WE'RE MARRIED!!!!

All of our family and friends have come and gone....our place looks like a tornado came through here....there's a pile of thank you's staring at us already.....we are exhausted but happy, excited, in love and each of us have a shiny pretty ring on our left hand! Holy crap, we're finally married!!!! After a 352 day long engagement that was most definitely full of its ups and downs (thankfully more ups than downs), some really special time spent with my mom and sister, an awesome bachelor party for Jordan and an amazing bachelorette party for me, and this past weekend getting to be surrounded by all of our family and closest friends to celebrate our wedding, made it all worth it. All of it. So what if we had an argument here or a disagreement there? The wedding still went on and it was magical and really, we all learned something about each other along the way. And that's what made it such a fun journey and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect guy to stand beside me throughout it all.

Our wedding weekend can be summed up in one simple word: epic. It was literally epic in every sense of the word. From the moment my parents got to town up until the moment we said goodbye to them and finally kicked back on our couch to take in the past few days. I don't want to brag, but it really was one of the most amazing and kickass receptions I have ever been to. Which rocks, since it was my own. And that's exactly what we wanted it to be, a huge party to celebrate! My Dad kicked things off with a very heartfelt, humorous and emotional father of the bride speech. He had all of us laughing our ass off one second and the next, crying like a baby, and just like that, laughing again a minute later. His love for me has always been obvious but his love for Jordan, and for us together, shined through and it made my heart so happy. Your parents can tell you that they're proud of you or that they love you, but when you can see it show through without hearing the words, that's just when you know. And the whole time he was speaking, I just knew and knowing that he's proud of me and Jordan, and loves us and supports us, well, that's a pretty great feeling. After all of the typical dances got out of the way, we kicked off the reception dance for all of our guests by having a "snowball dance" which basically started with the wedding party on the dance floor, and when the music stopped, we had to go get someone from the crowd to dance with us and this went on and on until everyone was out dancing! And the dance floor wasn't ever empty or clear all night from the beginning!!! The DJ was amazing and our family and friends were even more amazing! They know how to party and party we did...all night long! Party a little too hard? Maybe. Feel bad about celebrating my wedding a little too hard and drinking maybe just a little too much? Not at all. Jordan and I had the time of our freaking lives! All of those people were there because of us for our wedding and it was a very surreal moment when I looked out at the crowd and realized, "I know every single person here. And they're here because they love me and Jordan, support our decision to get married and want to help us celebrate." I don't know if I've ever experienced a moment like that but it gave me chills and I could just feel myself light up. Best moment ever. And like I told Jordan at the end of my toast, the best is truly yet to come for us and for our lives together. And I can't wait to see what is in store for us!

morning of the wedding...done with hair and make up!

Mom making sure everything is centered and looking good...fighting back the tears!

Teagan, the cutest flower girl and niece ever!

exchanging vows...I Do!

Hawks for life in front of Kinnick!

4 sisters!

our first dance to Matthew West "When I Say I Do"

and my second favorite dance of the night with my Dad
to The Temptations "My Girl"

I can't wait to get back our professional pictures! And to start using some of our awesome and neat gifts that we got! AND to plan a honeymoon with Jordan thanks to my verrrry generous family! How lucky in love are we?! Here's to celebrating 4 days of marriage and a life time of them to come!