Year One Anniversary Pictures

Personally, I don't think the only formal photos you should take as a couple are your engagement and wedding photos. I was looking forward to taking pictures with Eric for like a month! We had the excuse to be affectionate- holding hands, kisses on the forehead, hugging-because there was a camera on us to document it! A few days before our anniversary a friend snapped some pictures for us and it was so fun to be able to laugh with one another, talk about the past year in between camera clicks and look into each others eyes and smile. During this day I felt like it was our anniversary, then it was nice to remember there was still more to come and celebrate. It was part of our little way to celebrate being married for the past year. Plus, these are for our posterity :)

Anniversary Weekend

Today is our wedding anniversary. Mostly yesterday, we celebrated being married for One Year. (six years being together). I can talk on and on about how fast the time has gone by or about the different memories we've made. 

I really am just so happy and grateful this man picked me. We have a been on a wonderful roller coaster this past year and when I stop to really think about it, there is no one else that I would rather be with, experiencing life and growing with one another. That's when in that moment I feel this immense amount of love for my husband and the life we have with one another. The first year was simply the best because I married my best friend; a man who is gentle, loving, understanding, kind and hilarious! He has kept me smiling and laughing. I look forward to this coming year and what ever it brings!

Yesterday we packed a lunch and drove to some hot springs to enjoy and relax- which was so nice! 

This was the only picture of the hot springs I took... because I feel awkward taking pictures of a bunch of people in pools wearing bathing suits. This one was mostly empty because it was HOT! I couldn't stand to be in it more than two minutes, and then I was only dipping my feet in it. 

We came home and cleaned up nice and headed to dinner! 

We went to a place that we've been hearing a ton about the past few months. Basically that it's pricy, but worth it because 'all you can eat steak'! We didn't call ahead or think about making a reservation, so that resulted in our 40 minute wait. That place is packed! We sat and chatted and drooled thinking about the delicious food. Once we were seated the rolls just kept coming, we ordered an appetizer (hello, super hungry) that was something else amazing and the dinner was so worth the wait because it was delicious. Eric had the all you can steak with a loaded bake potato and house salad. Technically you aren't aloud to share the steak... But he would cut a piece and slip it onto my plate- it was fantastic. I had a combo of chicken and steak fajitas, with black beans, spanish rice and all the great toppings. Eric finished his first steak and they brought out a second (which was considerably smaller that his first in the picture below). The second one was even better. It was so tender and juicy. Have I made you super hungry or what?? Bottom line... It was good! Check out Stockman's Restaurant in Idaho Falls.

Wedding Highlight: Cake and Food

The Bride's cake was simple and turned out beautiful and delicious. 

Vanilla cake, three teared, with flowers matching my bouquet and the rest of the wedding party. Who doesn't love a good wedding cake?? We saved the top layer to freeze. We were home in Texas for Christmas and not knowing when we would get to return again, we had a few bites and it was yummy! We also fed a piece to one another again,

 that time shoving it in each others faces :) 

Eric wanted the Groom's cake "manly" and in the shape of Texas. He was very pleased!

The cakes were a hit thanks to Eric's cousin! I am so grateful she agreed to do them. 

When it came to planning food this intimidated me. Food is expensive! For our wedding a caterer was out of question because it did not fit in our budget. How much food should you plan? How much are you willing to spend? What will be served? I would say our reception was designed to be for people to drop by to visit, celebrate, party with us and we wanted to provide some light food for them to snack on. I was making it a lot harder than it had to be! It ended up being simple, yet pretty. For food we served tasty mini sandwiches from Costco (that place is amazing all the time, but especially for weddings) and lots of finger foods. Including carrots, grapes, strawberries and cucumbers with dip provided. There was a wonderful group of ladies who volunteered to help in the kitchen! They made sure there was always enough food out on the tables! My bridesmaid put "to-go" boxes together for Eric and I to take with us after the reception back to the hotel. We didn't get a chance to eat anything at the reception (we were still full from our luncheon thank goodness). We did have food left over- but hey, it was healthy veggies and fruit that could be snacked on in the days to come and not a complete waste! 

Photography by Melissa Fullmer Photography

Wedding Highlight: Invites

Well in honor of the day celebrating our one year anniversary nearing, 

I thought I should crank out these last few wedding posts for my memory! Ha

I loved the way our wedding invites turned out. 
It's a great deal when your engagement photographers can also design it and print! 
Kimbry Studios took our photos and
their other company Anthology designed the invites.
You can view more of our engagement photos here.

We did our invites in colors that complimented the outfits we wore. We pulled in a shades of purples, blues, and reds. 

The Front

An engaged couple may find themselves in similar circumstances that we were in. We were flying 1,500 miles from Idaho to Texas to be married, flying to our honeymoon and then back to Idaho. We weren't quite sure how to handle gifts from friends and family. We couldn't bring it all on the plane with us and it would be silly to ship it all back to our home. 

We decided it would be appropriate to include some instructions on our invite saying

 "Due to travel limitations, letter-sized gifts are appreciated." 

It worked out great! When we moved into our new apartment we spend probably two weekends shopping. We were able to shop for everything we absolutely needed and personally pick it out. 

One gift we received from Eric's parents in Texas was our dyson vacuum cleaner. I went without it for 3.5 months until Eric's parents made a trip to Idaho for my college graduation and brought it. We desperately needed to stop borrowing our neighbors vacuums and needed it haha. I secretly love vacuuming and would do it everyday if I could....

The Back

We included two insertions in our wedding invites, 

one to our temple sealing and the second to a luncheon being held after the sealing.