Ohio Trip

I was so lucky to have FABULOUS college roomates. My first semester started out a bit rough, but once I fell into the college groove, I met a few girls that I will consider life-long friends.

I am a Lucky Girl!!

Jenna Elyn Martin is one of those girls! She was such a blessing in my life and I love everything about her. She is such an example to me and I have a feeling that one day, our dreams of picket fences, matching houses with dormers, a few kiddos that adore each other and a dog or two will come true. *Here's Praying!*

Two weeks ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to go to Ohio for my Jenna's wedding. It was wonderful. Everything any bride would dream of. We did lots of DIY things and everything turned out BEAUTIFUL on a BUDGET! It was amazing. Anyone that knows Jenna knows how spectacular she is. She lights up a room when she walks in. And she was nothing short of RADIENT on her special day. Bear with me... there's a *PICTURE OVERLOAD!*


Who doesn't love a good roadtrip? The gps said it would take us about 7 hours to get there. Because of the time we left (3pm on a Wednesday afternoon), Matt was convinced we'd hit rush hour traffic and be stuck for hours around DC. So he decided to go an "alternate route". Oh boy... you can imagine how that went. Even with the gps we had to call his dad for directions since the gps kept trying to take us weird ways. His dad said take 80 to 270. (According to him and Matt he said TO 70... of course it was my fault!) Oh well, who doesn't love a 9.5 hour drive with their hubby every now and then to liven up the marriage? We talked, played "I'm going to Grandma's house", sang, read... you name it. Minus the direction 'mishap' (which I still refuse to take full responsibility for! haha) it was a great trip!

We crossed quite a few state boarders, yet somehow I missed the "Welcome to Ohio" sign. It must have been dark!

This was my view the entire way... heck a girl's gotta be comfy right?!

Like any normal girls would do, as soon as we got to Jenna's house on Wednesday night, it was *SPA NIGHT*!!! We painted nails, and toenails... and did these awful stinky 'Indian Clay' masks that smelled like vinegar and dried so hard we couldn't even smile (*note Jenna's grimace below!). Our faces were bright RED for about 2 hours... but let me tell you, that stuff was a MIRACLE MASK! My face felt amazing after that thing, totally worth it!





We finally crashed around 3am after changing our polish colors 8 times and giggling like we used to in college. Believe it or not... our futon in the basement was COMFY!! lol

First thing in the morning we were up and putting together the flowers. I don't know why I didn't take any pictures of us doing that. I suppose the fact that my hands were covered in sticky eucalyptus and half of the time I was trying not to chuck a vase of cala lillies across the room. But, I have to say... the end result was GORGEOUS! And totally worth the effort and time it took to save that much money. There are some pictures of the flowers further in the post... read on!

We drove to Columbus that afternoon (3.5 more hours in the car, fun!!) for the rehearsal dinner.

How adorable do these two look at dinner??




Dusty's mom, Bridget had these gorgeous cakes made for the rehearsal.
So yummy, and CUTE!



Should anyone really be allowed to be this stinking cute?






After dinner (at the Spaghetti Wearhouse, YUMM!!) we played a game with Dusty and Jenna. They sat back to back and each held their shoes in their hands. We asked silly questions like, "Who will leave the bathroom door open first?" or "Who will take out the garbage?"

Apparently they disagree on who will get the first speeding ticket.






After this game they did a Newlywed game.
"What is Jenna's favorite flavor of ice cream?"
"What is Dusty's favorite sport to watch?"



Can you guess what the penalty was for a wrong answer?







You got it... GUM!!! Emily was the "Gum Nazi" and handed out the penalties.
Dusty won... by a landslide!







And... my cute hubby and I at the rehearsal dinner.



The hotel we stayed at was so nice! They kept the hot tub and pool open all night for us. Needless to say this picture was taken around 1:30am!! We had a blast :)





Friday started bright and early! I got up and did Jenna's hair.

What do you think?



WEDDING TIME!
After all of the preparation, it was finally wedding time!!

Isn't she GORGEOUS?! The big day is FINALLY here!!



Here's us waiting for them to come out of the temple.



Columbus Ohio Temple



Jenna's cute niece Aurora waiting for Jenna!
(With Jenna's bouquet! Did we do a good job?)



Another angle of the Columbus Ohio Temple.
It was a gorgeous clear day... but SOO CHILLY and WINDY!



Isabella and Aurora (Jenna's nieces) braved the wind and cold during picture time!



It was rather bright outside as well haha...



Since we were in all of the pictures, I didn't get any cute ones of them coming out of the temple... but how ADORABLE are these two??



After they came out of the temple, we set up a luncheon. It was yummy! Sandwiches, fruit, chips, brownies, cake... yummmm. Jenna and Dusty were frozen by the time they finally came inside from taking pictures. But their photographer got some amazing shots, it was totally worth it!! We brought them a sandwich or two during the whole process so nobody passed out. Once our pictures were out of the way, I totally caved and changed my clothes.



Jenna's cute little cousins decorated the car for them.
Isn't this shot neat?! I love the shadows of everyone you can see on the car.



This is how Matt felt by the time we finally got on the road home. :)



RECEPTION TIME!!!!
Saturday morning, we got up early and spent the day decorating the reception site. It was beautiful and completely "Jenna".

Here's us getting ready to leave for the reception.



And again...
We didn't look to shabby huh?



I decorated the cake table... I think it turned out great!



And how cute were the place settings??
(Those truffles were YUMMY!! lol)



One of us after dinner... we were STUFFED!

Menu:
Italian Wedding Soup
Tossed Salad
Chicken Cordon Bleu
Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Fresh Green Beans

Cake:
Banana Split (yellow cake with strawberries & whipped cream filling)
Chocolate with ganashe and raspberry filling.

No wonder we were GRINNING!!!



Cuuuuute couple!



Father/Daughter dance.



First Dance



Cake SMASH!!



Shoe aftermath...



This is how I felt after the reception... POOPED!



Sunday after church, Jenna and Dusty's family came over for present opening!

I think she likes ours!! :)

I can't get over how flippin adorable they are!!

And Matt saying,

"I want YOU to stop taking my picture!" hehe

WHEW!!! What a weekend!!! We ended up staying through Monday to get in some much needed relaxation and shopping time! We had so much fun spending time with Jenna and her family. Dusty is such a great guy, and his family is awesome. I can't wait to see them both in 2.5 weeks!!!