All images courtesy of Amy Carroll.

Words honestly cannot express the love, warmth, generosity, kindness and faith I felt on my wedding day. Everyone says that the day goes by in a blink of an eye but I didn’t believe them. I was going to make EVERY single second count – but it came and it went – in the blink of an eye.

Every single moment of May 7, 2011 was perfect. Now that it’s come and gone, I can admit that – It. Was. Perfect.

It was the single most important day of my life. I was marrying my soul mate, the love of my life. We made a commit to each other for better or worse – sickness and health – we are now bound together.

The ceremony was incredibly special. We married where my parents got married and that made it even more special.

But before I get ahead of myself I want to start at the rehearsal. What fun! The rehearsal went smoothly and then we got to go eat at La Marsa (my favorite restaurant). We had a big crowd and I honestly wouldn’t have had it any other way. Everyone got along so well and Adam and I got to spend some quality time with some of the people we love the most.

I had no nerves. The night before the wedding, once home from the rehearsal, myself, my mom and Kellie all cuddled up on the couch and watched Say Yes to the Dress (clearly appropriate). I went to bed early and had a wonderful night’s rest (the first time that week). I honestly had a sense of peace the night – no worries – no fears – no nerves. I was marrying the only man that I ever fell in love with – the only man that I ever dated or that I brought home to meet mom and dad. I knew this was it – there was no doubt in my mind.

I woke up the next morning with a “Happy Wedding Day” from my mom. It was a very calm morning. I took a shower and headed to the hair dressers. I was really looking forward to getting my hair and makeup done – it’s the girly girl in me.

I surprised my hairdresser with telling her that I now changed my mind – I wanted my hair down instead of up (like she did in my trial). She was thrilled! She was actually the one who made me change my mind. I am SO happy I decided this – it just looked more like me.

One by one most of my bridesmaids came to the salon to get their hair done too. Poor Cindy walked in with the champagne and chocolates and threw out her back! She ended up being OK but I felt bad for some of the pain she was in.

Once all the hair was done we all made our way back to my house and had a wonderful bridesmaid luncheon!

It was time to make our way to the church! We did some last minute putting together and the girls all got in their dresses.

As this point the photographer (Amy Carroll) had made her way in to document the rest of the day. We all went into the bathroom and got me in my dress! Funny story – during the whole getting in the dress moment, Jewels was asking me if she could walk down with her little dog. Being the mean aunt, I said no – she still walked down with the dog.

After getting in the dress we took our photos and the guys took theirs.

It was time to get ready to go down the aisle. This was the first time I had some butterflies in my stomach. Not because of the commit I was making but because it was THE moment.

Once the doors opened I honestly didn’t see anyone else other then Adam at the end of the aisle. I didn’t take my eyes off him. He looked SO handsome standing there waiting for me. It was a really awesome moment.

The ceremony went off without a hitch – it was beautiful and very traditional. I loved every moment of it.

Photos went extremely well (as you can see) and it was time to get introduced into the reception. We ended coming down from the stage and that was SO fun!!

Everything else seemed to go by in a blur. We had an amazing time at the reception with all our friends and family. The Armenian dancing, the food, the company, the crazy dancing – it was all a dream. Adam and I had a BLAST. We danced, we laughed, we kissed. It was perfect.

When looking back some people talk about the regrets and the things that they would change if they had a second change. But me? There is nothing I regret and there is absolutely nothing I would change.

It was perfect.

It was my dream come true.

God made a wonderful mother,
A mother who never grows old;
He made her smile of the sunshine.
And He moulded her heart of pure gold;
In her eyes He placed bright shining stars,
In her cheeks fair roses you see;
God made a wonderful mother,
And He gave that dear mother to me.

- Pat O.

** Happy 60th Birthday Mom **

My mom celebrated her 60th birthday this past week and unfortunately, I was sick for most of it.  Thankfully, we still partied. Here are a few shots from her birthday party!

Her beautiful flowers sent, with love, from Dikran and Kellie.

Happy Birthday!!

Her loves.

Gabby

Julia

Her sister.

Blowing out the candles!

And just because this wee one is soooo cute …

Happy Birthday to the world’s greatest mom!!

So I wanted to start something fun and exciting for the blog – Wedding Weekends. It’s going to be my chance to bring everyone up to date on the most current happenings of this crazy thing called a wedding.

Today’s wedding weekend is going to be about the escort cards! For some reason this was really hard for me to figure out what I really wanted to do. I knew I wanted something a little different but still classy. Cat came up with a great idea on how to decorate the table – but that’s going to be a completely different post.

I emailed Cat (my Matron of Honor and sister-in-law) a photo of what I really liked and we went from there.

Today we headed to the craft stores – Jo Anns and Micheal’s. There we found some great stuff and came up with an idea that would be just perfect for a little bit of different/classy.

This was a DIY project and Cat made a wonderful mock-up. All you need is some card stock, little sticky things that give the inside card a little height and a stamp(pad).

I personally LOVE the way it came out I’m not showing the colors because I need to leave some things a surprise

And since a post is ALWAYS better with a photo, here is Julia and my dad on my dad’s birthday – you know it’s a good party when there is chocolate all over your face

Today was the perfect (fall weather) day to go apple picking – so we did. Myself, my mom and my friend Erin packed ourselves in the car and rode to the South Lyon Cider Mill.

This may be a shocker but this was Erin’s FIRST TIME picking apples! What child doesn’t pick apples?! This was mind boggling to me. Thank goodness she decided to come with us and figure out what she’s been missing all these years!

I love that the cider mill is now open – it means that Fall is just around the corner and we all know that Michigan Fall’s are the absolute best!

The first apple of the season!

Erin was super happy she decided to come with us!

Rows and rows of apples … and there were still SLIM pickings!

My mom was determined to get the best Galas they had to offer.

Love this one .

All the goodies they had to offer!

Apples+ Donuts+ Carmel Apples = A successful trip!

Hope you enjoyed your first trip picking apples Erin! I’m sure you’ll be doing this two times a month now!

This past May Adam’s brother and sister-in-law asked Adam and I (along with Jen’s brother) to be Cami’s God Parents. We were beyond thrilled.  We love this little girl so much and for us to be asked was such an honor.

This past Sunday was the Baptism. It was at Kensington in Troy, MI and it was unlike anything I’ve ever been to before. It was very cool.

Here are a few images from the day (shot on a point and shoot).

Here’s sweet baby Cami waiting for her turn to be baptized!

Here are the parents and God Parents!

Adam and I with the ever so adorable Cami.

Love this face! How stinkin cute is she?!

Oh! Adam and I got our engagement photos done last week and they are on our photographers site (you know, a quick preview that makes you want to DIE to see the rest). Here is one – check out her blog at http://www.acarrollphotography.net/ to see the rest!

I seriously and truly love this man with all my heart.

I woke up feeling nervous. What if they didn’t like each other? What if there was awkward silences? What if someone said something wrong or offensive?

Waking up the day of my engagement party, I was nervous. My family and Adam’s family haven’t spent too much time together and I wasn’t sure if things would go well or not. This was seriously a big deal to me. I adore my family. I wanted Adam’s family to see why I talk about my family all the time. I adore Adam’s family. I wanted my family to see why I enjoy them so much.

My brother Dikran and his fiancée Kellie were in town from California and I was insanely happy that they were able to share this with us as well. Unfortunately Adam’s brother Derek couldn’t make it because of work – he surely was missed.

We didn’t do much. We ate (amazing meal), we talked and we laughed. It was enough. It was perfect.

Thank you to my family and my soon to be family. You truly made mine and Adam’s engagement special. We have all of you to thank for that.

I was born with no sisters. Now I have three <3

Mine and Adam’s amazing siblings (minus Derek T.) and nieces.

Here are the people who we owe everything too.

And here, is the love of my life.

I have a few favorite things to share with all of you eager readers.

The first thing is theknot.com. Calling ALL future brides. This site is amazing! Something new that they’ve added that I absolutely love? The color combination – such a help! All you need to do is choose your basic color – the color you really want to center your wedding around. Mine  is going to be brown, so I picked brown and then they gave me all these colors. Who knew all  these colors could go together? I love it!

To go completely off topic, one of my guilty pleasures is the show Glee. Tonight ends the first season of Glee and to get us all pumped up, the folks over at Fox decided to give us a sample of what’s to come.

Amazing, right? I could listen to those two all day. Luckily I only have to wait a little over an hour until it’s on!

So, those were the two things that I just had to share with everyone tonight, but before I leave to veg out on the couch for awhile (hey now, I did run today) I will leave you with a beautiful photo Adam took a couple weekends ago. I took the photo and tried my hand at Lightroom 3. It’s a little different then what I’m use to (Lightroom 2) but I think it might be love.

LOVE that Lightroom 3 allows you to put a watermark (easily) onto the images! More to come on that once I get use to it a little more!

Look for some amazing sessions coming up!

Wonder why there’s been no post lately? It’s because of all this wedding planning.

When I was a kid I always thought I knew how I wanted my wedding. After about three years of dating Adam I even looked into this whole wedding thing a lot more. I have to say that it is NOTHING like I thought it would be.

It’s WORK!

It’s fun, but it’s work. For some reason I thought everything I wanted was just going to happen. I was SO wrong.

To start things off, I really wanted to get married in April. Guess what? My church doesn’t marry at all in April. There that idea goes.  Then I decide to do May 7th but I can’t book any vendors until I get approved from the church. I was very worried about this – I didn’t NOT want to get approved. Fortunately, we did and May 7th is our date.

Right after I got my date, I had to grab my favorite photographer.  This is the one part that has gone oh so right so far. I contacted Amy Carroll and she was available on my day! There was no need to meet up with her or give her a call, I knew I already loved everything about her. She was my friends photographer last year and I LOVED every single photo. She is not only the coolest, most stylish and most talented person, she also made my friends day that much better. She has an amazing personality that is completely worth her price.

You all really need to visit her website here -

I wasn’t able to get the hall I wanted – they were already booked. I have now learned to just take things as they come.

The most important thing is that I’m going to marry the love of my life and I’m going to have fabulous picture to document the day.