The Story

I've decided to reenter the blogging world.  My life is very different since the last time I posted, mostly because...I’m a married woman now!  As of September 23, 2011, I am now Mrs. Benjamin Neff.  And I love it.

It all started the first week of December 2009.  I was finishing up my first semester at BYU.  My sister Kelley had just come home in October from an LDS mission in Samara, Russia.  There, she befriended another American LDS missionary in Samara, Ben. When they were both home from the mission, they’d call each other occasionally to keep up their Russian.  Ben was at school at BYU, and Kelley was in California waiting to go to school in Hawaii in January. She told Ben about me and how awesome I am. Hehe. So anyway, he called me up and invited me over to make cookies.  He didn’t think much of it.  He was just meeting his friend’s little sister, who was far too young for him to date.  HA! That first night really wasn’t that great.  I met a lot of people.  I didn’t get to know him that well, and in fact, I thought he was kind of bossy.  But for some reason I kind of loved it.  So I called him a couple days later asking if he would help me pick out snowboard gear.  Ben is obsessed with skiing.  He was overjoyed to help me out, and long story short, we have been together ever since. 

Our first "real" date: Skiing and snowboarding at Sundance

After a lot of painful long distance dating…first Salt Lake to Provo, then California to Utah, then London to Colorado, then California to Utah again (I kept leaving the poor guy. He probably won’t ever forgive me for that haha), we finally decided to tie the knot.  On July 15, 2011, while Ben was visiting me in Summerland, CA, he proposed.  I couldn’t believe it.  My little sister Mak was the only one who saw it coming.  We went for a walk on the beach near my house, and out of nowhere, he kissed me, dropped to his knee and held out a ring. “Lindsey, will you marry me?”  and of course I said YES!! I always thought I would cry when he asked me, but he caught me so off-guard that I just didn’t know what to do except say yes yes yes yes yes!! 

Showing off my new bling.  We went out to our favorite seafood restaurant, Brophy Brother's at the Santa Barbara Harbor to celebrate our brand new engagement!

The next couple of months were filled with wedding plans and craziness, especially because I was in Utah while my wedding masterminds, sister Jessy and Momma, were in California.  That was tough.  But luckily, I had Ben’s wonderful family close by and some amazingly helpful friends and family.  We pulled it off and it was perfect! The wedding was everything I wanted and more.  I cannot imagine a more perfect day.  So I thought I’d share some photos with you.

For starters, here are some engagements.  We took them at the same beach where Ben proposed, Summerland Beach, and also at the Bluffs in Carpinteria. I owe him a lifetime of cookies and kisses and yummy dinners for this shoot…poor guy.  But they turned out so cute! Kelley’s very talented friend Sophie took these for us. You can see others here.

 I hope you enjoyed! Stay tuned for bridals and wedding pictures!