5 years...

i had to blog about this before i forget all the amazing details....

well in October i started working on a big surprise for my hubby. we had already planned a trip to Napa and Carmel to celebrate our 5 year anniversary, but i wanted to make the trip memorable. we had always tossed around the idea of renewing our wedding vows at our 10th anniversary, but once i saw the pictures of where we were staying i knew it was the perfect place to do it. well i kept it a complete secret for about 4 months and the only one's who knew were the resort and the seamstress Sue Ann Ising that actually took the train of my dress to recreate a new fun summer dress to renew my vows in. It turned out after 8 fittings to be the perfect dress. i cried when i put it on...after Sue Ann and i started tossing around ideas I had to let a few folks know so i could get some opinions etc and my little secret staff kept mums the word through the whole thing. (Thanks to you and you know who you are!) The next thing was finding the perfect minister and photographer and figuring out just how i was going to spring this on him and more importantly how I was basically going to pull the whole thing off without him getting suspicious. Well the people at The Carneros especially Brooke, their staff wedding planner, made it easy breezy! They found me the perfect Irish Catholic Reverend, the perfect photographer and florist...all which didnt get done until about 3 months before. Rev. Dalton called and chatted with me about 5 or 6 times and made sure he felt he knew us and our family well. He was just amazing...i now wish i had someone to video all the meaningful readings(he read from our first wedding) and all the wonderful prayers he had for us. More about that later....The photographer Megan Clouse was my culprit in handling the surprise! She had the idea to deliver a note to him and she would get his face on camera so he could have time to process the whole thing! She was right...he was so overwhelmed and emotional but confused too...haha. the note was done by a great gal on etsy.lettergirl.com. Basically it said "Marry me.... again....love, your bride"

By the way i feel i'm purging tons of info so excuse the incoherent parts, haha i have two babies about to wake up and i want to finish before i forget it all :)

I was "at the spa" he thought getting a massage,but really i was in hair and make up and changing into my dress that i had shipped out earlier...btw it didn't arrive until 2 hours before....sweating bullets!!!

roger knew he was to be ready at 4 for drinks before we went to our nice anniversary dinner and to toast at 4:30 the day/ time we got married so that part went off without a hitch....except a minor button breaking before i left for "the massage" that i sewed on really quick.

well as my hair and makeup were finished and I was all dressed, my bouquet arrived and Meagan came to get the note from me to take down to Roger at our cottage....when i saw Megan i LOST it....i teared up and my heart heaved out of my chest....it was like getting married all over again....so i began the walk to our cottage and saw Megan around the corner and i knew Roger had been surprised and was waiting on me in the backyard...happy tears streamed down my face and that 100 yard walk seemed like a mile...i was so anxious to see him and see his face and just KISS him....

I walked in and we saw each other and it was almost more special and meaningful that day than our wedding day...tears were streaming down both of our faces and we just fell into each other arms for what seemed like forever....Megan and Rev Dalton gave us a minute to say something to each other before we started the ceremony and i told roger how happy i was as his wife and how happy i am as a mother to our amazing boys and we both said things to each other very intimate and meaning full that i will keep private and just for us....but we both cried again...Rev. Dalton then asked us to walk up to him and as we walked to think of the last 5 years, and of the journey of our marriage, and our two precious children, and how we have come to this place today.... he walked us through the day we got married and read the readings and prayers and then he asked we remember the day each of our boys was born. first he talked about holding Airey in our arms for the first time and then of the day Campbell was born and knowing our blessing of another healthy child, and of course Roger and I lost it again....we touch rings and he blessed our marriage once again and he asked us to repeat vows to continue to show each other affection and love even in the hectic times and reminded us both that the best gift we can give to our children is to let them see us love each other every day in how we spend time together and how we spend time with them as a family and lastly to remember to put our marriage first and the rest will take care of itself. that if we nurture this sacrament God has given us that we will be the best mother and father to our boys that we can be....we closed with another first kiss and then walked again down the stairs as husband and wife. We cant thank Reverend Dalton,Megan and all the staff at The Carneros that made that amazing day happen. Everything was so perfect and we are so lucky to have each other

.....Much Love, Roger and Sarah Ella