I picked up the groom and we arrived at church around 8am, pretty much at the normal time for any wedding party. We heard there would be some pictures taken before the wedding, so we rounded up the guys and waited eagerly for the photo-op which would help pass the time. The wedding started at 9:15am. Thanks to my slow brain, the ushers had seated a good 100 people before I realized that there would be no pictures. It was go time.
Guests started showing up at a good early time. The awesome ushers sat them like rock stars. Pastor Lyall couldn't have done a better job. When all was said and done, I guesstimate the expected 400ish people packed the sanctuary. That's alot for not using the balcony, but the pews were definitely packed tighter than you'll ever see on Sunday morning. Josh and Storm weren't messing around. "Please scoot down all the way ma'am. I SAID SCOOT LADY!"The couple had chosen to fill the wedding service with time of worship and praise which Fred, our music pastor and father of the bride, lead. No pictures. Honestly, do you think I would take pictures from the stage? Pffft. I don't have the energy to try to describe the whole wedding. It was wonderful, just trust me.
What do you call the category of song at the end where the bride and groom walk out of the sanctuary? Well, whatever it is, the couple wanted to hear "How sweet it is to be loved by you" played as they walk out.
Well, Fred and the other musicians accommodated that request with a surprise. It was expected to be on CD, but about half way down the aisle, Julie realized that her dad was belting out an awesome live rendition of the song. Kudos Fred.Crazy kids these days. Apparently there's this wedding party parade of cars thing you can do. It involved lining up several calls with the entire wedding party, leaving the church at the same time with lights flashing, horns honking and arms flailing (except the driver).
Jed and Julie made their getaway from the church in this sweet ride from the 20's. If you need to know anything about the make and model of this car just ask...never mind, I'll be nice.
The names of these two guests stuck out to me on the invite seating chart the night before. I couldn't wait to see them. Dave was my first friend in High School when we both started at Peoria Christian our Freshman year. I had been home schooled for about four years before that and was a TAD anti-social (no really, I was). I had very few friends at church youth group (Lofgren, you da man). God knows how to pick-em for me because Dave turned out to be the most solid, Godly leader in our class and continues to be a guy I can look up to. Barb joined our class at PCS a little later and was a great friend, leader and encourager to our class.
Ushing the guests into the sanctuary was a snap. But getting them through the greeting line at the reception took forever. Storm and Tate kept a close eye on the situation. "Roger that. Greeting line secure. The eagle is clear to land mother goose. Wait, WAIT. Boggie at 1 o'clock!" And that's when he punched me in the face.
The STUBERS! Jed and Julie had about five minutes to eat their food. The reception was at Northwood's Community Church. They have a pretty sweet hall with a huge glass wall. Julie said it was "PERFECT".It's a wedding, SOMEONE has to get cake on their face. This time, it was the one of groomsman's son.
My FIRST time getting to decorate a wedding car!! I was put in charge of getting the decorating materials to the location, but never thought about how I was going to get keys to the car. Kinda necessary if you are going to fill the car with balloons. The problem solved itself when Jed handed them to me in the morning so that they wouldn't get lost (it's Jed, they WILL get lost) and said to me, "...you're going to do something to my car aren't you?"
.....honestly!
At first glance, this picture might seem to be all about a guy, called Fred, who was told to "hold this for a second" and now gets to hear about it for the rest of his life. "Always a bridesmaid, never a bride". In fact, the main attraction is behind the poor sap, where Storm is demonstrating to Jeffrey how to exit a plane at 13,000 feet.
It's certainly a MUCH bigger adjustment for the groom (duh). But I always notice and take a moment to think about how this friend of mine is going to have this thing on his finger every time I see him now and for the rest of his life. Pretty...darn...cool.
Balloons! Julie had this thing (I don't feel like explaining it) about wanting a picture with balloons in it. So, Janna was a trooper and accompanied me over to Kroger to fetch the balloons.Stupid car. Though in fact, God's plan did save me from any hassle until after all the wedding stuff. I left my lights on during the reception (thanks to the wedding party parade antics) but the car didn't fail to turnover until the third time I tried to use it, which allowed me to take the groomsmen back to church for pictures AND get the balloons. Ya that's right, pictures, at 2pm, after the wedding. Jed is not a fan of business as usual.
Instead of taking the desperately needed nap time, I had Auto Zone test the battery and alternator. This time, the test was conclusive, and I put the new battery in just in time to meet up with Julie's Tennessee friends, who got to take a nap. :-P(sigh) I'm sorry. There's just no time to post about the night out. I'll get back to it later.
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