3 year anniversary

Three years ago yesterday, at 6:30pm, I became a married lady. We dropped Vance off at a friend's house who has a daughter 6 weeks younger than him (they're BFFs) and had dinner at an early 4:30pm. We went to a restaurant in town that was very accommodating to making me a dish with no egg and no garlic. It was so nice to get to go out and eat an amazing meal with no cooking or cleaning on my part. We left the restaurant and came home to eat a chocolate raspberry cake I made (I'll post the recipe later) and watch our wedding video before picking Vance up. It was a low key evening, but it was still fun getting to hang out with just my husband.

Here are some of our wedding highlights:
Our ceremony was short and sweet which was followed by a kick-ass reception party. We had been engaged about 15 months and after all the planning, and stressing, and our guest book showing up 3 months later than it was supposed to and 4 days before the wedding completely wrong (my first and only bridezilla moment), I was ready to get the show on the road.

The ceremony and reception were both at the the Indianapolis Zoo and White River Gardens. It was a magical day in that it was only 80 degrees, 40% humidity, and not a cloud in the sky...amazing for July in Indiana (the next two days were over 100* and 80% humidity). We were so lucky to have such amazing family and friends there to help us celebrate.

The inside of the Conservatory where the ceremony was held. 

Our first look. Is it bad that the first thing I notice isn't my future husbands adoring face as he looks at his beautiful bride?...it's my ass. Man am I glad that I took the opportunity to show that thing off when it was in its prime. Pregnancy really took a toll and now its a flat, saggy, mess. 

I'm so glad we took pictures before the ceremony. We got way more shots than we would have if we tried to cram everything in between the ceremony and reception. I also HATE with a passion waiting more than 1 hour between the two events when I go to weddings, so I didn't want to do that to our guests.

Our attendants and close family, parents and grandparents, were all on the main floor with us. Our guests were standing on a balcony that was wrapped around the inside of the conservatory. There are butterflies flying around the whole place.

By far one of my favorite photos.

View of the balcony and our guests.

 
Tara & Matthew's vows from Eyenamics on Vimeo.
I'm glad we decided to have a videographer. We wrote the whole ceremony and I'm happy we have it to watch over and over again. This video showcases just our vows. Also, I don't have some weird tick where I randomly look up all the time, I was just trying to look at our guests and take it all in.

I was beyond excited to finally be married to my best friend...and to go eat, drink, and party.

The cake was my "big thing". I had always wanted my wedding cake to be a statement piece and I think we succeeded. 

This Bride & Groom topper was from my Great Grandparents wedding and has been used on many of my family members' wedding cakes and they all had long, happy, marriages. It meant a lot that we got to use it too. We put it at the bottom of the cake so that 1. We could have a big statement topper to match our big statement cake and 2. I was scared to death if we put it on the top it would fall off, break, and I would forever be known as the one who broke a family heirloom. 

This is my, "Oh my god the cake is going to fall over" face that happened when we cut it and it started wobbling. 

Lucas Oil Stadium in the background for my Colts loving hubby. We took some more pictures while everyone finished up the dinner and cake.

Our reception hall overlooked the Indianapolis skyline and the White River.

We danced our first dance to "Stolen" by Dashboard Confessional (the slow version). Our first summer together we listened to that album on repeat the whole time we were together. 

Ah, memories. 

Rockin the karaoke with Tara from Eyenamics on Vimeo.

WATCH AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION! This is by far the worst singing and rendition of "Don't Stop Believing" you will ever hear in your life. It's seriously like nails on a chalkboard. Don't say I didn't warn you... (it was fun having karaoke at the wedding though)

Everyone having a grand time. I love that we got to celebrate with all our family and friends. It was truly one of the best days ever!

All photos are from the lovely and very talented Diane Drake Photography. She is responsible for all of our photos: engagement, wedding, maternity, newborn, and family. You should really check her out!

I wish I could upload our entire wedding video. It is 90 minutes of a cinematic masterpiece; it's seriously awesome. I hope our vows video showed you how talented Eyenamics is and how crazy you would be to not have them film you! They are from Indiana, but couples have flown them to Paris, Las Vegas, and more.  I recently heard that a super secret celebrity couple has booked them for their wedding in Chicago on a yacht...

We had such a great wedding, but what makes me the most giddy is how great it is to be married to your best friend and better half. I don't know where I would be without Matthew. He is my rock and the only one I want to go on this crazy roller coaster journey with.