Wedding and the Reception

I'm not really even sure how to start this...

First of all without all of the help and support, Darin and I wouldn't have been able to pull this day off. It turned out incredible. I can't think of a single thing that went wrong all day.

It just all worked out. And was perfect. Thanks to everyone!

***

I am just going to post a whole bunch of pictures. I'll try to keep my stupid comments to a minimum. :)

Alter Flowers.
(Created by some wonderful women who care for me greatly)



Margie helping with my button.
It was very special. Loved it.



Melissa and Julie, ready to go



Look at those beautiful smiles...



My Father and I, walking down the aisle.



Margie and Bob, my second parents, read a great poem

***

Formal Pictures:

Brad, Dan, Mike, Kevin, Darin, Del, Dru, KC, Julie, and Melissa
We were gorgeous!



Who was that handsome devil?



Those boys.



Beautiful! Absolutely amazing.



Strong women.



The E's



Awww.



Stupid fake smiles. One of my favorites.



Another favorite.
Just love the colors.



Another. Keeper, definitely.

***

The Reception:

Let's get this party started!



How awesome was this? They tangoed in!



Father/Daughter Dance.
My Dad picked it out himself and it was very cute surprise.
Billy Joel's "Just The Way You Are"



Mother/Son
Michael Buble's "Everything"



Cutting the cake.
We had a mini-cake and then strawberry shortcake
for everyone else. So good. Drool.



Angela, Jim, and Kevin



Folks dancin'



Darin and Brad. Those tall fools.



Darin, Del, Diana, and Goestov.
Love you guys!



Dance CIRCLE.



Carrie with a sparkler.
We 'ran' 'through' them on our way out to the car!

That will be all for right now. I am pictured out! Will add more soon!

April Update

Realized I have like a lot of blogs to write and can't seem to motivate myself to get them done because they involve pictures, Photoshop, and my camera. So decided to just write a quick update on things we've done this past week.

That Friday, I went over to my friend Suzanne's to watch High School Musical. We're dorks, I know. But we have been talking about it and hearing about it for months... years, so we just watched it.

Cute!

Darin was invited, but isn't really a musical type of guy (though he did like The Lion King, but I think that's in a totally different category).

I even finally got to meet her two cats, Cuddles and Camille. Jake wanted to come too, but we didn't want a blood bath. Jake would probably try to attack them and he would probably lose.

***

And then Sunday was Easter! Hope you all had a great one. We ended up cleaning up the house on Saturday and making some of the food for the Easter brunch the next day. Boy, was the house clean!

We had the new in-laws over (for me), Diana and Goestov, and our neighbors, Phil and Helen.

Side note - now, Phil would have to be one of Jake's most favorite people. Whenever Phil goes outside, Jake gets a biscuit. It's true love.

Sunday morning, Darin's parents, Darin, and I went to church to celebrate. It was a beautiful day (lots of flowers everywhere) and the service was great. They had the little kids sing - the six year olds. So cute. And an interpretive dance. Man, we love our church.

Afterward everyone came over and we ate!

The list of food:
Eggs (with cheese)
Bacon
Sausage
Melon Fruit Salad
Normal Fruit Salad (Darin doesn't like cantelope, weird)
Raspberry and Blueberry Muffins (with sauce)
Florida biscuits
Egg Fluff (from here)

We were very happy to have everyone over to celebrate Easter and togetherness.
Hope your past weeks were wonderful!

The Last Hours... Before the Ceremony (Del)

Saturday was a crazy day all together - I had a semi schedule that I was trying to stick to, but knew that things would probably go awry and things might not actually go by the times I had planned.

Thankfully I didn't stress about it because it was just beyond busy!

We started out going to get our hair done at the Paul Mitchell School because I was on a budget - and they normally cut/color my hair and I have loved what they have done. Also went two weeks before and got a 'preview' done - SO glad I did that. Really made me realize how I wanted my hair... but I digress.

KC - had these cute little pin curls.
We couldn't figure out what they were doing with her hair.



Julie



Dru



Me



The final product - I absolutely loved it!

Because we were late, we quickly drove over to the house where my folks, Dru and KC, and other friends/relatives were staying to get a quick bite to eat and get our makeup done by my good, and long time standing, friend Beth. (We were college roommates my first year!). She's fantastic, and we all looked so beautiful. Thanks Bethy!

My good friend Beth doing my makeup.

Then when the others were getting their makeup done, my mom and I went to the church to set up the pew flowers/alter centerpiece and got me into my dress!

Talk, talk, talk.

That whole trip over was hectic - ended up forgetting my purse in the car that took us over - which had the rings in it. Somehow lost the church programs (found them again) and only had one very short panic attack. And then I was ready!

Mom putting my necklace one.

Dru had bought this for me probably over 5 years ago and was very special to me. My earring were my pearls I got in Hawaii in high school during a family trip.

Cute shoes. They're Uggs.



Mom ironing.

Everyone was super paranoid about my dress - I just wanted the wrinkles out. I had practiced weeks before the wedding on how to get it nice and non-wrinkled. Found that the iron on medium heat worked best - with nothing in between the fabric and the iron. It made everyone nervous and nobody would do it until I took the iron and showed them it wouldn't ruin the fabric.

It was a tough dress.

I was hot. And maybe a little nervous.



Margie and I.



My button.
Something old, something borrowed, and something blue.

Margie gave me this button awhile ago. It was (and will be) passed on to some woman special in your life that was not a daughter or relative. I remember one time (before I got engaged) I asked her about it (she has a list of previous people who have had it) and she got all excited that I was engaged.... :)

Girls getting ready!



More so.



Hurray! So corny. What can I say, we played sports.



KC and I. Love this picture.

Melissa and Julie. Love this one also.

We were all ready and it was time to go. Yikes. Had a quick stop (thanks Anupama and Kucku), and headed out the door to the actual church!

Parade of maroon.



Happy (and nervous) Del



Del and Dad

And that's it. Don't you just love my flowers.

Rehearsal Dinner - Paddy Murphys

Darin and I decided to try to play into the whole St. Patrick's Day concept for the rehearsal dinner - I mean, who doesn't like green beer? Also, one of our most visited restaurants in Baldwin Park was Paddy Murphys. We put two and two together, and got everything we wanted!

Green beer + beads + Shepherds pie + wedding festivities = a GOOD time had by all

We decided to invite all of our out of town guests along for the celebration - all sixty of them. It was a great evening filled with semi-chilly weather, strong wind gusts, loud laughter, and incredible memories.

I have lots of pictures - enjoy! (They're in no particular order...)

Scott and Becky



Uncle Jinx and Maggie - favorite picture!



Kerry (with beer, of course) and Edith
They won the "who came the farthest" contest



KC and Dru



Kay and Joanie (looking s.l.i.c.k)



Mom, Auntie Pat, and Del
(Comparing hands - they have the same hands...
which I guess make sense because they're sisters)



G
(the photographer)



Dan, Angela, and Del



Melissa and Kyle



Big Bob (being silly, as always)



Windy Carrie, LaShan, and Cassie



Reverend Bryan
(can we say blackmail)



Brad and Diana



Bobby



Auntie Pat, Darin, Linda, and Mom



Kyle, Justin, and Julie



Del and Darin



And last but not least, Jake
(He had to meet the out of towners...)

Rewind - Back to the Beginning: Rehearsal

Let's see, where was I. Oh yeah - I decided it would be easier from here on out to go in normal order. I didn't want to show the 'good' pictures without working up to them!

The rehearsal day was a good day - that morning was a little stressful because we did the flowers all of ourselves. I had ordered 200 roses, 80 spray roses, and greens online because it was way cheaper, and I like to think I know creative people.

Well I do.

Thank you everyone who helped - you know who you were. I can't believe the flowers came out the way they did - we should become professional florists! While we were busy doing that (there were like ten people at least helping), the boys went golfing. It was really very funny because there were two Bills and three Bobs.

I don't currently have any pictures of us making the flowers. I'm going to have to ask around and get some - then I will post. Just take my word for it, they were gorgeous!

After that, Dru, KC, Melissa, Julie, and I went to get our feet and hands done. Snazzy. I got bright red for my cute toes. (I like to think I have cute toes, don't you know.) Dru had set this up and got all of my favorite foods and drinks... thanks! It turned out to be relaxing - wasn't sure I'd be able to relax on such a crazy day.

Julie and Del

And then we all met up at the church.

To practice...

Dru and KC - love this picture!



Now, who was in charge?



Peggy Duck. :)
We love Peggie to pieces - she always wears fantastic hats.

We were busy getting people set in place, while others were goofing around...

How cute was this?



Ahh. My bouquet of bows!

The whole rehearsal was very simple. We were so grateful to have Peggie help us - she's the wedding coordinator at our church and has grown into being a very good friend. One of the many reason we were married at FCC and became members.

Now, off to the Pub!