We're a family!

Mr. and Mrs. Godfrey....it didn't hit me until my husband introduced me last night (11 days after our wedding) to someone as his wife. saying it wasn't all that weird, but when he introduced me to someone new...dang. anyway, we got married. it's over and done and the party was fun. there were so many people who put SO much effort into our wedding. i have no idea how all the behind the scenes went, but i am getting bits and pieces from everyone...we are totally blown away by the love people showed in setting up and taking down for our wedding. the food was incredible...we give total props to Zach Smith and his beautiful wife, Liv, along with Evan. the food was incredible. Barb Forbes and Emily Hodgin made salads that i couldn't get enough of along with asparagus (that we were not going to serve because it was going to be too difficult) that Barb and all those who helped made an incredible wrap of asparagus, swiss cheese and prosciutto. the potatoes and the meat...mmm. not to mention all the awesome hor d' vours! wow. we couldn't have served the wine and beer without our good friend Gary who also helped with building the dance floor, picking up and dropping things off and not to mention helping keep my dad and uncle sane. Then there is my Uncle Lynn and Aunt Suz who poured out tons of work the week before and the day of the wedding...as well as the days following it. Lynn helped with the dance floor, put up signs, and getting the grounds ready for the party. Suz made the carrot cakes and helped things go smoothly at the house all week. My Aunt Corinne and Uncle Mark (YAY for a good ceremony given by Mark). Corinne's mission was to keep me fed and watered...because of her i could stand on my wedding day. she also kept my mom sane and worked to feed everyone who was in and out of the house the week before the wedding. when my cousins Amber and Lael showed up my mom put them to work and can't believe all they did to chip in...i caught a glimpse of Lael following my mom's instructions...good thing he has a lot of military background! my cousins Katie, Aaron and Amy who ran errands and worked on anything and everything...i only wish we had had more time to just hang out together! Kat and Travis and all their work...Kat did all the programs and invitations and they were beautiful. she was my computer genius getting everything printed and taken care of there...i can't even tell you all she did to help with organizing and doing the itineraries for people, not to mention her friendship and support during the most important time in my life. Jesse and Leah and their support. Leah along with her sister Esther (who have 5 babies between the two of them) made all the chocolate cakes while my two aunts made the carrot cakes. not to mention that all of them were AMAZING. i only wish Alfred and i could have kept one to eat on our one year anniversary seeing as we only got one bite that day. Steve and Cindy Jacoby....they were slaving away in the tent. i couldn't believe it when i walked in and they were folding napkins that put such a beautiful touch on the tables. they were set so beautiful thanks to the Jacobys, Katie P., Ryan and Megh, and Jess and Cindy who also put my candy table together. forgive me if i am not remembering any of you that helped! all the dudes that helped with parking and shuttling! i think that was Charley Pace...husband of my amazing and beautiful bridesmaid Kendra as well as Matt Bate, husband of my amazing and beautiful bridesmaid Liz. those who set up tables and chairs and moved chairs too, Ray and Seth Richards. 

Michael and Christina who painted on our dance floor a replica of the necklace Alfred had bought me and represents God as the center of our journey...that meant so much and was incredible and beautiful and a great surprise! Barb Dillon who ran around with my beautiful and amazing bridesmaid, Jenna, to provide food for us when we were getting ready. i know there are so many more people who helped in so many small, big and HUGE ways so THANK YOU. 

thank you to Tom and Jane who GRACIOUSLY offered their home, their house, their time, their energy...they gave more to us than we coul

d have imagined and the wedding was so intimate because of the home they provided. wow. Jane did so much to keep me and my bridesmaids taken care of! they worked behind the scenes and wouldn't take credit for anything, but they deserve so much recognition. they are humble, wonderful people full of love and grace. thank you. 

Gerry and Cathy...you and your wonderful family members....thank you all so much for making this possible and working so hard to make the rehearsal dinner and the wedding so beautiful. seeing your faces on the wedding day was so wonderful and Alfred and I are so blessed to have been given the gift of your love, time and energy to make the day incredible. i know weddings happen every day, but we were so blessed because we had you involved in ours and we have you in our lives. thank you.

Mommy and Daddy, i am so overwhelmed. i can't h

old in my emotion no matter how hard i try. i haven't sat down to write anything down about all of this yet and to try to grasp all of the sweat, tears, love, financial support, care and conc

ern that were given for us, i am flooded by emotion. it's not even possible to write down all that you have done, but to mention a few. Mom, your organization and ability to make all the phone calls that i couldn't do...you just took them from me and i no worries that they would be done. Daddy, your willingness to take on building a dance floor, to mow the area perfectly for the wedding, to work so hard physically to make my wedding so b

eautiful. to go through the to do lists without a sound. i am completely overwhelmed. most of all, just your love for me and my new husband...i couldn't be more thankful that you walked 

me down the isle, i will always cherish that memory. you wanted this day to be perfect and even if it had fallen apart it would have been perfect because your love and your support was all i needed...both of those were more

 than poured out on me and Alfred. you both silently loved us and put the work into making a day so perfect no fairy tale wedding could be written by disney to top this one, and it's all because the love of you and all our friends that made it a day Alfred and i will cherish. i love you both SO much there are no words. 

more than anything i am totally blown away by what God did to make this day what it was and to prepare Alfred and i for this life together. just to give tho

se of you an idea of how God specifically orchestrated this day and its details solely because of His grace and love for His children i'll tell the story. 

Alfred and i had hardly started our search for a location for the wedding, truly not sure how we could pull off a wedding in a destination location where prices are outrageous Tom and Jane in their casual giving approach said, "hey, if you guys want to you are more than welcome to have the wedding at our house." for the longest time i couldn't grasp what that meant and the love behind that offer. i almost didn't believe it because i knew how big that was. i went into the head space where i thought...for sure we will just have a tent off in the trees where we won't have to invade their space and we would stay out of the house completely. not long after we told them we would take them up on the offer, and i stressed so much that i wanted to respect every request they had regarding their property and their privacy. comments here and there from Tom and Jane like, "the great thing about having a wedding at a house is that the guests can use the restrooms" or "it would be really nice to maybe have a cocktail hour out on the patio" started bringing me to the realization that they were willing to let us use parts of the house for our guests. it didn't end there...long story short...myself and my 8 bridesmaids and my mother got ready in the house along with Alfred and his 9 groomsmen and my dad, probably more people than i know got ready there, we had the cocktail hour on their patio AND in their house, our guests were able to wander through and see the magnificent house they live in (i couldn't believe that they would be so willing to let us invade their space like we did), then the party moved from the house to the tent in their beautiful yard where the celebration and dinner began. nothing could have made this spot any better. 

in addition to the generosity and love of the Hills, the story for how we acquired our the ceremony site goes like this...we had scoped out a place that was absolutely beautiful along the dyke on the Hill's property with views of the Tetons and the sounds of the river next to us, but the spot wasn't very flat. we were going for it though and we had to make sure the neighbor to the south would be ok with us putting a handful of chairs on his property. we asked him, through his caretaker because he lives full time in California, if it would be ok to use a little of his property. not only was he ok with that and willing to respect us if we WANTED the wedding there, he went a thousand steps further to offer us his manicured lawn amidst a beautifully landscaped backyard. i met with him for a couple hours one day and he walked me through the property telling me all the things he would make sure the landscapers had finished for our day. he had no need to even care about us let alone give us full reign over his property and let 200 people use it for a day. thank you to shane for his kindness and willingness to help us. 

then came the search for a caterer...Jackson has wonderful caterers, but they were all so expensive and just not what we were looking for. a long time friend of my brother's came to mind, Zach. he is an incredible chef and has worked for caterers many times. we just wanted a little help from him to see if we could do the food ourselves, he not only helped us plan it out, but he jumped in to make the most incredible meal come together. he ordered and prepared almost all the food. he organized the serving of both the hor d' vours and the meal, with his wife and brother, made it happen. of course, Alfred's aunt whom i cherish and love also sacrificed time and energy to make the wonderful side dishes come together as i mentioned before. without the help of these two people, along with Liv, Evan, Steve and Susie Baldock (who were in the background manning the grill) we would have been having hot dogs and hamburgers...thank you so much.

there is no doubt that God weaved this whole story together for us. we just put it in His hands and He showed us His love through the amazing details of that day. to top it all off, i had simply said to Him one day, "God i would love to see a bald eagle fly over us sometime during our wedding day" being that they are so majestic and my favorite creature ever. the thought of that actually happening passed through my mind, knowing of course that God can do anything, but i hardly stopped to think of it again, and then as i stood facing my husband to be at the altar i saw a shadow dance across the trees behind him...i glanced up without seeing it i knew God had loved me enough to bless us with that little moment as the bald eagle passed over us. what a day. thank you, Father. 

i write all of this because it is my way of not only reminiscing and trying to recapture the reality of our wedding day, but writing is my way of recognizing all those who mean so much to us and all the work they put into it. i know i missed a lot of people who helped and i am sure this whole thing is a bit jumbled, but here i am to say thank you and i know Alfred echoes my gratitude. thank you to all of you who showed us love by working hard to prepare and partying with us in our celebration!