Lost and Found...

Wow, time certainly flies and we really have gotten sidetracked – you might say lost - from our blog since the Big Day just a few months ago. It seems that recovering from a wedding and honeymoon, settling into our home, introducing the dog and cat and building a life together has taken top billing over blogging and sharing updates.

Fear not, dear family and friends, we are found and have a fun little lost and found type story to share.

This story recounts the lost and found adventure of our custom, photo filled wedding guest book. If you were with us in Charlottesville in January, you more than likely enjoyed seeing the variety of photos and reading the crazy passages and poems we included in our personalized guest book. You probably signed it, too. (At least we hope you did!)

Why is this book so important to us? We wanted to make our guest book a personalized wedding memento rather than a more traditional “sign your name on the line so we have proof you ate your meal and owe us a gift” kind of book. Being the crafty and creative ones, we designed and printed a one-of-a-kind keepsake.

We never expected it would disappear on our wedding day.

Here’s what happened. The book arrived from the publisher a few days before the wedding and we entrusted it to the safe keeping of our two junior ushers, (under the watchful eyes of their parents). We gave them a couple black and blue Sharpie pens (so guests didn’t have to use crayons) and they gave us their word that they wouldn’t draw mustaches on Mike photos or give Sarah dark sunglasses before others had a chance to sign. They also promised us the book would make it to the wedding and not get lost beforehand. Faith, faith, faith…

When the Big Day arrived, we were relieved and excited when we saw the book at both the ceremony and reception and guests were signing it (we even put a jar of candy near it at the reception to entice unwilling guests). People complimented us – they enjoyed our creativity - and we had another reason to smile and be happy.

Later that evening, when we got to our hotel room, we were met by boxes full of keepsakes, cards, flowers, gifts, etc. (Our wedding coordinators and families were definitely on their game and delivered everything to us in a timely and professional manner before we even arrived in our room.) We figured the guest book was in one of the boxes so we went to bed eager to awake the next day and see what everyone wrote.

The next morning was an emotional one. We awoke, finished our warm bottle of champagne, ate leftover chocolate strawberries and searched for the book. After digging through every bag and box, we realized the book was lost and no one (including the limo driver who was on our call list) knew where the book went at the end of the evening. After a quick and unproductive search of the reception site, we came to the emotional conclusion that our guest book – the one customized piece of wedding memorabilia we really looked forward to reading - was lost for good!

Fast forward a few months and cue warmer temperatures and the arrival of spring. The mounds of snow from a rare, cold and hard mid-Atlantic winter had finally melted (believe it or not, our wedding weekend was one of the only weekends all winter it didn’t snow in the South) and family members who drove to the wedding were finally able to open the frozen car they had not driven since January. There, sitting in the back seat, was the guest book. It was found!

Our little story has a happy ending!

So…we are back and so is the guest book. (By the way, we finally enjoyed reading it together one night recently as we also flipped through our wedding proofs.)

It’s all good now and, with the arrival of summer, we have new energy to reach out and reconnect. You can find us at home – please come visit – and maybe we can flip through the guest book together. Just promise you won’t hide it on us, OK?

All our love,

Sarah and Mike