The Wedding

Okay so I'm finally getting around to posting the pictures from my oldest sister's wedding! I'm going to be very brief with my comments because I'd rather be in bed right now, but I've been feeling somewhat guilty for not getting these up. :)

The wedding was a completely homemade affair with many people helping out: ladies from my sister's church did the cake, the corsages/boutonnieres and much of the food; my mom made the decor (including very lovely and time-consuming butterfly chandeliers), some of the food, and the bouquet (my sister wanted silk flowers so that it would last forever); I did the invitations, programs, photography and the flowers in vases (picked from several friends' yards!). The day of the wedding was fairly hectic as there was no one person in charge and my sister was over two hours behind schedule! When Rebecca was finally ready only 45 minutes before the start of the wedding (!!) it was pouring down rain so we were only able to take a few pictures beneath the eaves outside the church as there was no time to go anywhere else and lighting inside the church was not good.

When we were waiting for my sister, I snapped this quick picture of the kids and it ended being the only one so I'm glad I did!

 But even though behind the scenes it was somewhat chaotic, things ended up coming together as they usually do and it turned out to be a lovely wedding where I'm sure the "bumps" will be long forgotten....well, I think we'll all remember that the pastor forgot to have the couple light the unity candle! Ha! ;) Ben was the highlight of the ceremony (okay, so maybe I'm biased! :). I was somewhat concerned about how he would handle being the ringer bearer (especially when he had a minor fit just moments before the wedding started and said that he would NOT walk down the aisle!), but he was PERFECT and oh-so-adorable! He brought the pillow forward with the rings just perfectly and stood there looking so cute until it was time to sit down again. Ah, my heart melted. :) And Abby did a fabulous job as flower girls for the second time - she's an old pro now. :)

After the reception, the rain went away and I wanted to go take some nice and more creative pictures of the couple, but Mike and Rebecca were burned out and tired of standing so I was only able to snap a few before they were done. Oh well! They're happy with the pics (free is always good, right? :).

Enjoy a sampling of the rest of the pictures:

 

And the Gardner family: