The Wedding Day

Let me give you a little bit of a back story.

Dara and I have been best buds since 2nd grade.  Jennifer (the Bride), J Wads (also a Jennifer) and Emily were a couple of years behind us and have also been BFF's since early on.  We all went to church together since we were little tykes and at some point during our high school and college years, decided we would all be friends.  Jennifer, Emily, Dara and I also all lived together at some point during our college years.

So, you are left with five girls who have known each other for 20+ years and would do anything for each other.  I realize this kind of friendship is rare and now being 6 hours removed from all of them, it makes me grateful for the time I have to spend with them.  I am honored to be able to stand next to them on important days like weddings.  And blessed to have them by my side when I need them most.  I may go weeks or months between talking to them, but we always pick right back up.  We all love each other and accept each others flaws and gifts, as is.

Ok, done with the mushy stuff.

As mentioned before, it really doesn't take much to entertain us.  I'm certain that most people probably think we all hate each other, because we spend a lot of time making fun of one another and laughing at unfortunate things that happen to us.  Like falling flat on your face in front of lots of people at church.  Or opening a janitor's closet door when you meant to be going into a classroom.  And instead of acknowledging your mistake and looking for the room you actually wanted, you just go in the closet and shut the door behind you.  Brilliant.  This is important to know about us because it makes each moment only a memory to potentially poke fun at in the near future. 

So, we kicked off the day with a little tradition that involves waking up the bride on her wedding day by singing "Going to the Chapel" with lit candles and passing on the garter that I wore in my wedding.  (I am the most mature, so I got married first.  Right.)  Now, if you could hear us sing, you would know that waking up to this can't possibly be a pleasant situation, but is merely tolerated as you wait for someone to bring out the biscuits that also accompany the tradition.  It always goes back to what food is involved...

After the garter/biscuit tradition, we all rushed off to get ready for the day, reconvening several hours later, hair and make-up complete.  We rehearsed, took pictures and then anxiously awaited the main event that was located at the beautiful Sonnet House.

Now, here is where I remind you that as a child I was a huge tom-boy.  And I've never grown out of it.  Hair?  Give me the easiest cut available.  Makeup?  Less is better.  Jewelry?  No thanks.  All I need is my wedding band.  And heels?  No, not ever, not gonna happen.  For two reasons.  One, if someone is gonna fall or break a bone doing something that is typically not harmful, that someone will be me.  So why place myself higher in the air?  Only gives me further to fall.  No reason to further increase my chances of another knee surgery.  And two, there is absolutely no reason to wear shoes that are that uncomfortable...

Well. The only reason is if your BFF asks you to in the name of love on her wedding day. And for her, I will do anything. Including a hair and make-up session by my wonderful sister-in-law, wearing jewelry given by the bride herself and those lovely heels. And you want to know a secret?? I actually loved it all! Please don't tell anyone. I have an image to maintain, which doesn't normally include eye liner and heels! But who are we really kidding?? We were all smokin' hot. Smokin'.

This isn't the best picture ever due to the lighting issue, but I had to document the wearing of heels. 
Because it didn't last long...

So, the ceremony went on.  And thankfully no one, myself included, fell.  I did, however, have to stifle laughter throughout the ceremony (in between the tears) as the precious flower girl repeatedly scratched an itch that was in a most inconvenient place.  And at one point turned and asked me what was going on and were we almost finished. 

Lighting the unity candle.  Almost Mr. & Mrs...!!!!

Now, because those heels I was wearing made my toes literally numb while standing on stage, I took them off as soon as I was out of sight of the crowd.  And said a silent prayer thanking the good Lord that I had made it down the aisle on numb toes.  And because we always have something fun up our sleeves, we swapped our heels for our cowboy boots for the reception and proceeded to dance the night away!  (Cowboy Boots Note:  We went line dancing in Nashville for Jennifer's Bachelorette Party.  Let me just say that a love for line dancing that I wasn't aware that I had, emerged that weekend.  Doesn't make me good at it.  Just have a blast doing it!)

I thought our boots made us look even better...

This picture makes it look like I know what I'm doing, but really I was just stomping around in my boots, having a good time.  I have zero rhythm.  I think it's part of the whole tom-boy thing.



My date for the evening.  Since I had left my actual date in Kentucky.



He turned out to be quite the little dancer.  He asked me the next morning if we could
"go back to that wedding and dance again?"  Precious.

I even got Mom to dance.  Although I'm fairly certain if we hadn't been in a public place and I wasn't taller than her, she would have given me a spanking for dragging her on to the dance floor against her very obvious wishes.  It's OK, Mom.  You can be Baptist and dance!

Break it down, Mom!

And what's a wedding without half of the guests exclaiming over how they can't believe how big we've gotten (Really, people?  We are all pushing 30.  Or have already gotten there.) or talking about how they can't believe that we are all still friends and they remember this or they remember that.  It's really quite entertaining.  But in the name of memories, here's a picture with our beloved Mrs. Zo, who has been Sunday School Teacher to all of us at some point in the past.

Dara, Emily, Mrs. Zo, Jennifer, Jana & Jennifer

So, while I'm thrilled that Eric & Jenn are now forever The Brown's, I'm terribly upset that I don't currently have an event on the horizon that will require us to all be in the same state.  I mean, we have so much to talk about after the wedding...it was AAAAMAZING!  Hehe... 

Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Brown!!!  I love you both!!

Now...line dancing, anyone??