The Best Day.

May 23rd, 2015 was the day I've literally dreamed about since I can remember.
Everyone told me to be prepared for something to go terribly wrong and not to let it ruin my day so I was fully prepared for everything to go basically the opposite of what I'd planned. I was a little worried when things seemed to start 2 days before our wedding when I woke up with an extremely sore throat. I did literally everything I could, gargling salt water, taking vitamin c pills by the bottle, drinking water like it was my job, sleeping with a humidifier, and on and on. I knew, though, that I couldn't fight this on my own. I asked my dad for a Priesthood blessing, knowing that I needed help from my Heavenly Father. I was given the sweetest blessing and was assured that, according to my faith, I would be 100% better on my wedding day. I knew that this blessing came from God and I rested easy that night. The next day I was feeling about 70% better and on my wedding morning I woke up with NO pain. I am so grateful for my loving Heavenly Father and my loving Earthly father. I know that I had this experience to draw closer to both of them on this the most important weekend of my life. Like I shared in my last post, sometimes we just need reminders :)
Now really prepared for anything to happen on our wedding day, much to my surprise, and complete and utter happiness, the entire day was BETTER than I could have imagined. Somehow, by divine grace I'm sure, literally nothing went wrong. NOTHING. Things went better than planned!! Does that happen?? I didn't think so but it definitely did last Saturday.

The morning started at 5 am for me because I was just TOO excited to sleep a second longer. Our house was packed with people and I didn't want to wake anyone I was sharing my room with so I relaxed on the couch for a while until I couldn't sit still. I listened to LDS hymns of worship (the best station on Pandora) while I curled my hair in my Mom's bathroom (everyone's favorite place to get ready... specially reserved for me today). No one else was awake besides my mom and I so even though there were about 20 people in our house everything was still and quiet. It was so peaceful and I still feel the butterfly feelings of happiness and excitement in my tummy when I think about it.
After my hair was finished, my mom and I headed over to our wonderful friend, Chrstine's, house. Christine is a professional make-up artist who did my make up when I was on the St. George royalty. I told her that I was going to have her do my make up for my wedding and I held her to that 3 years later! She did my make up while we listened to frank sinatra. Once again, I was so relaxed. Who has a relaxing wedding morning? Huge blessing. After Christine worked her magic I felt so beautiful. I think that's important on your wedding day :)
We picked up my dad and headed to the TEMPLE!
We got there before Ben and waited in the foyer for him to arrive. One of the attendants told me she was going to get me a new one (fiancé) out of the basement hahaha. When Ben walked in through the temple doors I cannot describe the feelings that I felt. I knew without a doubt that we were in the right place and I knew that I did not want to see anyone else walking through those doors. I chose my love and I LOVE my choice.
The next couple hours were a dream and I will never forget them. The temple attendants treated me like a princess and I certainly felt like one. As they helped me get ready in the gorgeous bride's room they went on and on about how adorable Ben is... I had to agree with them :)
Being sealed to Ben in the temple with all of the people who are most important to us was the most precious, sacred experience I have had in my life. I will always cherish it. I know without a doubt in my mind that because of our sealing, Ben and I will be together for not only our short time here on this Earth but for eternity. I know that we will have to work hard every day to accomplish that, but I also know that we can and that it will be so worth it. If heaven is anything like the sweet experience we had in the temple I will do absolutely whatever it takes to be there with my sweetheart.
After our sealing, I changed out of my mama's dress (that I'm so grateful I was able to wear) and into my own. I met up with my HUSBAND and we walked out of the temple doors to greet our cheering crowd! Ben and I had planned to do our secret handshake when we walked out of the temple but I was holding my gigantic bouquet so I ran to give it to my bridesmaids and everyone thought I left him hanging. All was well after we did our handshake :) It was a little rainy so we got to use the adorable umbrella meg and ryan found for us that morning. Tender mercy! The rain cleared up pretty quickly and we had lots of fun taking pictures around the temple with our INCREDIBLE photographer Lindsi Morrison who we love and adore.
After pictures we changed into comfy clothes and headed to the barn where our reception would be. Once again, all of our wonderful friends and family were there. With everyone's help, setting up went quickly and flawlessly! We cannot express our love and gratitude enough for everyone who helped us out. They made for a stress free day which was such a huge blessing.
After changing back into our wedding clothes and eating sandwiches in the car, we were ready for our reception! It looked a little stormy but the rain held off until the reception was over! TENDER MERCY. Our reception was so much fun. We loved seeing so many people we love, having a mini mission reunion and making a video for President Porter, dancing while serenaded by the amazing Lindy Butler, nicely feeding cake to each other  shoving cake in each other's faces, taking more pictures, eating pie and drinking lemonade,  and playing corn hole! Yep, we definitely played corn hole at our barn wedding :) Once again, everything was perfect. I could not have dreamed of everything going so well. The gorgeous barn strung with giant bulbed lights, the green pasture and white fence strung with more lights, the endless pie, the fancy corn hole my brother in law HAND MADE, the beautiful decorations my amazing mama MADE, and most importantly the family and friends. I'm smiling just thinking about it.
We were sent off with sparklers and a pie on our car. I may or may not have eaten pie off of our car. Who can resist very berry pie??

For the past week we have been living happily ever after.

Sorry for the super cheesy, mushy gushy post. I just honestly cannot express my gratitude enough for this day and I want to always remember just how sweet it was. I am so grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who helped me to realize that the only truly important part of the day was our sealing in the temple. After that I wasn't worried about much else, so maybe it didn't go as smoothly as I thought, who knows, but in my mind it was THE PERFECT DAY.

Here are a couple sneak peak pictures. Don't worry, I'll overload you with pictures later. Be excited.

xoxoxox,

Mrs. Martin