Wedding details!

Thanks for your patience--seems like I'm always busy, even when I think I'm not going to be. Case in point, my best friend who lives in Japan dropped by this afternoon and I didn't even know she was going to be in town. Always great to see Janie!

The wedding was perfect. Everything went smoothly and it was beautiful. It probably helps that Allyson is so good at event planning that with all of our checklists that we laughed at, everything ran really smoothly. The whole weekend I didn't get to bed before midnight and didn't get up any later than 7 AM. By the end I was physically and emotionally drained...

Rick and I arrived on Thursday night and had minimal duties, mainly baking goodies for the next few days. It was funny though, as we pulled up my dad had the old farm truck's hood up, taking out the new battery and siphoning off the gas so he could take it in for Cash for Clunkers since he heard they were going to run out of money. Timing is everything... On Friday I was busy the entire day. So busy, in fact, that I forgot to pick my dad up from the dealership when he took his truck in for the trade (but in all honesty, I was still running errands when he called to say he had found another ride). Allyson hired a former coworker to do all the flower arrangements and between helping her and decorating the reception site and church and running random errands, I barely made it to the rehearsal on time. Rick was a trooper and stayed at my parent's house doing my random computer assignments and manning the switchboard, delivering messages and passing along plans... it was crazy.
The rehearsal went well though there was a little confusion on when the flower girl and ring bearers would sit down and the younger ring bearer was not being brave and going down the aisle with his brother. Minor details. Chad's grandma held the rehearsal dinner at her gorgeous home--I should have gotten some pictures of her landscaping. She is a master gardener (that's a real title, not just a compliment I made up for her) and her acreage looks amazing! It was a great ending to a very busy day.

And then came Saturday....


My immediate family was all up by 6--we couldn't sleep. Too excited. Mom and Allyson and I ran in to help with last minute flowers and while we were gone Rick called to say the hairdresser had arrived at our house. Then the next few hours were a blur. There was hair and makeup at the house and family members and bridesmaids were coming and going and then there were photographers... As soon as Allyson had her hair and makeup done she headed out to the reception site with the photographers for one last look. As soon as I had my hair and make up done, I threw on my dress and shoes and my mom and dad and Rick and I met Allyson and the photographers at my old church. Mom really wanted to get pictures at her church (the wedding was at Chad's church) and Chad was obliging. Mom and I got Allyson all laced into her dress and they saw each other for the first time... Family pictures and some out at Elk Creek before we loaded Allyson into the back of my car and headed for town.


Then it was picture time. Tons of them--happens when you have a lot of family. Check the Locket's website--they previewed some photos at the reception and they were amazing! A huge tease, but I'm so excited to see the rest!!! I made it my job to keep Allyson happy and I didn't realize until we were sequestered in the chapel off of the main sanctuary that my little sister was getting married!

The ceremony was beautiful. I cried so much, happy tears. Especially when I looked at my parents... The ring bearer (my cousin's son) looked a little nervous before the ceremony so I asked if he would be more comfortable standing by me instead of the guys so I had both the flower girl and ring bearer next to me (the little one was still too shy to come down as the bearer, but did go down with my mom). I tried to send them to sit at the rehearsed time and another time after that, but they were there to stay! They were very well behaved, though, and it was really cute that they wanted to stay up there.

The reception was great as well. We almost had a crisis, but thanks to the fast-thinking wedding planner and some luck, I magically had a back up of the slideshows of them growing up in my car and was able to send it out to the reception site mere moments before everyone arrived. During my toast, I introduced myself as "Allyson, Ashley's sister" and didn't understand why everyone was laughing. I thought quickly and said, "when you get called a name enough, you just start to believe it." Not a bad recovery... The dance was great and we had so much fun!! Later in the evening they brought out the snack table filled with Allyson's favorite late-night junk food (queso, frozen pizza, scotcharoos). It was so much fun. I was running between talking with people and dancing and watching the photo slideshow for the day...

Sunday morning, bright and early at 8, my new immediate family (add Chad and Rick) cleaned up the reception glassware and such and headed to the house for gift opening. There were so many people at the house!! My dad's whole side of the family was there and most people who travelled from a distance and hadn't seen the house... The newlyweds just tore into the gifts and it wasn't formal at all, just me frantically writing down who gave what...

And around 3 PM, everyone left. And for the first time that weekend, it was again just the 6 of us (weird how the 4 of us no longer feels complete, and we are now 6), relaxing on the new porch, breathing and enjoying the weather, reminiscing on the weekend. It was perfect, and she was a beautiful bride.

Kind of makes me happy mine won't be anything like it. There's no way mine could compare.


PS, for all pictures, see the bottom of my last blog entry!