our day

As they say...
opposites attract.

Tommy is very traditional.
I am very not so traditional.

Planning and throwing a wedding celebration that could satisfy both worlds was quite a project. Being in school... and away from Tommy... and having 2 months to plan it didn't help that. But I managed. I tried as hard as I could to go traditional, but still plan something that I would admire and enjoy. I ended up quite happy with the way it all turned out.

Especially the getting married part.

Here is the breakdown...


The Engagements:

I was in Rexburg, Idaho and Tommy was in San Diego, California. We didn't have a lot of options for our engagements as far as location. We decided to meet up in Utah and take our engagements at the Alpine Loop. Our photos were taken by Kaylee Barlow and we couldn't have been more pleased with them.

The Wardrobe:

Tommy wore a grey suit from H&M with a thin black tie.
I wore my mama's wedding dress and DKNY's Golden Delicious Perfume.

The Ceremony:

Tommy and I chose to be married in the San Diego, California Temple. It was here that we were able to make sacred covenants with the Lord and promises to each other. The ceremony was performed by my Grandpa, Ron Packard, and was beautifully done. San Diego is where Tommy and I started dating and has sentimental significance to our story. We were so delighted with our location choice.

The Rings:

Tommy did a wonderful job on picking out my rings. My engagement ring is a six prong, white gold, round solitaire. My wedding band is a round diamond band in rose gold. (That picture is the closest thing I could find to what mine looks like). I let Tommy pick out his own ring as he is traditional and such. He chose a white gold, polished band with flat edges. I absolutely love our rings. Tommy couldn't have picked better for me.

The Colors... Uh, what?

When people would ask what my color scheme was I was like, "Uh... I don't know. We don't have colors." I didn't want to pick a color scheme. I just wanted pretty. I wanted an organic and nature embracing look... meets pretty.

The Flowers:

All of the flowers were bought and arranged by yours truly, including my bouquet. I bought all of the flowers at the flower mart in Carlsbad, California. I went to the mart two days before the wedding with a very little idea of what I wanted or what would be available. The only thing I knew I wanted was stocks, because they smell so yummy. I'm into smells. I ended up getting white and off white stocks, white and off white hydrangeas, seeded eucalyptus (yummy smelling), rosemary (yummy smelling), and cattails. My Grandma Jean Packard, my sister Connie, and myself cut and arranged the flowers. 

The Place-settings and Setting:

I purchased most of the dinner plates, salad plates, goblets, glasses, tablecloths, and napkins at thrift stores and borrowed a few of them too. All of the plates were white, off white, and crystal. I wanted an eclectic mish mash of prettiness and I think we achieved it.

I made name cards that were inspired by Ashley and they turned out great and were fun to make.

We borrowed our tables from a church and they were free. Tommy and I set them up ourselves the day before the wedding. My wonderful parents and my younger brother, Landon, were kind enough to do the set-up of tablecloths, dishes, chairs, and flowers the morning of the wedding just the way I wanted it.

We held our dinner in the backyard of some friends of ours in Rancho Santa Fe, California. With such a beautiful setting there was really no need for decorations.

The Kids Table:

I wanted the kids to have their own fun place where they could be loud and let their parents relax with a leisurely meal. This worked out great! We gave the kiddies some PB&J sandwiches,  goldfish crackers, fruitsnacks, juice boxes, candy, pizza and animal toys. I highly recommend this idea because it worked out great and the kids had a blast together.

The Dinner:

Unfortunately, the food was so good that we didn't take a moment to snap a picture of any of it! Our dinner was catered by Shelly Rodriguez. To start we ate a lovely spinach salad with grapes, dried cranberries, feta cheese, candied walnuts, and a balsamic vinaigrette. Our main dish choices were some sort of delicious chicken and a juicy tri-tip and for our sides we had garlic mashed potatoes and green beans almondine. Our drinks were purchased at Trader Joe's. They have the yummiest sparkling juices I've ever tasted: sparkling pomegranate, sparkling apple, and sparkling blueberry. For dessert we had miniature cups of Häagen-Dazs dulce de leche ice-cream. We were eating it when Tommy proposed so I thought it was appropriate.

Our Photography:

All of our photography was taken by Kaylee Barlow. She helped us to capture so many sweet moments on our special day and helped make our memories of the day beautiful.

Our Parents:

Our parents were wonderful and can't be thanked enough for everything they did to help with the wedding celebration, not to mention the love and support they have shown us through the years. They are our heros and we were so glad they could share our special day with us.

Since this day my life has been so much happier, my heart has been so much fuller, my joy has been so much sweeter, my days have been so much better. 

The thought of forever would normally scare me, but with him it might not be long enough.