Once upon a time...

Once upon a time, there was a boy. a girl. and an Olive Garden.

Working at the restaurant brought these two young things together and love gradually bloomed.

Eventually Ben told his brother that he was saving up money to buy Andrea a ring. His brother said Why? (Yes... that was in his best man toast...) Because love was in the air.

Andrea and Ben started planning their wedding and future life together with great joy. Their families joined in and the social event of the year came together like an A-team plan. With great detail and weaponry. True! Live coals at the rehearsal dinner! (It was a grill out.)

The morning of the big day was met with a terrific yet brief thunderstorm. Giving the bride nervous butterflies as the wedding was to be outdoors. But by afternoon, the sun was out and a beautiful breeze blew through.

A few hitches during the service. Example... miniature groomsmen (young brother of the groom) would NOT walk down the aisle with the miniature bride and only walked up while hiding behind a big brothers leg. So cute! Another example... the breeze kept blowing the white walkway around and the bride had a little trouble staying on it. The breeze also wreaked havoc with the microphone that the pastor used.

The grooms father officiated the service and all was beautiful. They kissed and all the brides Facebook worries that she'd confessed melted away. They were husband and wife finally!At the reception, several other young Olive Garden friends enjoyed (I think they were called) Jaggerbombs? Yeah - it was going to be an interesting evening...

Wonderful dinner and the grooms aunt (me) went on and on about the homemade barbeque sauce that was being served. It was so GOOD!

The dance floor eventually got cleared off and the young set got their dancing shoes on. Almost all the aunts and uncles from the grooms moms side got together for a pic. (aren't we cute!) Just missing one aunt.The little kids got worn out completely from the dancing and playing with cousins... But the dance floor was full and the bride and groom had a marvelous time!Gma and Gpa left before the Jaggerbombs kicked in and then spent the next two hours lost in the city looking for the hotel. That's for another day. Wow.

The party finally wrapped up (I wasn't there at that point) and the bride and grooms families helped clean up the hall. (I wish I'd known!) The bride and groom hit the road to drive 2 hours to Chicago to catch a flight to Jamaica! So they didn't have a proper wedding night at all.

Right now the two lovebirds are enjoying champagne on the beach and planning their lives together....

And they lived happily ever after....

The end.