About 6 weeks ago an idea was born. A plan, a surprise, some could even say a LIE.
I (Meg) was out at dinner on a Friday night with close friends Jeff and Erin. There had been an idea in my mind driving home that day, so I shot it past them to see what they thought.
Me: Sooo…I think I have an idea.
(Erin sits up straight and gives me a curious look)
Erin: Yesss???
Me: Well mine and Josh’s anniversary is in two weeks…so what if I decided to give him a wedding as a present? In Sedona?
(Moment of silence whilst Erin squeals with glee.)
That’s where it began. But I decided,
JOSH. MUST. NOT. KNOW.
I wanted the ultimate surprise, I didn’t even want him to know we were going to go out of town. It was perfect, he didn’t even know that I had asked for the day off a couple of months before. But Jeff and Erin had to help me, I needed partners in crime. There was no way I was going to pull this off on my own. We decided that he would not even get to know until the morning of the wedding.
And so the planning started. I only had two weeks to get this put together, and without the groom even knowing! I had 2 emotions going through me. Stress, I think I wanted to throw up on a daily basis, though that was pretty much from paranoia that Josh would find out what was going on. And excitement/anticipation, I wanted Josh to know so badly what was going to happen, but the want to surprise him was greater!
Here’s what I needed to get done: DRESS, flowers, cake, pick out Josh’s suit, groom’s gift, headpiece, shoes, rings, officiate, photographer, dinner/reception, hotel reservation…PHEW.
I will always say that our marriage started in deception. Ha ha! Lying was a must in those 2 weeks. I had to be vague and pretend like I didn’t care about our anniversary whenever Josh tried to talk about it. When I finally realized that not wanting to do anything to celebrate 3 years together was going to be thought of as suspicious, I had to make up a story. I then told him that I wanted to take the day off of work and that we should do pottery and a movie then some dinner. A sigh of relief was exhaled when that seemed to satisfy his anniversary curiosity.
Deception continued as I went to talk to a cake person, had a couple dress fittings (that’s a story all in itself!), and emailed with people in Sedona who would help pull this special day off.
FINAL PLAN: Josh would get home Monday night at about 8:30. That’s when I tell him that I already have a bag packed, he needs to finish his, and we need to drive up to Sedona to celebrate a day off for our anniversary. I would tell him that Jeff and Erin are watching our animals. Then in the morning Jeff and Erin would knock on the door and surprise Josh, then we tell him that we are going to apply for our marriage license that day and get married!
MONDAY | 04.11.2011
Things always come up at that last minute. As Josh works all day long, I have to get out of work early to do my last dress fitting (a day before the ceremony, eek!). Then because of issues with that, I needed to figure out a way to pack my dress without Josh seeing it. I’m a bundle of nerves as I attempt to pack our bags. Attention level is ZERO, I can’t seem to concentrate on anything.
Josh gets home. He’s excited because he was able to surprise me with flowers sent to my work. Ironic since he has no idea that surprise that is in store for him. I tell him to go pack his bag and his jaw.hits.the.floor. Could not see that coming! Relief hits me as I realize that he can’t know about the wedding if he had no idea we were even going out of town.
On the drive up it’s quiet, we’ve been listening to the I-Pod and talking to pass the time.
JOSH: (in a funny voice) So I bet Jeff and Erin are going to meet us in Sedona and we’re going to get married, huh? Heh.
(my head does the slow “exorcist” turn and my jaw drops)
ME: Noooooo…that’s silly…they’re watching our animals…
(turn away Meg, avoid eye contact!)
Which btw, our good friends Kat and Sean were actually watching the animals, thanks again guys!
TUESDAY | 04.12.2011
Today’s the day! Josh takes a quick shower before breakfast and I sneakily text Erin to make sure that they are super careful about coming to the Bed and Breakfast.
The best part about Bed and Breakfast? The gourmet breakfasts are always to die for. As we go to the main hall to eat I have to be as vague as possible about the activities for the day. Vague = we are going to a group activity in Camp Verde and meeting the rest of the group at 9.30 to shuttle together. Technically none of that was a lie.
After breakfast we walk the grounds, including the Labyrinth. Josh is all excited to look at it, but has no clue that this is where our ceremony is going to be.
At this point, Josh is antsy to get the day started and find out where we are going. I try to be as nonchalant as possible as I wait for Jeff and Erin to show up, but it gets harder. I send a plea text when Josh takes a bathroom break. “Please get here, he’s getting impatient, can’t hold him off much longer!”
Little do I know that this is going on:
Now that the cat is out of the bag, we are off to the courthouse!
My nerves are finally starting to calm down, and being the good Maid of Honor, Erin gives us a little liquid courage in the form of Sangria. (in front of the courthouse no less!)
Before we can start to get ready for the ceremony we all need some lunch in our bellies. Don’t ask us why we thought some “vegan” food would be enough protein, etc. to keep us full until dinner afterwards.
Our juice that the “waitress” told us would be the best thing we’ve ever drank. Yeah, not so much.
How about some impromptu hula hooping? How could we NOT?!
Now it’s time to go our separate ways and get ready. Being at least semi traditional, I don’t want Josh to see me until the ceremony. No peeking mister!
Of course, being a photographer myself, I can’t resist getting my own snapshots of what I like to call “the little bits”.
CEREMONY
I am the first to arrive at the Labyrinth, waiting for Josh. It’s the photographer’s idea to blindfold him before he gets his “First Look”.
I’m so excited for him to see me! He has NO IDEA what my dress looks like, and it’s completely different than the direction I had thought I would go in.
The blindfold comes off and his grin is all I need to see. I feel like the most beautiful girl in all the world :]
We’re ready to start…Josh and I walk down “the aisle” together as the Labyrinth symbolizes our path in life together.
I got to choose our ceremony wording and I can see that I made the perfect choice, Josh and I can’t help but get teary and grin at each other.
Of course, then we get to our written vows and I don’t even get Josh’s name out before I start bawling! It seems to take me FOREVER to say them because I can’t stop crying.
Time for the hand fasting part of the ceremony. It’s an ancient (Celtic) tradition that ties the bridal couple together. Essentially it’s where the phrase “tied the knot” came from. We are pledging to intertwine our lives together.
And now the ring exchange! I’m so nervous I can barely get Josh’s onto his finger. Good thing he tried it on earlier and it fit perfectly or else I would have freaked out!
You may now kiss your bride!
And now I know how each of my bridal couples feel when the ceremony is over. PHOTO OP TIME! We just smile and do whatever she tells us to do :]
The venue surprises us with a bottle of champagne! As if we weren’t giddy enough as it was…But we drink with enthusiasm and sign our copy of the license for the officiate to send in the mail.
No rest for the bride and groom! Back to portraits!
We hug and thank our photographer for helping us catch the fun spirit we wanted to show! She seriously rocked, cracked us up. But now we have to get to our dinner reservation. Fancy schmancy, but we’re all ready to jump back into our jeans.
I start the phone calls, at the restaurant, with my own mother. I shocked her, to say the least!
Dinner was delicious but we were anxious to get to the cake! This was Josh’s last surprise, he had no idea what it looked like. AWESOME = our cake
Sadly, our day has to come to an end and we must say goodbye to our Best Man and Maid of Honor. They have to drive back to Phoenix and take care of our animals! There was a last minute decision to stay another night for us, so we need someone to check on them.
Yeah, not that I don’t love my new husband. But I’m not sure I trust him not to throw me in…
WEDNESDAY | 04.13.2011
Our first day as husband and wife! Decide to spend our “honeymoon day” in Sedona just being lazy.
Before we leave our Bed and Breakfast we walk around the property and take some photos, now that we actually have time!
We mull around the various shops trying to find the perfect thing to buy as a remembrance gift to ourselves. It’s always a tradition to get something on our vacations so that we always remember that particular trip, and this time is no different.
But that makes us hungry, so we stop for some lunch at our favorite tavern in Sedona. They have the best salads! And what would a honeymoon be without a mixed drink?
Alas, at some point we do need to go home. We say goodbye to beautiful Sedona, AZ and start the long drive home. Thankfully there’s not a ton of traffic!
We get a nice surprise when we get home and realize that Sean and Kat decorated the house! Sweet!
(these decorations are still up, I can’t bring myself to take them down!)
All in in all, it was PERFECT. I wouldn’t change one bit, not even letting Josh know about it. That’s what made most of it special, the fact that I got to tailor everything to us, and that I got to give that to him.
Also, the fact that he can never beat me with surprises now. EVER.
Thanks to everybody who helped me make this happen.
Jeff and Erin for being my partners in crime and dealing with my neurotic phone calls in trying to get everything done. Thank you two for helping me most of all keep this secret. Sean and Kat for helping watch our animals, thank you for spending your time doing that and for the decorations. It was truly something I didn’t expect and we were touched.
Officate: Margaret Van Damme of Van Damme Weddings
Venue: The Lodge at Sedona
Photographer: Pamela Duffy Photos
Cake: SLiCE Cake Designs
Dress: David’s Bridal (HUGE Thank you to the alternations ladies at the Ahwatukee location. They were able to make my dress dream come true in less than 2 weeks, without complaint! They were angels!)
We love you all and I am glad that now you have been able to read and see our amazing wedding story! It was a fun ride…
Cheers,
Meg aka Mrs. Ross :]
ps. If you want to keep in touch with Josh & I and you are not on Facebook our joint email is:
lewisross13@q.com
