November 24, 2018 we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary! Planning for this day did not start then though!
It started probably near when we got married or shortly after. I was in the shower one day and thought to myself, for our 5th Anniversary I want to surprise him with dinner at where we had our reception at! We had talked about it multiple times how we so badly wanted to recreate our wedding day/night even right after it happened. How it seemed like it was a blur and we wish we could go back and relive it again. Obviously, that’s a little hard to do and definitely a waste of money, but something small and intimate like dinner in the reception area would be very special! I knew I had to keep it a secret and that scared me. How was I to keep a secret like this for almost five years?! I doubted the possibility but I tried hard and stayed true to what I believed I wanted to do.
Getting everything booked and ready was hard as Andrew and I have joint bank accounts, so I couldn’t really give anybody a deposit of money without him questioning. I was able to figure out I could have my mom write a few checks and I will send it in and pay her back in cash over time slowly so Andrew wouldn’t notice. He had no idea anything was going on. I had told him I had something planned for us about a month before but it was a surprise. We were at home and my mom had came to get the kids from us to take to her house. I had to blindfold Andrew and then help him get dressed so he couldn’t see my dress or see what he was wearing either. I put him in the car and we started to drive. Him being blindfolded I thought for sure he would have no idea where he was. NOPE! This guy is a human map people. He legit knew each road I turned on and he even knew which freeway I got off of and onto the next one. He even sensed when we were passing the airport. There was a tiny hiccup and so when we got to the Ice House he had to sit in the car blindfolded until we were ready. He was a little impatient but I had to wait until things were just right. By that time the kids showed up. I had planned for them to be there about 45 minutes after we were there, but since my plan was thrown a curve ball, they were there to help me surprise him. I still wanted to walk him in blindfolded, so we went out to see them after I surprised him. Man, was he surprised! Such a magical time we spent together here. On our wedding night and our 5th anniversary.
I was oddly super emotional being back there. I found myself crying when we recreated our first dance. Just to think of all the things we’ve been through and experienced in just 5 years. I feel so blessed to have him by my side. To be my buddy to go through life with. There is nobody else I’d rather be with.
Anderson was so excited to be a part of it too. She always looks at our wedding photos and asks why she wasn’t our flower girl. She says she wishes she could of been there. That was even more of a reason to do this and include her. I really wanted her to be dressed up like our flower girl and feel like she was a part of this special memory of ours. She was SO excited it was amazing. She’s definitely my daughter because she loves surprises, she loves parties, and she loves being dressed up and feeling special! She was on cloud 9. She was so sad when it was time for her and Fitz to leave. She wasn’t ready to leave but didn’t want to be split with Fitz so she had to go with Fitzy and let mommy and daddy have a date night!
Side Note: Fitz fell asleep in my moms car on the way there, we woke him up from too short of a nap for his liking and he was NOT having it. He was also weirdly afraid of being in the building itself. He was much happier on the outside but we had to work with what we had so if you wonder why he isn’t smiling in a lot of the photos or maybe not even in them, there you go!
Photos by Cami Parker Photography
Dress: JourneyFive
Andrew Shirt: H&M, no longer available but similar
Cake Topper: Dixie and Bee
Location: Ice House Phoenix
Andrew & Fitz Bow Ties: Leo Too
