My husband and I are celebrating our 13th wedding anniversary this year.  It’s hard to believe that we’ve been married that long.

So I thought it would be great to look at our wedding photos.  Since we got married in 2000, smartphones and videos weren’t around at all.  And it was way before social media – so our wedding is really only in my scrapbook.

So here are my Top 13 favorite things about our wedding:

Number 13: The Church

Grace Lutheran Church in Northbrook, Illinois is pretty much where I grew up.  I just felt it was where I needed to be married.  My mom worked at the church while we were growing up and we knew every inch of that building.  I was in children’s choir, youth group, etc.  It just felt right to be married there.  I also love that it’s so simple and clean looking.

Number 12: The Llama

I have NO idea why, but there was a paper mache llama in the lobby of the church.  We decided to take lots of pictures with it.

Number 11: My Wedding Hair

I’m really happy how it turned out.  I really liked my tiara (a gift from Scott before the wedding) and would do this again in a heartbeat.  There were about 200 bobby-pins in my head and it took almost the whole next day to remove them.

Number 10: The Wedding Invitation

We had a Mickey-themed wedding.  But before you roll your eyes, understand that it was really a hidden-Mickey themed wedding.  This was our invitation and I love, love, love, love it.  Exactly what I was looking for.  And this was before the internet where you can now order custom-made anything:

Number 9: My bridesmaids

I had the best girls to help me for the event.  My two sisters, my sister-in-law and one of my best friends.  They were perfect and looked amazing too!

Number 8: Mickey Mouse Ears in church

One of our gifts to the bridal party, personalized Mickey Mouse ears.  They look perfect in church, don’t ya think?

Number 7: Bubbles

I just love the pictures from the bubbles leaving the church.  I’m happy we did that.  They are my favorite.

Number 6: Just Married

We did it! I love this picture.  I also made that heart thing for the back of the car.  I was super craft before I had kids!

Number 5:  The DJ’s

When I was in Jr. High, I used to babysit for our computer/typing teacher.  On weekends, he was in a band called the Moonlighters.  I always told him when I got married that I wanted his band to perform at my wedding.  Well fast forward, and the band was no longer together.  However, he did still do wedding DJ’ing.  So done! He and my old Jr. High Band Director DJ’d our wedding and it was excellent.

Number 4:  The Singing

Neither Scott nor I wanted to do the glass clinging tradition. You know the one, hit your glass until the bridge and groom kiss.  For some reason, we are not fans.  Instead, someone came up with the idea that if you wanted us to kiss, your table had to sing a song with the word love in it.  I figured no one would do it.  I was wrong.  We have some of the best wedding pictures from everyone singing.  It only got better as more alcohol was consumed.

Number 3:  The Ears

We kept the ear theme going throughout the reception.  There are some of my favorites.  If you look close, you’ll also see pictures of our bartenders.  They were a very important factor during the reception.

Number 2: The Dancing

So many great memories, but there are two really important ones to remember.  1) It was the first time we met Bobby.  Bob Duncan came as a date with my sister Julie, and they later got married and have kids and now live 15 minutes from us.  But this was the first time we met Bobby.  2) My great-grandmother was 98? at the time?  Old…very old.  But still had all sorts of energy.  What do these things have to do with each other?  This:

Oh how I love this picture.

Number 1: The Marriage

Of course, my favorite thing about the wedding was actually being married.  I still can’t believe it’s been 13 years!!