Cadence & Amkaa's Reception

It was fun having Trek's brother's & one of his sisters there with us & then his mom always adds so much fun.  Trek's Dad got super sick & couldn't even get onto the plane that morning.  We felt so bad for him.

This reception was one crazy mishap after another THE ENTIRE DAY.  I look back & laugh at the whole thing, but boy at the time I was having a mental breakdown trying to find workarounds for everything that kept going wrong.

First, Opa got sick.  He was officiating the Vow & Ring Ceremony at the reception.  He had a speech prepared & everything, & now he couldn't come.  We frantically called on my brother to see if he could put something together last minute & being the amazing human being that he is, he DID & he did it AWESOME.  He truly is the best brother in the whole world.

Cadence & Amkaa's car broke down (the entire transmission went out), so we ended up having to get them a rental car for their wedding!  Poor things.  We couldn't even decorate it because it was a rental.

At the park we were doing the reception at, the sprinkler system was on some sort of a timer, but the problem was that it wasn't stopping.  We watched it run through all of it's zones TWICE before we had the realization that they weren't going to turn off at all.  We all started making phone calls to the building facility people (I think we talked to 5 or 6 different people) & the last guy we talked to basically said "Oh, yeah, the sprinklers are broken so they just don't turn off."  GREAT.  Our entire reception was supposed to be in that grassy area that was now soaking wet.  Trek & my brother once again saved the day & literally SHUT OFF THE WATER to the park area so we could have the reception & not be soaked.

There were some issues with the food, & some issues with people who volunteered to help with the food not showing up, the tablecloths had issues & we wound up running to walmart to get some plastic tablecloths (FOR A WEDDING?????) etc. . . . but the reception happened nonetheless & it was still beautiful.  Cadence & Amkaa had a great time & I enjoyed seeing so many friends from California, Germany, Alabama, Virginia, Utah, & more.  It was like a giant military family reunion.  Trek & I were in a line most of the night so I didn't get any pictures of people or the food, but everyone said it turned out really nice.

Towards the end of the night we did the bouquet toss & the bout toss which was fun.

They cut the beautiful cake Lorien made for them & ate it.  (It was incredible.  Lemon cake with blueberry compote filling).  It was gorgeous.  

Then we had the mother son & father daughter dance, before the parents handed off their kids to each other.  It was beautiful & of course Trek cried his way through it.

After dancing, we all changed into traditional Mongolian clothing & spent the last hour of the reception dancing with each other.

At 9, they rode off in their little rental car & began their wonderful new life together as husband & wife.  We are so proud of them & can't wait to see all they accomplish together.

Congrats to Cadence & Amkaa Chinbataar!

 

Wedding at the Temple

All the pictures I have of the wedding & reception are taken with my own camera.  We should be getting the professional photos in 6-8 weeks & I'll be sure to post those when they come as well.  But for now, here's just a few snapshots from the day. 

(I tried really hard to NOT have my phone out much of the day because I wanted to experience the excitement & moment with my sweet Cadence firsthand.  So many times we get trapped behind those phones when taking photos.  It was a beautiful day with a beautiful bride!)

Getting ready for the wedding.

My favorite part of pictures all day was the "first look" with Amkaa seeing Cadence for the first time in her wedding dress.  The love these two have for each other is tangible & it was beautiful watching this happen first hand.

Their photographer was great & was taking SO MANY PICTURES the entire time.  She did photos with the wedding party, with the families, with cousins, they were all going to turn out beautiful.  I can't wait to see them.

So many wonderful friends from Mongolia were able to be there with Cadence & Amkaa.  They truly felt loved from both sides.

And we happened to bump into my Aunt & Uncle at the temple that morning.  (My dad's brother).  It was such a fun little happenstance.  They got to see Cadence & Amkaa come out of the temple as newly married husband & wife.

The ceremony inside the temple was beautiful as well.  My favorite part was watching them kneel across the alter & thanks to 2 mirrors behind each of them, they could see into eternity together as a married partnership.  It's beautiful.  In our religion we don't marry until death do us part, we marry our spouse for time & for all eternity & to me, it's the most beautiful promise we can make to each other.

My brother & I both cried throughout the ceremony because we felt the presence of both my mom & my dad there.  There were exactly 2 empty seats in the sealing room, but Justin & I knew they weren't "empty."  What an incredible blessing.  With how bad their health was there at the end, I truly believe this was the ONLY way they could have attending their granddaughter's wedding & I'm grateful they were there in spirit & could witness it from the other side of the veil.  I miss them so much.

After the wedding & pictures, we ran over to the church where the reception would be & enjoyed a wonderful family luncheon catered by Olive Garden.  It was SO NICE to just sit & not worry for 1 whole hour. . . then of course we got back to work to prepare for the reception.

 

The Day Before the Wedding!!!

The night before the wedding, Cadence & all of her bridesmaids came together for a fun bachelorette party together at our house.  First they all went chocolate making.

Then they came to our house & had a picnic outside in our backyard.  They giggled & sang to music, watched movies, played karaoke, did face masks, & had all the fun in the world on Cadence's last night as a single woman.

We also spent the day setting up decor & food for the reception so it would be ready to go on her special day.

Cadence's new in laws brought beautiful "cookies" (not really cookies. . . more like cheese curd?)  from Mongolia that they made by hand.  They were beautifully molded with lots of sacred Mongolian symbols for peace & love.  (Yes, that symbol in the middle is a traditional Buddhist symbol of peace, Hitler stole it & made it symbolize something horrible, but we want people to know that it actually means PEACE)

Amakaa's parents also made the two of them a beautiful diamond painting of the Provo temple to hang on their wall.

I'm not going to lie. . . it was a VERY STRESSFUL day, but we all survived it & we knew the wedding was going to be beautiful.