Love to warm your heart by

Wedding moments I’ll treasure forever.

As a wedding gift, my very good friend Danielle gave me a book of poetry with the best title:

LVOE.

Please don’t miss the sparkly pink “XOXO” banner in the back. It is my favorite thing I own.

Lest you worry that both I and the author of this book have made the most terrible and obvious of typos, here is the description of the title:

A few years ago, I designed an engagement ring. It had two oval stones placed on a single gold band that together made an imperfect heart. I called the ring Coeur Parfait, which in French means perfect heart. The idea being that love is two imperfect things coming together to make something beautiful. That’s why I named this book LVOE., because even though love is imperfect, we all still see the beautiful.

I especially love that because my own engagement ring is a heart on single gold band. (Right now my friends are probably thinking, “Em, your heart is a perfectly cut diamond. But that’s besides the point haha.)

LVOE. is full of lovely little passages such as,

“I love you more than chocolate,” she said.

And I just wasn’t ready

for that sort of pressure.

And,

Love is—

late-night

kissing at stoplights

after the lights

have turned green.

And who couldn’t love the imagery of this?

I built my home within her

it was never a choice really

one day

I just hung up my hat

took off my worn boots

and warmed myself

by the fire

cracking in her heart.

I feel very much like there is warm fire cracking in my heart; set ablaze not only by my dear Adam, who gets sweeter everyday, but by everyone in this great circle of love I feel surrounded by.

My mom, my siblings, the four-year-old that wanders over to color with me during church, Adam’s grandma who makes at least 300 cookies each Valentine’s Day for her family to decorate and devour—the lovely list could go on and on.

And in no time in my life have I seen that great circle of love show their brightest colors than when I got married.

I wanted my wedding to be the biggest, lovey-ist deal ever. Only heart-shaped desserts, live music, speeches, and hand-selected poetry would do.

And not just for my benefit—I really wanted everyone to walk away from our wedding believing that love is cracking all around, waiting for them to come and warm their heart by it.

And I really believed we could create that!

Prior to the wedding, I’d listened to a podcast in which Brene Brown interviewed Priya Parker, author of The Art of Gathering. Priya described gathering as “the conscious bringing together of people for a reason, shaping the way we feel, the way we think, and the way we make sense of the world.”

Later she says, “Gatherings crackle and flourish when real thought goes into them, when often invisible structure is baked into them, and when the host has a curiosity, willingness, and generosity of spirit to try.”

Boy, did I have the spirit to try! I created excel documents, vision boards, and checklists with the energy of elementary school child gathering their Valentines candy. I tried to think what would really make this wedding feel like ours. Like a real celebration of love, marriage, and family.

And while no wedding day is perfect (e.g. I was sunburned by noon), LVOE. reminds me: something doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful. And our wedding day was soooo beautiful to me.

But it never could have happened without my circle of love. So many people stepped in to offer their talents and time that I felt (and do still feel) full of glitter from my toes to my nose.

So, without further ado, here are just a few pictures from May 5, 2023, that to me show love in one of its purest, most needed forms. Come and warm yourself by the fire :)

Since I was 15 years old, I wanted little peg dolls on my wedding cake. My best friend Jess’s Aunt Tiffani hand-painted these to look like Adam and I! And she nailed us. She delivered them in the cutest little cellophane bag bursting with ribbons and confetti.

BFFs Jess and Golda were angels running around doing 1 million tasks on the wedding day. Including setting up the cake!

Jess also gave the sweetest, kindest most beautiful speech at our luncheon. (This is a note to be friends with English majors who can create words like these!!)

At the end of her speech, Jess gave the toast of all toasts:

Here’s to Em and Adam: My dear friends, I wish you all the love. I wish you love on the big days like today and all your future celebrations. But I also wish you love … on the days that might otherwise be rather average.

So on Monday mornings when you are both rushing off to work? I wish you love. On Friday nights while you microwave popcorn and decide on a movie, I wish you love. Over your Saturday morning pancakes and your afternoon snacks, I wish you love. During your Tuesday evening workouts and Wednesday afternoon walks, I wish you love.

I wish you love as you dance in the kitchen, stay up too late and wake up too early, as you work your way through PT school and as you smile at each other from across a crowded room.

When the AC breaks in July and the heater breaks in January, through your laundry and dishwasher loads, and during your long car rides and errands, I wish you love.

I wish you love in your home—from the front entrance to clear back in each cupboard and drawer. From your morning cereal to your evening prayers, my sincere wish is that each and every one of your days is filled with a stupidly ridiculous amount of love.

And I wish you all this love because—

when we think of marriage, we often think of the phrase “for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer.” However, I’d argue that true love can make your “worse times” turn into some of your best—you aren’t suffering together, you are together thriving, even when things outside of your relationship are difficult. I’d also argue that even in your “poorer” times you feel inordinately wealthy because you have such rich love for each other. Em and Adam, I have no doubt that your better and best days are ahead of you, and that the richness of your love will only grow from here.

So basically, I wish you a “this 30 second stop light on the way home from work feels like forever because I’m just that excited to come home to you” sort of love. May you find all the joy you feel on this big day in each and every otherwise normal day for the rest of your lives together. Cheers to your love.

Thanks Jess <3

I ordered flowers wholesale, and then sweet sister Amy and my dear friend Mary Jo spent HOURS sitting on the church floor creating the bouquets and boutonnieres of my dreams.

The floral genius, Mary Jo.

A very small portion of the set up crew— Rach and Mel! They helped with a million things, and our beautiful table decor wouldn’t have happened without their angel mother Karen blessing each one with her interior design skills.

My sweet cousin Morgan came and slept at my apartment the night before. We held the perfect wedding night ritual: watching the wedding and honeymoon scenes of Twilight. In the morning we were up by six a.m. so she could work her hair and make up magic while we listened to Taylor Swift love songs.

The updo from heaven.

All the necessary equipment haha.

Another sweet cousin, Kellie, who made all my bridal picture dreams come true. And mom! Without whom none of this would have even kind of worked.

The day we assembled wedding invites!! I SO wish I had a picture, my dear dad and his cousin Craig sat at our kitchen table for over an hour putting one small gold heart sticker on the back of every single invitation. Seriously though, what else is love?

Sister Christina and Ellie playing “The Flower Duet” as I walked down the aisle.

Dear Bishop Casaday who officiated our ring ceremony, provided all the sound equipment, and taught Adam and I a lot about Jesus.

Dad also gave the sweetest speech of all freaking time.

Thank you to everyone who flew heart-shaped confetti into the air as we danced to “Paper Rings.” But an even bigger thank you to the aunts and uncles to swept it all up afterward.

Amy (with accompaniment from the rest of the family) prepared for and played “La Vie En Rose” for the reception, despite her very busy school schedule.

The family rehearsing. And Brian (there on the tuba) used precious leave days from the military to be at our wedding, which he came to instead of coming home for Christmas. How does one’s heart take that in?

Where would we be without the woman who took that little baby on the TV and helped him become the man she’s dancing with?

Let’s hear it for the aunts who set up food for the reception with the most feminine touch possible (all under a time crunch).

MVP Amy doing the sisters’ hair in my requested “half-up curled braid crowns with baby’s breath.” (I told you I made this a big deal haha.)

Adam’s older brother Braxton (who is usually the strong, silent type) stood up and surprised Adam with a speech. Braxton and Adam’s other brother Ethan were also MVPs because they packed the 400(ish) “X and O” donuts I ordered into their car and brought them to the church.

Heart-shaped, wedding-colored sugar cookies?? Need I say more? Yes, because these were made by Austin’s friend who wants to start a catering business and we were her first order! Which she filled deliciously!

Melinda made the most beautiful scrapbook guest book! The detail in this thing is incredible.

This glam shot is made possible by Rachel Cottle, who stayed with us after the temple ceremony as the official dress-spreader-outer.

Rachel!!

Thank you for being so excited about love with us, everyone.

“If I know what love is, it is because of you.”

—Hermann Hesse