My first day back in California was definitely unexpected. We had started hinting of the idea of marriage to each other over the past week, but we were thinking more of getting married either in December or waiting until spring. I honestly still don't know what exactly happened that day, but we went out to dinner at El Torito (one of our favorite restaurants) and decided to go home and tell Aaron's parents that we wanted to get married on August 16th... 3 1/2 weeks away! I'm not gonna lie, we were nervous about what reactions were coming our way. We did it though. We went home and told R-Dawg and Sher-bear (Ralph & Sherri). They were taken back a little... by the way, Aaron's sister Christina had just had her wedding the weekend before. Just when they thought all the wedding stuff was over... we hit them with another one. You can't blame them, I mean we hadn't even been dating for that long and half of our dating relationship had been over the phone. Things seemed a little bit uneasy that night, but by morning, Sher-bear was already helping us with the wedding plans. The next thing we had to do was tell my parents. They actually took it pretty well. My mom kind of already knew about what was going on from us talking, so my dad was prepared with some things to say in case he did get the phone call telling him I was getting married. The funny part is that my dad didn't even end up saying any of the things he was planning on saying. I guess it just seemed right. They had really liked Aaron when he had come up to visit. Now the worst part was over, but I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Planning a wedding is the most time consuming thing I have ever done. When the time is right, things will all work out. We were able to get the reception location reserved quickly, invitations were designed by Aaron's cousin Chris, and my dress ended up being the very first one I tried on. It was the most hectic but exciting time of my life. My wedding was everything I had ever wanted. We got married in the Newport Beach Temple and had our reception at a poolhouse right on the bay. My immediate family flew down along with my best friend Amy, and then later had another reception in Washington where I am from. All of our closest friends and family were there. We had big laterns as our center pieces that we lit up with candles. My colors were black, champayne, and pearl. Aaron's parents had put together an awesome dinner for everyone... mexican food! My favorite part about our wedding reception is when we were leaving and everyone was on the beach with sparklers as we left the reception on a kayak. There were clear skies and the moon was huge. We got to go around the bay and then drove to our hotel in the tracker. This was one of the most memorable days of my life... and I couldn't have picked a better person to spend it with!
