Wedding Wednesday! (Part 1)

Hello, everyone! I realized today that I have been married for 9 and a half months but have yet to do a recap! I can't believe that I've restrained myself for this long! So I've decided that today is the perfect day to do so! 

Kris proposed May 12th, 2012 and we planned on a long engagement. However, when he decided to join the service, that sped things up and we planned a wedding in less than 3 months! Needless to say, it was quite stressful! We got married on May 12th, 2013 (otherwise known as "Mother's Day"). That day was very sentimental to us and the best day of our lives.

I'm so excited that I finally get to share the details of this amazing day with all of you!

We had decided to get married at 5:30 p.m. at Veteran's Park, so for the entire day, I was a bundle of excitement. To be honest, I wasn't nervous at all. I just wanted to get the party started! So I went with my father to pick up the flowers and start decorating the reception venue. We had a very small affair of about 50 people, only close friends and family. Due to the short time frame and budget, most of our day was DIY.

A family friend did my hair and makeup and my mother and sister helped me get ready. I only had two people in my bridal party, my sister (Kelly) and Kris' little sister (Genna). When the time finally arrived, I was feeling beautiful, excited and nervous. We were having an outdoor ceremony and there was a horrible thunderstorm! We ended up having to move the wedding to the other side of the park because our original venue didn't have any cover. But nevertheless, the ceremony was still beautiful.

This was the first photograph that the photographer took that day, just before the ceremony.

The first one to walk was Genna. Thank goodness the rain stopped in time for them to walk!

Next was my sister Kelly, the Maid of Honor!

And of course, my father walked me down the aisle!

 Another family friend of ours was a notary, so we asked her to perform the ceremony. She did a flawless job, as expected!

After the ceremony, which was short and sweet, (just how I like it!) we took pictures with our immediate family/bridal party.

This is Kristopher's family: His step-father Ray, his mom Kim and of course, Genna. 

Kristopher's family is originally from Ohio and a few of his family members flew down for the occasion. Here with us is his Grandmother, Sharon and his cousin Sage, who was also the Best Man.

I'm so pleased with how the green and yellow color scheme worked out! In case anyone is wondering, the green is Clover and we got the dresses at David's Bridal! 

Then, of course, there's my family: My father Chris, (Yes, I married a man with the same name as my father.) my mother Michele and Kelly.

Everyone then made their way over to cocktail hour, which was held in the same area as our reception. Kristopher and I didn't want to have a traditional reception-type venue, nor did we have the money for it. So we decided to have our reception at a family friend's restaurant. (Do you see a theme here? A lot of family friends were involved in making my special day what it was!)

But Kris and I stayed behind to take more photos first!

Of course, these are not all of the pictures that we took; they're just a few of my favorites! If I put every photo we took on here, we'd be here all night! 

So then it was time for Kris and I to head over to the reception for our big introduction and Mr. and Mrs.!

That brings us to the end of Part 1! I'll have Part 2 up very soon! I hope you've enjoyed learning about mine and Kris' special day! 

Until next time!

-Chelsea 

25 Little Things I Live For

1. Getting so immersed in a book that I stay up all night reading it

2. That first cup of hot chocolate in the winter

3. The smile on my husband's face

4. Spoiling my little sister

5. My parents telling me how proud they are of me

6. Waking up to see my dog wagging his tail and smiling at me

7. Lazy days watching Disney movies


8. Writing my blogs and/or stories

9. Driving with the convertible top down on a gorgeous day

10. The pride I feel when I tell people my husband is in the army

11. The first steps onto Main Street U.S.A. in Walt Disney World


12. That first sip of coffee in the morning

13. Hugs from my sister

14. Finding the perfect dress when I'm out shopping

15. Reminiscing of my amazing wedding day

16. Visiting my grandmother and hearing her stories

17. That moment when I cross everything off of my to-do list

18. Lunch dates with my friends at school

19. That feeling I get when I finish a workout


20. Learning more about myself

21. That carefree and worry-free feeling I get when I swim in the ocean

22. Connecting with someone on a personal level

23. Reading nice comments from my readers

24. Spending quality time with my family before I move away

25. Appreciating the little things in life



What do you live for?

-Chelsea

I Got My Mom A Son-In-Law For Mother's Day

Me and my hubby! :) 

One day each year is set aside to celebrate one of the most important people in our lives, Mother's Day. The irony of this day is that mothers celebrate their kids every day and they don't ever ask for anything in return.

In my opinion, one day a year is not enough recognition for the people who stay up late nursing us when we're sick, help us with our homework, feed us, cloth us and run us to soccer practice three times a week. Yet, I do recognize the importance of showing them just how much they mean to us.

Now most people that I know get up early and make their mothers breakfast in bed, make them a homemade present/card or take them out for dinner. Every year I pretty much do the same thing but sometimes I write my mom poems expressing my love and appreciation for her. But this year, I'm doing something a little different: I'm getting her a son-in-law.

Never in a million years did I picture myself getting married at such a young age but that's the crazy thing about life: the best things come in moments of surprise. You can't really plan your future because things almost never work out the way that you want them too.

In theory, my fiance and I were going to wait until November of 2016 to get married. But with him joining the military, us moving and our lives turning upside-down, we embraced the wedding early. We grabbed on tight with both hands and held on as best as we could. Now the whole process of enlisting, leaving for boot camp and trying to get everything signed and ready in time has been stressful. To add to the stress, we decided to get married on Mother's Day.

That was, by no means, not the original plan. Since we got together in November, we had always planned on a November wedding. But we chose May 12th 2013 because that was the one year anniversary of the day that he proposed and he was leaving for boot camp the week after. We wanted to have a big blowout celebration before he left for 11 months of training and we were separated. This whole thing has been so much to take in and we didn't even know that it was Mother's Day until after we had picked it and started planning.

Now a lot of people decided not to come just because of it being on Mother's Day and a lot of people had accused me of being selfish for not devoting the entire day to my mother. If I'm going to be honest, I don't think that everyone spends 24/7 with their mothers that day but that's not my business. But the only person whose opinion I cared about on the subject was my mother, who shared with me that she loves the fact that it's on Mother's Day.

What better way for my mother to celebrate Mother's Day than by throwing an amazing party, dancing the night away and knowing that she made her oldest daughter's dream come true? She has given me so much (so has my father but that will be discussed in a future blog) and has not complained once about the date. But I look at it like this: there is nothing better I could have given her better than my fiance.

While that may seem a little odd, she will know that I will be happy, secure, taken care of and she'll know that I'll be married to a man that she can be proud to call her son-in-law. In my opinion, there is no more respected career than being in any branch of the military and she can be proud of who we are as a couple. But my mom will know that I'll be insured, that I'll be safe, that I'll be financially stable and that I will have had a dream come true because of how incredibly wonderful she is.

I know that I talk a lot about my mom in my blogs but it is because I relate to her so much and we are so close. She makes me feel safe, at home, loved, strong, appreciated, intelligent and respected. Although I wish that I could devote an entire day to her, I'm giving her a reason to dress up, dance, have fun and forget about her problems for a few hours. To me, that is the best thing that I could give her, gift-wrapped or not and I only hope that one day that she will be as proud of me as I am of her.

I can truly say that if I grow up to be half the mom or woman that she is, I did something right. I can come talk to her about any problem, no matter how big or small and she will not judge me. I can also count on her to always be 100 percent honest with me. She is truly my best friend and I don't know what I would do without her. I know that everyone thinks that they have the best mom in the world and that's fine, you can think that. But I know in my heart that my mom is the best because she does everything for me, she's my world, my rock and my true best friend.

 It's going to kill me when I pack my bags and move out and I know that I'll be crying my eyes out when I have to let go of her and say goodbye. But I'll be able to do it because I'll be the woman that she raised me to be and because of that, I'll be ready.

 One day on a calendar is not enough to show my mother how much she means to me and how much it would kill me to be without her, so I try to tell her everyday but I know it's not enough to make up for everything that she's ever done for me. I'll be in her debt for the rest of my life and it'll kill me to leave my mama bird's nest but hey... sounds like life to me.

I love you Mom, more than you'll ever know. (I'm crying as I'm writing this.) Thank you for being you. I wouldn't have it any other way. No matter what, you'll always be perfect to me, Princess. :)