Wedding Day Pictures

7:30AM

I awoke at 7:30 to begin preparing for the days events. The boys dragged themselves out of bed at 9 and we hit the road 45 minutes later, late as usual. Because of the lovely screw that was still sitting in my tire, my car was going to be unusable until it was fixed, so Jeff had to drop me off at Headliners. I met up with the rest of the bridal party for a little pampering before the big event. We had our hair and nails done which was a big relief since I'm no good at either.

10:15AM

Because of the lovely screw that was still sitting in my tire, my car was going to be unusable until it was fixed, so Jeff had to drop me off at Headliners. I met up with the rest of the bridal party for a little pampering before the big event. We had our hair and nails done which was a big relief since I'm no good at either.

1:30PM

Lunch at Wendy's followed where Lauren got her meal on the house. We also got several funny looks from other patrons; I guess it's not every day you see a group of girls with up-dos, one with a veil, eating at Wendy's. A quick stop at the ATM and the Jefferson hotel, to drop of Lauren's car, and we were on our way to Berkley. As organized and anal as Lauren is, she's terrible about being on time, so our duty, as bridesmaids, was to make sure she was at Berkley by 3pm. I think running 15 minutes behind wasn't too bad.

3:15PM

Knowing we were running behind we just drove down to the reception site to drop off a few things. But while we were there, the trucks containing the bands instruments and such blocked us in. Since there was enough room on the grass to drive around and we were in Jon's Xterra, Kelly started up the slight bank. Unfortunately we didn't make it all the way before the lady in charge at Berkley found us driving on their precious historical grass. Needless to say, that didn't go over too well. A few choice words from Kelly S. (said in the privacy of the vehicle) and a few long minutes waiting for the trucks to move and we were finally out of there.

All the girls scrambled to get dressed and to get Lauren into her dress. Jill finally arrived and we were able to get in a few pictures. Slight confusion regarding when to come on down was straighten out by Lauren, the most calm and collected bride I have even seen. She just stood patiently in the middle of the room waiting for her bridesmaids to get their stuff together. Finally we got the call. It was time.

5:15PM

As we headed down the little gravel path with Lauren close behind we realized that Mike was probably going to be able to see everything. But Lauren, not wanting to ruin the surprise yet, decided to take it off-road and walk in the grass behind the bushes until the last possible second. Only Lauren would do that. :)

And so the processional begins. Kelly S & Jason, Jill & Chris R, me & Jeff...and planes and helicopters. Wait, what? That's right, just as Jeff and I walked does the aisle, a huge plane followed by 2, maybe 3 military helicopters flew directly overhead. We all still think Jill ordered them. (She's in th Army for those of your who don't know.). Ok, back to the wedding: Darci & Paul, Natalie & Chris H., Kelly Z, Faith & Ashley. Minor glitch with the runner then come Kyle & Austin. At this point Lauren finally emerges from the bushes and walks in with her Mom & Dad. The rain began to sprinkle down and umbrellas started popping up. Thankfully it never came down too hard or lasted very long.

The ceremony was beautiful. All the bridesmaids were crying and pulling tissues from our dresses. Despite the light rain, which stopped as soon as they said "I do," it was perfect. The newlyweds were showered in bubbles as they walked back down the aisle; very cool idea. The next hour or so was devoted to pictures. Both sides have fairly large extended families, so many groupings had to be set up.

7:00PM

The reception got underway with the crowd devouring the buffet of fruits, vegetables and various hot dishes. Mike and Lauren made the rounds as the band, Daddy-Oh, started to play. The Sos cousins started off the dancing and soon much of the younger generation was out on the floor.

Oh, I believe I failed to mention the condition of the reception area. Even though it was under a tent, it had been raining the last 2 weeks here in Richmond. Very, very muddy. Anyone with small pointy heels was aerating the ground. The rest of us had mud between the toes. But when we realized there was nothing we could do about it, we let our dresses down and danced in the mud. We were all pretty nasty by the end of the night, but it didn't matter, we were having a great time.

Traditional activities like first dance, father/daughter, mother/son dance, cutting the cake, bouquet/garter toss were scattered throughout the evening. Eventually the couple was whisked off in a limousine to the Jefferson Hotel.

The remaining wedding party packed up the leftover food, gifts and miscellany and headed out. We'd already been warned of ID checkpoints along the way, so we found alternate routes (not that any of us were in danger, just to avoid the traffic back up) back to the Marriott.

1:00AM

Arrived home dirty and tired. I had to shower to get the hair-spray out and the mud off my feet, but fell in to bed immediately afterwards.

Pictures from Friday and Saturday are up.