Our Wedding is Featured!

Check out our wedding on Polka Dot Bride today!
So fun to look back and read our story again :)

A Late- Weekend Post

So this weekend was awesome. Our family friend got married up in my hometown Pismo Beach,
so we were able to take the weekend and spend it up on the Central Coast! The wedding
was beautiful. Full of life and happiness. It was great to see people I hadn't seen in a long time, as
well as spend time with my family who doesn't always get to see each other like we used to.

The weekend was full of beach trips, hometown breakfasts, and spending time with good friends
we don't get to see all that often. My sister lives up in Oregon, and is here this week for Spring Break,
so it's been a blast hanging with her too!



I love getting away to a familiar place. Where you know the people and the streets so well.
I'm back feeling refreshed and ready for the week!

Hope you all had a great weekend too!

Happy Day.

Our ah-mazing photographer Kayla Adams blogged our wedding photos the other day.
Just looking at them again made me fall into this swirl of memories from that day.
I'm pretty sure that day was the happiest I've ever felt :)

I also went back and watched this. Call me cheesy- but I could watch that thing a million times and never get bored. Well... at least I don't think so... !

Happy Monday everyone. If you're not feeling so great today, maybe falling into a swirl of
happy memories can bring a little joy :) It sure did for me.

Guess what?! I FINALLY printed out our wedding pics!
I'm so excited to frame these babies this weekend.
The walls in our house are pretty bare, their needing some photo love.
Looking at these photos is so much fun, it just brings me back to that amazing day.

Christmas last year was really special for Nolan and I.
Christmas Eve 2010 was when Nolan proposed :) we went from being boyfriend and girlfriend to fiances!
Now look at us- we're husband and wife.  Its amazing how time flies.
I feel like I say that much more as I get older...

Have an amazing weekend and continue to soak up the holiday season!
I hope you are all finished with finals and such, and you are able to spend the next few weeks relaxing and drinking hot chocolate. Happy Weekend friends!! Eat some cookies!

Bridesmaids: Treasuring Your Best friends

I had the best bridesmaids for my wedding. These were all so beautiful both inside and out.
I realized how much they all meant to me the day of the wedding. They were there for me at
all times. To hold my bouquet, to fix my dress, and to make sure I ate so I didn't faint at the altar!



It was really hard for me to choose how to dress my bridesmaids. I really wanted everyone to
feel good an comfortable in what they were wearing- I wanted a dress that worked for everyone.
That wasn't easy to find! I came to the conclusion that I wasn't going to please everyone.
(I hate that- not pleasing people) I wanted something uniform, but with everyone's personal style
coming through. So I had my girls all wear the same dress and accessorize how they pleased.
The day came and everyone looked amazing!

I sent out this little bridesmaids guide on what to wear to make it fun and easy for the girls to get
an idea of what the look was. (I'm a visual learner, so I had to give a visual example!)






I think they look pretty amazing, right! I was so happy with the way the colors came together,
because I really had no idea if it was going to work! And these ladies are all gorgeous, so that
didn't hurt the fact :)

On your wedding day, you truly really realize how important your close girlfriends are. There is no one
like them. Its not always easy being friends with girls. We're moody, full of drama and totally selfish
at times. But on the flip side, we're also extremely loving, nurturing and caring when we want to be. We all have bad days, but we need to stick by each other's sides and forgive one another when those days come- or life just hasn't been panning out the way we planned. Because we need each other, and we need to be forgiven too. There's no friendship like a good girlfriend. Hold on to those friendships- treasure them like gold. Because they don't come around everyday.





I had some amazing moments with my girls that day. We laughed, we cried (hard) and we prayed.
I love this photo of my bridesmaids laying hands on me, and praying for me. Cause I needed
those prayers at that time- and they were right there to give them to me.

I love these ladies to death- and I am blessed to have each one of them in my life. (Ok, I'm tearing up now... ) But seriously. I don't know where I would be, or who I would be without each of you.

Treasure your friendships ladies, because we need each other!

Happy Tuesday friends- call up your girlfriends. Tell them you love them :)

The Cutest

How cute is this flower girl with her sweet fall colored headband??

August 6th, 2011

Well folks they are here, our official wedding photos taken by the beautiful and talented Kayla Adams.
I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

Take a gander:



The dancing was oober awesomely fun :)



As if I haven't said it before, our wedding was completely magical.

The best day of my life. Hands down.

I honestly don't know what else to say about it that I haven't said before! We are blessed beyond
believe. And thats really all there is to say.

Now I'm going to go eat some breaky and drink some coffee with my husband who has
Mondays off :)

Have a great day friends.

Full Wedding Vid!

 So here it is, our full wedding video captured beautifully by Ryan McDuff.

We have watched it time and time again, brings us back to that wonderful day.
I am so blessed to have this wonderful man in my life, and I am so proud
to call him my husband. So honored to spend every morning and night with him,
to share today and tomorrow and the rest of our earthly lives together.

So blessed! I can't take it!

PS- make sure to watch till the end and you can see my brother's song he wrote
and performed for us at the ceremony. So good!





Thanks so much for capturing our day beautifully Ryan, you're so talented!


Nolan & Joanna Wedding Film from ryan mcduff on Vimeo.

Photobooth!

Thought you might enjoy to see some snapshots from the photobooth at our wedding!
Here they are!



Our wedding was a complete blast. I thought it might just be me cause it was my wedding-
but really everyone has been telling me how much fun they had and that it really was an
amazingly awesome wedding. Good to know others had as much fun as me!

Yay for funness!

I'm Back!

So it has been an amazing past two weeks full of weddingness, honeymooning, moving, moving moving, and putting together our new house.

Nolan and I area having so much fun and I can't wait to show you more photos from our honeymoon and of our new house. For now, here is a sneak peek from Kayla Adams of some of our wedding photos. Kayla was our photographer and amazing to have at the wedding.

I also wanted to share with you our wedding video done by the amazing Ryan McDuff. If anyone ever needs a wedding videographer, call Ryan! He is soo easy to work with and makes you feel completely comfortable in front of the camera. For those brides debating on wether or not to get a videographer for your wedding- do it!! It is completely different than still photos, you are able to re-experience your day in a way you never could without it. It is worth every penny! We were so happy with the video- it is a little glimpse into the deep joy we experienced that day.

Take a look!





So stay tuned readers! I'm back at blogging and have some fun posts planned! Have a great Monday everyone!

4 Days!!

Our wedding is in four days!! I can hardly believe it... I feel like this engagement has lasted forever but at the same time gone by so fast. I'm up on the central coast of California getting everything ready for the big day. Hair apts, nail apts, learning how to do my own makeup and making tons and tons of decorations!

Its all so fun but I'm definitely ready for the big day to get here so I can be laying on a beach in Hawaii with my new hubs.

So lacking of blogging will be continuing... but don't worry, I'll be back with tons of fun blog posts once this has all settled a bit :)


photo source

9 days!!!

So there's nine days left until our wedding!

So much to do, so little time!

Trying to live in the moment, focus on the goal and not stress!!

Taking it one day at a time...

So excited for nine days from now :)

I'm ready to become a Waterfall.


Just some scattered thoughts from a bride to be whose feelin kinda scattered but in the best way possible :)

Ready for Home!

There's less than 3 weeks until our wedding. And I couldn't be more ready for it to be here.

Lately I've been coming and going, driving up and down the coast, going here and there, doing this and that, and its made my head go a bit crazy! Especially because I don't really have a place to go home to. I love where I live, but since I graduated high school, I have transfered schools, moved a few times, worked at a summer camp, lived in another country, and my family moved away from my hometown. So the place I went "home" for the holidays and other occasions didn't at all feel like home. I haven't really known where to call home for the past few years... and its been really weird for me.

But now as Nolan and I are starting our new life's together, we're building a home of our own. As corny as it sounds, home really is when I'm with him! And I'm so ready to go HOME!

Wedding planning can be really stressful, I'm trying to keep my head on straight while not turning into bridezilla... But despite the stress and details, I know that day will come where I will just soak it all in and enjoy the hard work everyone has put into making this day so amazing. And I'm way more excited about the being married part than anything!

All in all, home is wherever I'm with you. And I'm so ready to go home :)


ps- you can buy this wonderful print here on Etsy!

Here are some shots from my bridal shower this weekend!

This one was in my home town, Arroyo Grande. There were so many wonderful
people who pitched in to make this shower look and feel amazing.
Everything from the favors, food, even the books on the shelf were coordinated to
match the theme and colors. It was absolutely beautiful.

One month from today, I will be marrying my best friend.
I am so thankful for this special time in life- so blessed to have so many amazing people
praying for us and helping us with everything and anything that comes up.

The Lord is good and I am a thankful little bride-to-be :)

PS- I went to my shower with some red lips. There's a great tutorial here if you want
to learn how to make the perfect red lip!

Thanks to my beautiful bridesmaid Tamara Shibata for taking these photos!

I am beyond excited to marry this guy in 37 days...

oh my word its coming so fast!! AH!

photos by Kayla Adams

Preparing for Marriage Fun Times

So this weekend I had my first...



It was super fun, filled with...



The shower was amazing- I got tons of fun new things for our future apartment, and had a blast just being girlee and basking in this fun time of life. My friend Tamara took these photos and made the amazing cake pops you see us holding in the pic. I really think they're my favorite dessert right now-
sooo good, creamy and rich!

The shower made me really feel the wedding... its soon approaching, its all becoming
so real- and so emotional! As each day passes I get more and more excited to spend the rest
of my life with my best friend. Its a huge step in life, and I couldn't be happier. As of now, I'm trying to embrace every moment of every day, soaking in this time of celebrating and being with friends and family before I become Mrs. Waterfall! Thanks to everyone who came to the shower- I am so blessed to have friends and family like you!!

PS- I made that little white flower in my hair, using this tutorial. It was super easy and turned
out really cute!

Invitation to a Lovely Wedding

Remember this little lady who just got married in Portland? Well I thought I'd share with you one more part of the wedding I had the pleasure of being apart of - designing their wedding invites!

Here's a little behind the scenes look at how Grace and Josh's invite was born into the world:




After getting inspired and sketching out the invites, I brought those tiny sketches into the computer, did a little paint-y paint in Photoshop, and...





The finished product. Complete with a goose (Grace's long time nickname) a deer, (representing Josh) a woodsy forest scene, add one map and RSVP card and wallah! The invite is born!

I know I've already done a blog post on Grace and Josh's wedding, but I have to give one more congrats to the couple, being as this post was all about their invites. So congrats again to the wonderful couple!

Yay marriage!

Grace and Josh

Hey everyone! I just got back from my wonderful week in Portland being a bridesmaid
in my beautiful friend Grace's wedding!
The week was amazing and so much fun. A great break from the everyday life.

Grace is officially Josh's wife now and I couldn't be more happy for the two of them.
They are amazing individuals with such heart. One of my favorite parts of the
wedding was hearing them recite the vows they wrote. Here are a few lines:
"I promise to say good morning, I promise to say good night. I promise to help you see
the everyday picture, I promise to help you see the big picture. I promise to make you tofu,
I promise to cook you meat." So perfect.



Now I'm back and am so inspired to get things going for my own wedding which is a little over
2 months away! So much to do... better get started! Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Running and Running

I love the illustrations of Kris Atomic.
There's such character and personality in all her work- its so fun.
As for me, I just realized theres 82 more days until our wedding!
Ah! I'm so excited but I have so much to do, and I really have to
be hittin the gym a bit more these days.. :)