Love is in the Air

Wedding bells rang for Karen, my sister in law, and David Trotter as they were married on February 28th.

Love was in the air. As I know that sounds cheesy it was very true. The love of their great friends, family, and then the very contagious joy the two of them exuded made for such a fabulous weekend.

Friday morning began with a bridesmaid brunch thrown by Karen's aunts and grandmothers at Madden's, a quaint little restaurant in downtown Bryan that serves the best bisque you have ever tasted. Yummy! Conversation was wonderful as the anticipation grew for the day to come. The girls headed for mani/pedis afterwards for at least for me some much needed TLC to look pretty for the next day.

Friday evening's rehearsal went beautifully at the First Methodist Church. A retired pastor was the officiant and I thought he did such a beautiful job of leading the rehearsal. His true interest in everyone involved made the night much more intimate. He had read our descriptions on Karen's website and conveyed how he was excited to meet us all. And he thought Jackson was precious, despite his many 2 year old interruptions, so of course I liked the man. Now that all the family, close friends, and the rest of the bridal party had arrived excitement was building even more.

After practicing the logistics, we headed out to Messina Hoff Winery where the Trotters hosted an exquisite rehearsal dinner. The night went by with such wonderful slowness that lent itself to much reminiscing, catching up with old friends, unhurried toasts filled with congratulations, and lots of empty wine bottles (we were at a winery!)! My favorite part of the evening, I guess I should say second to the slideshow I created, which is always the highlight of every rehearsal dinner, because not only does the couple get the spotlight through pics, but so do their friends and family. Doesn't everyone love to see good pictures of themselves blown up on a big screen. And then I put this really funny tag at the end featuring every Reece and Cargill guy to the tune of "Welcome to the Family" by Little Big Town. My second favorite part....the toasting. Karen and David are such genuine, selfless, kindhearted, loyal people, so you can imagine how heart felt and wonderful the toasts were. Each person who spoke did so with such emotion provoking sincerity that the night turned from wonderful to magical. And then as if sprinkling pixie dust on an already magical night, Karen recited a poem she wrote to her parents which had everyone tearing up. I'll have to put a copy of it on here. It was a beautiful end to a beautiful night.

Saturday morning started off with a bang when the alarms of let's say 20 guys went off at 6:30 a.m. to head to Miramont Country Club for "Goofy Golf," created by David and Mike (my father in law). They pretty much had the full run of the course and at different holes performed different goofy acts to get their balls in the hole, like using pool sticks, tennis rackets, baseball bats, etc. I mean they had been thinking up these different goofy things for months. They all had a blast and then headed off to the men's locker room for hot tub/relaxing time before the big event. The girls spent the day getting ready in Miramont's presidential suite! Way cool! We came from getting our hair done, then visited over lunch while each girl took turns having their makeup done. I felt like such a princess, and I could tell by the look on the bride's face that she did too.

The ceremony began at 6:30. It was beautiful! Instead of having each bridesmaid walk down the "plank" by themselves we got to walk down with a groomsman. Mine just happened to be the most handsome one!! Bryan and I walked down with Jackson, the ring bearer, between us. You could hear the oohs and aahs as they caught a glimpse of Jackson in his mini tuxedo. What no one actually heard was that under his breath he was saying "no, no, no, no, no , no," for some reason. I think he was a little unsure of all the eyes on him. I'm just thrilled that it was inaudible and that he actually walked down the aisle instead of running, which would have been much more characteristic of him. Karen I can assure you though that there were many many more oohs and aahs as you walked in. You were such a beautiful bride. I loved the lighting of the unity candle when Bryan accompanied one of Karen's friends as she sang "The Prayer." His solo was breathtaking as were the couple as they lit the center candle together.

Then came the reception at Miramont Country Club. The wedding party entered in to the song the Blues Brothers entered in with so it started the celebration off with a bang. Then Karen and David surprised everyone with an amazing first dance. They had been taking dance lessons and had learned how to Tango, and they were awesome. She should try out for Dancing with the Stars and David, wow! I didn't know he could dance like that! Jackson loves live bands and it was a fabulous one so he grooved on the dance floor a lot, taking breaks every once in a while to work the room, or should I say run the room. One of my favorite moments was dancing with him. I am one lucky lady to have that little awesome guy as my son! Bryan of course broke out with "Johnny Be Good!" I think it was his best performance ever...I love being his groupy! The food was awesome, it was great visiting with friends and family, and what an honor it was to be a part of Karen and David's celebration. And did I say it already that the band was incredible?! I had so much fun dancing with Bryan and our friends and family!

My parents came in on Friday to help with Jackson and to keep him both nights for us so we didn't miss a thing. Jackson had so much fun hanging out with them and we couldn't be more thankful to have had the help. Thanks so much!

To view the photographer's wedding pics:
http://kellettphotography.com/recent_events.html