The Big Day

After a year and a half of anticipation and planning, I now have a Daughter-in-Law! Although I won't refer to her that way often, because I don't like the "in-law" part, except I'll still abbreviate her as "DIL". Hey, I have to change my little "about me" section, too!

The Arboretum was beautiful; the arbor was covered in wisteria, and the Happy Couple stood under a beautiful tree for the vows. The reception was just a short walk away from the ceremony in a large-ish field surrounded by trees. Since the service started at 6:00, it was nice and cool for the reception (some say it was cold, but I didn't believe them).

Everything went so well. No glitches, no problems. Everyone looked wonderful, especially The Bride - she was beautiful and absolutely glowing. The Groom was very handsome (if I do say so myself, without any prejudice or bias) and was very calm and collected. No fainting, or trying to run away -- well, until they tried to make him dance at the reception. And everyone expected that. Brendan played "Freebird" as the men walked in, and told The Boy that it would be the last time he'd play it for him (which we all know isn't true). The Bride walked in to "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". Her uncle performed the ceremony, and if you look at my sister's blog you can see a wonderful little video of the "pronouncing" part of the ceremony. I tried to copy/paste it here (ok, I tried to steal it) but couldn't do it, so you 'll have to go to her blog to see it. And I haven't downloaded pictures yet, so they'll come later.

The Bride's aunt and uncle (the same uncle who officiated) also catered the reception. They had a very nice selection of veggies, cheese & crackers for snackers during the photo portion of the evening, and then had salads, meats, cheeses and rolls for the dinner part. I didn't really eat much, and I know The Couple didn't, either. Although, they were given a container of goodies to take back to the hotel with them, and I know the wedding party went to Sonic for burgers after leaving the reception. There was even a special "groom's cake" - chocolate, with chocolate icing and strawberry jam in the middle, which was decorated with a nautical theme and a large starfish on top. The Boy took Grandpa over for a picture, and then told him it was decorated that way in honor of all the fun times they had spent at the cabin and in the boat - and gave Grandpa the first slice. Wasn't that a terribly thoughtful, wonderful thing for him to do??

The groomsmen were kind enough to decorate The Truck ... I don't think the streamers were too bad, and the "Just Married" written on the windows should come off easily. However, it will take some doing to get the confetti out of the cab.... I know, that's what the car wash is for!

The Kids are now off on their honeymoon (7-night Mexican Riviera cruise). Because it is their honeymoon and both birthdays, they got a free room upgrade and were given early boarding, which means they could board by 9:00 instead of 1:00 or whenever it would have been. Of course, they may not have been awake that early ....

I'm going to end here for now, and I'm sure my next few posts will be about, or at least include, more wedding stuff as it occurs to me. I'm going to start sorting through the pictures soon.