Anniversary

We've been married a whole year now. I can't believe how quickly it has gone by. We've been busy going on hikes, taking road-trips, visiting friends, and setting up our home. And it has been so much fun. 

This was a fun little blog while we were preparing to marry, and we had a few side projects going at the time, so I felt like I was spreading my focus. I have decided against keeping a whole bunch of blogs about us/our projects all up and running on various levels. So, we've consolidated things a bit. If you want an invite to our personal blog, just let me know (leave a comment and and fill in your e-mail information) and I'll send you the link. Otherwise you can find us here:

Janel's photography/art blog: The Desert Loves You
Jon's adventure photography.
Janel's flickr.

Thanks for visiting!

Wedding photos

Our wedding day photos were taken by Leo Patrone. He photographs exclusively with film cameras, which I love. He was a lot of fun to work with and I like how the photos turned out.

The ceremony:

Family: 

 

Details:

 

Friends: 

 The happy couple:

We had a wonderful wedding day. There was a lot of planning that went into it, but it was well worth it. The whole experience of putting together a wedding stretched me and further solidified Jon and I as a couple. We learned a lot along the way, like how to find a good caterer, what kind of cake we wanted, what kind of mood we wanted on our day, how to budget, how to craft all kinds of DIY elements, and a ton about ourselves. I got to further witness Jon's patience, kindness, listening skills, and sense of humor as we stumbled through the planning stages of our wedding together, and I'm only getting to see more and more of Jon's strengths as a married couple.

My advice for those that might be getting into all of this? --
1. Plan what you can plan, but be open to change and alternative options as you go.
2. Involve as many people as possible. Not only does delegation give you the chance to relax and gain perspective, but keeping everyone involved also creates cohesiveness.
3. Remember to keep having fun with your honey. There are a lot of business transactions and decisions to make, so balance that out with date nights, adventures, and a few days where talking wedding details is off-limits.
4. Get as much sleep as you can for the couple of nights before the wedding day-- not only does it make a difference in how you feel, but it also shows in the photos (which are forever).
5. Finally, on the day of-- just relax. Roll with the punches.

For me, the more details I had hammered out, the more contracts I had signed, the more comfortable I felt, and by the wedding day, I just went along with whatever was going on. Actually, Jon and I both did. We just had a good time-- we got our photos taken, we got to hang out with family and friends, and we actually managed to eat a little. I'd call that a pretty great day.