"The" Wedding (Part I)

And you all thought Chelsea Clinton's was "the" wedding - Nope! let me set the record straight.... Amy's wedding to Rex was "the" wedding. Invitations were more scarce than those to Chelsea's and I would imagine the food was every bit as good as, if not better than, what she served her guests. Now, I have nothing against vegetables and I eat them on a regular basis, but I LOVE beef. Steak, roast, hamburger, etc. - grill it, bake it, roast it - it's all good.

We arrived at Botanica at about 11:30 to set up "The Cottage" for the cake reception. Oh. My. Goodness. That place was tiny with a capital "T" and the three round tables were very nearly touching each other. The air conditioner was a wall unit stuck in the spot above the door. Thankfully, it did drain outside the building but it did leave a nice (read nasty) spot you had to watch for when you went in or out the door.

We had yellow tablecloths on the round tables and blue on the long table (where her cake and stuff would go). I did the centerpieces (with a little help from my sister) and I got her bouquet from the grocery store. Yep - the GROCERY store. We did have to snip off a couple of things out of the middle and stuck in a couple more of the yellow baby roses. It had an odd look to it until we did that.

The cake came from a local bakery called Cameo Cakes. It was good. The outside looks like fondant but it was really just very nice butter cream frosting. It was sooo good (in fact, I want some RIGHT now!).

We had a wonderful rehearsal dinner (sorry - no pictures of that) on Friday night at their house. Rex's family is amazing. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Christie, his sis-in-law, made the most delicious steaks with potatoes, carrots, and onions. It was so good that I wanted to overeat on it. Seriously.  Then we had decadent brownies with ice cream. Too much.

Yesterday's food was on the grill stuff - hot dogs, hamburgers - with all the fixins. Again, his family came through with an outstanding meal. Some others brought some side dishes, but his family hauled the tent, tables, and chairs from western Kansas AND produce from their farms AND their own home-grown beef. We had corn on the cob, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, cantaloupe, and watermelon last night. I seriously told them I need a care package every month or so. I did bring a cantaloupe and a watermelon home. They offered; I accepted. I would have looked pretty funny trying to stick one in my back pocket to sneak it out, but I did briefly consider it. I cropped these out of a bigger picture.

OK - on to the wedding.  The place where the ceremony was held had no changing area for brides. You either came in your dress, or you changed in the bathroom. Amy was smart... she brought a sheet to lay down on the floor to stand on while she dressed. No "bathroom" stains on her dress!!! She looked so pretty and I was a good mom and didn't take any pictures until she was dressed. hehehe!

It was so hot outside but that didn't stop the ceremony from being very nice. Isaiah was charming when he escorted her down the "aisle". He was so excited to be getting a new family but by Saturday he was pretty tired from all of the festivities, so he was not as energetic as he had been during practice the night before.

He had to be reminded to go sit down with us when he was done giving her away.

After the service, we had a bunch of pictures taken. This one is one of my favorites. He's such a little poser for the camera.

Ron and I got in on the pictures, too. I asked for one of Amy and I together. The other couple in the pictures with us is my ex-husband and his companion. (LOL - she's been with him longer than he was married to either one of his wives, so I guess she's doing something right.)

Our good friend and former pastor, Terry Burchett, drove all the way from Houston, TX to perform the ceremony. The only thing missing from that is his lovely wife and one of my dearest friends, Kenni, had been unable to make it because of car trouble. We missed her greatly!

And, finally - the bride in all her glory! She was such a beautiful bride.

I also did a video with my cell phone. It's about seven minutes long and the sound isn't very good. The water fountain feature was right behind me.



(Part II coming up)