Well, we are home in Gilbert after a fantastic week in SLC.
The wedding was absolutely perfect!! We drove to SLC on Wednesday. We got out of the house at 6:00 AM, and arrived in NSL about 5:30 PM after losing an hour. We were all pretty tired so we went to bed early.
The next morning, Amanda, Sarah, and I went jogging/walking around the golf course. We ran into Gumpa and Nana, whom we had not seen yet, because they were at the temple until after we went to bed the night before.
On Thursday afternoon the real wedding events began with Amanda going through the temple to receive her endowment. We got to the Jordan River temple around 3:00 so Amanda could pick up some last-minute things in the distribution center before her appointment for initiatory at 3:30.
While in the distribution center the Williams’ showed up, Brett, Diane, and Chase. They were still in street clothes after driving straight from Boise to the temple. So they changed clothes in the changing room of the distribution center.
We waited for them at the main entrance to the temple. When Chase came in, they were greeted at the front desk by the people who were to accompany them throughout the orientation and initiatory. Chase gave them his recommend and the guy said, “Do you have the other form for your live ordinance?” I was thinking the same thing as I looked over at his recommend. Chase gave a blank look that immediately told us he had no idea what we were talking about. Nobody told him that he needed his own living ordinance recommend to be married!
So for the next hour, Chase and I did initiatory while his Dad was outside on the phone rounding up the bishop and stake president. Then, while Amanda was doing initiatory, Chase was on the phone with his bishop and stake president doing interviews and arranging to have the form faxed to grandpa’s office. It took especially long because they discovered that his records were still in Rexburg. Fun, fun.
Good news is that they worked it out and he was able to take Amanda through the veil as her future husband.
Once Chase got things ironed out, he and his dad and I raced upstairs to catch the last half of Grandpa Chamberlain’s orientation lesson on the endowment and the initiatory. It was exceptional counsel and I was so glad I got to hear it. He goes way in depth on the purpose of initiatory and how it all relates and prepares you for the endowment. There were two young men with mission calls, Chase, and their fathers, and me, in the room.
After grandpa’s lesson, we went immediately to the endowment room. Grandpa and Nana joined us for the session as regular participants. Also attending were Chelsy, Todd, Jens, Shelly, James, Laurel, Grandma and Grandpa Springer, and Brett and Diane. Most of us participated in the prayer circle. Amanda was radiant in her white dress. She got emotional several times during the session, and really emotional as she entered the Celestial room to all her waiting relatives. It truly felt like she was coming home.
After the session, the 14 of us went down to Gumpa’s private dining room for dinner. We all picked up food in the cafeteria and then had a wonderful, closed-door dinner together. It was so much better than going out to eat (like all the women wanted to do until Gumpa basically forced them to stay). We talked about Amanda and Chase, and the temple experience, and discussed some temple doctrine, and laughed and enjoyed each other’s company. How great is that! We got a private dinner with the temple president and matron! We all felt so blessed for being there. The only way it would have been better is if you had been there. But at the same time, having you in Paraguay somehow makes these kinds of experiences even better. We really do feel blessed because you are representing us and the Lord.
On Friday I spent most of the day outside in the yard, helping grandpa with the lawn and flower beds, and sprinkler systems. It was mid 70’s all day, and the air was fragrant and beautiful, and I got totally sunburned on my arms and neck. Duh, what was I thinking? That thin Utah air is dangerous. Grandpa was grateful for my help. I told him it was an absolute joy to be able to dig in dirt without being attacked by ants or getting all scratched up by thorny plants and gravel. I loved it!
In the afternoon, I picked up frames for all the pictures that Amanda wanted to display at the reception/dinner. I think she had 1-16x20, 2-11x14s, about 8-8x10s, and 8-5x7s. I spent about $250 on frames and another $100 printing the pictures. I’m now a full fledged member of Ritz Camera. No more Costco junk developing for this family. Ritz is way better quality and pretty darn cheap. Sarah and Ashley came with me, but they were out buying Sarah some shoes. They came back with some shoes that I thought were insane! So we went and bought another pair at another store and took them both back for Nana to decide. Sarah ended up wearing the second pair, but Nana and Ashley totally loved the first pair. I was just worried that Sarah was going to die on the 5 inch heals on the first pair. Seriously, what is it with women?
After frame shopping, Mom and I went grocery shopping for the bride and groom. We bought all the food they are going to use on their honeymoon for the next week, and took it back to grandpas and put it in the downstairs fridge for them to pick up on Sunday morning as they left town.
That night, Sarah, Ashley, and I watched a movie....well, we watched the first 20 minutes of a movie and then slept through the next hour and then went to bed.
In the middle of the night, Ashley woke me up to tell me she had been throwing up all night. She had an absolutely violent stomach flu or food poisoning. Every twenty minutes until about 1:00 on Saturday she was in the bathroom vomiting. Poor kid. We had to leave her all by herself during the wedding and after wedding temple pictures. Just so I don’t leave you hanging, we gave her a blessing at about 10:00 that morning and she was promised that she would start to get better and be able to participate in the reception that evening. Up until 10:00 she didn’t want to tell gumpa she was sick because she is so sensitive to being knows as the sick kid on every single family vacation. I finally convinced her that they were going to find out, and she needed a blessing. So she agreed and grandpa and I administered to her. We both discovered that we had left our consecrated oil at home and the temple respectively, so we poured some oil into a small china bowl and consecrated it first before anointing her with it. She threw up one more time before we left for the temple, but never again after that. When I called her after the ceremony, I woke her up. She had fallen asleep in the chair in the bathroom, with the hair dryer still running in her hand. By the time we got home, at about 3:00, she was guzzling Gatorade and standing in the bathroom doing her hair and makeup for dinner. She was a little weak the rest of the day, but otherwise perfectly fine all evening. We were so grateful the Lord watched over her and answered our prayers.
Amanda’s hair dresser arrived at about 9:00 to do Amanda’s hair. Megan was also there. She spent the night, and was busy doing whatever Amanda needed. I sent Julie and Sarah out to get their hair done at a local salon. Ashley, of course, missed her appointment.
Megan made 3x5 name cards, all with cute borders glued on, for name tags for the dinner. She had all the guests write a note on their card to C&A and we collected them at the end of the night. Megan helped Amanda finalize the seating chart, etc.
Chase came around 10:00 and took Amanda and Mom to the temple at 10:45. Megan, Sarah, and I followed at about 11:30.
I parked and went into the temple and downstairs to the waiting room. Once there I was instructed to get back upstairs to sign the marriage certificate as one of the witnesses. Then it was back downstairs to wait for a few more minutes until we were taken to the sealing room, 2A. I think I counted about 40 people in attendance. On our side of the family we had Gumpa and Janet, my parents, Chelsy and Todd, mom and me, and my three sisters and their husbands. The Williams had most of their kids, plus some aunts and uncles, a grandmother, family friends from Boise, and some missionary friends of Chase. Chase’s mom and grandma were seated next to the love seat on one side, and mom and Nana were on the other side. Brett and I were in the witness chairs. All of our family sat on the West side of the room (to see the bride’s face). And most of Chase’s family sat on the East side.
After waiting for about 5 minutes, Grandpa President Chamberlain came in with Amanda and Chase. They were dressed in their temple clothes. Grandpa was in his white suit, and the rest of us were in Sunday best.
Grandpa greeted everyone and proceeded to tell us what a special opportunity this was for him to be able to seal one of his own descendants. He had several in the room crying before he even got to the ceremony. He gave C&A some great advice about always praying together every night, and going to the temple together every week and spending time in the Celestial room together. I need to follow his advice and try to do the same. He talked about how most his life he was very goal oriented about temple attendance, but didn’t go very often with his wife until later in life.
After finishing his remarks, he called Chase and Amanda to kneel at the alter. They both looked absolutely regal in their temple robes. They were both glowing. Amanda was doing her best not to tear up the whole time.
Grandpa performed the ceremony, and there were not many dry eyes in the room. It was very spiritual and inspiring, and we all had the sense that this marriage was ordained of God. Amanda gave a sweet but audible “yes” when asked if she took Chase to be her husband. Chase did the same. They both did a good job of looking at Grandpa during the whole ceremony, until he told them they could now kiss over the alter as husband and wife.
After the sealing was completed, grandpa had both of them stand in the center of the room to exchange rings and to look into the eternal mirrors. They it was time for all the family to give them hugs and congratulations.
For the next hour, Amanda and Chase changed and prepared for temple pictures, while the family gathered outside the East doors of the temple. Laurel and I went to the Joseph Smith Memorial building to pick up bouquets of flowers for the bride and bridesmaids.
Almost everyone was outside except Neil who had to work all day and night. He wasn’t able to attend the dinner either. Jace was at a game, and Ashley was home asleep in the chair with the hairdryer running.
We took a ton of pictures on the steps, then Taylor, Sarah, and I followed C&A around for more couple photos. I was the guy holding the light reflector disk. The temple grounds were ABSOLUTELY STUNNING!! The tulips were in full bloom, many trees still had blossoms, the gardens were just packed with color, and everything just shouted, “Heaven”.
After photos, we returned to gumpa’s house, grabbed a snack, the girls redid their hair, etc. and then it was back to the JSMB for the dinner setup.
As I parked the truck in the underground parking I was trying to figure out how to best get all the stuff upstairs. Then I saw these young men up the parking lot about 10 cars with a cart, doing the same thing for their wedding. All of a sudden, the young men looked down my way like I was calling to them or something. I wasn’t sure why they were paying any attention to me. Could they know that I was planning to steal their cart? Then I turned around and I suddenly understood. Behind me, there were these two Barbie dolls in blue dresses named Ashley and Sarah. They boys were not looking at me, they were looking at your sisters. I am in such trouble!!
Anyway, we got all the stuff on a cart and took it up to the ninth floor to the Sharon room. The room was already set up and looked fabulous.
We put out the picture frames, and the name cards. Amanda also had a 16x20 white mat with a 8x10 picture of C&A in the middle. They used it as their guest book. Everyone just signed their names on the white mat. It is now framed and ready to hang up with all their wedding memorabilia forever. I thought that was a neat idea. I have not looked at our guest book since the day I was married.
Here is an agenda of the day. It went down pretty much as we had it outlined. Taylor videod the whole thing for you to watch someday.
Chase Picks up Amanda for Temple | 10:45 AM |
Amanda and Chase Arrive at Temple | 11:05 AM |
Everyone Else Arrives at Temple | 11:50 AM |
Temple Ceremony Begins | 12:20 PM |
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Photos Outside Temple | 1:20 PM |
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Pregame Preparation at JS Building | 5:30 PM |
Family Arrives for Photos at JS Building |
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Amanda and Megan Practice with JoAnne | 6:00 PM |
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Mix and Mingle (JoAnne on Piano in Background) | 6:30 PM |
Welcome by Dave | 6:40 PM |
Opening Prayer by Janet Chamberlain |
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Salads Served | 6:45 PM |
Introductions by Head of each Table | 6:45 PM |
Dinner Served ( Piano in Background) | 6:55 PM |
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Cut the Cake and Dessert Served | 7:15 PM |
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Slide Show | 7:20 PM |
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Toasts by Brett and Diane | 7:35 PM |
Toast by Hailey | 7:40 PM |
Toast by Julie | 7:45 PM |
Toast by Dave | 7:50 PM |
Amanda thoughts and song, “I never saw blue” with Megan | 8:00 PM |
Chase | 8:05 PM |
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First Dance (Megan Lambert, JoAnne Elmers) | 8:15 PM |
Garter Belt | 8:20 PM |
Open Dance Floor | 8:25 PM |
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Throw Bouquet | 8:45 PM |
Change into getaway outfits (in separate rooms) |
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Say Goodbye |
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I think everyone but Neil and Clayton’s family were there from our side. The Anderson’s even drove up from Gilbert.
I forgot to tell you. After the temple pictures Nana went shopping and bought 5 little white dresses for the little granddaughters to wear to the dinner. So you had Tate, the Hunt girls, and Naia and Eva all dressed alike. At one point during the dinner, Amanda was pulled over to the dance floor by the photographer to do some shots with bridedsmaids, (especially Ashley) and all the little girls ran over there with her and started twirling in their white dresses. It was priceless!! Even Jessie and Anna joined in.
I opened the evening with a welcome. Nana said a beautiful opening prayer, and the evening was just perfect from then on. The little girls kept clinging their goblets with their forks to make the bride and groom kiss. All the pre-teen kids were seated at one table together having a great time. All the Ashley and up single people were together at another table. Most everyone else was with their immediate family. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.
After dinner they cut the cake so the servers could take it out and add it to our dessert. While we ate dessert, we watched Amanda’s slide show. I was absolutely overcome with emotion for the first 10 minutes of the show. She had tons of photos of her as a little girl. Of course, you were in most of them with her, so my heart was being ripped from my chest with each photo of my two angels smiling at me. Fortunately, Amanda made the slideshow way too long (5 complete songs of slides), so by the end I was back in control.
Then we had the toasts. I’ll let the video speak for itself. Everyone did a great job. All the comments were enjoyable to listen to. Your mom told lots of memories of Amanda and read a nice poem. I got up and first told everyone how great it was to finally have another man in the family. Then I read my fortune cookie advice. My voice was very shaky throughout, and I lost it at the end, but I got through it.
Then Amanda, like the wall of Gibralter, pushes back her tears, and gets up, says a few nice words, and then sings, “I Never Saw Blue Like That Before” to Chase. He had never heard her sing a song before, if you can believe that. And of course, you know how Laurel and Shelli feel about that song. So they are both sitting in the two tables right in front of Amanda and they are totally teared up, and she still just sang it beautifully. Maybe we still have a chance to make some money from this girl’s talent. She is good!!
Then Chase got up and said, “For the record, its periwinkle, not blue”. It took most of the crowd a few seconds to realize he was referring to the wedding color and making a joke about the song. I laughed hard. “I never saw periwinkle like that before”. Chase gave a great unrehearsed speech, and had us all laughing and crying and left no doubt how much he loves Amanda.
After the toasts, C&A took to the dance floor and danced to Megan singing “Just the way you looked tonight”. Then I cut in and danced with her for the next song. What an amazing joy that was to see my daughter so incredibly happy. I will never forget the love she had in her eyes as we danced together. She really is so happy, and I have hope that this marriage is going to truly last forever. They are so made for each other.
Then it was throw the bouquet and garter, and they changed into get-away clothes, and off they went. We stuck around and cleaned up and moved the presents and stuff to my truck and headed home. We got home about 10:00 PM and sat around the kitchen bar talking about our impressions of the day.
