Love Letters & The Notebook

So I'm gonna get a little mushy with y'all today. While many parts of our wedding flew by in a blur, there were a few special moments where I actually felt like time practically stood still or at least inched by so I was able to take it all in. Reading the letters we wrote to each other on the day of our wedding was one of those stand-still moments. 

I knew long before our wedding that I wanted to write Brandon a letter for him to read on the day of (yes even before I saw it on Pinterest). I have always been way better at expressing my feelings and thoughts on paper than in person and for as long as I can remember I have written down snipits of my life and poems of how I feel in random notebooks, so I knew I wanted to memorialize our day in a special way. I had actually written a little something three years prior (only a year after we had started dating) suggesting that I could already see Brandon being my husband and growing old with him which I also gave him to read on the day of. It actually ended up being almost more emotional than the actual letter I wrote for the day of the wedding. 

When I suggested to Brandon that I wanted to write him a letter for the day of our wedding, he surprisingly agreed quite quickly to also write me one so that we could exchange them before we saw each other. Little did I know it was one of the most memorable moments from the entire day. Thankfully, because of our little "video project" (a wedding post soon to come) we were able to capture both of our emotional reactions to the letters on film which was really sweet to watch later since we weren't in each other's rooms when we read them. 

For my letter, I wanted to make it a little extra special and start a new tradition as well. I had read somewhere a while back of a married couple that, in an effort to keep the spark alive in their relationship, started a love note journal tradition. The journal was where they would take turns writing a letter (of love, apology, encouragement, etc) at a random time (a high point or low point in their relationship) and hide it in a spot where the other half was bound to find it (ie. on top of the cereal bowls in the cabinet, in the passenger seat of their car, etc.). Our wedding day seemed like the perfect time to begin this tradition. 

I purchased a nice leather bound journal at Barnes & Noble months before the wedding and on the day of the wedding while we were at the salon taking turns getting our hair done, I wrote my letter. It was actually a great emotional outlet on such a high energy, emotionally charged day. I started by telling Brandon how I felt about him when I first met him and continued on about how much our relationship has grown since then. Our relationship is by no means perfect ( I would never expect it to be) but I was actually able to tell him how much of a sense of stability he has been in my life. I added in the little poem/ writing that I mentioned earlier behind the letter I wrote the day of the wedding. The funny part is that even though the date from the past writing was on it, Brandon skimmed past it and assumed it was just an addition to what I had written that day. I guess that just goes to show sappy and romantic women are in comparison to men that I was even able to think that far in the future despite only being a year into our relationship. I ended my letter with a little note for him to look inside his ring for my gift to him that was a surprise engraving that says, "Love you forever 09.28.2013." 

While we were both getting dressed with our bridal party in our respective rooms we had the Maid of Honor and Best Man deliver the letters to each other. 

 I'll let you see for yourself the pictures our wonderful photographer, Jamie Brant Photography captured during the writing and reading of our love letters.

 

And then as if the letter wasn't already enough (It was!), Brandon gave me a very thoughtful necklace that totally matched the pearl earrings I was wearing. He knew that I had decided not to wear a necklace originally because I couldn't find one that I thought did my dress justice. Little did I know, he found the perfect one that had an infinity symbol and a pearl.

The love letters were one of my absolute favorite memories from our wedding! I know that sounds kind of crazy but at the end of the day, the fact that I can go back and look at our letters and read about where each other's thoughts were on that day just makes it that much more special. 

Peace, 

Allison 

:: wedding photos by Jamie Brant Photography ::

Stay tuned for the Laundry Room BEFORE & AFTER reveal later this weekend.