...part 2.

The ceremony.

We were so lucky to get married on the most beautiful day of May I've ever seen in Arizona. It was breezy, cool, and completely perfect. It was located in a large, 1/4 acre field in our neighborhood that our ward friends kindly prepared for us (thanks, Palmers!) The sun was setting on our ceremony, and it was everything that I had dreamed and hoped it would be.

We had a civil ceremony instead of the typical "Mormon ring ceremony" that you'll see between split families like ours. Typically, Mormons get "married" in the temple, and if one of the couple is a convert, they'll sometimes have a ring ceremony to appease their family that couldn't attend the temple ceremony. Unfortunately, I was not yet eligible to enter the temple (you have to have been baptized for a year), so we had a civil ceremony that both our families were able to be a part of -- and it was exactly how Heavenly Father wanted us to be married.

My favorite part of our ceremony was where we read each other journal entries that we had written the night before our wedding. In civil ceremonies, we aren't supposed to technically make "vows" to each other, but this was a sweet touch that made our ceremony more personal and meaningful to each other.

And then we were off to get our party on!