Wedding Wednesay: First Glance

    Hello everyone and welcome to Wedding Wednesday! Today, we're going to talk about first glance photos.
    I love first glance/look photos! Love them. Now, we all want that perfect first glance photo, obviously, but it's hard to know when to do it (before the ceremony or wait til the ceremony), what you want to do for it, etc. This is where good photographer's (and websites :p) come in to play.
    I love everything about this photo. It's so cute that they don't want to be seen...these shots are great especially if you want to wait to be seen until the ceremony. But I can also see then stepping out from the doors and getting some GREAT first glance shots. 

Source: brandonwerth.com via Beth on Pinterest

Love this reaction....

Source: smallpigart.se via Esther on Pinterest

Too cute. Love their reactions. :)

Source: bobbiandmike.com via Kirsten on Pinterest

Source: abeautifuldayphotography.com via Ashley on Pinterest

Aren't these great? Which are your favorites?
    When Tyler and I were married (July 7, 2009), we didn't really have anything too traditional...it was a small intimate wedding at Angel's baseball stadium after all haha...so we didn't have any first glance photos. But, for the celebration of our marriage, July 10, 2011, we got them :)

waiting for me to walk over

KISS

Checking out me and the dress

What do you think? I wanted some more, but ah well...such is life.  Pretty cute though, right? :p

Our wedding photos courtesy of Stephen Pappas Photography.

I love Weddings

    Let's talk weddings and how I'm obsessed with them; I absolutely LOVE weddings.
    I got married between my Junior and Senior years of college, July 7, 2009 before Tyler was deployed to Afghanistan. It was a small ceremony at Angels Stadium in Anaheim.
    We renewed our vows and had the "big" wedding July 10, 2011...2 years and 3 days later. I loved it. Read more about it here and here . The location was perfect, I loved my dress, my shoes, my hair and makeup...well, maybe a lip stick that stays longer, but other than that loved it. Loved the food, loved the DJ, loved the event coordinators...the only thing I didn't absolutely love was the photographer. He was such a great person, came highly recommended, great reviews, great website, had like 4 or 5 cameras with him...and still we had pictures that turned out blurry or not at all. The photos with my parents blurry. Photos of my dress, not spectacular. Photo of us and all the parents...didn't turn out...photos of the train of my dress...didn't turn out. Neither of these were on the website or CD, apparently they were that bad. I think he was experimenting with us. He did give us a discount, and yeah we are already married, but these are our wedding photos. Some look great, but some are just weird...the idea was there, but it didn't turn out. Live and learn I guess. It makes me want to take anniversary pics in a few years (since we never even did proper engagement photos) and I want to take bridal portraits. Sigh. It won't happen, at least the bridal portraits, but still I'm upset.
I had so much fun, it was everything I could've dreamed of (well, I say that and I always pictured myself getting married at a castle or palace hahaha).
    Anyway, I'm going to start doing wedding Wednesdays. I'm not sure why I haven't before...maybe I just didn't want to be "another one of those blogs" or maybe it's because two of my real life friends who blog do it. I'm not sure, but whatever the reason, I'm over it and will now join the wedding Wednesday world! Hooray! :)
*(I was going to leave you with some of the photographers photos, but uploading photos is currently failing...tomorrow or later today it is!)

Happy Days :)

   Ok, it's been awhile, and I apologize for this, but there has been A LOT going on. Thursday was Tyler's and my 2 year anniversary, so we spent it where we got married, at Angel's stadium in Anaheim, CA, watching the Angels kick some Mariner ass, haha.

   Friday I picked a friend up from the airport, picked up my wedding dress and got ready for the "wedding" on Sunday. Saturday we had a rehearsal in the morning (because there was a wedding at the location that night), and then had a lovely brunch at a local country club.

Some of the people at the Rehearsal Brunch. Look at all the rainbow colors! hehe

   This past Sunday, I got to re-marry the man of my dreams, my hubby, Tyler, in Our Celebration of Marriage. It was so much fun! Everyone looked great, it went basically without a hitch, the food was amazing, the pie was delicious and everyone looked like they had a good time. We also lucked out and got some furniture for free! The company who rented the furniture to the couple who had a wedding there the night before,  forgot to come and pick it up, so I could use it. Win. At this beautiful outdoor location, not only did we have lots of food a drink (lots of wine of course), we had a great DJ and lawn games. Yup, you heard me right, we had lawn games...croquet, horse shoes and corn hole (aka bean bag toss). I didn't tell many people about this (just family), because I wanted to be a surprise, even for the wedding party. People loved them! If you have an outdoor location with some space, some games might just be the thing you're looking for.I finally got the day I had dreamed about for so long. I got to walk down the aisle, have dances, wear a gown etc. It was one of the happiest days of my life. :)
   Anyway, here are some pictures via friends and family from that day. Professional pics should be available in like 2 weeks! Enjoy. :)

Wedding Party

Here I come! hehe

Kiss

Apparently something was funny in the ceremony haha.

Father/Daughter Dance

Parents :)

First Dance. :)

   I felt good in my dress until I saw a few pics of how unforgiving my it was. I couldn't wear spanx, etc. because you could see the lines, yes, even the ones that were seamless. Maybe I just should've worn them anyway. I thought that I looked pretty good, but some pics I feel I look like a fat cow or pregnant. I'm not either, though it would be interesting to find out what people think of me, like, do people consider me to be a "bigger" person? I know everyone said I looked gorgeous, beautiful, etc., but I just wonder, ya know? No, I am not fishing for compliments here...ha; I'm just a HORRIBLE critic of myself. Who isn't though? Well, I'm one of the worst I know. Le sigh. Ah well. I did get angry that all my working out and eating better apparently didn't pay off. Ok, ok. I guess it did, because I learned to enjoy working out. Sorry to vent, I know I did look beautiful, and I did love that dress. :)
   Saturday night, my throat started to hurt, but on Sunday, I was able to ignore it for the most part until we got to the hotel Sunday night. Oh man. My nose started acting CRAZY. Ugh. Of course. Worst part is, I still have it! I think it started as an allergy thing, but now is more of a cold. Ugh. So, it's Wednesday night, and I think I'm still jet-lagged. Also this cold thing doesn't help with the energy level.

Happy Anniversary

To me! Well, Tyler and I. Today, we have been married two years, and I can hardly believe it. Man how time has flown. And in 3 days, we're having our celebration of marriage. SO EXCITED!

Sorry that I've been a little MIA since I've gotten back to the states, it's just, there's so much to do for the celebration, people to see...this just gets pushed aside. Sigh.

So, to catch you all up...Friday I got to see/hang out with dear friends at a birthday dinner. Saturday I checked out the wedding location one last time with my coordinator and mother-in-law, then I went shopping at the outlets with some friends. Sunday I did lots of wedding stuff, getting ready for the 4th, and went to dinner with a friend. Monday was the 4th, so the Berry's had their 3rd annual bbq potluck function. Always a good time. I also got my dress fitted and bustled.
Tuesday Tyler's Aunt was still in town, and their cousin/uncle came to visit. We went out to brunch and saw Super 8. LOVED that movie.
Wednesday I did my hair trail, went to the caterer, ran errands, did wedding stuff...ya know. 
Today, as I said above, is Tyler's and my anniversary. :). To celebrate we're going to and Angels game with the family haha.

Most of my time has been spent doing wedding things and trying to see friends and family. I was in kinda a bad mood yesterday because I was so stressed. Ah well. Happens.
Hope everyone had a good 4th! :)

Time for a Review

   On Wednesday, I baked brownies and cleaned up the place. I love baking so much. They were dark chocolate with chocolate chips in love...so good. More please?
   On Thursday, Tyler didn't get home til 8pm...argh. Ok, hold up, let me start at the beginning...It was like 5:40 in the morning, and I noticed Tyler left with out coming in to give me my goodbye kiss. Huh, weird. Apparently, I got so thrown by this, (well, that and I started thinking about stuff I still need to do for our upcoming Celebration of Marriage) that I couldn't sleep. I stayed up until about about 7:40 and decided to try and go back to sleep. You see, the night before, I had a little too much fun creating the seating chart and stayed up til like 1 or 1:30. haha. I got a few more hours of sleep, and was then ready to start my day. After a breakfast, a good workout and doing the dishes, I heard something start to vibrate and then ring. Ok, that's not my phone, where is this coming from? Yup, Tyler left his cell. Oh boy. Later that day, I got the meat out to defrost and started to prep what I was going to make for dinner. It got to be 5:30 pm, he still wasn't home and I was getting hungry. It's not like I could call him and be like hey, when are you coming home? Sigh. I didn't want to start dinner, because I was making fish tacos, and those are pretty fast (and easy) to make. So, I just made myself a small PB&J to tide me over. Around 7, I was finally becoming suspicious and starting to wonder what he was still doing at work. Finally, a little after 8, he came home. He had to stay and get things ready for the high ranking people visiting the aid station the next day. Understandable. A phone call would've been nice though. Oh yeah, he also said they gave him pizza so he didn't need dinner. Boo. I ate chip and salsa. haha.
   On Friday, we FINALLY GOT A TV!!!! Oh man. Listen everyone, it's been such a long time since I've had a TV. I can finally watch my shows/movies on a bigger screen! :)
   Saturday, we Volksfest, a local carnival/county fair type thing, with the neighbors and some other friends. It was a pretty good time! Lots of good food, drinks and friend time. :) 
   Sunday, Tyler and I went X-Men. We both really enjoyed it! I feel like such a nerd saying this, but I LOVE superhero/action type movies. So great.

via

   Today, I started to pack for our trip to California and cleaned the apartment. We leave Wednesday, and I hate to leave a messy apartment. I have more to do tomorrow, like clean/mop the floors, but hey, I'm close. I can't believe we're going to California on WEDNESDAY!!! Oh man. Also, I can't believe that we're having our celebration of marriage in 13 DAYS!!! AHHHH!!! SO EXCITED!!!

July 7, 2009 :)

 How was everyone else's weekend? Any big trips coming up?

Celebration of our Marriage

   This summer, Tyler and I are renewing our vows and celebrating our marriage. We will be doing this Sunday, July 10, 2011, 2 years and 3 days from the first time we got married July 7, 2009. Now, we could've waited for our 5 year anniversary, 10 year anniversary, etc. but at this time in our life, we decided to do it now.
   Around April/May 2009, Tyler and I decided to get married in early July he was set to deploy to Afghanistan and that was when he would be home on leave before the deployment. We just wanted to get married in the courthouse and have a picnic with those who could be there after because there wasn't much time to plan anything bigger, and most locations were already booked for the time he would be home in the summer. Then, Tyler's parents suggested doing it at Angel's Stadium since they were going to an Angels game anyway. A couple days before the big day, one of my best friends decided to throw me a bachelorette party with lingerie given as gifts. I loved it! It was so much fun...we had appetizers, dinner, LOTS of drinks, some fun games, followed by a slumber party :).
   On Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at 6:05 in the evening, we were married (by my Uncle who is a pastor in the San Diego area) in a suite at Angel's Stadium in Anaheim, CA.

After the brief words and exchanging of vows, we met some of the Angels staff, including Rex Hudler and the communications director. Then we had delicious Angel's style BBQ, watched the Texas Rangers beat the Angels and had some good cake.

   The next day, we went to Disneyland with some of my family. On the 9th, Tyler and I drove up to San Francisco for a few days there, followed by a trip to Ukiah, CA, to see Tyler's great uncle and aunt who have a vineyard there

    When we were married, we were only together a short while, then he had to come back to Germany and I went back to my internship and back to school. Right before he was deployed in November, he got to come back home for a few weeks. Some marriage, huh? Then I didn't see him again till March, again, only for about 2 weeks. Then, I didn't see him again till November when he was back from being deployed. In our first year of marriage, I saw him maybe 2 months, if that. For the first year and a half I think it totals to about to about 4 months.
   Now, why do we want to renew our vows, and why do we want to do it so soon? It's not that we've forgotten the vows we made to each other on that day in a suite in Angel's stadium, it's just, well, we've been apart for so long, and we want to recommit to each other in front of God, friends and family. We also want to celebrate our marriage with all of those friends and family. When we were married, there were only a  few family members and friends in the suite with us. I, I guess selfishly, want to have the wedding celebration you dream about with all of our friends and family (those who can make it out anyway).  In our "first" wedding, there was no real walk down the aisle, no first dance, no father daughter dance (no dancing at all actually...silly baseball game), no garter or bouquet toss...there were some toasts and a cake cutting at least. I didn't even wear a wedding dress, I wore a white cocktail dress from Target, which is cute, but not what you think of. I want to wear a real wedding dress, have a first dance, a father daughter dance...
   Later, in August 2010, my sister did throw me a bridal shower, in my home town of Dallas, since I never had one. It was so cute! I loved it.
   Am I being selfish in wanting another wedding? Maybe. But so many people are renewing their vows or having "another" wedding with the same person, I figure, why can't I? Many people in the military do this as well. So again, why can't I?
  According to theknot.com article about Wedding Vow Renewal: How to Retie the Knot, they answer the question why renew? Their answer, "To celebrate. Perhaps you've made it to 10, 25, or 50 years together and you want the world to know that you'd do it all over again in a heartbeat. Maybe you want to reaffirm your commitment to each other after a rough period in your relationship. There's no wrong reason to renew." Exactly why we want to do it...to reaffirm our commitment to each other and to celebrate with friends and family! :)

   I have gotten some crap for wanting "another wedding" and have been called selfish. Some have said it's not fair, why should I get two weddings? What's not fair is that for the first year of our marriage he was in Afghanistan for basically all of it. What's not fair is that some people didn't acknowledge or remember I was married because he was never around, I still lived in a dorm room and they didn't see us get married, what's not fair is that people stopped inviting me out because, "oh...I didn't know you still wanted to go out being a married woman and all." What does that even mean?
   Most of those close to us have been supportive of our decision to have this "celebration of marriage" and are really excited about it! It's a time to have fun and finally celebrate our lives TOGETHER with friends and family. Having the wedding I've always wanted doesn't hurt either. Well, I can't say always wanted, because I did want to get married by a castle or something like it (hahaha...not kidding unfortunately). If I had millions of dollars to spare? ha.
  All in all, I'm really excited about this upcoming event! And I can't wait to spend this special day with friends and family close to us :) 

Here's some info about our upcoming Celebration of Marriage...
Location: Walnut Grove
Website: http://www.mywedding.com/tylerandbethberryswedding
Food: California BBQ
Dessert: Pie :) 
My dress: Can't share that yet. Tyler may stumble upon it, and he's the one who doesn't want to see or know anything about the dress until the evening of July 10th. Cute, huh?
Tyler's outift: He'll be wearing his Army Dress Blues
Bridesmaid Dresses: In the color of midnight
Groomsmen: Will be wearing tuxes from Friar Tux.