Friday the 13th of June 2008- The Happiest and LUCKIEST Day of OUR Life!

Danae Ahlstrom and Benjamin Luke Ostler for time and all eternity!

A couple days before our wedding day on Wednesday the 11th, I received my endowments in the temple. It was a VERY special day that I got to share with my close family and Ben, of course, but I sadly do not have any pictures, but have a pretty good excuse. You see, I became incredibly ill mid-session (lovely). I still remember praying I would make it through having no idea how to gage it since this was my first time. I could barely bask in the beauty of it all because all I could think about was rushing to a bathroom and being sick -cute memory, eh? My family went out to celebrate at Fazoli’s (one of my favorites) afterwards while I lay in Ben’s parent’s car wanting to die-I felt so nauseated. I knew my in-laws loved me before they were even officially my in-laws when they and Ben took their food to go so they could rush me home-LOVE THEM!!! I felt so horrible that I had to keep having them pull over so I could be sick while they were trying to eat their dinner-that is love right there! My maid of honor-Camille-was there when I got home and her face expressed everything I was feeling-Oh no! My wedding is in two days and I have NEVER been so sick! (until pregnancy later on, that is).  It was pretty bad for the night and then much to my relief-it subsided. Whew! I still have NO idea what it was. The only thing Ben, myself, family and Camille can conclude-NERVES! Why couldn’t I have just stuck to the traditional “cold feet”?

Feeling back to normal I did the only smart thing I could think of and basically pulled an all-nighter. Okay, maybe not the smartest thing, but I had a fun sleepover with my bridesmaids my sister Cami and my bestie Camille Stout-now Camille Hatch (she married a Ben too, we always talk about how much better life got once we found our Bens’). The night was complete with facials, pedicures and manicures and lot and LOTS of girl talk and giggles. It definitely made up for not having a bachelorette party (hard and awkward with mostly guy friends). I am pretty sure I only got a couple hours of sleep between the festivities and my excitement for the next day (it was like Christmas eve and I can NEVER sleep on Christmas Eve-even now).

When I woke up the next morning my stomach was FULL of butterflies, but thankfully-no bugs! I am pretty proud to say that I did my own hair and makeup (better and cheaper that way-I know how I like it), but saying to do it yourself may be a bit weird since I have also done other’s hair and makeup for their weddings. Anywho-tangent-you will get many of those throughout this blog I am afraid. I was so excited that my hair and makeup went perfectly-that usually only happens on the days I am not trying and then it totally bombs the times I really want to impress (does this happen to anyone else?). I could not help but giggle with excitement when Ben came to pick me up to take me to OUR WEDDING at the Bountiful Temple! I still get just as excited thinking about that moment.

I was so excited and caught up in the whole romantic and secure (if you know me-this is HUGE) feelings of being Ben’s wife. I could not believe how calm I felt (considering my nerves just a couple days before) right up until the temple came into view and I may have killed the romance a bit by saying things like “hold my hand, so I don’t run!” or “I will love you through the good and the bad, but if you ever cheat on me it is over.” (nice Danae, nice one),what can I say not every moment is perfect in life, right? Luckily for me Ben those feelings subsided and everything felt perfect the second he opened my door and took me by the hand and sheer excitement flooded me as we walked towards the beautiful temple followed by many smiling, loving and supporting friends giving the occasional “this is it!” thumbs up.

Getting married on Friday the 13th can be weird, I guess, but it has MANY perks, like being one of only 2 brides at the Bountiful Temple that morning-on a Friday-in June and I have always wanted to be married in June (“Oh they say when you marry in June, you’re a bride all you life”, by little brother, Kyle sang that song over and over that day…anyway…). It was PERFECT and laid back and easy-going and so my-style. My Mom helped me get ready and I could not help but feel so pretty and like a princess (never thought I would admit that). It was only moments later that I found Ben and we got to sit together in the special celestial room in the temple before our sealing. There was such a beauty and a peace as I lay my head on his shoulder while holding his hand while he gently stroked my fingers and he would occasionally softly and sweetly kiss the top of my head. Time seemed to stand still in that moment. It.was.perfect.

Things only felt better as we walked into the sealing room met by all of our closest friends and family. I felt nervous, but the second Ben would give my hand a little squeeze and just being with Ben for that matter, calmed those nerves and for most of it I felt as if we were the only ones in the room. The sealer even quoted Shakespeare (talk about perfect when you are talking about me-my good guy friend, Jarom Dilworth, even got me Shakespeare’s entire work collection for our wedding present-that is how much I LOVE his work). When it came time to share our first kiss I was a little nervous. The sealer had talked to us about “the kiss”  beforehand and had said that not enough kissing is sometimes weird and too much kissing is sometimes not good either-as if my nerves were not already there-sheesh!…so what was the “perfect kiss” for such a setting as this? Suddenly, I had wished we had rehearsed or something. When it came time for “that kiss”, I met Ben over the altar with one good solid peck (that should do it, I thought)…but then I got worried about it “not being enough kissing”, so I went back for another-as Ben was pulling away-of course. I had to awkwardly bring myself closer to him before he got the idea and met me for a second good solid kiss and the room was quickly filled with suppressed giggles as everyone tried to remain reverent. I thought it was a bit mortifying, but Ben and everyone else seems to still think it was pretty cute. So much for a woman’s elegance on her wedding day…now I am remembered as the silly, giddy, twitter-pated “cute” girl. Oh well, we all have our inner child, right? Just after the sealing I did another thing I promised myself I would not-I got teary-eyed. It was such a special moment in my life, with all of my closest friends and family there to love and support me and bask in the wonderfulness of it all, and all of that sort of just caused the feelings of my heart to flood over.

Afterwards, Ben and I went to our separate dressing rooms (but not before sharing a few kisses in the elevator) and got ready for our wedding pictures that were taken outside of the temple. I met him all giddy and excited-I WAS OFFICIALLY BEN OSTLER’S WIFE!!! (I had dreamt about such a moment even in High School)-kept going through my mind. I could hardly believe it! We were SO excited to be married to one another after all those years of friendship and romance.

We walked out absolutely BEAMING-can ya tell? My little sisters (see Lindsay in the bottom left corner-they were front and center for the whole picture-taking event) were so cute and so into the whole princess/bride thing. They kept telling me how pretty I looked and what a princess I was and wanting to hold my train and even followed us around to help with my dress and spread out my train for our pictures.

So happy to be married and to have so many of our friends and family there to support us! We missed having my brother Ryan there who left for the MTC (Missionary Training Center) just 9 days before the big day.

I loved taking pictures with Ben that day. We were so into the emotion of it all and the feelings of excitement that we shared that we hardly noticed our photographer which is good because he was able to capture us just as we are in our true element-not trying to pose for pictures. I LOVE them and the feelings that flood my heart as I remember that day. I LOVE this boy SO much! I am the luckiest girl alive!

SO happy and SO in love! I am happy to say that even with so many ups and downs over the years we can still say that!

Just look at my handsome…as I said I scored BIG time and am SO lucky!!!

The day was PERFECT (who says that Friday the 13th can’t be lucky?). The weather was sunny without a cloud in sight, accompanied by a light 65 degree breeze of perfection that blew my veil and hair just so, and the colors of the plants in that brilliant sunlight-don’t even get me started! It made for  PERFECTLY BEAUTIFUL pictures to capture a PERFECTLY BEAUTIFUL day!

Oh the passion!!!…and that is when our happily ever after as man and wife began and officially never had to end!

We then got into our Sunday clothes and were off to our wedding luncheon to meet up with everyone again. I was so excited holding Ben’s hand and imagining our life together…and future children…and all that fun mushy-gushy love stuff that comes with the newlywed territory as we drove to Layton to the Golden Corral. The luncheon  was yummy, but I was so excited about the page I had just turned in my life, I had a hard time focusing on anything else…that is until Ben kept introducing me to his family and saying things like “This is your niece and the baby she is holding is your great-niece”and stuff like that (may I remind you that Ben is the youngest of 17 children and I am the oldest of 10-it is SO weird going from being the oldest child, grandchild, great-granddaughter, etc. to being younger than all my nieces and nephews…what???). I went from not being an aunt at all to being the aunt of about 50 and the great aunt of over a dozen in one day-it.was.crazy.

After the luncheon we returned to our apartment to get ready for the reception that was to be held that evening at the very Stake center we shared "our second first dance", but not before my maid of honor, Camille took me shopping for some fun honeymoon items (you see when your mom and aunt throw your Bridal Shower-it was the same day as my engagement pictures-which I also sadly have no pictures of), certain items get left out which Camille told me would not be acceptable so she made sure I had all the “necessities” covered as a last minute gift before we headed to the Perry Stake Center.

It was fun getting ready for our reception together as official man and wife in our 1st official apartment (where I now lived with him-what? SO exciting!) Our reception was wonderful, but it deserves a post all of its own so that is up next!