Love at The Ranch: Lining Up

After the pictures of the bridal party were complete, we made the decision to do family portraits after the ceremony. There just wasn't time. To be honest, I don't even know what time it was but someone was keeping track. I think it was our day-of-coordinator, Danielle Odil of Something Classic Events, who was back and forth between us and setting up the barn for our reception. We went back into our gathering place for pictures, Heck's Tavern at Devil's Thumb Ranch, and, to my dismay, some our guests were starting to gather there too. It hit me that they were all seeing me before the ceremony and I wasn't happy about this. I wanted out. And fast.

Post bridal party portraits but pre-ceremony

For some reason, I became the leader of the pack and the bridesmaids and groomsmen and family were all following me to where we were going to line up for the ceremony. We were headed to our reception barn. From there, we'd walk into the Timber House, about 15 feet away, for the ceremony. There was so much commotion it was hard to get my bearings and try to get to the reception barn. I wanted someone to lead me. Somehow, we managed to make it there and start to get organized. But wait, where was the groom?

After about ten minutes, Mr. CB showed up along with a quesadilla brought by a waiter. Apparently, Mr. CB hadn't had a bite all day. We all took quick bites of the quesadilla as we got in our places. So much for a fresh, minty ceremony kiss.

My mom gave me a quick pep talk and meditation before taking my place in line and finding her seat. I was so thirsty, I could not drink enough water.

Back in Heck's Tavern, Mr. CB had gotten words of wisdom from his parents.

Everybody lined up and got ready to walk. Mr. CB took a piece of advice from our officiant who is also my uncle.

How did we get here?

Mr. CB and I road-tripped it to Colorado.

I spent a peaceful morning with my girls.
Followed by a rowdy bachelorette party.
Two days before the wedding, we fought.
Then, we made up.

On Saturday, Mr. CB recuperated while I hiked with friends.

We celebrated our rehearsal dinner.

Sunday Morning: The girls got ready.

And the guys got ready.

Mr. CB and I had our First Look.

Budget Breakdown: Bouquets and Bouts.

Potraits of the bride and groom.

Our wedding party braved the cold for photos.

**All images above by the ridiculously talented and awesome Tec Petaja, unless otherwise noted. Head to his blog for some serious eye candy.**

His Ring

At first, I was wary. Was I really going to order a ring from iweddingband.com? The name itself made the website sound cheesy. But after searching around online for better prices, I never found them. I also scoured the internet for reviews of the site and all were glowing. So, I bit the bullet.

Enter: Mr. Cowboy Boot's 18k yellow gold, 5 mm, half-round wedding band. It arrived in the mail a few days ago (about a week after ordering it) and it's lovely. The best part? It was $254 and that Mr. CB loves it.

(source)

Mr. CB is a simple guy. His father has a similar ring and I think that was his inspiration. In fact, he is so connected to his father that Mr. CB has a tattoo of his father's handprint on his back, left shoulder. His dad, a potter, made a glaze of his hand so the tattoo has all of the fine lines, like tiny rivers, that weather his palm.

So, while Mr. CB is inspired by his father, I was inspired by Mrs. Lightening. If you remember, she surprised Mr. Lightening with an inscription on his ring.

As I posted before, our wedding falls on the night of the Harvest Moon. We only found this out after picking our first dance song: Harvest Moon by Neil Young.

What did I put inside Mr. CB's ring? Our wedding date and the lyrics from our song: "On this harvest moon".

I mentioned to Mr. CB that his ring was on its way in the mail and that I had gotten a surprise engraved. He was not excited. He said that he probably wouldn't like it and that it reminded him of a cheesy promise ring or friendship band.

But, then, the ring arrived. He probably thought I was going to write something cheesy like "A + I 4ever". Lucky for him, my creative side was on the upswing the day I ordered the ring.

And, as it turns out, he loves it.

Where did you get your ring? Did you test out an unexpectedly awesome website? If so, share!