Finally ... post-wedding recap!

I am, obviously, a little lax on my blogging. This is because, my brother, got married yesterday, and, as is true with most weddings, sleep is the last thing anyone is thinking about. There is so much to do that sleep, even for my dear husband who is nursing a head cold, is just not a top priority.

We also were no longer staying at my parents, where I could jump on the computer at any given moment. Don’t feel neglected. I hope this post will make up for yesterday’s post – probably the shortest on record.

So, without further ado, a quick recap, followed by, what everyone wants to see anyways, pictures! J

Bachelorette Party
Thursday night was the bachelorette party as you can see by the pictures I included on a previous post. It was a very fun evening as I had only previously met one of the other eight girls there. There were six bridesmaids and two good friends who were serving as coordinators and scripture readers. We had dinner, opened gifts, and then took a limo to Beach Place in downtown Fort Lauderdale. I had JB pick me up from there as it was nearing midnight, and I was really worn out. AD’s friends were wonderful, and I totally felt included. They are wonderful friends of her’s from high school and college and just a delight to get to know. As for the other events of the evening? I signed some paper swearing me to secrecy so that is all I can say about that. But for those of you who know me, I am sure you are not worried. As I told AD, I am not a big stick in the mud but I am at least, a small stick in the mud.

Rehearsal Dinner
Friday was the rehearsal dinner. It went off, flawlessly. However, getting to that point in the day was a major adventure. JB and I woke up early at the VanWycks, went to a wonderful memorial service for Rick, then picked up JB’s tuxedo and returned to my parents where we worked on the box for the gift cards and a guest book for the rehearsal. We then went to work on the printing the programs only to realize that my parent’s printer couldn’t print the margins we needed. Grrrrrrr.

On to plan B – Kinkos, only it is now nearing 3:00, the rehearsal starts at 5:00, and we can’t find a Kinkos on this side of town. We decide to put the programs aside until later in the day, while JB went to pick up our niece Grace (aka “flower girl”) so we could take her to the rehearsal.

We met at the American Orchid Society at 5:00, went through the practice for the wedding (more on this location in a bit), and then headed to AD’s parents’ church for the dinner. Smokey Bones catered, and the food was great! It was a very casual but very nice dinner, and beside the fact that my brother was a witness to an accident on the way over and therefore thirty minutes late, everything went great.

Grace was a real joy the entire evening. We spoiled her rotten, and she seemed to be comfortable with her role as flower girl despite earlier fears of walking in front of so many people. When my mother (whom she calls “Lady Di”) asked her if she would be able to help the ring bearer the next day and be a good girl etc., Grace, with all seriousness, looked at my mom and said, “I’m not Jesus you know.” It was hysterical. She also picked up the phrase “Oh for Pete’s sake,” and spent the evening asking people to say crazy things so that she could reply by saying, “Oh for Pete’s sake.” AD gave her a flowery dress-up tu-tu that she walked around in the whole evening. The bridesmaids got some beautiful jewelry for the wedding, and JB was given a pen monogrammed with “Dr. John Kit." How cool is that?!

After the rehearsal dinner, we took Gracie home, and the headed down to the VanWycks – with one quick stop at Kinkos. For those of you who know where those places are, yes, we went from Boca, to Coral Springs, back to downtown Fort Lauderdale. That’s a lot of driving! However, Kinkos ended up working out perfectly. Thirty minutes later we had our programs printed and cut. They charged us $8 and it was worth ever single penny.

Somehow we managed to get to bed before midnight. I’m still not sure how we fit that all in.

Wedding
The wedding day was jammed. JB dropped me off at my mom’s around 10:00 and Grace joined us. Our friend Debbie did our hair, and my dear friend Michelle did makeup.

From there, off to AD’s mom’s house where the bridesmaids and bride were gathering. Following a ninety minute stop, we headed to the wedding site.

What a location! I am not able, in words, to tell you how beautiful this location was or how important it was that there was no rain! It was absolutely gorgeous. The wedding was in this orchid garden, and the reception was organized around fountains. It was amazing. It was, breathtaking.

Grace successfully walked down the aisle where Beth, the ring bearer’s mom, had toy cars for her and Cody. Grace then stood silently next to me for as long as the bag of mini Hershey’s kisses lasted. When they ran out and I had wiped the chocolate from her face, she wanted a place to play with her car. A bench behind sufficed until it was time to exit. She exited between JB and myself, and started counting 1-2-3 for us to swing her. What the heck – we did! It was great fun.

The ceremony itself was rather short. AD had to take her shoes off midway through the ceremony because they kept getting stuck on her dress. Her dress was two piece and just gorgeous! In addition, the pastor’s microphone didn’t work, but otherwise, it was just a perfect little ceremony. Keith’s friend Bryan performed his first wedding for them and did a great job!

We then partied until about 11:30. The slideshow JB and I put together worked out perfectly except for the fact that JB had to hold the screen still due to the wind. There were appetizers in the greenhouse and on the gazebo and tons of dancing. It was a fabulous evening. I got to see a few old friends like the Lagassi’s and Matt Cleveland Lauren Leggett as well as Eddie Holmes.

Okay, okay, so here is what you really wanted – pictures. These start at the rehearsal dinner and work their way through to the wedding. Enjoy! We sure did.