i have wanted to sit down for awhile now & really write to you about our wedding day. in the midst of wedding plans, i rarely used this space for wedding inspiration. instead, i sort of wanted to separate my thoughts from the wedding… my writing & blog were sort of an oasis free from to do lists, color themes, and everything else that comes with planning an important event. 
but i really have wanted to share our story with you because it is really special. now, after almost eight months of being a newlywed, my thoughts are finally starting to come together & i can write to you.
so to begin, i would like to let you know that at the age of twenty, i never thought i would be married. in fact, before meeting luke, i was totally opposed to marriage until i had traveled the world, experienced single hood in large doses, and met a wide variety of people. but after meeting this rosy-cheeked, lanky & handsome boy, my thoughts swiftly changed. lots of things happened, we began to grow as individuals & together, and realized that we could experience life & all of its adventures… together.
we knew that we wanted our wedding to be small & intimate, surrounded by the ones we love. we also wished for our day to reflect the quirkiness of our personalities & the simplicity of the life we were making together.
so we asked our brothers & sisters to be a part of our wedding party, knowing that they know the good & bad of us & love us regardless.
i also asked my best friend, {tori} to be my maid-of-honor. she has been there for me since grade school, knowing me at my most awkward stages & keeping my deepest secrets. she’s a part of me despite the many miles between us.
as for attire, we wanted to be very simple, expressing little bits of ourselves throughout. he purchased a vintage vest & jacket from a local thrift shop & wore his best vintage suede shoes with stripped green & cream socks.
i decided to wear a simple gown from a local wedding shop with a feathered headband instead of a veil. i wore my grandmother’s diamond earrings & a locket that luke gave me during our rehearsal dinner.
our friend, jeremy, designed & created the bouquets & boutonnieres. they were beautiful with natural & neutral tones & a mix of mosses & berries throughout. he weaved the sweetest little bird’s nest into my bouquet, which i absolutely adored. 
we are definitely “foodies” so we wanted delicious food at our reception. we asked uprise bakery to create our cake & cater the food for our wedding. a family friend helped us with the stump for the bottom of the cake & the twigs were found during one of our walks while traveling. we also asked a local ice cream shop to make us a custom ice cream flavor for our wedding. the flavor was honey lemon & so amazingly delicious.
for favors, i preserved little jars of jam for our guests. we made tags that said “spread the love” & everyone really loved them. it was worth the hard work & time put into all of it. we also had a candy bar with old-fashioned candy & cupcakes made by my mom.
we hung memorable photos with string from dried willow branches on the guests’ table, too.
we surprised our guests with mustache chocolate suckers made by us. mustaches are a part of an inside joke between luke & me. while dating, i had {& still do!} an obsession with mustaches. sadly, luke could never grow one although he attempted on several occasions. the ‘stache pops were in honor of him & his loving attempts.
because we couldn’t personally thank everyone at the reception for being such a wonderful part of our lives, we made a little note for each place setting & included our new address for friends & family to write to us. luke’s brother, joel, made a linoleum print of our engagement photo & hand-stamped {he’s amazing} each note. 
but most of all, our wedding was about coming together as one & celebrating the beautiful life we were making together.
to be honest, though, it can be so easy to get caught up in every little detail of the day, desperately hoping that everything is perfect. but in the end, it is about being with the ones you love & embarking on the new adventures to come.
luke & i are still very young & know that there are so many things to be learned & much room to grow. but in the end, we also know that we will grow together, travel together, enjoy delicious meals together, & savor every moment together.
thank you for reading.
love, natalie
