Don’t worry, this was more for me (and Ashton if he’s interested). I wanted to see what I could remember, and I guess I could remember a lot. Feel free to skip this novel (because I would for sure if I were you). It’s not only ridiculously long, but also way more cheesy than I like to be. Maybe it’s ok to bend the rules just a little bit for wedding day cheesiness, but I’m not sure.
Just know that today is our one year anniversary and that I am totally in love with Ashton.
A year ago today, I remember…
I woke up and it almost felt like any other day until I turned off my alarm it was great to see that my phone finally said “Aug. 4, 2007.” I had been talking about August 4th for as long as I could remember. Now it seems like “why August 4th? How did we pick THAT date?”
I rocked out to the “Mr. and Mrs. Grewal” Rehearsal Dinner CD, and got hooked on “Like a Prayer” on repeat.
The house (”Linden” as we call it) seemed too silent for it to be my wedding day. I wanted people to be up and bustling about, but I guess in their defense it was only like 6 am.
Kate Montgomery came to do my hair, and I loved how easy it was to talk to her even though we didn’t know each other that well. We joked about lame things like deodorant getting on the black dress I was wearing.
Kim, Stacy and Melanie (who had all slept at Kim’s house) came over and finally people were as excited as I was. Kim came running into my room yelling, “YOU’RE GETTING MARRIED TODAY!” I loved that they were all so happy for me.
Melanie started doing my make up, while Kate finished my hair. I’ve never had two people trying to pretty me up at the same time. I probably never will again. My contacts kept drying out while Mel mascara’d me over and over and over again.
Kari, Annie and Sarah came over and then the party really started. Everyone kept asking, “are you excited?” “do you feel like you’re getting married today?” “have you talked to him?” “could you sleep last night?” It was fun.
Ashton and I texted about not forgetting our rings, etc…and it was weird how casually we could text like those rings we didn’t want to forget weren’t symbolic of something huge.
Kate and Melanie continued to working on each of us, Annie sat on my bathroom counter with her feet in the sink doing her make up. starting with my mom. She seemed way more relaxed than I had expected after the 6 months of planning.
I don’t really remember much else from that really early morning, except that I loved having my closest friends there hanging out on my bed, helping me get my stuff ready, bringing me toast for breakfast, chatting and laughing. It was exactly how I had wanted it to be. We talked about how we had all learned to “extend” for all of the pictures we would be in that day… everyone knows you look better when you’re not smooshed into your neck with a triple chin. I know that I still subscribe to the extending policy when being photographed. There’s no other way.
I felt sad that not all of them could be in the temple; there were lots of jokes when I left… “see you when you’re married.” Sarah walked me out to the car and helped me carry my dress, my temple bag, my other miscellaneous bag and listened to my frustrations about my parents moving too slowly. I love her
My parents finally made it out to the car and we were on our way. I should never have been worried about them taking too long. I’ve never gotten to Oakland faster. And we arrived at the exact same time as Ashton and Debbie.
I felt so happy to see him. Debbie took a picture of us carrying my dress and his tux. I’ve never seen that picture, and always wanted to. I just wonder if we looked excited, nervous, freaked out, in love… anything.
We went to sign in at the temple, and although I think like 15 other couples got married that day in the Oakland Temple, every little old person in white seemed genuinely excited for us.
We went and got all of our paper work checked out, which seemed like such an unromantic part of the whole thing. Paper work on your wedding day?! The lady wearing all white Adidas added a “(Grewal),” yes in parentheses, to my temple recommend.
Sister Livingston came to find me, and carried my wedding dress to the Bride’s Room and then came back for my mom and me. She tried to get me into one of the Temple Wedding Dresses that I believe are from the ’80s, but my mom and I politely declined and I went into one of the little stalls to get ready. It was a struggle to put on my BP white sweater over my head without ruining Kate’s masterpiece up there, or getting make up all over it. I succeeded though, and ten put on my Talbots skirt. Yes, I got married wearing Talbots. Who gets married wearing a peasant skirt from Talbots?!
I went back to the Bride’s Room to finish getting ready, and Shelli and Debbie met me in there. I don’t think you’re supposed to bring 3 mom types into the Bride’s Room, but I couldn’t resist.
Then Sister Livingston took me up to meet Ashton, who was already waiting. We had talked before about what this would be like. What do you talk about when you know you’re getting married in 5 minutes? Well, not a lot. We talked about the guy we assumed was a poor groom desperately waiting for his bride. He looks freaked out of his mind that she wasn’t coming. We talked about how we were excited, and the fact that his groomsmen were wearing their tuxes even though we had asked them not to. See, I told you it wasn’t a lot.
Finally Sister Livingston came back to get us, and up we went. Brother Livingston was sealing us, and he stopped us to talk for just a second. He looked so sweet. He is so sweet.
We got sealed at 10:30 on August 4, 2007.
Then we went into the sealing room, and everyone was smiling. My brothers and their wives were against one wall, then my mom, Shelli and Richard, and Ashton’s family on the other side. I remember distinctly that there was some couple in the front row that I had never seen before in my life. I believe they were the Parkers, but at that point, I just thought “you got a front row seat?” So did Stacy and Spencer though… way to go, guys.
Brother Livingston started with really cute things, but what I specifically remember is that he said “I know they’re in love, because we sit behind them in church.” He talked about the parable of the 10 Virgins, and that’s about as far as my memories go. I wish I remembered more of it, but even right afterwards I was thinking “wait, what did he say? It was good, but what was it?”
My mom moved over to the other side so she could see my face. Ashton teared up more than I did. I focused on getting my part right, not ruining my make up and how happy I was
And then we were married. For eternity. Sealed.
But it didn’t feel that different.
Brother Livingston talked more about what had just happened and advice he had for us, and then it was basically over, and then my dad reminded him that we wanted to exchange rings even though we were having a ring ceremony later. I didn’t want to go take pictures without both of us wearing our rings.
We started to head out to the hall after that, and Ron Mason said “Katherine, quick hug your daughter.” So we hugged. Then my husband and I went out to the hall, and hugged and hugged and hugged as everyone came out. I got make up all over Sam’s shirt. I felt really embarrassed, but he’s just so tall! My cheek smeared right into his shoulder. He was really nice about it though, and I hope it eventually came out
We went back down the elevator and split up again. Kim and Stacy came to help my mom get me ready. My mom had to go back to her locker for something, and Sister Livingston asked if she should go ahead and help get me in my dress. My mom at first said to go ahead, and then said “wait, she’s my only daughter, I’ll be right back.” And so the 3 of them (well 4 if you include Sister Livingston’s sweet comments every now and then, and helping us find the button tool) got me out of my Talbots and into my wedding dress. I loved seeing it all come together for the first time. Dress, jewelry, shoes, hair, make up.
Then we walked from the locker room (you also never think you’ll be in a “locker room” on your wedding day) and several of those workers in all white told me how much they loved my dress. Yeah, I can brag. It was a year ago now and this is my blog. We found Ashton sitting in a seat waiting at the end of the hall. I loved seeing his little outfit come together too. I liked knowing he was my husband. Alisyn Crowder was there, too. It’s weird to run into people you know at the temple at anytime, but especially on your wedding day.
My mom of course had to pee, so Kim got my bouquet from Kari outside (which was the first time I had seen it, and it was exactly what I wanted) and brought it back into me. Ashton and I waited in the hall and talked to Jonathan Canlas and our Videographer. “Wait a few seconds after I go outside so I can be all set up. Come outside, kiss, and we’ll go from there.” My mom finally headed outside, too, and so we could get this show on the road. We came outside, Ashton lifted up my arm in some sort of a cheering stance and I thought of how it must look awkward because of how it pulled on my dress and showed off my armpit.
Then we kissed, and people just stared at us. I saw all my bridesmaids to the right of me. Sarah had borrowed my cardigan, I thought that was funny. John Fjeldsted pulled me over to take a picture with Courtney, and then it was more hugging all around. There is a great picture of me hugging my tiny little mom. It makes me really happy to look at it.
Once that had run its course, we started the endless picture taking. Everyone. Families. Friends. Parents. Just us. And then everyone was free to go except me and Ashton, and Kim and Stacy who graciously waited through the next hour or two of more picture taking so that they could go back into the temple with me to help me get changed. I could not believe how long they had to sit in the sun waiting and waiting and waiting.
We took pictures on the steps, near the stair well, on top of the temple, behind the Temple Pageant Auditorium place, on the bridge, walking, etc… Jonathan was so fun to work with. We joked about the poses we had to make, the faces we were making at each other, the way the veil was pulling out my hair in the wind. The videographer, whose name I can’t remember right now, was much quieter than Jonathan, but a really nice guy. He posed cheesy moments for us like both of us under my veil, slowly moving in to kiss and slowly moving back out, walking hand in hand… I’ve yet to see the video, but I think it will be good. I mean, let’s hope so, because there’s been a whole year of build up at this point.
Finally we were done, and Stacy and Kim took me back in and got me out of my wedding dress and back into my black dress. Their husbands had gone to get lunch for the 4 of them, so I left them there still waiting. Ashton and I got in the CLK his dad had loaned us, fully stocked with a cooler of diet coke, sushi and desserts. Given my lack of interest in sushi, we decided to stop at the Jack in the Box drive through in San Mateo on our way back to my parents’ house for the reception. How classy are we? McKay Winkel told us weeks later that he was impressed we went with Jack in the Box over something like McDonald’s or Wendy’s… so I guess someone thought we were classy.
When we got back to my parents’ house, it was so fun to see that everything we had been planning for 6 months (well, almost a year really) was finally becoming a reality. The dance floor was already there with the stage, the tables were all there, the ring ceremony chairs were lined up, Betsy was in the garage doing the flowers, the band and the caterers were setting up. Ashton hid our getaway car in the neighbors yard, so that it wouldn’t get covered with nonsense. PaulWall would’ve been mad, considering I don’t think he owned it. Somehow when it was time to leave, that car was back in the driveway. Who went and got it? I don’t think I ever knew.
The cake lady wandered into the house looking someone like a hippie, but she put it together nicely. I think people were wondering who she was at first because she really looked out of place.
Things that stuck out to me: I wanted the napkins tied in knots not bows, the cake wasn’t very green, and I always thought the dance floor would be black and white. Why? I don’t know, that’s just how I pictured it. None of it mattered of course, I just noticed it. (I had already had a break down on Thursday night over cutting the ribbons, so the bows really just didn’t matter…Don’t ask how ribbons could ever make someone cry.)
All of my girl friends were in my room re-primping. Annie was back on the bathroom counter wither hr feet in the sink. She asked me how married life is. I told her, it was a lot of picture taking and smiling. I called Kate and had her come back over for some hair retouching, and Melanie went to work on my face, and I got back in my dress. It seems silly that I even changed out of it, but I guess it was nice to not be in a wedding dress at Jack in the Box. Ashton got ready in Spencer’s room, and then we watched the rest of the backyard come together from Spencer’s window. Then Sarah and I went and walked through the Ring Ceremony chairs, checked out all of the flowers, and got an up-close look at everything. She made me feel better about the cake that wasn’t green enough in my mind. The flowers were beautiful!! So much better than I even imagined.
There seemed to be more last minute things than I had thought there would be. Where were my bridals going, where was the pillow to put our rings on, and WHO is that putting flowers in our pool. Oh, that would be Betsy’s husband Russell. That was the first time I met Russell who anchored the flower arrangements to the bottom of the pool. I had heard Betsy talk about how Russell was figuring out a way to make them float, but not gather all in one area of the pool, but I didn’t know it would involve him in a swimsuit jumping into our pool on my wedding day. It’s even funnier to think of this side of Russell now that I work with him everyday.
We started taking pictures an hour before the Ring Ceremony started. Ashton and I took pictures jumping on the trampoline, and he and his groomsmen did the same, and my bridesmaids and I continued to work on our extending in some more formal poses. Sophie and Emma somehow got their flower girl dresses switched, and Emma’s looked so short on her and Sophie was swimming in hers. They got it figured out before the reception started. We took pictures with 8 of my then 9 nieces and nephews, and I love this picture. It looks like we had a billion kids and then decided it was about time to get married. Except that none of the kids look like us, of course. Ashton will probably be asking some questions if we come out with a toe-head blue eyed little kid. I took a picture with Shelli after Richard grabbed Jonathan and said, “here get one of them.” I love this picture.
Guests started to arrive so we headed inside with the bridal party and people watch. Finally it was time for us to head out, so Megan Hammond started plucking away on the harp, and we got going. Grandparents, parents, bridesmaids, and flower girls. Then us. I could see Jonathan Canlas at the end of the aisle, but I felt funny staring right at him, plus I had to concentrate on my heels not getting stuck in the mud, so I kept my head down for the most part.
And then the ring ceremony started. Mark Beckstead said a prayer. Brig read a scripture, and Amy sang while Spencer played guitar. That was my favorite part of the whole thing. I loved it. Amy did amazingly well, even with her heels slowly sinking into the grass. All of my bridesmaids’ incredibly cute and uncomfortable heels sunk right in as well, but everyone was a trooper about it.
Stan Watkins gave a complete history of the Grewal and Wise families, complete with everyone’s Eagle Scout status. The Nest has never been mentioned so many times. To be honest, I zoned out a few times during Stan, but there were just so many other things to think about. The heels in the mud, the guests trickling in, the photographer and the videographer, what other people must be thinking about how long it took to go through my family, etc. Cooper and Sam (and then a chocolate-covered Oliver) brought our rings up on a cute little pillow.
As soon as it was over, Ashton and I headed back inside because that seemed like the natural thing to do since we knew we were supposed to be “announced” later. We went into the main floor guest room and sat there wondering what everyone else was doing. It seemed so stupid to be in there. Luckily, that didn’t last long because Jonathan came looking for me to take the picture my mom had been dreaming about for 23 years and 5 days less than 7 months. So I stood on the top of the stairs and he snapped a few shots. Then we hung out on the bottom of the stairs with the people coming in to write on our well wish cards. And that’s when I met then first of the 329 people I was introduced to that night. Even now, Ashton will tell me, “Oh, you met them at the wedding.” That’s a good one. I can’t remember anyone I met that night… except of course, Russell the pool man.
Then Preston of Pure Ecstasy (who had been playing instrumental-ness) introduced us and we were allowed to leave the house. Ashton once again did the arm raising triumphant entrance, but luckily I held my arm down, and let him just use his free hand. We went straight into our first dance. I tease Ashton now that he was extra bouncy and kept his head raised the whole time, but it was a lot of fun at the time. We dared a couple of lame turns, and then broke it down for a bit once Pure Ecstasy came off the stage and joined us. It was a rockin’ dance. Hopefully we did Catherine Robinson proud.
We then stepped aside to let my dad introduce my parents and the Grewals. I’m sure he said some nice things about appreciating everyone who came, etc. Then he said that Ashton and I were going to start eating first, so we tried really hard to work our way over to the Ashton’s favorites and KC’s favorites tables (actually I think we only ate off our own favorites table). We were just too popular to get there very quickly though, and I’m afraid people were wondering when they could start eating. Then we ate as Pure Ecstasy started to walk around and make everyone sing, including us. I can’t remember what song is what we sang, but it turned into the “cutest thing in our apt” according to myself. Preston, Olaf and Mr. G (or at least that’s what it looked like his name should be), got everyone singing — Grandma Jean, the Allreds, people I don’t know, Alph, everyone…
As everyone else kept eating, we made our rounds working the crowd. We got to talk to the Winkels. McKay was probably wearing the coolest outfit there. Shorts and vans. There were more introductions, more small talk, more “thank you for coming’s.” We hadn’t made it all the way around when my dad rounded everyone up for the toasts. Sarah Feely, Mala, Paul Fjeldsted and my dad. My dad talked about the woven tapestry of our lives. Sarah talked about me getting a new bed buddy. Paul talked about the first day Ashton told me he loved me, and I laughed in his face. Mala talked about how good we are together. I think everyone got a little teary… at least I know Paul did (ok, and me and Ashton, too.)
Then Pure Ecstasy started their next rockin’ set with my dad and I dancing to “My Girl.” Unfortunately at that point, the bustle button on my dress decided to break, so I was stuck holding my dress up off the ground as my dad paraded me around. He was having the time of his life. It was so fun to watch him loving it so much. Then he started to get teary, and I cut that off quickly. Then Ashton and Deb joined in, and somehow my dad left me for my mom, but Brig was right there so I wasn’t standing alone on my dance floor. Then all the real dancing started. And boy was it a lot of dancing.
At some point near the beginning, Kim asked me if I wanted my bustle fixed, and then she was up in the sewing box and getting everything ready. Kim was a lifesaver that day, and not just for the button fixing. Then Loretta sewed it right up for me, and I was good to go for the rest of the night. I always wanted to see a picture of that, too. I think John Fjeldsted took one.
Then it was more dancing. Dancing. Dancing. Dancing. It was the biggest dance party ever. Pure Ecstasy even got PaulWall and J-Dub on the mic. Then me and all of my bridesmaids were up on the stage singing “We are family.” We were supposed to do the “oohs” or something, but we weren’t catching on too quickly. It was so fun. When we finally came off the stage, Jonathan Canlas was like, “That was awesome!” I kept looking for Ashton because I thought he would think it was funny to see, but he was busy shmoozing with the SHP crowd. Anyway, then my nieces and Quinn joined in as well. Sophie and Emma were such rockstars.
Sometime around this time, Candy the Caterer set up our Rocky Mountain Chocolate Apples on the cake stands Shelli had Glue Dot-ed together the Thursday before. They looked so pretty in their little pyramids. You couldn’t even see the cake stands. Wow, I loved it. And the “Thanks for making our lives so sweet” squares looked so cute with the green and brown polka dot ribbon. I should remember to thank Catherine Robinson for picking those up at the Great Mall for us.
After the first rocking set, we paused for Ashton and I to cut the cake. I couldn’t figure out why he cut it directly on the corner. No one has ever cut cake that way. He also pulled the ribbon off in this big dramatic move, and that really confused me as well. We weren’t going to smash it in each other’s faces, but he put his fingers too far in my mouth and I gagged a little bit which made me miss his mouth just a tad, but it wasn’t too bad. That was the most of the cake I got that night. Just some green fondant. I was told it was delicious though.
Then Ashton gave a pre-planned little toast about how much he loved his new wife, and how grateful we were for all of the support everyone there had given us. He was really nervous, but I think it went well. Then Kim and I ran on up to my parents balcony so I could throw the bouquet. There was a nice little cup holding the littler bouquet for me. I watched all of the girls gathering together down below, and Kim stayed inside. Annie yelled something like, “throw it to me!” or “to your left!” and so I did. And she caught it. I like to think that’s why she got married on May 17th of this year. It was meant to be.
Then Kim and I came back downstairs for Ashton to do the garter. It was the ugliest, cheesiest garter ever. I picked it up at Party America the day before, just because I knew Ashton wanted to throw a garter. It felt good to have it not pinching my thigh anymore though. Paul Fjeldsted caught it, much to Nate’s dismay. Maybe that’s why Paul got married to Courtney just 3 weeks later. Who knows if it would have happened if he hadn’t caught that hideous garter.
And then more dancing. This is when the crazy partying happened. By that point, it still seemed like there were a ton of people there. We wandered around trying to say hi to the people we hadn’t, and then made our way over to the Smoothie Bar. Little Meg was in line in front of us. I didn’t know a 2-year-old could order their own smoothie without any help, but she did. It was hilarious.
As hot as it was getting by that point, Ashton never took his tux jacket off. He said he just didn’t think about it. I tried to hold Mirabelle and dance for a little while, but that baby was one huge ball of heat.
Pure Ecstasy was rocking the dance floor with “Ain’t Nothing Wrong With That,” “Mambo Number 5″ (which I hated) and of course, “You Shook Me All Night Long.” When we got home from our honeymoon, Josh said to me, “Thank you for getting married, if for no other reason than to see mom and dad scream-singing ‘You Shook Me All Night Long.’” This wedding really brought out a new side in everyone.
Then it was time for Ashton and I to change. We both changed so quickly because we felt like we were missing the party. Pure Ecstasy had to finish another set before we could officially leave. We found some of the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Covered apples my bridesmaids had hidden in my room. Everyone was hiding those apples. Jeff and Greg Pickett hid them under the couches in the living room. Luckily, the caterer sent us with two with the rest of our leftover food. It was a great little picnic.
After we changed, we watched the party from my bedroom window. We couldn’t see everything going on, but my parents could see us. They waved. Then my mom was on stage doing “I Will Survive.” Then I could hear, “Go Sophie, Go Emma, Go Sophie, Go Emma.” Alph Wise was doing “Rapper’s Delight,” and I’m told Spencer Christian had some amazing dance moves, but we missed them.
Then Preston announced that we were going to be leaving, and everyone lined up from the car to the stairs with their little green cones of flower petals. Karisa and I worked so hard on getting that cone shape just right. Well, Karisa worked harder than I did. (As she and McKay did on that “KC & Ashton” sign that was pointing the way to our house.)
Kim came up to check to see if we were both ready. She seriously was such a big helper. We have talked about it so many times since then, too. She was everywhere right when we needed her! We hugged her goodbye as we stood on the top of the stairs and she went down to tell everyone we were ready… and then we ran out. I got glimpses of people: Alph, Trenton, Nate throwing petals right on to Ashton’s head. We yelled, “thank you and it was everything we wanted (and more!)” and pointed to my parents, and then that was that. He opened the door for me, I got in and we sped out. Luckily we didn’t smack right into a tree in the driveway. That would’ve put a damper on the day.
And then we went to the Westin St. Francis, in Union Square, where we are now. Well, not the St. Francis, but Union Square.
I’m told that people went back in for a so-so rendition of “Come and Get Your Love” by Pure Ecstasy, and maybe another song or two. Then people started pouring out I’m sure. Candy apparently jumped on the trampoline and offered to cook up something for my parents. She was amazing.
The whole day was amazing. I loved our wedding, but I love our marriage even more. I love being married to Ashton. I cannot believe it’s been a year.
