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Here are some photos from my beautiful home wedding yesterday. We were planning to get married April 16, 2011 but decided we didn't want to wait and surprised all of our family yesterday. They were invited to a surprise birthday party for me that turned out to be our wedding.

It was an absolutely glorious day. It took a lot of hard work, but we pulled it off and couldn't be happier.

Here are some photos of the day.

Thanks, everyone. I made the cupcakes myself including the wrappers. I was surprised how good they turned out. And I got my dress on Dillards online store.

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes. We are super excited to have each other and to be married. My family and friends were shocked that this was the day. My mom thought we were kidding until I showed her the official marriage license. She was helping me so much with the April wedding that I think she was a bit relieved.

My husband and I have been together for over three years. We met on an XM Satellite Radio show. We were frequent callers to a NASCAR oriented talk radio show. We knew of each other but our path started when my husband asked the producer of the show for my online chat id. He is a truck driver and at the time I worked for a non-profit.  We chatted for a while on the phone and online for eight months before I felt comfortably enough to meet in person. After we met it took another two months of constant phone calls and dates before we became a couple.

Almost a year ago, I quit my non-profit job to become a truck driver. We drive team now traveling all over the country in a big rig. He trained me and that part was difficult and challenging but we stuck through it. Two months after I got my CDL he proposed.

Our proposal story was just as unique as how we met. We were in the Nevada Mojave desert on our way to Vegas via Searchlight. There were rain storms in the area producing a huge amount of rainbows. They seemed to be everywhere. I couldn't get over how beautiful they were. Then my mom called me. She said our vet had sent a condolence card (we had to put down our sweet dog Noel just a few days before. I was pretty emotional about that.) The card had a poem about the rainbow bridge. I just lost it. My husband just looked at me and said, sweetie it's gonna be alright. Then he started mumbling something. It took me a minute to figure out that he was asking me to marry him. We celebrated at a little casino. It was the night of the Super Bowl. The Saints won and it was so exciting.

My mother was excited too. Almost too excited. She quickly started making things, and buying things. Constantly, calling me to talk about the wedding. At this point we hadn't set a date or had a venue. Once that was squared away. I started making plans too. I had a vision for my wedding. I loved the vintage inspiration boards, and manzanita branches. At one point I was ready to give it all up, because I wanted my mom back. I was tired of every conversation being about the wedding. My husband convinced me otherwise. I talked to my mom and everything was good again.

Last week, my husband came to me and said let's get married tomorrow. We were on the West Coast. I said no way. I just couldn't do that to my family. Then I realized we could do both, and I came up with the surprise wedding idea. I called my college friend, who had officiated a friend's wedding last summer. I explained what we wanted to do and asked if it was possible for her. She said absolutely. She was the only one who knew at first. Slowly, we told a few people what was going on. Mostly, those out of town or state, who I knew could only be there with as much advance warning as possible. Mom and Dad found out the morning of the wedding. They can't keep a secret at all. So most people found out before they arrived. But still it was absolutely a surprise to everyone there.

I really couldn't be happier with the way things turned out. We used all of the things we had accumulated and made. There was one day of shopping where I got some of the things I was missing, but all in all I got everything I wanted for my wedding day.

We plan to take a honeymoon sometime next year. No details yet, but I'm hoping we can swing a grand canyon tour and a few days exploring the Moab, Utah area. In the meantime, my in-laws got us two nights at the Port Orleans resort at Disney World. We will probably use that around Christmas when we visit them in Florida. We love Disney World so much. We were super excited when they told us.

Anyway, that's our story and here are a few more pictures. By the way, all of my pictures were taken by a couple of family members. I edited them online and can't believe how good they look. It just blows my mind. 

Thanks again for all the well wishes.

Here are a couple more photos.

Some decor detail pics.