5 on a Friday: TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

 I should note that we did not really exchange gifts for this momentous occasion because we just bought a new A/C and need a new fridge and dishwasher and blender **whomp whomp** and also-- we are going to take a trip! Will I get my shit together and get on a direct flight somewhere? MAYBE. Or maybe we'll just go to MKE-- who even knows? Coming soon-ish.

Here are five things we did do to celebrate!

1. The girls and I all tried on my wedding dress because what the hell.

I bought it at David's Bridal (peak 20025) straight off the rack no alterations. It was too long, but I decided that I wanted the poofiest dress imaginable, so I wore not one but TWO giant crinolines underneath and solved the length problem by increasing the circumference. 

2. Ben brought me a gorgeous bouquet of 20 calla lilies because my wedding bouquet was white calla lilies and pink roses, and we had absolutely giant calla lily arrangements in the ballroom and on all the tables. And my dad! Complained to my mom about how expensive they were, but I did not know until LITERALLY YESTERDAY that calla lilies are not actually in season in August. (yes, my parents paid for our wedding-- an old-fashioned custom that worked out well for us).

3. Ben also knocked the nostalgia out of the park by getting a cake in our wedding colors from our actual wedding bakery. IT WAS SO GOOD YOU GUYS.

4. We went out for a lovely dinner and came home to cake and Veuve. 

5. We sat around with the kids drinking champagne (not them obvi) and eating cake (all) (not Minnie because Cooper put her to bed) and looking through our giant wedding album, all the proof pics (our wedding was shot on actual FILM NO DIGITALS, YOU GUYS), our engagement party album, our wedding shower pictures, our honeymoon album, and my favorite, the album we made from all the disposable cameras at our wedding. Every table had a camera, and the pictures are such a 2005 time capsule. So many pics of prime rib in a world before social media-- how funny!

Here are a few pictures of wedding pictures: 

Classic 2005 album

Me and my bridesmaid and one bridesman

I was a huge dick about my hair until my friend Cathleen was like WE CAN'T FIX YOUR F*CKING UPDO HAVE A DRINK.

Ben and the only chuppah in Peoria.

My brother!

Could Ben look any more like his dad?

The circumference of this dress!

CAKE!!

Someone's bouquet caught on fire during my dad's toast, not pictured, but looking at this pic of the best man speaking and all the roses and candles, I think you can see how it might have happened

For the record, I did not want to go the garter thing

It was SUCH a 2005 wedding. We even had our string quartet play "All You Need Is Love" as we recessed.

The candid album from the disposable cameras was the best-- Ben's sister and her own brand new husband husband (fresh off their Hawaii honeymoon) took a picture on every camera which cracked us up when we developed the film (FILM-- THE WHOLE WEDDING WAS SHOT ON FILM)

These tank tops were very in.

AND THE HONEYMOON ALBUM. We were so young! SO TAN!

Ok ok. Two more. My mom and I inexplicably went to Kansas City to shop at the Plaza for bridesmaids gifts (Tiffany bookmarks is what we ended up with)

And how cute is my mom at our engagement party by her awesome food spread? If we had our wedding to do over again, I think we would have done it at my parents' house. (Or taken my dad up on his cash offer to elope).