It's A Love Story...

Miracles will be in red...

Saturday... The morning was a blur. I *think* I ran a load of reception stuff up to the hall, but didn't start decorating yet. Two of my sisters, a niece and a niece-in-law arrived by 11 and then we started with the decor portion of the day. While we did that I was making rolls in the bread machines and letting them raise. The rest of the sisters crews hung out at our house terrorizing the dogs and finding Legos. We left a crock pot full of sloppy joes and buns for them and I finally had a chance to wolf one down around 2.

Tiffany was going to be back from getting her hair and nails done by that time. The other girls worked on their hair as did I when I found a few minutes. I tried to go with very large curls but they bombed and I looked like I'd just gotten out of bed. Oh well. And I had to safety pin on my skirt because I didn't have time for a button. oh well...

That was my new theme for the day. "Oh well!"

The photographer, who was also my best friend from college and Ryan's godparent, was going to be at the park at 4pm. The groom and his merry men took off, along with my hubby to get their pics taken. It was now 3:30pm. Maddy and I ran one more load of stuff to the hall uptown, then we came back to get Tiffany dressed. I put the rings in the ring box and tucked it in my purse. She was putting on makeup when we left. When we got back, she was still putting on makeup. 4pm, more makeup. FINALLY got her dress whipped on her in the livingroom, making my nephew and her cousin step out onto the porch. Got her down to the park by 4:25pm.

I made a conscious decision to leave my purse in the car. Why lug around a 20 lb weight when you need to be everywhere at once?! Maddy said something but I didn't hear it and we got out. Tiffany mentioned that she had wanted the ceremony to be in a different part of the park, so everyone walked to the other area and the photography of the girls commenced.They had a blast. Kim's daughter is interested in photography and she took some very interesting and creative photos too.The time was getting very close to 5 before I remembered that I had left the rings in my purse. So I asked Maddy for her car keys. She said, "Remember? I told you that I tucked them into your purse.

*crickets*

But I.left.my.purse.in.your.car...

Ok, don't panic... and DON'T tell the bride!!! I'll be right back!! I went and found Robb. He panicked. He went and found his two brothers and a brother-in-law who had sold us this car and knew it inside and out. I went back to the girls and mentioned the dilemma to a nephew who was videotaping everything for us. He ran to catch up with the guys because this sounded like a great wedding memory and needed a video camera. You know... recording the guys throwing a rock through a car window!

Robb came back shortly afterwards carrying my purse. Apparently this was the very first time Maddy had ever left her car unlocked!

Rings got onto the dog's pillow and the wedding started.

It was at this point that I'd realized I'd left the 4 ruby red shawls laying on the table at home. OH WELL! They'll make GREAT Christmas table runners this year! And maybe I can grab them before the reception.

The temp was in the high 60s and a bit chilly, but when the brides and maids showed up, the sun came out and the temp went up a little. It turned out to be a beautiful sunny day!

The ceremony brought tears to my eyes and I was wishing that I'd brought some kleenex with me, so I just wiped them with my hands. repeatedly.

It was a relatively short ceremony with only 10 chairs in the front row for grandparents. Everyone else stood. VERY informal.
Then everyone stood around and hugged. a lot. Kim took a HUGE picture of all the relatives that were there. Yep, that's my pack! At least a good chunk of them.Then I hustled off my sisters to the hall with instructions on what needed to still be done food-wise while we did parents and grandparent pictures.

Tiffany realized that she'd left her bridal bouquet sitting on a picnic table all through the ceremony. OH WELL!

Kim took the rest of the pictures of the entire wedding party and after she and I combed the grass for a missing lens cap, we all headed up to the hall, about 20 minutes away. Oh! A niece was leaving the park and saw Kim and I walking through the grass and she stopped. She had found a lens cap in the grass and thought we might have been looking for it. Whew!

Robb and I drove up to our town with my parents and stopped by the house to take care of the dogs quick and to grab those shawls. They got left in the car again when we got uptown. OH WELL!

The dinner went very well and I was able to get a few shots of various guests. Then got a chance to sit with a plate of food... for all of about 5 minutes before Ryan announced that they were ready to cut the cake. Okey doke... I took the pictures and then did a mangled up job of cutting the cake.

Meri showed a video up against the wall of Ryan and Tiffany as children, then together as a couple to two songs. The second one was Beauty & the Beast, which was Ryan's favorite movie as a child. At the sight of her father, Tiffany cried. Ryan cried too. Jeepers! Even I cried! It was a success!

We discovered that the only people who brought any music was a nephew and myself. Meri had a few songs on her laptop, but not many. And Ryan didn't like ANY of them for a first dance, plus he was exhausted. So the bride and groom left for the hotel. And since Robb had paid for the room and the kids were under the age of 21, he had to go down and check them in.

The dance part of the evening kind of fell apart, but Meri wouldn't let it go away. She had a wonderful time with her young cousins and there was break dancing as well as general boogieing. Check out my nephew with the head bob thing going in the back! lol!

My sisters and I worked on clean up as people left. The young kids mostly ran around collecting the swollen water beads in bun bags to take home with them, against their parents wishes. HA! I didn't want them.

As the tables cleared, I discovered that the keys to the hall were no longer on the table that I had briefly sat at. I called Robb and he didn't have them either...

One sister had already left with my parents, who had been sitting there too. Already several miles away, my mom tried to talk said sister to turn around and go back to help look. Um no Mom! Just please check your pockets!!!

No keys there.

But while talking with her, another sister was digging in the trash and suddenly only about a foot down into the barrel, she pulled out the key ring!!!! I had already taken two bags of trash out to the dumpster...

So we finally got home around 11:30 or so. Took care of the dogs yet again. Found that because the female Golden Retriever is in heat again, the male was howling.in.the.house... So we spent some time to move his kennel out into the garage where he started barking. But with our ceiling fan on in the bedroom, it drowned it out nicely... We got 6 hours of sleep that night as opposed to half that on Friday night! Yay! A vast improvement.

He woke up Meri and she came into our bedroom shortly after we fell asleep to let us know that he was barking. I think we just told her to put a pillow over her head or sleep in the livingroom. I don't remember what she did...

So anyway. That was my day and the miracles that we recognized in it. It was truly a day full of miracles!