Happily ever after

We'll do this a little backwards since so many of you are anxious for some wedding pics... I've got a few of the rehearsal and dinner from Friday night, but we'll get to those in a couple days.

I'm still trying to catch up on sleep...or at least I'm still super tired, so this is going to be pretty matter-of-fact. Imagine a few witty comments in here somewhere for me, ok?

This was the stage at the chapel building of our church. Rachel rented the columns, and it turned out SO good that she did. Maybe those kinds of stories will come later... It was simple but very pretty. And let me say, there were lots of issues with the amateur photography of the day, at least with our camera...so these pics are FAR from great, but they still give you a peek. There will be tons of good ones, I'm sure, when the "real" ones come back.


Before the ceremony, there were a few pics, without the bride and groom seeing each other, of course. This is Rach and Mom.

In the "primp room," this is Rachel's new sister-in-law, Ashley.


Rachel posing for the photographer for some solo pics.


Then the ceremony started with the moms lighting the candles for the unity candle trio.


These are the bridesmaids, all friends of Rachel. Kerri, Toni, Chrissi, Aislinn, and Jamie.


The groomsmen, Steve, Brian, Bostjan, Paul, and Ron.


Braska walking down the aisle as one of the flower girls, with the assistance of her Aunties Joy and Julia.


Here's Dad and Rach.

Getting ready for the "giving away."

The opening prayer, and a side shot of her dress...


Watching the soloist finish his song...


Smoooooooch


After some more family pics with the whole gang, the wedding party headed off to downtown for more pics. The rest of us had a short break before we headed to cocktail/hors d'oeuvres hour before the reception.


It was great to see family, of course, including Miss Carly and her mom, Cousin Lindsay. Carly's gonna be a big sister!!


Here are a couple pics of the reception ballroom. Pictures don't do it justice...it was really beautiful. I got there early to go in and put on a few last minute touches that Rachel wanted. It turned out really well, I thought.


The screen in the background has a pic of the couple...the kiss picture from just above. They played a montage of their pictures on there.


These were the placecards that assigned each guest to a table. And the framed piece in the background states that instead of favors, they decided to donate to a charity for each of them in the amount they would have spent on favors. Rachel chose Reece's Rainbow. Very very cool.


When the wedding party entered, Rach and Patrick started the evening by cutting the cake. It was dark in the room, so it was hard to get a good pic. But the second one is there just to show the neat effect of little mini-lites in bud vases that made the stand to her cake. The cake may seem small, but they also had cupcakes.




Dad was really nervous about the whole father/daughter dance, and it was almost shelved, but it turned out just fine. He did really well for his first dancing ever, pretty much.

M was nice enough to ask me to dance...not really a strength of either of us, but it was very thoughtful.

And here's a shot of my hair BEFORE I took out the 40+ hairpins and looked like a curly mess.

It was a LONG day from my 8 am hair appointment to getting home around 11:30 pm. But I think it was a success for the most part... there are always parts that make the couple shake their heads or roll their eyes, but that's the fun of mixing family and friends and formal wear.