The Happiest Day of My Life: My Wedding Day

❤ Justin and I met on Yahoo Personals in January 2007.  Yahoo emailed Justin my picture and he contacted me.  We talked for hours on the phone getting to know one another.  The second day of knowing each other he wrote me a beautiful song. A week after we met at a local Starbucks and that's when my life changed, I met the "one".  On August 7, 2011 I married the man of my dreams, my bestest (LOL, made up word) friend, Justin!  It was truly the happiest day of my life!  We had an unforgettable intimate wedding of family and close life long friends.

Our wedding took place at a country club golf course. The weather was absolutely beautiful that day!

Justin and I had a quick breakfast together and temporarily parted our ways.  I had my hair and makeup done on location at the country club.  They had a cute room  for the bride to get dressed. Nick and Anita of Pink Diamond Artisty created a natural wedding look and an intricate updo. 

I purposely wore a tube dress to easily change into my wedding dress without accidentallly smudging my makeup and ruining my hair.  Yellow is one of my favorite colors, it's such a bright and happy color and that's how I feel when I wear the color!  Yellow continuously reminds me of warm beautiful summer days. :)  

The dress was gifted from Club Couture  months ago. 

I also love these yellow tube dress by Gypsy & Eight Sixty Silk!

Nick, my wedding makeup artist has an amazing sense of style, hair style too!  

His hair is carved with the words "TEAM BRIDE"! I can spend all day talking about makeup products with Nick. He has such a fun personality!  Anita is extremely sweet too!  I couldn't have been happier meeting them.  The end result was even better than the initial makeup trial shown here. Nick and Anita mentioned I was probably the calmest bride they met.  I could not wait to marry Justin and had nothing to worry about. 

Wedding programs and wedding bubbles with pink ribbons were placed on each chair before the wedding.

Justin waiting for 11am to arrive:

Our wedding was small and I had two lovely bridesmaids. 

Left: Gail, my 15 year old baby sister

Right: Jessica, Justin's sister

❤ Their outfit:

Dress: The Limited (similar style and our second choice here)

Calla Lily necklaces 

Nude pumps (similar here)

Floral corsages

With the help of my mother and Justin's mother I was able to put on my wedding dress.  My little sister Gail was sweet and helped me put on my ShoeDazzle Pia wedding heels. 

❤ Earrings: Versailles Jewelmint

My tiara was a last minute add on, only $9.80 from Forever 21!

Short length veil

Justin and I have a mutual love for calla lilies and we want to inevitably name our future baby girl 

"Lily" or "Emily".

Our wedding theme was a bit of pink, gardenias and cala lillies galore! 

❤ From left to right:

Calla Lily Guest Book

Calla Lily handmade soaps with personalized names purchased from Enchanting Soaps.  

Our wedding programs were self made.  I purchased the tiny calla lily flowers from Michael's and Justin worked on the program wording and printed them all out. We made a great team!

Calla Lily designed napkins with our names

Calla Lily Base & Pen set

Not shown in pictures, but we had calla lily designed disposable cameras.  I can not wait to develop and see the random photos taken by guests!

Justin as well as the bridesmaid and groomsmen walked down the aisle to 

"Somewhere Over the Rainbow".  

This song reminds of me our laid back vacation to Kauai, Hawaii, it always puts a smile to my face.  

Justin's beautiful stepmother was our wedding officiant.

I chose to walk down the aisle with both my parents: stepdad and mom.  If I could add a third person to walk down the aisle with it would have definitely been my grandmother, if only I had a third hand to hold her!  

I walked down the aisle to "The Prayer".  Eversince I was young I was a huge Celine Dion fan, I knew I had to include her song in my wedding!  Justin and I both love opera and Andrea Bocceli. 

❤ As I was walking closer down the aisle I noticed streams of tears down Justin's face and could not hold back tears myself.  There were so many happy tears that day and this was only the beginning.  

❤ Justin and I wrote our own wedding vows because there was more to say than just the traditional one.  His vows were unbelievably heartfelt and so sweet.  I will never forget them!

❤ Justin's vows:

Maryapril, sometimes I think about how close I came to never meeting you.  What if I hadn’t gotten an email from Yahoo Personals?  What if I hadn’t forked over $24.95 so I could contact you?  What if you accidentally deleted the email I sent to you?  Well, you didn’t.  You called me the next day and left the sweetest voicemail I think I’ve ever heard.  I was smiling ear to ear when I heard your voice the first time.  We talked for hours and hours and I fell in love with you almost immediately.  You are the most intelligent, kind, loyal, and drop dead gorgeous woman I’ve ever met in my entire life.  You have so many idiosyncrasies that I love.  You like to put your cold feet on my leg as we’re falling asleep every night and even though they’re freezing, I can’t fall asleep without feeling them there anymore.  And then there’s this face you make when you try to smell something.  It’s like this curled up face where you scrunch your lips to your nose, I don’t know why but it’s so adorable.  And how can I forget your lovable snort?  When you find something funny, and I mean really hilarious, you laugh and snort so hard that one of these days I’m going to film you and upload it to Youtube where it will go viral.  Speaking of which, have I told you how proud I am of everything you have accomplished in your life?  Whether it’s rocketing to 35,000 subscribers on your Youtube channel, or double majoring in college, or strutting down the Ziba Beauty runway, or being the best dang preschool teacher that ever lived, you never cease to amaze me.  It always amazes me at how you master every single thing you attempt.  I am in awe of you.   I am in awe of you because you’re so thoughtful.  I am in awe of you because you’re so honest.  But most of all, I am in awe of how you make me feel like the most special person in the entire universe.  I can still remember the moment that I knew that I wanted to marry you.  You looked me straight in the eye and you said, “You need to stop worrying about whether or not you’re going to be successful in your life.  I would love you even if we lost everything and had to live in our car with our cats.  I will always be by your side.”  I wanted to burst into tears when you said that, but instead I started thinking about what size of diamond I should get you.  In 20 years, in 40 years, in 60 years, I can picture us laughing together at some stupid joke that no one else thinks is funny.  I cannot wait to start our new life together.  I promise I will get you peanut butter, pickles, top ramen or whatever weird stuff you crave at 3am when you’re pregnant.  I cannot wait to have kids with you, I can’t wait to see our kids grow up, and I promise to hire a babysitter at least twice a month so we can sneak off to a movie and dinner.  I promise I will be a great dad, I promise I will be a great husband.   I can’t wait to grow old with you and fulfill every dream we both have.   I know that no matter what happens in our lives, we will always be together; you are my best friend.  Every morning when I open my eyes, I look at your beautiful, sleeping figure and fall a little bit more in love with you.  I promise I will always love you. 

My reaction to his beautifully written wedding vows: big happy tears. I've never felt so much happiness and love until I met Justin and it's truly a dream to have found him and to be married to him.

My eye twitched for weeks before the wedding.  I couldn't figure out what to say or write in my vows, but I managed to tell him how I felt:

❤ My vows to Justin:

Justin,

I remember when we first moved in together I got really sick and doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with my stomach.  You were so worried about me you reached out to everyone for help hoping they could figure out what was wrong with me.  You cared so much and tried everything you could do make me feel better and that’s when I knew I wanted to spend forever with you because no matter what, healthy or sick you love me unconditionally and you are always there for me.  I am so fortunate to have you in my life.  You’re beyond everything I could ever ask for in a partner.  You treat me so well, as if every moment was our last.  You make me laugh everyday with your silly dances and our inside jokes.   You care for our cats Sunrise, Charlie and Bobby with so much love and I know that one day you’re going to make the best father to our future children ******* and or Scantron.  I am so lucky to have you as my husband!  You are my happiness, my heart, my sunshine, my best friend, the love of my life, my everything.  I wake up every day to a kiss from you and your kiss already completes  my day.  Every night before we go to bed I always have the next day to look forward to because I know I’ll be spending it with you.   As your wife I promise to always be by your side from the happiest to unfortunate moments.  I promise to take good care of you for the rest of our lives.  I promise to continue to support all your endeavors and continue to be your biggest supporter in all that you do and if there is anything I could ever do to make your life dreams come true I would do it in a heartbeat.  You can always count on me to be there for you and love you with all my heart.  Justin, I love you so much and I am so happy to be your wife and so fortunate to spend forever with you!  Thank you so much for being a part of my life.  I look forward to spending my life with you and growing old with you. 

Justin reaction to my vows were the same: happy tears. :)

❤ A symbol of our eternal love, our wedding bands:

❤ Hawaiian sand ceremony:

We used two different colored sand and poured it together into a vase.  We unite the sand together symbolizing we are now inseparable, entwined as one.

"You may now kiss the bride!"

❤ We're officially married:

Woohoo we're married!

❤ Photos taken before our reception:

 My trumpet silhouette wedding gown was purchased in Minnesota at The Little Wedding Shoppe last November 2011 while visiting Justin's family for Thanksgiving Day.  Minnesota does not charge sales tax on clothing and the store gave an additional 20% off if paid in full that day, needless to say the dress was a steal!  The train was much longer before, but I had it tailored suitable for an outdoor wedding.

Similar wedding dresses:

Rina Di Montella

Maggie Sottero Milana

Symphony Bridal Gown

This photo was taken when I was trying on the wedding dresses last year.  

I fell in love with the intricate beading, sweetheart neckline and trumpet silhouette of my wedding dress and knew this was the one after only trying 2 dresses prior to the "one".  I decided on a trumpet than mermaid because it is easier to walk with a trumpet since the flare hits on the thigh as opposed to the mermaid which the flare starts considerably lower, closer to the knee.

❤ One of my favorite pictures of that day:

❤ With the groomsmen:

Left: JC, my 18 year old little brother

Right: Mike, our best man, Justin's best friend

 ❤ Justin with the bridesmaids: 

Left: Gail, my 15 year old baby sister

Right: Jessica, Justin's sister

❤ Silly shots:

JC, Mike, Justin, Me, Jessica, Gail

❤ With my Lola.  I'm Filpino and we call our grandmothers Lola. My grandmother is wise, polite, beautiful, caring and is truly loved.  I love her so much!  My grandmother helped raise me and when my mom didn't have enough money for a babysitter my grandmother took me back to the Philippines, gave me and my cousin the best 5th birthday party ever then took me back to my mom!  When I experienced sad times in my life and stayed with her she slept by my side.  I will love her forever and I am so happy she was there to celebrate my love with Justin. 

❤ Time to celebrate!  Reception time!

Place cards:

Our centerpieces were adorned with calla lilies, fragrant gardenias (Justin's favorite scent) and roses in a bowl shaped vase filled with stones.   

❤ Our first dance:

"By Your Side" Sade

Thanking our friends and family for celebrating with us:

❤ Our reaction to the surprise slideshow from Justin's dad:

His father's slideshow included childhood clips of Justin and he was the cutest baby there ever was!  Justin's dad spent so much time on the slideshow Justin and I are truly appreciative!

Our best man Mike gave an epicly hilarious speech!

❤ Justin surprised me with an amazing performance singing and dancing to Michael Buble's "Feeling Good"! It meant so much to me that he even reached out to my brother JC and cousins Mark and Matthew to dance with him!  They had secret rehearsals, so much fun!  I was completely surprised and very much impressed!  I love all Michael Buble songs! 

❤With my best friend Heidi.  She is the sweetest friend I've ever met and no one else comes close.  

We met while teaching in the same toddler classroom. She's one of the best preschool teachers I've ever known!  She loves the kids so much and it really shows!

I've never met anyone as amazingly kind like her and I probably never will again, which is why she is my best friend.  We both have an Ebay shopping addiction, love children, love our cats, lunches together and so much more!  I've tried to get her in a YouTube video, maybe one day she will agree. :)

❤ Party time!

I got to spend some time with cute babies!  Having been a toddler teacher I developed a weakness towards toddlers.  I absolutely love all toddlers!

❤ Our wedding cake was the perfect size for an intimate group of less than 60 guests.  Justin and I kept the top layer (chocolate with cream cheese frosting) to freeze til next year. Our cherry blossom cake didn't match with our overall calla lily floral theme and the cake lady even told us the cake would look like it was sent to the wrong wedding, but cherry blossoms mean a lot to us.  Justin took me to Okinawa, Japan a couple of years ago and we remember the gorgeous cherry blossoms in Japan and knew a cherry blossom cake was a meaningful cake for us.  It was a delicious vanilla cake with fresh strawberries. :)

Cutting the cake to the adorable song:

"You are My Sunshine" Sung by Elizabeth Mitchell

This song means a lot to Justin's family and we knew we had to somehow incorporate this song in our wedding.

I wore a diamond clustered bracelet on our wedding day.  It meant a lot to Justin because it was one of the first gifts he's ever given to me and I still wear it all the time. 

❤ Justin dancing with his Bubbie (grandmother).  This candid photo really is touching. 

He loves his Bubbie so much!

❤ Dancing with my Lola, isn't her smile beautiful?  

My grandmother's dress was custom made in the Philippines and has the trademark Filipino large sleeves.  

I love wearing pearls regularly and I think it's from seeing my grandmother wear them on special occassions.

❤ Shakin' it with my pretty momma! 

❤ The single ladies ready to catch the bouquet:

Michelle, Jessica, Me (bride), Gail, Katherine, Bethany

Ready, set...

go....

 My 15 year old baby sister caught the bouquet.  A little too young to be getting married,eh?  It was hilarious!  My parents were screaming "noo don't catch it"!  LOL!

My sister knows more about makeup and hair than me.  I'm pretty plane jane, but she experiments more with hair and makeup.  

Her makeup and hair always looks phenomenal!

❤ Removal of  my garter and Justin wants to mention he used his teeth!  LOL!

❤My pink Pia Shoedazzles were fairly comfortable to wear, but I did wear a comfortably pair of undetectable flat sandals to dance with.

❤ The single men:

Danny, Shaun, Alec, Ryan, Ryan, Justin (groom), Mike, Mark, Matthew, JC, Eric

❤ Our good friend Ryan caught the garter!  

It was my *something blue, a blue garter with a calla lily in the middle. 

He's starting a new trend wearing it on his head, lol!

❤ Chatting with family:

Alec in blue is an incredible singer, I love his song Coconut Love. :)

❤ That was our wedding!  

Thank you friends so much for allowing us to share our special day with you via pictures. 

❤ A special thank you to our friend Sherwin for our wedding pictures! 

On August 9th we left for our 15 day honeymoon to Thailand and Singapore.  

*Big hugs and lots of love,

April & Justin

Honeymoon VLOG Part 1 & 2:

Justin's Wedding Surprise Performance:

Thank you all so much for taking the time to read my blog!  

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