Our Vow Renewal. Disneyland, Anaheim.

Here we are in October already. Where has this year gone?? I feel as I get older, time goes by faster. Does anyone else feel this way? Earlier this year myself, my husband, my boys, and 20 of our friends and family went to Anaheim for our 10 year vow renewal. It was everything we could have asked for and more!

It was probably a few years ago that we started talking about doing a vow renewal for our 10 year wedding anniversary. Our original wedding was very small, we were young, and we have often felt that we spent the day thinking about it as a small party, a chance to celebrate with friends. We now feel that we didn't really spent the day focusing on what it was really about, us coming together as life partners. Plus, in 10 years a marriage can go through a lot, especially when it starts when you are young. We are so proud that we've made it through the ups and downs of life stronger than when we first got together.

When we first started planning the renewal we talked about doing it locally, basically having another full wedding. But then we realized that again it would've been more about a big party, not about just us. That's when we realized the obvious. Let's have it in our favourite place, somewhere that is so special to us as a couple. So of course we went with Disneyland!!

We told everyone we love about our plan and in our mind it didn't matter if anyone could come because it was about us and our love. If it had been just the four of us there we would have been more than happy. Much to our surprise 20 people were down for coming. We couldn't believe it. We were honoured to have so many loved ones join us for our special day.

The planning process of it all was a lot of fun, and of course a little stressful here and there. I was lucky enough to find my dream Hayley Paige gown on Craigslist (the original price is $6000 and I got it for less than half!). My amazing friend and florist, Maria from Niche Boutique Florals, offered to do all of the florals and decorating. It was all stunning! I LOVED my bouquet!!!! The awesome Sydney Power did all day of coordinating (including dealing with the restaurant when they forgot we were going to be there that day!) I got all of my gorgeous one of a kind jewellery from Miss Elsa Corsi from Jeweliette Jewellery, my favourite wedding jewellery designer here in Van. I brought my purple Christian Louboutins for photos of course, but went with comfort for the day and wore my adorable Minnie Mouse Vans that my previous bride gifted me! I found some really amazing Anaheim vendors for photography and hair and makeup. Camarie McBride Photography did such a wonderful job. We felt so comfortable and I am in love with our photos. Meghan Valerie did my hair and makeup and was so sweet and professional . She absolutely rocked the braid hairstyle. It was EXACTLY what I had envisioned.

The entire day went off without a hitch and was more wonderful than we could have imagined. We started off by getting ready separately in our rooms . My friends Lisa and Kim joined me, along with mine and Adam's moms. Adam had two of his closest friends with him, along with our two sons. Once we were ready we met up and went to the Disneyland Hotel and surrounding area for photos with just the two of us. The ceremony was at the Sheraton Hotel just down the road from Disneyland. They have an outdoor ceremony site that Maria had decorated to look just stunning. Our youngest son walked down the aisle with Adam and our oldest walked me down. Our friend, Jeff, officiated the ceremony for us and when it was time to say our vows I, of course, cried, both when Adam read his to me and when I was reading mine to him.

Once the ceremony was over we got some fun family photos and then headed to the hotel to change and go to our reception lunch at Catal restaurant in Downtown Disney. Sydney and the restaurant staff had it all set up beautifully with Maria's flowers brought over form the ceremony, menu cards, and custom sweet treat favours from my girl, Stacie, from Sugarlove Cookie Design. After lunch a handful of us headed to California Adventure and eventually Disneyland and spent the rest of the day/evening celebrating and reveling in the magic of everything that had occurred that day, I was definitely on a high and crashed hard with exhaustion around 10pm!

Thank you to all of the people that joined us and made the day even more special. Overall, we could not have asked for a more perfect day and a more perfect way to celebrate our relationship. We vowed again to love each other through good times and bad, through thick and thin, through life and whatever comes our way. Partners always! Love you Adam!