This weekend was an exciting one! Not only did I get to spend an entire day with Scott, but we had a good reason to celebrate: Our 1 Year Wedding Anniversary.
We don’t normally make anniversaries a big deal. We hold off on buying each other expensive gifts, and instead focus our attention on spending quality time with each other.
Without discussing it first, we both went with the traditional “1st Year Paper” theme for a gift. If you want to see my DIY gift as well as a tutorial, check out my First Dance Lyrics Picture Frame Project.
There are only a few special days recognized just for us and our relationship together, and one year after our wedding day is certainly a reason to enjoy an entire day together. Sunday was full of fun, pictures, and well… love.
Post-it Scavenger Hunt
I woke up to a snuggly dog in my lap, two cats on my pillow and an excited husband. I like to use Sundays to catch up on sleep, and didn’t wake up until 9 a.m. which gave Scott a few hours to plan something fun.
Little did I know, he had been up for two hours planning a Post-it Scavenger Hunt!
The idea to take me around the house going from one clue to the next was very cute and clever… until about twenty minutes passed by and I was still playing the game. Just kidding – I enjoyed every minute of it.
Listed below is the “cheat” order notes I found later under his pillow.
Whether it was an inside joke or a riddle, one Post-it led me to the next to finally end up with an answer of what we would be doing that day…
What’s funny is this is just about an eighth of them.
When I eventually discovered an invitation to a Paper Plate Picnic, I was excited and knew I had something to look forward to when we got home from church.
Where It All Began
Last Sunday started a three week series on Leadership in a Life Group at church, led by Orlando Magic Co-Founder: Pat Williams. Both Scott and I have met Pat a few times, and always enjoy an opportunity listen, learn and soak in anything this man has to say. He really knows what he’s talking about and is one of the sweetest, strongest, smartest people I have had the pleasure to meet.
On the walk back out to our car, we couldn’t help but stop by the chapel where we exchanged vows, just one year ago.
Throw your hands fingers up!
On our way back to the house, we stopped by The Fresh Market to pick up a few picnic dishes to take with us to the community park. We weren’t home for more than five minutes before we were packed up and ready to go… Roadie and all!
“Paper Plate” Anniversary Picnic
Although it stormed later on in the day, we got to Dr. Phillips Community Park just at the right time to soak in a few hours of fun in the sun. Both of us were hungry and couldn’t wait to dig in to the eats.
Terayaki chicken wings, a dill cucumber and tomato salad, a lemon honey flavored pasta and a greek olive and vegetable salad made both of us very happy picnicers. Also, the Mint & Honey Organic Sweet Leaf Tea is a new obsession of mine. The flavor the tea reminds me of my Honey Mint Fruit Salad and I could drink and entire gallon of it!
The food was great, the weather was gorgeous and the company was one of a kind.
And yes… I am totally rocking my DIY Bride Tank you might have seen in my Getting Ready Wedding Recap. If not on your anniversary, when else are you going to wear it?
Quality Time with Roadie
When our bellies were full and our picnic came to a close, it was time to take Roadie over to the doggie park! He usually spends at least a half an hour running, chasing and going in circles without stopping, but this time he decided it was too hot to play around.
He loves playing with other dogs at the park, but certainly has no interest playing frisbee with either of us. This was our third failed attempt to get him to chase after it, and after a few runs around we went over to the doggie pool to cool him off.
Roadie will usually do anything to avoid getting in a pool, which we find very odd after seeing him jump into lakes during every walk or run we let him.
Today, this pup was too hot to fight it.
A great afternoon quickly turned into a great evening with my groom. When we got home, we showered and took a quick nap listening to the rain trickle down our bedroom windows <- the best.
Before we knew it, it was time to wake up and go to dinner!
Anniversary Dinner
I didn’t ask for much for our anniversary, except a nice dinner out. Nice doesn’t have to mean expensive either. To me, nice means somewhere I feel like I need to wear a dress and heels to.
Knowing my favorite kind of dinner is Italian, Scott made reservations at a restaurant named Bravo, located in Restaurant Row in Orlando. We showed up a few minutes early and asked a kind woman to snap a few photos for us.
As each year goes by, I want to take an anniversary picture and change out the year on this mini chalkboard I found at Target.
I really enjoyed editing the few I had and couldn’t be happier with how the next one turned out!
I think it’s a framer.
The food was fantastic, the service was even better, but I’m not going to include pictures of our food because that’s not really what this post is all about.
Okay, okay… I had a chicken pasta made with PLUS Barilla Penne noodles, feta cheese, fresh spinach and sun-dried tomatoes tossed in an olive oil dressing. Scott and I shared a Lobster Bisque <- one of the best I’ve ever had, and were pleasantly surprised by a complimentary chocolate cake with a candle!
Too bad it fell over for the first picture…
Ha!
We were Scott was just having a good ‘ol time finishing up dinner.
As much as we wanted to dig into the top tier of our wedding cake when we got home, we were both stuffed and agreed to wait until yesterday to taste it.
Top Tier Anniversary Cake
After forgetting about it for at last six months, then forgetting to call our caterer about getting our top tier, I was more than ecstatic to pick it up in one piece last Friday afternoon.
Since we never actually sat down to have a piece of our own cake on our wedding day, we were anxious to see what it tasted like.
The top tier was a pina colada flavor with a coconut frosting under the fondant – just for us.
Nice work, Anna Cakes – the cake was moist still tasted delicious!
Well, you know what they say…
You can take the bride and groom out of the wedding reception, but you can’t take the wedding reception out of the bride and groom.
Or something like that.
We are complete, utter goobers.
Happy One Year, Scotty!

My hubby and I just celebrated our twentieth anniversary this year – how I wish we had started taking a traditional picture with the chalkboard – so cute! Many more happy returns to you two!
Aw, thank you Bess! Holy moly – 20 years, CONGRATS to you guys!!!! Hey… it’s never too late to start… maybe you could pose a 20 year photo and start this year? 🙂
I love the idea of the blackboard in your anniversary photos. I’m looking for ideas as my first wedding anniversary is coming up in March. You’ve inspired me!! Thanking you all the way from Australia
Awesome! And congratulations on your wedding anniversary!
How sweet! It looks like you had a wonderful, fun-filled anniversary 🙂 If you’re looking for a really sweet and sentimental gift for future anniversaries, you might consider using MyDayRegistry.com to dedicate your special day to your husband.