Wedding Week Day 4: Sweetest Day

When picking my all-too-important wedding date, all I knew was that I had to work around fire season.  We got engaged in January of 2003, so I knew a wedding before fire season was just too soon, and I love autumn so I thought that an October wedding would be perfect!  Little did I know that Glenn would have to leave for the San Bernadino fires of that year just 6 days after we got married!  So, no, we didn’t go anywhere for our honeymoon…we enjoyed a couple nights at the Surprise Valley Hot Springs after the wedding, and then at the house at Mahogany Ridge Guest Ranch until Glenn had to leave!  We were young, and we decided to spend our budget on the wedding instead of a honeymoon.    But don’t feel sorry for us, we went to Mexico on a cruise about a year later and kept calling that our “honeymoon.”  And the staff treated us very well because of it, ha!

Anyway, when picking those magical numbers, all I knew is that, for some reason, I wanted an even number.  Don’t ask me why, but it just felt right to pick a date that was an even number.  I have a thing for numbers and an even number felt lucky to me.    Plus it should be in the last half of the month to avoid fire season as much as possible.  And so, we decided on 10.18.2003 as our day.  The 3rd Saturday in October.  A few months into planning the wedding, I glanced at a big wall calendar where I worked at the time, and saw that October 18th of that year was a holiday!  A holiday that I had never heard of, but I thought that it was quite a sign and very appropriate for a wedding!  It’s called “Sweetest Day.”  Being from Northern California, I’ve never heard of Sweetest Day — have you??  Apparently it’s more popular in different areas of the country (the Great Lakes and Northeast), but I am happy to celebrate it every year, along with my wedding anniversary!

So what is Sweetest Day?  From what I’ve read, it’s like Valentine’s Day but you celebrate ALL of the loved ones in your life, not just your significant other.  It was started back in 1921 as a way to spread cheer to those who were less fortunate, but has since become about celebrating friends, relatives and associates.  Of course I’ve found a lot of text claiming that it was invented solely by the candy and greeting card companies, but who cares?!?!    Let them add holidays!!  I don’t think that you need a specific reason to celebrate your loved ones, but why not?  And I love that I got married on ‘Sweetest Day’ 6 years ago.

We had a traditional wedding as we got married in the church that I attended growing up, and then followed with a reception at the local Elk’s Lodge for dinner and dancing!  Wwwaaayyy back in 2003, digital cameras were just becoming popular so my wedding photos are a combination of digital and film which means that I can’t share all of them!  We took a lot of photos before the 5:00 ceremony (gasp!), but I am so glad that we did.  I also didn’t hire the photographer to shoot at the reception, my photo-savvy Aunt took pictures for me there, which are all on film.  So today, enjoy our engagement and before-the-ceremony shots.  And don’t forget to celebrate your loved ones on ‘Sweetest Day’ this Saturday!

xo, Lindsay (& Glenn!)

P.S. If you’re curious, my dress is crushed organza silk in ‘candlelight’ color (slightly off-white). I loved it. It was also FREE!! It was my cousin’s dress from her 1990′s wedding, so we altered it by removing the big puffy sleeves and made it strapless. We turned one of the sleeves into a purse – look for it in the pictures. The seamstress also didn’t charge me as that was her ‘wedding gift’ to us! I didn’t get to keep it, but that is alright with me!

Our engagement photos were taken by Kathi Corder at a park in MacArthur, California.

These photos were taken at the historic Niles Hotel in Alturas, California. We didn’t get married here, but I wanted to take our “getting ready” photos here for a gorgeous backdrop.

This is Glenn’s nephew Christian…who’s now 12 and taller than I am!  Weird…

And our Flower Pixie is Glenn’s niece, who’s now 9.

See you at the wedding tomorrow!!