Wedding Recap Post #1: Rehearsal Dinner

Last week, my dad made the following statement.  "I'm really sick of all your blogs about the wedding.  Can we get back to some Family Farm Friday stuff now?"  I had to break it to him that I had only written one blog that was only tangentially about the wedding, and that there would likely be a couple months worth of blogs discussing details.  I appeased him a bit by promising a Family Farm Friday post tomorrow, but I've been told he will not be reading along until all of this "wedding crap" is over.  So, warning to you readers without ovaries, you may want to just take a little break for a while.

Anyway, where better to start than the beginning, huh?

Meet Ag Teacher Annie.  She was one of the three wedding photographers we conned into
helping us.  She was in charge of the rehearsal dinner, the boys getting ready, balcony shots at the church,
and people at the reception.  And she knocked it out of the park.  I mean, seriously.  OUT OF THE PARK.
Thank you so much, Ag Teacher Annie, for everything you did!  All of the pictures below came from her.

On Friday before the wedding, we had a rehearsal for the wedding party at the church.  Because our preacher is awesome, this went smoothly, quickly, and we were free to go and chow down at the dinner.

Getting all organized.

GBaby is growing up....quite the flower girl pose!

I love this one!

Time for another "thank you."  This is Teacher Friend, who I have known since we were 9.
She came and basically  handled everything, made all the decisions, helped avoid
disaster when we forgot to get the flowers and didn't have the elements for communion....
Plus she showed up with a scripture to share with me while I was getting ready. 
I seriously felt zero stress on my wedding day because I had no doubt she had it under
control.  Being friends for over 20 years will do that for you.

Our neighbor so kindly agreed to play my Gran's favorite song on the piano
for the seating of the grandparents.  Then I sent her the music and she probably
regretted that decision.

Ths ushers....BFF and Cousin Sean....standing at attention.

The bridesmaids patiently waiting.

This picture has a story.  Poor Ag Teacher Annie, had to deal with our rough-starting
engagement photo session where the handsome fella sitting next to her had a fit
and a bad attitude.  She managed to turn that around, however, and has now been deemed his
"favorite photographer."  The other morning I was asleep and he was looking at his phone.
I hear him say, "Aww...."  I figured he saw a picture of me and him, so I roll over to look.
He saw this picture.  Him and his photographer.  Sigh.

I know that most folks invite only the immediate family and wedding party to the rehearsal dinner.  Well, my family does things differently.  It all started about 5 years ago when my cousin got married in Santa Fe.  They invited the entire family--aunts, uncles, cousins, the whole shebang to the rehearsal dinner.  We ate a lot of pizza and, well, the bartender may have come over to "tell those cowboys that they have to slow down on the Coors Light because we are running out of beer!"  Guilty.  The bottom line is that our family is fun, and anytime we get together, we need to be sure we have ample time to visit, harass each other, and tell war stories.

So when it came time to plan our rehearsal dinner, I knew I wanted to carry on the tradition.  So, we invited our families to come.  We invited the wedding party.  The preacher.  Out of town guests who had already arrived.  My paralegals and secretary from the law firm.  The saint who moved me to College Station, only to come back in less than 2 years to move me back home.  The Hepburns and Ski Trip Jerry's crew.

We ended up with about 85 people at my parents house for the dinner.  Yep.  85 people.  The size of many weddings.  The driveway looked like a parking lot.  There were people everywhere.  And it was awesome.

The chow line.

The girls....and poor Adam.

Cousin Sean and his Date.  If you follow me on Facebook, you've been looking
for this picture after the complete insanity that erupted after it was announced
he was bringing a date.  Sorry, poor Date, for that!

Three of my favorite ladies.

The entertainment, as I call them.  SoulMate Friend and Tuba Boy came from
Oklahoma and both sang during the ceremony.  She also wore the cutest outfit to
the rehearsal dinner!

My mom's family, as if there were any question we're related.

The Boy from Texas' mom and aunts took care of the food---God bless them.  By the time we showed up, everything was done and ready for people to dig in.  My brother and some assistants he rounded up cooked fajitas on a bunch of gathered up disco cookers. 

With The Boy From Texas' Mama.

The dog was apparently supervising.

The brain trust.

Everyone sat around my parents front yard visiting and eating and (hopefully) enjoying the evening.  We took kids to see the horses and sheep.  A fire was lit in the fire pit once it got a little chilly.   It was exactly what I wanted.  Fun, chill, great food, everyone just hanging out.