The Big Event and The Side Events

The BIG EVENT happened yesterday, when my friends Tyler Miller and the former Ariana Smith were married for time and all eternity in the Mesa Temple. She looked gorgeous. He looked hot. They were both walking on air and literally were unable to stop smiling. Here's the happy couple:


What, you ask, do the couple's friends do all afternoon to entertain themselves in between the wedding and the reception? Well, here's a glimpse. First off, we show up to say congratulations and take a few pictures ourselves. Photo op!

Next, we attend to the other important events of the day. Namely, ready-ing the room and the getaway car.
A little explanation: Ariana and Tyler are currently headed to Cali for a Mexican cruise. But they spent their first night together in their new apartment. Unfortunately, they had inherited some bedding from The Parents that wasn't exactly appropriate for a night of sweet love:

I literally screamed when I saw it. We all got to work. John's present to them was 600-thread count charcoal gray sateen sheets. We quickly decided NOT to wrap them. Instead, we washed and ironed them (Brad did the ironing). Bridget and I developed pictures; I dug out the tealights out of my dressser. I stopped at The Body Shop for Body Butter (all other body butters are inferior poseurs) and made a stop a Whole Foods for chocolate-covered strawberries (Bridge's idea). Side shout out to Whole Foods. This is how it went down. Me: "Do you have chocolate-covered strawberries?" Them: Not right now, but we can make them for you. Give us five minutes." Perfection! Brad also made a stop at the local flower shop for a bag of Rose Petals. They thoughtfully told him they might stain if crushed. Brad made a joke that it wasn't his concern after he decorated the room for his friends what THEY did with the rose petals. Apparently florists don't think he's as funny as we all do. We appreciate you, Brad. Bridget and Brad also spent the afternoon compiling the sexiest songs Of All Time onto two CDs with Ariana and Tyler's pictures burned onto them. Yes, you read that right. I don't think it gets cooler than that. (John will be giving them his collection of Aaliyah's greatest soon enough...I, on the other hand, am not enough of a music connoisseur to be a part of this project.)
Our house soon looked like a disaster, but what's the point of having a house if it can't serve as an appropriate project area?

After hours of this, we headed to their cute little apartment for the TLC/HGTV-style transformation. We changed the bed, laid out rose petals, fixed the "window treatments" so that the major street their apartment looks out onto did not become a news media sensation, cued the CD player, left the strawberries in the fridge, and lined the bathtub with tealights. Needless to say, we were more than a little proud of ourselves. Here's the inside glimpse:









As a side note, we were also in charge of decorating the car. Of course we were. Seriously.
So I've actually started to pride myself in my ability to find their wedding colors in EVERYTHING. Including, of course, the soda cans. Strawberry Crush is the perfect magenta, Squirt is a nice yellow, and Sunkist was the perfect orange. And nobody needs blue cans anyways. With a nail, some hemostats, and some twine, we spent about two hours on THIS side project:


Did they notice? Of course they did. Bridget told them.

This morning we got a single-line text:
"You guys are the best!"
That's all we needed to hear.
Congratulations, you two. You are a beautiful, exciting, and wonderful couple!
p.s. For fifty more pics of the day, go here and for Brad's take on it, go here