Wedding Day!

Last night when we went to bed, the weather forecast was calling for a good chance of rain for today.  Luckily, we did have a back-up for the wedding ceremony (an older church that is on the Historical Society's land), but when we woke up this morning...the rain had been taken out of the forecast!  It was to be mid-70's and partly sunny.  In other words: PERFECT for an outdoor wedding.  All of the girls headed uptown to Katie's hair stylist, but before we left, Ma-maw had to steal a kiss!

Our cousin, Kathleen, also met us at the beauty shop to do everyone's make up.  I ended up leaving early to take the girls back to the house, in hopes that they would get a bit of a nap before the party started!  Julianne did fall asleep, but Reba was too excited.  Doug, Dallas and Pa-paw made it back in time (they were setting up chairs at the wedding site) to stay with Julianne while Reba and I went to the church to get dressed.

Reba loved being able to do all the girl things!

The garden was ready...

Instead of lighting a unity candle, Katie and Brian had loose wax to pour and make their unity candle during the ceremony.

I thought this was a great picture of GG and Aunt Katie before the wedding

We did all the pictures before the ceremony, and then made our way back to the basement of the church for a late lunch (sandwiches).  Poor Julianne kept walking out her shoes.  This particular time she didn't see where I was, so Rob (the groomsman) simply put her on his knee and put her shoe back on.  It was quite an accomplishment as Julianne doesn't let very many people pick her up!

All the family had arrived...it must be time to get the show on the road!

Thankfully, GG sent a few of the pictures she took during the ceremony and I grabbed some from the wedpics app they used, so I able to share actual wedding photos!!

The newest Mr. and Mrs.!

Katie and Brian are snow people - hence the snowflakes on the cakes and the snowmobile photo booth, so they decided to use the snowmobiles as a get-away for the wedding party!  It was an awesome idea

Doug was pretty excited that Katie and Brian asked him to drive the tractor and wagon!

It is common in Iowa for the wedding party to go to a local bar (or two) after the ceremony and before arriving at the reception.  Unfortunately, Humboldt only had one bar open that time of the day, but we still had a fun time driving down the main street and enjoying a few drinks!

Once we arrived at the party, they cut the cake before serving the meal - that way people could grab a piece at their convenience.

Brian was nice to Katie, but Katie maybe wasn't so nice to Brian...

Julianne was very much attached to me from the moment we (the wedding party) arrived at the reception, so she got to sit at the head table with the wedding party through the meal and toasts.

After everyone was finished eating, it was time to start dancing!

Little Miss was pretty excited that she caught the bouquet!

Let me just say, my kiddos tore up the dance floor!  Julianne quit about midnight when I took her and Ma-maw back to the house.  Reba fell asleep in my arms about 12:30, and Dallas crashed about 1 a.m. as I was driving back to the house...

Until next time...

Nashville: Seeing the Sights

Sunday morning, we got up and met Josie and Emily for breakfast at Shoney's and then said our good-byes to them.  

We then mapped out our plans for the day.  Doug wanted to visit Cooter's Place, the Dukes of Hazzard Museum.

It was amazing how much memorabilia there was!

I wanted to see the inside of the Opryland Hotel.  We had drove around some of the outside after the concert Saturday night, but I had heard the inside was gorgeous.  Doug and I didn't really know "what we were doing" so we found a parking lot that was free for 15 minutes.  We made a bee-line into the lobby and found this...the Cascades Atrium.

It was absolutely gorgeous!  I just wish we could have stayed a little longer and explored the other lobbies...

We then made our way back downtown to tour the Country Music Hall of Fame. 

There was a wonderful exhibit honoring Alan Jackson's 25 years in the country music business

(One of?) Elvis' Limos

Just a few of the records on the walls

Merle Haggard's boots

One of Reba McEntire's dresses and George Strait's outfits on display

Had to take a picture of the Bandit's car (for Dallas)

The tour ended in the Hall of Fame Rotunda

Our last stop was the Ryman Auditorium.

We were running short on time, so we just walked around the outside.  Maybe we'll go back soon and get to see the inside!

Until next time...