Saturday, April 17, 2010

Love Story Winner!

I forgot to mention this in my last blog entry, but that's what updates are for! A couple weeks ago, I entered me and Matt's love story into a contest put on by http://www.thebrideandgroom.com/ to win either a free trip to Disneyland (1st Prize) or an overnight stay in the Blue Boar Inn, which, despite its name, is a high-end resort here in Utah (2nd Prize). I received an email last week saying that our story had been chosen as a finalist in the contest, and at the wedding expo, Marcie Jones and Matt Weiszbrod's names were announced as 2nd prize winners for our love story!! We were both sooooooooooooooo excited!!!! So, in celebration of our win , here's our love story and a picture from our first date! Some of the story is a repeat of our engagement with a few more details that I chose to leave out before, so you get double the love and more of an inside scoop of our crazy lives when you read it! :) Oh, and I'll just say right now that I promise the person in the picture is Matt, even though it looks NOTHING like him!! Haha he was so cute with his long hair, but thank goodness for haircuts! :)

Here's the story of how the most incredible man I've ever met asked me to spend forever with him! Here we go....

Matt and I began our journey on the modern day fairytale-maker, Facebook. Actually, it started about three years ago when Matt's aunt and uncle started telling us about each other. Needless to say, neither of us gave it a second thought. No part of a long distance relationship sounded fun to either of us, that is, until last February when Matt sent me the first message over Facebook. We emailed back and forth for two months and had our first "phone date" on April 2, 2009. Finally, on May 25, we decided to meet in person in Denver, Colorado. His parents were on a family vacation in nearby Aspen and I had free flying benefits (one perk of having a flight attendant as a sister!) He drove a few hours to meet me, so we considered it our “meeting in the middle” spot. I can remember riding up the elevators at the airport, wondering and hoping that this person I had been talking to was as incredible in-person as he was on the phone! I got to the top of the elevator and saw tons of people eagerly awaiting their loved ones. Was I just not seeing him?? I scanned the crowd, my heart beating out of my chest, and resorted to my cell phone. “Hello!” said the other line. “Do you see me?” I nervously asked. “Yep, turn to your right.” As I turned, I saw him leaning against a pillar. I secretly laughed to myself because I knew he had planned it out that the first time I saw him, he would be looking cool and suave leaned up against a pillar, like something out of an old movie. (Later in our relationship, I used this as a teasing point, which he wholeheartedly denied, but later admitted that it was true and he wanted to look “cool” for me! Haha so cute!) After that, we were off to a fun-filled day! He had five envelopes with my name on it, and periodically throughout the day, he would hand me one of the envelopes that would give us directions to our next location. I never knew where we were going until we arrived. Our first stop was to a coffee shop, followed by indoor skydiving, dinner at a delicious Mexican restaurant and the grand finale was a walk under the sea in an aquarium (he knew I LOVED Disney’s The Little Mermaid!). And so began our monthly trips to and from Salt Lake City and Oklahoma! Matt told me later that that trip was the deal maker for him, but even before we met in Colorado, I had an idea that this was the man I was going to marry!

Flash forward a few months to March 1, 2010. Matt had flown in to Salt Lake to perform a wedding for his cousin, Ryker, who was getting married that Friday. (Matt is a licensed pastor and works with teenagers in a military town called Lawton/Ft. Sill, Oklahoma.) Wednesday afternoon, Matt and my dad had gone out to lunch, where Matt had asked my dad's permission to marry me. (For the record, my dad said yes!) He was scheduled to preach at our youth group on Wednesday night (which he did, and was so awesome!!), and afterwards we were going to meet up with Ryker and Heather to make sure all things were in order for the wedding. They lived up at Daybreak. Before we left to go up there, his Aunt Rhonda had called to tell us that Ryker and Heather had had a big fight so they were taking a walk around the lake to cool down, and that's where we were going to meet up with them. (I later found out that the "fight" was just a cover story for what happened next!)

Let me hurry and mention that Daybreak Lake was where we had our first kiss! It was July 2009, Matt had brought me up there to “set the mood.” I remember sitting on the dock, knowing he was going to kiss me and waiting for what seemed like forever for it to happen! There were ducks quacking underneath our dangling feet, and he kept telling me sweet things. I even remember him mentioning that the ducks were singing to me like I was Arial in the Little Mermaid. All I could think about was, “Oh please, just get it over with and kiss me!” Haha Matt is definitely the hopeless romantic in our relationship! And I love and appreciate every bit of him!

Anyway, back to the story: When we got up to the lake and got closer to "our" dock, I noticed there were candles lit up all around it. I just assumed it was something Daybreak had done, and didn't think any more of it. Well when we got up to the dock, I looked over and saw my best friend, Whitney, with a video camera. I looked over and there was a red velvet carpet rolled out with rose petals scattered all over it and candles all around the edges and floating in the water. He brought me to the middle of the carpet and said, "The candles represent the light that you've been in my life. There are 1,500 rose petals, one for every time that I think about you during the day. And this carpet represents the way I want to treat you for the rest of my life." Then, he got down on one knee and asked if I would marry him. Through my tears I managed to answer, YES!!! I wanted to soak in every bit of that moment. We stood there for awhile, and in between all the tears, kissing and hugs, we heard the flock of ducks that had been witnessing the whole thing take off flying! (In my mind, they were the same ducks who had been “singing” to me the night we had our first kiss!) The whole night was so perfect, and I felt like a princess! Every detail that went into it, right down to the fact that my best friend was there to record the whole thing, was absolutely perfect!!! I wouldn't have changed a thing! Even my ring was more than I could have asked for. He knew I had always wanted a different color stone in my ring, so he had two rubies put on the inside to represent the blood of Jesus. It was so special! We both know that it was God who brought us together, and it is God who's going to keep us together. Our relationship started out and is being sustained by Him. As long as we keep Him at the center, we know that even though difficult times may come, we have the God of the universe on our side! And all we can say is thank goodness for the love and grace of Jesus in our lives!! I not only get to marry the first man that I've ever loved, but I also get to marry my best friend and the one who challenges me the most to be a better person!! I couldn't be more ecstatic!!


So there is our prize-winning love story ladies and gentlemen!! I just found out that they posted part of the story on thebrideandgroom.com 's website! Here's a direct link if you want to see it:




Keeping Current

Today, my mom, sister, best friend and I attended Salt Lake's largest wedding expo to get some ideas for the big day, and let me tell you, putting that many women in a room at one time is DANGEROUS! Not to mention that there was a gun show going on next door! As Whitney's dad so accurately put it, "There's way too many hormones and amunition bouncing around in one area for anyone to be considered safe!" Haha, I couldn't agree more! Well sorta, but we really did have a good time together! I got to spend the day with three of the most special and important women in my life! So despite my drooping shoulders and glazed over eyes, I was fully aware that these moments need to be soaked up and enjoyed, because I have very few of them left.
During my intermissioned and hunched over state, while Whitney and I were trying to recover on an orange couch we found back in a corner, I ran into my cousin who informed me that I need to do some blog updating! So my apologies to all who keep looking to this for wedding planning updates. I have no excuse other than the fact that I'm a newbie to the bloggers' world. From now on, I'll try to keep things current. So here's things that can be crossed off my wedding to-do list so far:

WEDDING DRESS - Let's be honest, it's the first thing on a girl's list of priorities. Luckily, I was able to find the exact one that I had been looking for. And when I say exact, I do mean exact. It's so beautiful! It got the dad "stamp of approval," which usually means things are going to be pretty great! SIDE NOTE - Things in the past that have gotten the dad "stamp": horse, car, computer, hair, fiance. So far, I've had a pretty good success rate :)
In addition to my dress, I also found this sweet, Christian lady in Oregon who is going to hand-make my veil. The best part about it is that I was able to design it, which makes it that much more special! Me and my mom were also able to find shoes that will add a vintage flare to the whole thing!

WEDDING DATE - Friday, August 20, 2010 - Consider this our "Save the Date!"

WEDDING VENUE - Ceremony: After tons of visits to different venues and many frustrating conversations with the calculator, something finally clicked...why not combine all the things that I've ever wanted in a ceremony venue, for FREE?! Answer: Backyard. Matt and I both wanted a small ceremony with mainly family and a few close friends present, but I had always wanted an outdoor wedding, preferably in the mountains. My parents have put so much work into our yard to help make it beautiful, and we decided it would be so fitting to have the ceremony here. I'll have a waterfall backdrop, beautiful view of the Utah mountains on both sides, as well as the company of the other members of our family...my horse and two dogs! Haha okay, okay, I know what you're thinking....but don't worry! I'm not going to be one of those people that include their animals in their wedding line. But the fact that they'll be there in the background when the whole thing goes down makes it special :)
Reception: Matt and I both really enjoy a modern touch to things, and our reception venue adds just that! Our reception will take place at The Point Restaurant in downtown Salt Lake. It's at the top level of the Huntsman Cancer Institute and will overlook downtown on one side with a beautiful view of the mountains on the other. We're so excited about it! My only piece of advice to you that you make sure to bring your dancin' shoes!!!

PHOTOGRAPHER: I've already given her a plug on here before, but her work is absolutely unique and incredible! If you're looking for a great photographer, she's it!
http://www.photoumbra.com/

So there you go! You are now as current and in-the-loop as I am! Keep reading for special wedding details that we hope will make this wedding as much of a celebration for you as it is for us!

Love, love!
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