Wedding Weekend: Rehearsal

I finally have a few moments to devote to the blog that's been oh-so-neglected.  I have a zillion photos from Friday's rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.  I'll try to pick the highlights.  I think most people that read this blog are in the pics, so at least a few people will enjoy it!  I had a hard time picking.  :-)

{Sarah and SMoo with the bow bouquet}

David & Norene

 

Sisters

This is one of my favorite parts of our sanctuary.  The baptistry is right in front of it (you can't see it), but I think it's such a great verse from Revelation that applies to new life in Christ and a new life two people build together.  

Some of my girls!

Ms. Teresa was the wedding coordinator, and also my Sunday School teacher when I was little.  It was so neat to have her be a part of this with us.  She's great at (nicely) keeping everyone on task.

Pops came this weekend, and had help from Tammy.  She went everywhere with him and made it possible for him to come visit.  I loved having them there.

Vicki B. from BSB was our pianist.  She was so instrumental (ha!) in coordinating all the music.  She worked with our soloists (Chris & Diane), the strings and brass groups to make everything seamless.  We had A LOT of music, which is one of my favorite parts to remember from our wedding day.  

Troy's girl, Sarah, came down with him for her first wedding...ever.  Pretty amazing!

I love this pic.  Sharon (in red) is my Aunt Jenny's daughter, and that's her husband, Whit.  They are good buds with Papa & Jonita.

Shay Sandwich

I think I'm trying to explain to Adam what the heck is going on.  He looks a little unnerved!

Adam's college pastor came down from Wisconsin.  We loved having Nate & his wife, Amanda, there with us.  

Several of our groomsmen were firemen and had to work that night.  Papa was one of the stand-ins for us.  He and Anna look so cute up there.

The boys are here!

My girls all lined up and ready to walk down the aisle.

Love this pic of me and my Daddy.

House party friends--Katelyn, Lyndsy, Gentry & Natalie

Feather sign-in pens became props.

Love the smile on Adam's face as my dad and I are walking down the aisle

All smiles!

Quiet boys...

We're married!  Just kidding...almost there.

Troy's job included holding the boys for the few minutes they stayed on stage.  He literally held them with a vice-like grip.  They did so well on our wedding day, though...they just had to get their wiggles out.

Here we go!

Papa with his youngest grandkids.

Looking back at all these makes me so happy.  I loved having everyone I loved in one room.  Sheesh.  That's gotta be one of the best things ever.  

Stay tuned for more pics from the weekend...

Weekend Seven: First Bridal Shower

Friday after work, I met Adam and his parents at Maggiano's for a rehearsal dinner tasting.  They'd driven all night from Iowa and arrived earlier that day.  It was a fun way to catch up and eat great food! 

We got to try a ton of food, and my "eating like a bird" habits really paid off.  :-)  {I usually only eat a very small amount of most things, but snack several times a day.}  By the time we got to dessert, I had just enough room left, and it was delicious!

Saturday, July 16 I had my first wedding shower!  Adam's parents drove down pretty much just for the tasting and my bridal shower.  It meant a lot to have Norene there, and I'm so glad she got to meet so many friends in my wedding party and other people that are so dear to me.

{Norene, Me and Mom}

{The decorations were over the top!}

{Beautiful flowers and peacock feathers...totally a "Shay" thing!}

Fabulously delcious desserts made by Chef Sarah.  She even added pansies...just a subtle touch of the official Tri Delta flower.  :-)  It sounds sooo cheesy to type, but it was a sweet gesture that I didn't want to forget!

{Chef Sarah, beautiful inside and out}

{Mattie is off to college at OSU this year!}

{Hostesses: Donna, Elaine, Amy, Teresa, Susan, Tammy,

Kathy, Mom, me and Sarah} 

They made me feel incredibly special, loved and honored. 

It's a bit strange to walk in to a house and have it be "all about Shay!"  (Not that I minded, haha!)  

{Delicious food}

{Cousin and Bridesmaid, Anna}

{Gentry and her mom, Terri!}

{Lauren and Kristin were so sweet to come.  Kristin's getting married the weekend after us!}

{Baylor Girls}

{Maid of Honor dutifully takes notes of all the gifts...on her iPad!  Everyone thought she was just so hip, and then she just emailed me the list the next day.  Amazing.}

{Mom cooing over this sweet baby, Emma.}

{Opening gifts!  It took me an hour and a half to open everything.  Fifteen minutes into the shower, Ms. Teresa came and found me and informed me that I needed to sit down and start opening gifts.  I literally sat there unwrapping for the next hour and a half!}

{My wedding party rated all the bows and were always thrilled when we had a big bow to include in my dress rehearsal bouquet!}

Adam's parents gave us an entire set of new pots and pans because they know we enjoy cooking together!

Wedding Party Love!

{Lyndsy, Gentry, Me, Sarah, Anna, SMoo and Katelyn}

{All of our many, many gifts}

I seriously felt so loved.  Not so much because of the gifts, but the notes people wrote and their genuine excitement and well wishes for us.  I cannot wait to see them all again on our wedding day.  What fun that will be! 

Saturday afternoon, Norene and I went to the Wedding Suite at Nordstroms and found a Mother of the Groom dress.  She looks beautiful!  And I think she had a lot of fun trying on dresses they brought to her, along with shoes and jewelry to accessorize.  If only we could do that every time we shopped!! 

It's official: invitations are mailed!

{Feeling a little relieved, excited and disbelieving about getting these into the mail!}



Of all the things we're doing for the wedding, the invitations proved to be the most challenging, I do believe. 

I finally decided on invitations after visiting 3 or 4 times...I really can't remember.  Then we had to get the type and spacing "just right."  We went back and forth with the printer about 4 times as well.  But designing invitations and programs are something I really enjoy doing, so it was kind of frustrating to me that I couldn't just do it myself and get it right!  :-)  But we did, eventually get it juuuuuuuust right.

Aunt Laura and I addressed all the invitations, and she did waay more than half.  We couldn't have done this without her. 

When Mom picked everything up from the store, she noticed the inner envelope wasn't lined.  They told us we'd have to insert them ourselves (what a pain), and they would be delivered in a few days.  Well, we went on our merry little way, addressing inner and outer envelopes (Adam wanted to know why we needed two, and then changed his mind.  I'm glad, because I'm not sure I could provide an explanation for this strange phenomenon.)

Mom went back to pick up the liners, and it turns out they misspoke, and they had, in fact, shipped envelopes with liners already included.  So Laura and I re-wrote all the inner envelopes, just in time for a stuffing party.  {The people at the paper store felt awful, and gave us several discounts to make up for this mistake!}

These sweet girls came over, and they had all the envelopes stuffed, stamped, sealed an alphabetized within an hour.  Often times I don't like to ask for help because I don't want to bother people, but I asked anyways, and they came right on over.  I was so grateful!  And we had a fun time catching up over brownies and sangria.  :-)

{Claire, SMoo, Mom, Anna, Sarah

Lyndsy and Me}

Then I went out of town, and we were still gathering some addresses and whatnot. It's been almost three weeks since the stuffing party, and we have now triple-checked the invitations three times to make sure we've not missed someone. 

Last night after dinner with my parents, Adam and I dropped the invitations off at the post office.  It was rather monumental!

Dad thought I looked rather June Cleaver-ish.  {Adam agreed.}  Thanks.  And he also kept referring to us as "the kids," as in, "Where are the kids?" or "Where are the kids' plates?"  I found this quite humorous. 

Finally,  we headed to the post office....

Very focused on getting the invitations in the mailbox.

Here we go!

This was most definitely a team effort, and I'm so thankful for all the helping hands we had along the way! 

Only 45 days to go!!!