon (or a little earlier) People probably wonder a lot about what goes on in the temple. While I can't relate certain details because the temple deals with very sacred things, I will say that not a lot actually happens. We were given marriage advice by the temple sealer, though honestly Austin and I don't remember a lot of what he said...the day was very overwhelming. We shall have to try and remember what advice he gave us. Then we very simply made covenants with God in our marriage and made promises to each other as husband and wife. Then Austin and I kissed, and Austin jokingly said, "Ew..." He was kidding (I think). Then we spent some quiet time together in the temple, simply being married. It was wonderful, but very strange. We were married? Then we ran into my old college roommate Rachel and her fiance Felipe in the temple (they were married a week later)! It was wonderful to see her there, particularly on such a special day.
Then Austin and I went to change into our clothes that we would take pictures in and wear to the reception. For the temple I needed a simple white dress, but the dress I wore to the temple was a bit fancier. It had beautiful crystal and embroidery on it. Standing in the bride's room in the temple, putting my dress on, getting ready, was rather surreal, something I had been waiting my whole life to do. I was excited to get out there and see all my friends and family who were waiting to congratulate us, but I also wanted Austin to see me. We had been joking for months about the dress I had bought back in March that he had never seen a glimpse of, and how I was afraid it would be anti-climatic after all those months. When I came down from the dressing room, however, Austin looked at me and smiled and it was perfect. He held bobby pins for my mom while she put my veil in, and we got ready for our grand exit from the Temple!

Okay, tune in next time for some pictures and the rest of the day! I will be much briefer in the next portion; in fact, I think parts of it I will simply tell in picture.