- Thank You! -

As I sit here today with a [bottomless] cup of coffee and an [endless] stack of thank you cards, it is hard to find great enough words.  Brian and I are taken back by all of your love!  We are so thankful for all of our family and friends who helped celebrate the best day of our lives; meager sentences on a thank you card cannot express how appreciative we truly are. Thank you for being our teachers, comrades, and support systems.  You are our very best friends and the people we adore the most.  Sweet family and friends: know how very much you are loved!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, everyone!!

- Move In? -

Hey, we're married!...

...Wanna move in? ;) 

- Share Your Pics! -

Have any pictures from our wedding weekend? We would love to see them! 

bridget.stieren@gmail.com
brian_d_fleming@yahoo.com

Thanks, friends! :) 

- Honeymoon -

Our wedding photographer was amazing. Kelly Manno. If your guy puts a ring on it, look her up stat. We love her spunky, easy going, and inspirational personality just as much as we love our wedding photos! [CLICK HERE to see our sneak peek on her blog!] On the wedding day, she stood behind the camera lens and snapped away at our every move.  She has an amazing gift of capturing life and love and everything else in between.  We are so grateful for her.

Unfortunately, we didn't hire a photographer to trail behind us in Hawaii and preserve the beautiful landscapes we saw and capture the memories we made.  Here, it was up to Brian and me to stand behind the lens and snap away.  As we started to review some of our pictures, we couldn't help but notice an interesting thing: our camera never quite captured the richness and beauty and depth and perspective that our eyes did.  The only way to keep this unique and beautiful world was to blink our eyes and preserve the memories forever.

These moments below [among millions of others] are photographs engraved in our minds forever.  In a meager effort to share our photobook with you, here are a few "blinks" from our honeymoon... ;)  Enjoy!

*****

Monday morning came bright and early; our flight was at 7:00am. It was 30 degrees when we left St. Louis and 85 when we arrived in Maui! For the entire week, we were immersed in sunshine and rainbows.  Thank you, Lord, for this awesome awesome weather!  
-blink- 

Five suitcase-pecking chickens met us at the rental car desk.  Interesting, to say the least.  Get away.  
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A bouquet of red roses awaited our arrival in the hotel room. "Who put these in here?!" "I did, babe!"  My husband is so thoughtful and romantic. I think I'll keep him around for a while! ;)  
-blink- 

"Lei'd."  Oh yeah, pun intended... ;)   
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We are fond visitors of God's country!  
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Penguins in Hawaii?  Ok, we'll take it.  
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Halfway through the week, I found my pot of gold at the end of the rainbow! A lifelong good-luck charm...sweet!  
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Breath-of-life wind, gusting so gracefully across the water...  
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Every day, we walked along the beach hand in hand.  I've been dreaming this moment with my soulmate since 5th grade.  
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Apparently Hawaii names their roads and beaches after us? Coo.  
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We marveled at allllll the spectacular flowers.  I seriously couldn't stop marveling.   
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Are these even flowers?  
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Five claps for romantic oceanside, candlelit dinners!  
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One of my favorite things was staring out over the ocean as it glowed in the soft night light.  So peaceful and pacifying and wonderful.   
-blink-

Our vacation package included breakfast in this restaurant called Swan Court.  How awesome and relaxing and gorgeous to sit there every morning and watch the waterfalls flowing and swans swimming!  
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We are in paradise. Just the two of us.  
-blink- 

We drove the 6-hour long Road to Hana. To get to the city at the end of the road, we had to twist through verdant rainforests and swerve along the winding shoreline roads.  
-blink- 

Spotted: waterfalls around every corner!  
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Convertible top down, music playing, and frequent stopping to observe luscious rainforest plant life like we had never seen before.  It was beautiful.  
-blink- 

Say cheese!  
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Trees actually grow this way?!  
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Fr. Meconi: here in spirit. ;)  
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It was just the two of us most of the time, but every now and then we made a new friend!  
-blink-

Brian's siblings scheduled a helicopter ride as our wedding gift. Craziest ride of my life! #love  
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Future pilots?  

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1700-foot waterfalls.  Wowza!  
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Rainbows popped up every direction we turned.  Holy moly.  

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Hey, baby! Yeah, that's my smokin' hot husband.  

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Booty shakin', fire twirlin', luau lovin'.  

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I was the passenger of this FORD Mustang for the week. Inside joke for a select few, don't even ask.  

-blink-

Hawaii has a Starbucks on every corner. Hell yes!  
-blink- 

Sipping Blondies, laughing together on the deck of a sailboat, and watching the sun disappear into the sea.  This is the life.  
-blink-

True story, babe.  

-blink- 

Aloha, Hawaii... We will never forget you!!!  
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-bliiiiiiink-

Cheers to the best week of our lives; double cheers to knowing that this is only the beginning of our always exciting and ever changing lives together!
-blink-

- MARRIED! -

We walked down the aisle, said the vows, slipped on the rings, and.....

.....WE'RE MARRIED!!! :) 

Stay tuned for more wedding and honeymoon pictures!

- Angel Seamstresses -

Thank you times a MILLION to both of our sweet mommas, my Grandma Penny, and Becky at Alterations A to Z for helping fix my dress! Even with four-inch heels, I still would've been tripping over this sucker without some major hemming action.

I can't even begin to count up the hours my mom spent sitting on the floor sewing this dress! #saint

Hugs and kisses and chocolates [and whatever else she requests!] to Becky at Alterations A to Z for helping bustle the back. This wonderful woman has taken care of me for homecomings, proms, pageants, and weddings for almost 10 years now. Thank you, Becky! :)

Tons of thanks to all the talented angel seamstresses! I'm happy to have such talented family [...especiallllly when the time rolls around to start sewing some baby blankets! Hehe!].

- Father/Daughter Dance -

I have been waiting so long to spoil the secret of our father/daughter dance!  All of of it was choreographed by the wonderful dancing sisters, Alicia and Hallie Schneider! [The first video clearly shows how rough we would've been without them!] We could not have done this without you two; thank you so so much for 1) welcoming us into your home and 2) teaching us the moves over and over and being so patient! We love you!

[Don't forget to pause the music at the bottom of this page before you push play!]

The practicing part:

The showtime part:

- Loading the Trailer -

The flowers are loaded into the trailer, and the Stieren house is officially de-wedding-ized and ready to hit the road with all these decorations! 

St. Louis, I hope you are prepared for everything that we are about to unload! ;)