A Weekend of Weddings!

Last weekend I had a wedding on Friday and Saturday night. The Friday wedding was down south, about 3 1/2 hours from us. My friend Jaci rode with us. We left around lunch time to make sure we wouldn't hit rush hour traffic when we got closer to the area, since the wedding was at 5pm. We made it to the church around 3:30 so we hung out at a Wendy's for a bit before changing. The ceremony went off without too many delays. There was a sweet father of the bride moment as the father prayed before giving Meaghan away and had to take a long pause to maintain composure. The only funky thing about this wedding was the ceremony was over at 5:40, but the reception didn't start until 7. We basically chatted in the foyer of the church for a while and then drove over. Apparently there was also a rehearsal dinner at the reception site, so the women working the event had a fun job directing us where to go. They had a ton of appetizers, which were very yummy and then it was off to dinner, a white glove affair. The room was gorgeous, with beautiful flowers. The favor was a hershey's bar wrapped with their wedding date on it, but Sean's favorite part was the ice cream bar. For dinner you ordered off a menu of chicken, prime rib, or snapper. I went with the snapper, which was pretty yummy except for the cilantro (not a fan of that one). We danced for a little bit and then drove home. Knowing that we still had about 3 hours between us and the casa and Coco made us head out a little earlier. We arrived safe and sound and went to bed, ready for round two.

My friend Katie was getting married on July 14 (an even number) at 5:00, but she wanted us girls to be there around 3. She had probably the cutest idea for keeping the bridesmaids small in number, but still include everybody. She asked Jessica, Katie M, Jaci and myself to be her "something blue." We had gone out shopping for our blue dresses earlier in the month and were responsible for doing our own hair (that's typically Katie K's job). When we arrived at the church, she gave us all a card with a picture of the something blues that we took at her bachelorette party along with fun bracelets. We also had wrist corsages (I haven't had one since 8th grade dance). It was so much fun to spend time with her and watch her get ready. Her dad gave both Katie and her mom a tear-jerking card and gift - Katie got earrings to match her necklace and Mrs. Krause got a bracelet that matches Katie's necklace. It was so sweet - I was crying, Katie and Katie were crying, and the photographer was as well. Tom via the twin ringbearers/bellringers gave Katie a pair of diamond earrings for her second hole.

Then it was time for us to do our jobs - Jaci and I were program distributors and Katie and Jess had the guest book. We then lined up to walk down the aisle with Jess and Jaci carrying a sign between them that said "something blue." After we were seating and the bridesmaids had come, out of the doors comes just 1 of the twins with a bell and he practically runs down the aisle ringing it. He stops 3 pews before the end and kinda just freezes. His dad went and got him. The idea was that the two boys would ring bells and carry a sign saying "here comes the bride." Then it's Katie's turn to walk. The doors open and there's Katie, crying. She had hoped to get her tears out beforehand, but she had apparently saved some for Tom. It was sweet. Tom's uncle performed the ceremony; they took communion after they were pronounced man and wife, but before the kiss; and then they took their grand exit.

The reception was at the ballroom and it definitely was big. We stayed in the foyer before dinner. There again were appetizers, but this time there were also mocktails in the wedding colors - yellow/orange sugar around the rim of a martini glass with pink grapefruit, lemonade and sprite as the mocktail. It was pretty cute. We then walked upstairs to this big heart that had our table numbers on them and went inside. This was the first wedding I have attended with assigned seating at the table. I was by Sean and Rachel, but the table also had Rebecca and Adam, Jaci, Jessic and Phil, plus 2 of Tom's friends. I absolutely love my friends' wedding when we can all dance in a group and look ridiculous (at least me), but have fun. My camera wasn't working, so I have no pictures from that day, but if it was, I would have had one of Sean and Mike sitting at our table talking while we were dancing. It was a lovely evening and we finished with "Don't stop believin' with an air-guitar party at the end. They left under sparklers and had tin cans trailing Tom's car. It was a beautiful wedding and as I told Sean, I'm sad we only have 2  more left.

We got home at 11:30 that night, went to bed and woke up in time for church. After church I took a long Sunday afternoon nap to recover from my sleep debt of being up so late for 2 nights in a row - party animal!