The Wedding - Part I

Every time I start talking with Derrald about our wedding day we end up needing an hour or two just to cover the bare minimum of things we loved about this day. Here is my abridged run down of the days events.

Friday, June 18th was a gorgeous, sunny day in Danville, CA. Our friends and family had flown in from all over the country, all over the world!

I was feeling good all glammed up, hair, makeup, dress, shoes, father and bridesmaids assembled, when I was practically pushed out the door. No, I was not late. I really didn't see the need to hurry but some of us were nervous... huh-hum FATHER.

We proceeded on our walk down the street, waving to neighbours, the excitement building, when, as I cleared the bushes to make our final approach on to the lawn where our guests would be waiting... there were NO guests!

(it looked a little something like this:)

Where on earth had our entire wedding party gone and where was the groom?!?!? And why was I being made to hide behind a bush?!? (yes, a bush!) I was told to hide behind a bush, while my sister went off to assess the situation. Turns out, everyone was gathered in the clubhouse.

"Places People!!!"

With everyone in place our ceremony continued with much joy, having both mothers say a word or two of welcome and introduction and Derrald's father leading the ceremony.

My sweet friend, Alyson, serenaded us with a love song and one darling child felt the need to vocalize an opinion, I'm sure many were feeling "I WANT CANDY". Me too, Lily. Me too.

We pushed through (despite the lack of candy), and then something about caring and sharing and always admitting the wife knows best was agreed to, do you - do you, we do, hooray!!

You may kiss the bride.

We hit the clubhouse for some snacks and photographs commenced.

Whilst I could have gone on for hours, by 7pm, with some three thousand (3,000!) photographs taken over the course of two days, we figured we probably had something "useable" ** and we were ready to move on with the days events. Round two. The reception.

Brendan was our designated driver for the day and I would like to take a moment to publicly thank him. Although I would not describe it as "service with a smile"... more like "service with a few short curse words and a little army attitude thrown in" ... we always arrived safely and on time... . ;) Thanks brother. I haven't added any pictures because although he looked truly stunning in his army greens (um, hello show stealer? talk about showing up the bride!) he's very sensitive about the sharing of public images/information. He WAS at the wedding. I assure you. You can take my word for it.

I leave you here, dear readers... (reader)... (alyson)... No cliffhanger. No witty remarks to have you coming back to see how our wedding day concludes. Just a promise that I will eventually get around to the second installment. Please be patient and occasionally share the love by leaving a comment or two...

**note: Jenna was uh-mazing and we'd totally recommend her. Did I mention we tried to pick her up at San Francisco airport when she had arrived at Oakland airport? Yup. Left her waiting for an hour and then told her to catch the train. Derrald booked her tickets. He knew. He forgot. She forgave. We all laughed. Jenna = trooper.