If you are just joining me now for the first time…welcome! Before you continue on, refer to my first blog post The Beginning Pt.1 and start my story from “The Beginning”. I walked down the aisle to, “Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Haley Reinhart. It was nice doing a ring ceremony for our family and friends who weren’t in the temple… and it was so nice to have Hud there. My uncle conducted our ceremony and explained to everyone that we had already been married in the temple and made sacred covenants to each other in the Lord’s house. Then it was time for vows. You guys, I was so freaking nervous that I was shaking. I was holding my little book for vows and the book was like violently shaking. BUT, I will say I am SO GLAD we did vows. I seriously loved it so much! It felt good to express my love for Jacob and it was heartwarming to hear his love back. My vows to Jacob: Jacob, I feel like the luckiest woman in the entire world, now that I can finally call you my husband. I can honestly say that you make me a better person in so many ways. You have taught me to be more kind, patient, understanding and loving. You are a great example to me of a Christ-like person and I am so grateful that God put you in my life when he did. I know it sounds cheesy, but I truly think that our love and meeting was part of God’s plan for us. Two years ago I used to always think, “who is ever going to want this 21 year old girl with a little kid,” but then I met you and that all changed. You made me feel confident and that my situation as a young mom was so normal. You accepted Hudson as if he were your own from day one. I could not have imagined a better person for me and especially Hudson! From Hudson’s first steps to now, you have been with us through it all. I promise to be patient, especially when you bite your fork when you eat. I promise to be understanding even when I don’t get why it takes two hours to clean your little room. I promise to be vulnerable and open with you even though I hate crying and expressing emotion. I promise to cook for you, even though my cooking skills consist of sandwiches and quesadillas haha. But above all, I promise to love you now and forever for time and all eternity. I could not have picked a more perfect person to be my husband and the father of my son, (who is now our son). Hudson and I love and appreciate you so much more than you’ll ever know. You are my person Jacob Neeley, I love you! Jacob’s vows to me: Mayci, nothing in my life has ever made me so happy or felt so right than being here with you today. You have made me the happiest man on earth. I am incredibly lucky to have you in my life, for eternity. I feel blessed for this two in one deal too. Thank you for allowing me to share my life with Hudson. I vow to love you unconditionally. I will cherish you every day and serve you as my wife. I will be by your side through everything that life throws at us. I vow to support you in life as you pursue your interests. To follow you around the world as you accomplish your dreams. I vow to listen and be understanding. I vow to make you laugh. I will forgive and forget. I vow to protect and provide for our family. I vow to honor and respect you. It was not a coincidence that Hudson was there as a catalyst as we fell in love. Because of him you were able to see a sweeter and more gentle side of me. I fell in love watching your motherly instinct and pure love of him. Your tenderness with him allowed me to see who you were inside. He was the reason we were able to connect and love in a different light. I am so grateful for him. He has taught us to love in a more Christ-like way. It wasn’t long before I could see you both as my family. I promise to raise Hudson with love. To help him grow to become a man of honor, diligence, humility, and charity. I promise to surprise you and always keep you on your toes. You inspire me. I promise all this and more Mayci. I love you. After our ring ceremony ended, Jacob and I took some more photos at our venue. We then prepared for our grand entrance into our reception where more guests had arrived. Jacob and I planned for the groomsmen to all walk into our venue to, “Who Let the Dogs Out” to make it funny. Then we had the girls walk into, “Who run the world” by Beyonce. It was pretty funny. Then Jacob and I walked into, “Yeah!” by Usher. We practiced a little handshake routine 20 minutes before the reception- which was amazing! I don’t want to brag or anything but our wedding reception was exactly how I envisioned it to be. My mom helped me execute every detail flawlessly! After we had our grand entrance my dad welcomed everyone to our wedding reception. My dad got emotional as he mentioned my past and how happy he is that I have found such an amazing guy to marry and help raise my son. Then after his toast we had dinner. Our dinner was SO good, but sadly my dress was so tight so I got full really easy. After about 40 minutes into dinner we started the speeches. Both of my sisters were my maids of honor so they spoke together. They made it funny and tried to say funny and embarrassing things about me, but then they got serious. It was really touching, both of my sisters cried talking about Hudson and I. So it was super sweet because my family members definitely don’t cry very often, it’s actually pretty rare for anyone in my family to cry. Jacob’s brother and his best friend both gave great speeches as well. At first I didn’t want to have any speeches at my wedding because I wanted a lot of time for dancing, but it ended up being super great. It was nice to hear our friends and family support us and be excited for our marriage. After speeches, Jacob and I had our first dance. We danced to, “Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Elvis Presley. As you can tell I LOVE that song, and I love both versions of the song equally. My train was so long that I had to keep kicking it to the side as we danced haha. Then Jacob and I danced with our parents to, “What a Wonderful World.” Now my favorite part was here, DANCING! This is what I was looking forward to the most, because I love to dance and have fun. We danced with our family, friends, and of course, little Hud. Hudson loves to dance just like me so he was having a good time. He was also taking all the wedding favors off the table and eating them haha! Halfway through our dancing we did the bouquet and garter toss. We did the bouquet toss to, “Single Ladies” like everyone does haha. Then I wanted to change it up for the garter toss, so we did, “Candy Shop” by 50 cent. One of my lifelong faves. After dancing some more, we cut the cake. I told Jacob months in advance that he better not put cake on my face. I had a full face of makeup and a $6,000 dress that I didn’t want to get cake on. So when we went to do the cake cutting, Jacob teased me like he was going to smash it in my face but ended up touching my nose instead. However, when it was my turn I kindly smashed some on his face. Call me a hypocrite I don’t care, he’s a guy. Jacob thought it was funny too especially since I was so against any cake touching my face. Once our cake cutting was over everyone went back to dancing and it was such a fun evening. We danced with each other, our friends and just had the best night ever! Then at about 10:30 pm we left for our grand sparkler exit. The song “Summer” by Calvin Harris played in the background… it’s one of my favorite songs ever and Jacob and I started dating in the summer so it’s always been relevant in our relationship. It was so amazing. Everything I could have ever dreamed of. It took so long to plan and prepare for this moment and it was over so fast. I just want to go back in time and relive that day over and over again. It was the best day of my life spent with my favorite people. Jacob and I then drove away, down PCH to our hotel. We spent our wedding night at the Ritz Carlton right on the water and it was gorgeous! The whole room was decked out with red roses and flower petals! I won’t get into the details of our wedding night (obviously) but like I have previously mentioned on multiple occasions, Jacob and I waited for marriage. I would say it was the best decision for US and it made everything so much more special. My flowers arrangements were big balls of white roses, white peonies, white hydrangeas, and white draping orchids. They were amazing! I also wanted my vases to be very clean, minimal and modern so I went with round tall cylinders. My bouquet was very similar but I also added silver dollar eucalyptus and other white flowers that would drape down. For some extra glitz I had some diamonds intermixed between the flowers. My neon sign was definitely one of my favorites at my wedding. My sister and I designed the aesthetic and then got it made in Los Angeles.The whole backdrop that the sign was attached to was made by my dad which is pretty amazing! I found a picture on Pinterest and then my dad brought the vision to life! On the walls we had lace curtains that my mom actually hand sewed! Sometimes to get the look you want for your wedding you have to do it yourself! And DIY saves a lot of money! My sister also created our wedding schedule and the lights that shined “The Neeley’s” on the wall and dance floor. To make it romantic we had cylinders with white candles all over the venue, it was so gorgeous! We had a bartender but for sodas and “mocktails” which are non-alcoholic drinks that was great! We also had a donut bar which I LOVED! Donuts are my FAVE! My dad actually made my donut bar and then we bought the “donut bar” sign from Etsy! Another one of my favorite things we had at our wedding was our photo booth! It made our wedding SO special! Jacob and I were able to sneak in there before our reception started to get some fun photos. A lot of our guest were raving about it… so for all you future brides this is an expense worth every penny, so definitely consider! Click here to watch our AMAZING wedding video! Much Love, Mayci J Next Week: LAST POST OF OUR STORY!! I will be talking about living in Texas and our honeymoon in Cancun! Bridesmaid Dresses: https://rstyle.me/+__RW02zTeRPQbzvq6Nb7zg Photography: Blake Hogge Videography: Lauren Beeston