As long as we’re on the topic of the wedding, I am going to slip in some of the out-take pictures that I want to remember…things that happened before and after the big day. (The main wedding post is back HERE.)

And some extra pictures from Abby too…that girl is so good at capturing things. Loved this one:

And LOVED this one…I didn’t get any of these two together…my two oldest, those two born so close in age, fourteen months apart and pretty much attached at the hip for so much of their lives:

…And they got married about fourteen months apart from each other too. Kinda crazy.

Oh how I love that I get to be their mama.

Ok but let’s back up a little more…

Let’s go to when all the temples closed, Elle and Carson were stuck here (they came for Elle’s bridal shower, which didn’t happen, and there was no chance to go back to Hawaii, especially for a wedding!)

After all the temples closed and we realized we were going to have to wait for the sealing, Elle and Carson decided to ask my Dad if he would be the officiator. I have always thought it would be so great to have my dad officiate for my kids’ weddings…he has so much good wisdom to share and I love him so much! And unbeknownst to me they had already told him before that they wished he could do it (he is not a “sealer” at the temple). So this was a pretty perfect opportunity to ask him.

He was pretty ecstatic about that idea, and got right to work getting his license and preparing for the big day, whenever that would be. Love this FaceTime pic showing all their excitement:

As I talked about back HERE, there were what seemed like hundreds of plans for how the wedding would all go down, but when they finally settled on Page (a good meeting spot for Carson’s family and ours), and a date, this is how the weather forecast looked on the left below…look at Thursday:

Yikes! Almost 20 degrees colder and rainy on Thursday. But the actual day of the wedding was PERFECT (see the right side above…I took a screenshot of that on the big day because it was so awesome how that changed!).

The day before the wedding my friends and I tried for a drive-by shower (bridal shower, take 2). I texted out these invitations…

…only to find out right after that someone we know had tested positive for COVID-19. There would be no touching or even standing anywhere near each other, everyone would be staying in their cars, (some people have been pretty creative about stuff like this!) but we decided it wasn’t worth the risk so we cancelled that bridal shower too. (That person we knew turned out to be just fine, so glad.) Maybe some day that girl will get a bridal shower!

On a walk one morning I had spotted some cool dried palm leaves that I thought might be pretty cool to make an arbor for the wedding (Elle had been looking at some similar ideas on Pinterest), so my friend and I lugged them to our house, laughing all the way.

In the end Elle decided to keep things as simple as possible which I LOVED, but that palm leaf dragging was a pretty good memory:)

My girl and I did a little shopping to get some road trip snacks at Costco:

…and looked quick at Trader Joes for some bouquet ideas:

(we got a few little dried flowers but decided to pick some wild flowers along the way rather than something more fancy…have I mentioned how much I love Elle’s style?)

Tried on a bunch of wedding veils from my friend’s collection…Elle added the cowboy hat for fun…

My parents were staying in St. George before the wedding. And one of my good friends grew up in Page (a meeting spot for Carson’s family and ours), so she gave all kinds of recommendations as to where a great wedding spot would be. My parents went to check out a bunch of them and found some great ones. Here’s Elle the night before looking up the one that she thought would be best…it’s pretty cool to have technology to figure out things like this!

Instead of a bachelorette party or a family rehearsal dinner or anything grand that night, Elle spent a few hours reading Harry Potter to her little sister:

These girls worked on some “just married” paraphernalia for the car Elle and Carson would be using after the wedding:

And all the while, Bo found a solid chocolate Easter Bunny in my closet (I had been packing an Easter basket for Elle and Carson to take with them after the wedding), and ate the entire thing…

…causing her to be sick over and over again throughout the house.

It was an eventful night, filled up with bustling activity and also some emotions, of course, the night before a wedding. In the middle of a global pandemic. It was a crazy time. We were up so late ironing and talking and prepping, and finally it was morning, and we were off.

We took two different cars. I finally had a chance to talk deep and long with Dave while we were in our own car, the kids all smiling in the other. I got a chance to write my special notes to Elle and Carson:

We stopped along the way to find some nature to use for the bouquet:

Ha!

As soon as we got there Elle, Carson, Grace and I took off to check out the location and take a few pictures before our picnic lunch.

As we pulled up we found the perfect “flowers” to finish the bouquet growing on the edge of the parking lot:

Got Elle all straightened out:

And delighted in that GORGEOUS spot my parents had scoped out:

It was right close to the Glen Canyon Dam overlook. We walked over a little hill and found that spot that took our breath away…exceeded our expectations.

My parents turned up with “air hugs” for all…as well as my brother Josh who drove up separately and brought his drone to help capture that spot.

Snuggled up that girl of mine as much as I could for the last few minutes before she was a married woman.

We had a friend of a friend’s airBNB that we got to use for our little picnic lunch.

Love that everyone got a chance to get to know Carson’s family better from afar, and that all the siblings got an opportunity to say what they love at that bride and groom.

And it was so awesome to have Max and Abby back with us.

That house is a pretty awesome spot if anyone is ever looking for a good place to stay in that area by Lake Powell. Click HERE for more information.

I mentioned before that my friend made the most beautiful COVID-safe picnic lunches for all of us to bring on our journey. Seriously the kindest and most appreciated gesture!

Then it was time for the wedding to start.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story since they’re pretty self explanatory.

Similar Posts

5 Comments

  1. just beautiful…love the simpleness of it all, but filled with so much love and vows that last a lifetime!!

  2. Absolutely beautiful and perfect! I can feel the love of that day through your words and photos. Congratulations!

  3. I just love the simplicity of it all! So happy that with a little creativity y’all were able to pull it off.

  4. Thank you so much for sharing your journey for this COVID wedding…my daughter’s wedding is 6/6 so we have been doing the exact same things you experienced….planning the big dream wedding….scheduling showers, hair appt, nail appts, family get togethers to celebrate, dress fittings, meeting with vendors…and then BAM….is a matter of a week, we realized we needed Plan B…and then Plan C…we have tried to focus everyone on the marriage…and things are in place for 10 family members to gather instead of 180…no decorations and a family dinner at home after instead of the planned celebration. I am so thankful to know that the micro-wedding can still take place and my daughter and son in law can begin their life together safely. Thanks for being so inspiring..and tell Josh, if wants to adopt another sister in NC, I am available! He’s always there for support and just offering his unique skills and talents.
    Best wishes to Elle and Lars!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *