Amber & Nate's Wedding

I finally have a chance to get on here and blog about Amber & Nate's wedding. I have been fiddling around all day trying to find a slideshow that would work good on here. I was getting pretty frusterated. The one from Slide will have to do even though it cut the sides of the pictures off. :op
The wedding went perfectly! The only thing that went wrong was that it rained in the morning when we had to go get our hair done. It's supposed to be good luck if it rains on your wedding day though so that's ok. :O)
Amy & I were at the hair place at 7:30 am. Ugh! But we woke up fast because I think we were really excited. We left after we were done and I dropped Amy at home on my way back to the hair place with Emma & Tracey so Emma could get hers done. Amber & Marilyn were getting theirs done and Kristen was already finished. I had remembered to bring Amber's veil but forgot the headbands for Amber & Emma. The hair place is on the other side of town so back I went. :op While I was at home I got dressed in the outfit I was going to wear because I knew there wouldn't be time to go back home again. I picked Amy up on my way back. We left the hair place (with borrowed umbrellas) and headed for the church. Kristen called ahead and told the guys to keep Nate in the balcony away from any windows. (Are you all as surprised as we were that the guys were there an hour early???) We headed to the church basement and the florist was there with all the flowers. Amber's bouquet was beautiful and extra special. She had the florist add a ring that had belonged to my mom (Amber's grandma)and a ring that belonged to Nate's grandma to the bouquet. (Nate's grandma had passed away on 4/29. The funeral was on the Thursday before the wedding)
There were also some sub sandwiches for the girls that Nate's sister had delivered. While the girls were getting ready the photographer and videographer showed up. (So there will be much better pictures than mine!)
I headed upstairs and found out that I wouldn't be able to sit with Jerry because one of the ushers had seated people wrong. I was able to sit with Jerry's parents so that was ok. I was still in the front. I had told myself that I wasn't going to cry but had brought tissues just in case. I was ok while the other girls came down the aisle. Then Jerry & Amber stepped into the doorway. I tried really hard NOT to cry!! As soon as they started walking I lost it. :op By the time Amber got to me she was crying too. She stopped and gave me a kiss! (Jerry thinks the photographer got a pic but I'm not sure) The marriage ceremony went quick but there was also a mass. It was really long! About an hour. It was Nate's church so we weren't sure what it was like. They are both Catholic but really different. After the mass we went outside and blew bubbles when Amber & Nate came out. Then we went back in the church for pictures. The pictures I took are just what I could squeeze in between the photographer without getting in his way. The ones from the reception are kinda dark.
The reception was so much fun!!! The DJs that they had were wonderful. They played some really funny games. One was giving the girls in the wedding and the guys in the wedding a bag with styrofoam plates and cups in it. They had 3 minutes to build a wedding cake, guys against girls. They each had an usher on their team so the girls had Louie too. :o) Amber & Nate could offer suggestions but couldn't help build. It was really funny because Amber kept going to thr guys side and bumping the table to make theirs fall down. (Amy said she kept saying "who's shaking the table?" because they didn't know it was Amber.) She did it about 3 times before Nate ran over and threw Amber over his shoulder and ran out of the room with her! It was hilarious because she was smiling and waving on her way out. Lol! The guys won that game. Another game was Amber & Nate sitting back to back and they each had one of their shoes and one of the other's shoes. The DJ asked questions like "who does the dishes most often" and they had to raise that person's shoe. They agreed on almost all of them. Even on the ones they hesitated on, they both hesitated! No real winner there. For another game they sat back to back and the girl that caught the bouquet and the guy that caught the garter were standing in front of them. Amber & Nate were handed a roll of toilet paper and they had to see who could unroll it the fastest. Amber and the girl won that one. When it was time to take the garter off they gave Nate a miner's light. The kind that fits on your forehead. He had to remove the garter without using his hands! It was funny seeing him trying to get under the dress w/o using his hands. :op There was the usual 'Dollar Dance'. You line up behind the maid of honor to dance with Amber and behind the best man to dance with Nate. Then you pay the moh or bm to dance. All of Nate's friends lined up to dance with him so he would win the game! So a bunch of Amber's friends/family lined up to dance with Amber. Amber was ahead by about $20 and the song was almost over. I gave Jerry a $20 bill to dance with her so we would be sure she won. When they did the final count Nate won! We found out later that Nate & Cody (the best man) were putting in money out of their own pocket. So actually Amber won. Nate admitted it to Amber. :op But they got to keep all the money. :o) You can see Nate 'giving' the money to Amber in a few of the pics. :o) Amber & Nate had given the DJs a list of 'Do Not Play' songs. In order for someone to request them they had to pay $5. I think only one got played and it was 'The Chicken Dance' song. Mike (my great nephew) dragged me out to dance with him! So, I learned the chicken dance. My life feels complete now. :op
The reception started out with the toasts which were pretty funny from Cody & Marilyn. The food was pretty good. The cake was beautiful! And yes, I forgot to get a pic so I hope the photographer did! I also forgot to get a pic of the card box we made which was really cute. Oh, there was a small mishap. One of our guests dropped the card in the box for another reception that was there in the smaller room. Then they realized it was the wrong reception! So I had to go with the lady for the place while they dug it out (with tongs!) from the other card box! Good thing it had Amber & Nate's name on it! There was a slideshow to music with pics of Amber growing up, Nate growing up and then pics of them since they met. The DJ also read a story about Amber & Nate meeting & stuff. It was really cute. :o)
I cried again during the Father/Daughter dance for Amber & Jerry. The song Amber chose was 'I Loved Her First'. Jerry and Amber were crying too. Just watching the video for that song makes me cry. (You should be able to click on the title and hopefully it will take you to the video on You Tube. Go ahead, I dare you not to cry.) Amber told Jerry "Let's go get Amy" So Jerry got to dance with both of his girls. :o) ::sniff, sniff:: There was also a Mother/Son dance so I got to dance with Josh and Amy got to dance with Little Louie. I think Tracey danced with Mike but I'm not sure. Then I was talking to someone and Nate came and grabbed me. He pulled me out to dance. I said "I don't even know what kind of dancing you're going to do" and he said "That's what makes it fun!" Lol! It was kinda crazy. :op Oh, another game was having everyone get in a giant circle. Then the DJ was saying how now that Amber was married there would be a lot of disappoiinted young men. They would be sorry if they didn't get a chance to dance with her. So she had the time of one song playing to dance with every guy in the room! It was so funny because she stopped at each guy for about 3 seconds and did a little wiggle or a slow dance! She looked hilarious because she was holding up her dress and had flip-flops on her feet! She even got the DJ, bartender and a few people that were still sitting. Then someone shouted "random guy in the back!" and she ran to the very back of the room and probably shocked the guy that walked in the door! Lol! Then Nate had to do the same thing with the girls. I tried to get it all on video with my camera but it was too dark. Hopefully the video guy got it all. Oh, also the DJs played the song 'Locomotion' and everyone that wanted some Mardi Gras beads had to follow Amber around the room. Just about every single person joined in so the line was HUGE! Amber had them going all over the room, onto the stage and then led them out of the room into the open area! (wonder what the other reception thought!) Towards the end when the kids were finally winding down the DJ brought out some blow up guitars. The kids (and a few adults) loved them!
Well, I think that's about it. There was so much going on I probably missed somethings. I wish all of you that weren't there could have been. That had to be the most fun reception ever. The DJs were the best (and they were older!) and Amber & Nate really added their own fun to the games. They looked truely happy. :o)
Now we are all trying to get back to our everyday routines and Amber & Nate are cruising the Caribbean for 7 days. I got an email from her today saying they were in Grand Cayman 'playing with baby turtles and swimming with the stingrays (they're so soft!)'
Well, I knew this would take a while but it's taken way longer than I thought. If you are still reading, thanks. I know it's long. I can't wait to see the photographer pics and the video. :o)
{{{{Hugs}}}}