Our Love Story Part 4

We were engaged. I would be GT's FOREVER! I  was soooooo excited. SO here are the highlights of the preparation for the wedding...

The date... I knew I didnt want it to be cold. I hate cold weather. GT got in touch with his brother, who was in the Marines in Japan at the time, to find when he could come. He told us he would be visiting that summer in July other than that not until Christmas time. It was soon, but we decided to go ahead and get married July 12, 2008. I already had most of my wedding planned out before GT and I even began to date so the time frame was no big deal.

The dress...I had been looking at dresses online a few weeks before we were officially engaged. I saw one on Davids Bridal website and fell in love with it. It is the first one I tried on...I knew it was the one...my mom made me try on another one just to make sure. I got my veil off ebay, it was like 20 dollars and just as beautiful as the one that costs 100 at the store. For shoes..white Old Navy flip flops, of course!

The place...This was kind of a tough decision at first. Neither of us had a church we were really attached to. We considered Calvary Baptist in Shreveport, where we kind of grew up together. But it was really big and had been remodeled so it didnt look the same. We thought of Airline Baptist where I went most of my highschool and some college, but my brother wasnt on staff there anymore and I hadnt gone in a long time. SO we decided on the church where my parents and many other family members were married, First Baptist Oil City. And the reception would follow at the Oil Museum in dowtown Oil City. This place meant something to me because my late grandfather, John Charles Dickey "Tatol" was mayor of Oil City for a long time and was a big reason this museum was built. Plus, my Aunt Charlotte painted alot of the murals in the museum. And it was 5 minutes or less from the church.

The decorations...My mom took over most of the Department...I knew I wanted pink and brown. All different colors pink and chocolate brown. We got alot of things off ebay. We made alot of trips to hobby lobby during sells of flowers, bridal section, etc...My mom did the table cloths for the reception. My Aunt Peggy and I went to Libby glass and got some votives and mirrors for the centerpieces. A woman in my dads church, Jerry Gayle, did the flower arrangements. My Aunt Charlotte did the pew bows. I had so much help. It was wonderful. We have a family with many talents.

The cake...I wanted something different. I looked at many pictures of cakes and just never liked them, so I decided I would do a cupcake cake. The woman who did the catering for the reception had never done one before but was excited to do one! We had talked about it being big cupcakes, some cream filled, some vanilla, some chocolate, all with fancy icing. It didnt turn out this way. I think it was harder then she thought it would be, but I didnt get my dream cake. Oh well. Guess you cant have it all.

The honeymoon...We only had 5 months to plan a honeymoon. So no saving money for a big trip. We decided on a cruise to the Caribbean. It was alot of fun. We slept (really, slept) ALOT! The waves put us to sleep. And we ate ALOT!



So this was the beginning of our new life together. We did not know that the next year would be so rough, but it did make us closer as a family. Next...What I have learned about marriage....