As promised, I'm breaking down the details of our wedding day, and my first love in the whole planning process was my dress. My bridesmaids, mom and now mother-in-law went shopping one weekend early in January, and we had so much fun. My dress is one of the first I tried on, and by about the fourth dress shop appointment, I was totally over trying on any other dresses, and had this one dancing in my mind. I had no idea what kind of dress I wanted for sure, but I knew I didn't want a ballgown, and I was hoping not to go strapless. I got my wishes, and I loved the lace details of my dress. Much to the chagrin of my mom early in the wedding day and Kyle later, my dress also had beautiful buttons down the back, but I'm not apologizing to either of them - it was a dreamy detail!

I found this at a cute boutique, Ready or Knot, in Omaha, and I loved the shop as much as my dress. My mom actually made my veil, which makes it even more special, but with the long aisle of the church, I loved the idea of a cathedral veil. Kyle & I both love red, so I went with a cute, summery lace dress from David's (it surprised me they were so cute!), but I loved the pop of color on my bridesmaids and in all our pictures. Our cutie flower girls were also dressed at David's, and I tried to keep their look simple and girly. Picking out dresses was so fun, and I pretty much just stare at pictures of mine now...I think I'll take my sister's advice and do some housework in my dress before I have it cleaned ;)

Holy matrimony! We got married two weeks ago, and it was such a whirlwind and has been since. I'll be sharing pieces of the wedding over the next days and weeks, but I'm also setting up a brand new classroom and trying to declutter a new house after moving. I don't like to be bored :) Here's a preview, though:

The week of our wedding was officially the hottest week we'd had in our neck of the woods in four years, and nothing makes a bride sweat like that headline! However, we just rolled with it, and we stuck to air conditioned spaces. We had such a fabulous day, and I decided early on in the planning process that I wasn't going to be one of those brides who got crazy and let things bother me. Trust me, we had hiccups along the way with planning (down to my party bus breaking down 15 hours before go-time), but I just didn't want to be bothered about things out of my control, and I think we all had more fun that way!
We took off for the Bahamas after our whirlwind weekend, and I'm finally catching my breath. We're already loving not "loving each other from across the state," as Kyle frequently said, and while I know there'll be days that sentiment comes into play, right now it's nice just to see each other every day, and to know we keep getting to do just that! We're pretty smitten kitten over here, but I'm not apologizing :)

It's officially wedding week! I think sleep is going to be sparse this week; I'm just too excited. I promise I'll try to sleep, though, Mom. 

I spent last week in Orlando at a STEM Forum with some of my favorite people - my fellow NASA Space Ambassadors. We have the best time together, and while I was nervous about taking off right before the wedding, the opposite was true: my peeps made my week so fun, relaxing, and special. I'm so continually blessed by the opportunities and relationships I have as a result of that simple application I filled out as an unknowing pre-service teacher! Additionally, I was asked to sit on a planning committee with the education department at Kennedy Space Center to put on a summer educator conference next summer, too. I'm just constantly pinching myself!

Now that I'm back for wedding week, though, I have a week of trying on my dress, assembling goody bags, and waiting anxiously for all my favorite people to gather to celebrate Kyle & I. How blessed are we?! I can't wait for it to be here, but I also don't want to wish it away (shout out to my BFF for bringing me back to earth on that one).