Wedding Weekend

This past weekend, my aunt married a wonderful man. She'd asked me to sort of be in charge of setting up for the reception site and the rehearsal dinner site, so I got there on Friday afternoon and was on my feet all weekend.

I left Prattvegas at 8:00 Friday morning so I could have time to go to Pell City for a hair appointment, pick up my brother, and head for Atlanta. We had a lot of fun driving there, listening to Elton John's Greatest Hits and singing loud. Surprisingly enough, we didn't hit any bad traffic until literally 5 miles before our exit. We parked for about 10 minutes, with people getting out of their cars and looking hopeless. That was pretty scary because I did not want to worry the bride, as I was in her shoes not too long ago. I wanted her to feel completely confident that I would take care of everything I was supposed to take care of.

Little did I know, the bride herself was running way behind schedule. She was caught in traffic later on while picking up tablecloths, the set up team (my grandparents, aunt, etc.) and I were all kicked out of the church (where my aunt is a member) right before the rehearsal, so we had to return that night after the rehearsal dinner to finish set up for the reception.

My brother and I raced over to the rehearsal dinner site where we had exactly 1 hour to meet the caterer, set up tables and chairs, send someone to the grocery store, put out decorations, and clean up for guests. We had my aunt and uncle, another uncle, and a cousin and his wife to help us. Everything came together, but it was literally as the bride and everyone else were walking in the door. Whew.

After the rehearsal dinner, which was just lovely, we had exactly one hour to put away everything, clean up, etc., before we had to be out of the facility. Then we went back to the church to finish setting up. (And I'm sure if those kooky people knew it, they would have had us arrested.)

Wedding day arrived and was beautiful. We all went over to the church to see how we could help. I got to follow my aunt around carrying her train for a while, which was fun to have that time with her. It got HOT before the ceremony though, since the wedding was at 2:00, and I had to go in to chill before everything got started. Lots of extended family was there, and it was great to see everyone again.

The wedding ceremony was beautiful and nearly flawless (the preacher forgot the Lord's Prayer...), and then the reception was very nice as well.

Somehow I've gotten my formatting all mixed up, but the first picture is me right before the wedding. Then it is my brother and me at the Rehearsal Dinner, then of course my aunt the bride, then the bride and groom at the Rehearsal Dinner.