48 Hours Before my Wedding Day

My wedding day, April fools day, was coming faster then I expected. We didn't have much time to get things ready. I had ordered my dress online from a factory in China. But because of Chinese new year, and us making our wedding earlier, the dress would not make it in time. We canceled the order and plan B was wearing my sister beautiful dress. I tried it on a month before and I fit good, but would look great with a few adjustments. I was very happy to find a beautiful dress and  even better, to barrow one for FREE! It got closer to April 1st, I didn't have any time get it altered but I thought it wouldn't be a big deal. I consider myself a low key person and if it didn't fit perfect, I wouldn't really care. 48 hours before we were suppose to leave for st. George to get married, I tried on the dress one last time. For some reason, the moment I tried on that dress, I started crying like a baby! I'm not sure why I did, but in that moment, in that dress, I did not feel beautiful. Your wedding is the ONE day were you are a princess and everyone, including your self thinks you are beautiful. I felt so bad because my mother and sister in law Britt were there helping me put on the dress and saw that I was not happy. PLUS, I was leaving for St George in less then 2 days! What was I going to do. My mother, Britt, and Taylor got right to work and went on a search to find me a dress. The next day, while I was at work, they called and went to every wedding dress shop in Orem and Provo. I even got a few picture text messages of Taylor trying some on for me. Don't I have the best family EVER!? My mom finally found Peggy's bridal in north Orem. She found some dress that she thought I might like. I came in the next day before work, and the owner of the store even opened up an hour early just to help us out. I tried on the dresses my mom picked and non of them looked right. I looked  around the store a little and found one dress on a maniquin for under a hundred dollars. It was beautiful and I gave it a try. Once I tried it on, I came out of the dressing room and looked at my self in the big beautiful mirrors that every bridal boutique has. My mother and the owner were behind me waiting to see my reaction. I turned around and once again started to cry. But this was a good cry! I always thought it was so silly to watch those bridal tv shows and see the bride and the family bawling once she found THE dress. But in that moment I felt beautiful, and knew I was going to be a princess for my wedding day. I gave my mom a big huge and thanked her for helping me find an amazing dress. We then picked out some jewelery and the store owner was going to alter the dress in 5 hours with no charge. Just in time for me to finish my last shift of work, pick the dress up, and head down to St. George and prepare for the big day! That day my mom and with the help of my awesome sisters, found a dress, made my cake, got some decorations together, found an after party outfit for me, drove down to St George, helped Taylor find a place for us to have the Ceremony, prepare and have a family dinner and make me feel oh so special. All of this within 24 hours! They are super stars and I was so happy to have them care so much for me and my special day. Taylor and I found a hotel for both of our families to stay at, and it was only 35$ a night. I sure do like making things cheap. The families all officially met, we went to dinner and got ready for bed. The night before I slept in the same room as my mom and dad and it was my last night being a Wilkinson girl. A lot of things were going through my head that night, mostly thinking I can't believe this day is finally here. The day Taylor and I will finally be together and start our life as husband and wife. To be honest, a year or two back, even the thought of marrying Taylor was crazy. But everything felt so right and I had no doubt in my mind that Taylor and I were meant to be together. Soul mates is a silly phrase, and most people dont believe in such a thing. But i can honestly say, I could not picture my self with anyone else. We are right for each other. And I love him more and more every day. Those 48 hours before my wedding was an emotional roller coaster ride, and lots of last minute important details were accomplished. But that night before my wedding I was worry free, and knew the next day was going to be perfect!

Bridal showers

I had 3 amazing bridal showers before my wedding. The first one was hosted by my mom and sisters at my parents house. This was the family shower. Many of my Aunts, sisters, and Taylor's girl relatives came and supported me there. I remember getting cute aprons, kitchen supplies, baking boxes, receipts, a knife set, a kitchen aid and other great things! We played some games, ate some yummy food and watched a slide show of Taylor and my adventures while dating.
The second one was hosted by my 2 dear friends, Sarah Bennett and Kelsie Christensen. This was the crazy fun girl friend shower.  My high school friends, work friends, sister Tiffiny, childhood friends, college friends all came! It was at Sarah's house up in her awesome living room! This party was a lot of fun and many many many friends came and supported me! I felt very loved. We played some crazy games ate some yummy food and watched a dvd Kelsie made of Taylor and I. After everyone left, Kelsie, Sarah, and I went to some fun places to find some sexy liguere for my honeymoon. The party was a big success because of all my wonderful friends.
     The last shower was hosted by my mothers friends at Sister Lords house. This party was really fun too because I have known all these ladies since I was a little girl and all of them where genuinely excited for me. The ladies talked and caught up on each others lives and we munched on lots of treats. When opening presents it was a little more sentimental because I had received some tender gifts. I received a quilt my deceased grandmother(grammy) made for me before she died and my mom gave me the journal she had kept and wrote about me every since I still in the womb. What an amazing mother I had to write down different events of my childhood life. The ward ladies were very very generous and gave me awesome gifts! Expensive Pots and Pans, towels, sheets, gift cards, and the list goes on and on. It's hard to open present after present and feel such appreciation for each gift and only say thanks you. I wanted to say and do more but there really wasn't much except to tell them thank you.

      I am so blessed to have these wonderful women in my to make me feel like I was loved and cared for. I couldn't  thank them enough for all the time and money they spent to make my bridal showers unforgettable.

Pre- Wedding Planning

After the engagement, we started to plan. The planning was quite difficult for Taylor and I. We had many different ideas of where we wanted perform our ceremony. First, Costa Rica. Cons: The distance, family members would not be able to afford the trip, we would have to hire an expensive attorney to be there and witness the wedding, find a place to get married the day we got there, finding a hotel close to the place we wanted to get married, where to find decorations, marriage licenses are different and more difficult to receive because we are American citizen, and it goes on.
Pro: It would be original, romantic, memorable and pretty awesome location. The cons out weighed to pros so we decided, no. We did the same pros and cons list with Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic. We even had crazy ideas like, getting married while sky diving, getting married on Corona arch in Moab and after our " I dos" we would repel of the arch, being strapped up to paralleling harnesses on the beach and after the "I dos" fly off into the sky, and getting married on the crazy looking rocks of Goblin Valley .( One of Taylor's favorite places) All of those ideas were fun and exciting to talk about, but something I really wanted was my family there. We finally decided we wanted to get married close to a temple so we would be able to go back to that area and get sealed. So we compromised and decided to get married in a secret canyon near Snow Canyon, St George. This was adventurous, family could come, hotels were cheap to find, affordable, and an awesome original place to get married. It was perfect! Besides the fact that the couple days before the wedding was kinda crazy.
We actually had to plan the wedding 2 weeks earlier because Taylor and I messed up and scheduled the cruise for our honeymoon early. What ding dongs we are! When I told my mom we where changing the plans of our wedding once again, she started to cry/laugh. We had changed the date and location so many times she just couldn't help but break down.
Taylor's parents were not that happy either because they had just returned from 18 month mission in Hawaii and a month vacation in Indonisia. We actually couldn't conntact them while they were in Indonisia so when they returned home they got a huge suprise! Not only did there last son get engage, but he was getting married in a month.... SURPRISE MOM AND DAD! People thought we were crazy but couldn't expect anything different for Taylor Ogden. Our final date was quite ironic and appropriate for us two knuckle heads, April 1st, April Fools day! My mom said it was destiny!