NursingBliss from a SleeplessMama: { Wedding Bliss }

I feel like the past few months have whizzed by but we have accomplished so much as a family!

1) we paid off debt

2) we bought a house

3) we got married

Huge huge life events have been accomplished since I last wrote which means lucky you guys, lots to write about and lots for you to read!

I will just go down the list and update everyone in this life we have going on!

1) Paying off debt completely! Whewwww debt physically and emotionally stresses me out! I feel like my life gets consumed 90% with who what bills we have coming up, which card needs paid off first, so on and so forth. So for nick and I to completely pay our credit cards off was absolutely incredible. We had a goal which was to raise our pre qualification in order to buy a house and we achieved it. It took us a few months of strapping down, not splurging, cooking lunches and dinners instead of eating out, but we did it. We made it through and let me tell you...it was a fantastic feeling!

2) We then got ourself into a ton of debt by purchasing a house! haha But that debt is totally worth it! Elliana needed a backyard and we were simply sick of renting! I needed to be able to paint and put holes in our walls to make it feel like home! We looked for about a year, put a handful of offers in and finally found our starter home! It's 3 bedroom, 2 bath, all newly remodeled with super cute bathroom vanities (i love the bathrooms), new carpet/tile and a LAUNDRY ROOM!!!!! A laundry room for me was a must because when we were living in our apartment, I was hauling our laundry to my Grandma's house 2-3 times a week which was a painnnn! So for me to have indoor laundry is AMAZING!

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3) So many people have questions as to why we suddenly got married so here it goes ;)

Nick and I have been planning our wedding for awhile now and we were going to wait until October 2015 because we wanted to buy a house first and get settled in before we had a big wedding. Well after we moved into our house we sat down and talked about everything and realized we were thrilled with the way things were, we were content with our finances, we were happy Elliana finally had room to run around and we really didn't feel the need to wait over a year to get married! So we sat down with a calendar and figured out when the next time my sister would be in town (from Vancouver Canada) and when the next time his sisters would be in town (from Texas & NY). It just so happened that 3 weeks later my sister had a break from school and was coming home for a short vacation, and 4 weeks later we had a huge family wedding on his side that everyone from his family would be home, so clearly planning a wedding in 4 weeks was plenty of time for me, as long as everyone was able to be here.

Since my sister and his sisters visits weren't going to fall on the same days, we decided it would be nice to split our wedding up and do our ceremony the 1st weekend while my sister was here, and our reception the following weekend when his entire family & sisters were here! It turned out so perfect and I am so glad we decided to do a small wedding that our families were able to attend. Plus I didn't have over a year to plan which made things s.i.m.p.l.e and intimate! Exactly how I wanted it!!

The Ceremony:

Nick and I had planned to just go to the beach down in LA somewhere (I've always dreamed of having my grandfather marry me and he lives in LA) and have a small intimate ceremony with our parents and our witnesses. About a week into my simple plans, my mom called and asked if I trusted her...ummmm yeah why mom? She said she wanted to plan a surprise ceremony for us and I wouldn't know anything about it until I showed up on our wedding day. I agreed and thought this sounded fun and EASY for me!

My mom told me what hotel to check into the day of, and that the photographer would meet me, my sister/makeup artist and my best friend/hairdresser at the hotel. We had such an amazing time getting ready, laughing, playing with Ellie and taking hundreds of pictures! (The photographer that my mom hired was one of my oldest friend's mom, who has known me since i was 8 years old! It was so incredible to have her share that day with us!)

The day was amazing thus far, and all of this was going on while Nicholas was out playing disc golf at some course he found online. in the middle of us getting ready Nick came back to the hotel room to shower and get dressed before he headed to the venue. This meant that I had to hide behind the TV while him and Ellie had the cutest little photo while he got ready!

After I was finished getting ready my best friend drove me to the venue which turned out to be my cousin's house (she has the cutest little house and backyard in Valencia). My mom and sister-in-law did such an incredible job stalking my pintrest boards and finding my dream wedding decor. There were mint and turquoise vases everywhere with white candles, white tissue balls, hanging italian twinkle lights, a milk and cookie bar, and PIZZA for dinner! (nick and i have talked about having pizza for dinner and a milk and cookie bar at our wedding since we got engaged!)

It turned out SO perfect!

I honestly didn't think I'd cry. Boy was I wrong!

As soon as we pulled up to my cousin's house,

before I even saw Nick I was a mess!

We did our first look photos

as everyone stood crowded around the windows to watch us.

They then let Elliana outside to join us.

It was amazing.

My dad of course walked me down the aisle,

and I will never forget the way Nicholas Jaymes looked at me.

(even though he had just seen me 5 minutes prior)

My grandfather got to marry me. My dream since I was a little girl.

We ate pizza, had tons of cookies, danced with no music under the stars and twinkle lights and

we were happy.

I still get the butterflies thinking about that day.

My dream for Nicholas and I is to never forget how we felt on that exact day.

May 17, 2014

As much as I didn't want anything fancy, this ceremony topped my simple little beach wedding more than I could have imagined. It would have been even more perfect if Nick's three sisters and their families were able to be there but it just didn't work out.

I'm so grateful that they were able to make it to our reception the following weekend,

and the time we got to spend together made up for it all!

Here are some of my favorite photos from our ceremony & reception.

{ENJOY}