The Best Day of 2011~our 10 Year Vow Renewal! And the Bride wore...Black?!

So after much pondering over all the ups and downs that came with 2011 for our family, it was pretty easy for me to choose the BEST DAY EVER (as my yellow spongy friend would say!) for 2011.  :)


It was the day my husband and I renewed our vows.  Our 10th Anniversary celebration to each other.  We decided to do this for several reasons.  One, because we knew it would be a beautiful thing to re-certify our love for each other, to take time for the busy day grinder to tell each other just how much we mean to each other, Second, because we knew how amazing it would be to allow the kids to be a part of that, to teach them TRUE LOVE and ensure they have great examples of that so that they may find their soul mate one day and never settle, and last...because our first wedding we set up in Hawaii on Waikiki beach and it RAINED.  Yes, it rained.  So our wedding planner had a back up plan.  It was a beautiful little chapel not far from the beach.  We were a bit disappointed, because we really wanted it to be on the beach...but later realized the symbolism of being in any house of the lord and how important that really was to set the tone of our marriage. This was a SECOND CHANCE to a BEACH WEDDING...:)  The idea of that was so beautiful.  A Re-Do.  We loved the idea of planning all the things that meant something to us now and doing it all over again.  So, we went for it!  We had already been planning a trip to see my sister and her family in California, so why not do it there?  The kids and I arrived  a week early and as I learned rather quickly, there are no shortage of beaches.  So we scouted several recommended beaches and fell in love with none.  Then, my sister recommended La Jolla Beach.  This was the place.  It was gorgeous.  It had cliffs, rocks, beautiful beaches and truly took my breath away.  " La Jolla beach" is not enough as I soon learned.  It is very big with many different sub-beaches, if you will.  We thought we had settled on Shell Beach, but the day of the wedding, Allan and I took the Harley Davidson (our getaway vehicle) for a beach side ride.  We found an even prettier and romantic section of beach we had not seen before.  We took note of the crossroads, made everyone aware and as we are known to do, made a spontaneous change of location about an hour before the ceremony.  We later found out the name of this gorgeous spot...windandsea beach in La Jolla.  No doubt about it, this was the PERFECT beach for us.  


The day couldn't have been any more PERFECT.  The weather all week the week prior was in the low 60's and I knew on the beach that meant COLD!  But I swore we would be there no matter what this time...RAIN OR SHINE.  I was prepared to buy the umbrellas if that was what the forecast predicted.   Thankfully, it did not...it actually predicted the warmest weather ALL MONTH....78 degrees!  We were thrilled.  All the stars aligned perfectly.  Even the photographer told me it was such a perfect day for a sunset and that most days out there it is so smoggy that the skies cast a gray wash across all images that are not pretty.  But not this day, it was CRYSTAL CLEAR and GORGEOUS.    It really set the tone for the most ROMANTIC DAY EVER for me.  So, for me, the best day of the year was this.  It will likely be the BEST DAY EVER for me.  Unless we can somehow top it in another 10 years for another re-Do.  But I'm not sure how.  Only time will tell.


I love you Allan.  I love my beautiful children.  I am so blessed to have met and married my SOUL-MATE.  


Here are some of my favorite images of that beautiful day.  Oh...yes, I wore black.  I know, I'm unconventional.  Conventially so, I'm told ;).  


Enjoy!