I have only one sibling, my sister Laura, who is seven years younger than me and living so far away in Colorado I felt out of the loop in helping my family to prepare for the festivities. I was eager to get to my parents to help out, and even more eager to figure out what we were going to do about dress disaster I was experiencing with my maid of honor dress. It didn’t quite fit in the, *ahem* top area, and was much too low cut for the wedding in a Catholic Church. We arrived at my parents house early that morning and were greeted with hugs and then a ‘to do’ list for Josh while the ladies went into town to the seamstress and to run errands. Fortunately, after an unspeakable amount to the crazy seamstress on the fly in Jackson, we were able to get the dress finished and much more appropriate for the nuptials.
When we finally made it home, we were able to begin celebrating my father’s birthday with some beers and a boat ride. Josh and I put our bathing suits on for the boat ride and dove off the boat into the deep and warm lake water for a quick swim. This is a luxury I grew up with and do not have in Colorado, so I enjoy the swimming every chance I get! After the boat ride we went out to dinner at my absolute favorite restaurant The Beach Bar in Brooklyn Michigan. The dinner celebration turned into a big party when my sister’s fiancee and his out of town guests joined us for dinner and drinks. My dad had a great birthday, he turned “30” which he exclaimed several times as we cheered “happy birthday.” It has been years since I have been home for his birthday or anyone’s for that matter, and it was so much fun to join in the celebration. He fell asleep shortly after we got home, and I snapped a few shots of the birthday boy; I particularly like the cases of beer behind him :)
Friday was the day I was looking forward to most, getting a manicure and pedicure before the wedding, I rarely treat myself to such a luxury, but the wedding was special, and I was even more thankful when my sister treated me as a wedding gift. Some of the other bridesmaids joined us at the mall for a quick mani-pedi before going home to change and then drive back into town for the rehearsal. The rehearsal at the church was a lot of fun and I loved seeing my sister and Cody so excited about their wedding day. I was very nervous for everyone in their family to be in attendance for the nuptials because just before my wedding day, my grandmother broke her back and my grandparents missed my wedding. This is something which still brings me to tears when I think about it, and I found out the news at my rehearsal dinner, which is clouded in my memory with the sadness of my most treasured family not in attendance. Cody’s brother, Kevin and his wife live in Kentucky, she was not able to come due to being 9 months pregnant, but Kevin nearly missed the day because of some complications, fortunately, he drove in for the rehearsal dinner and made it just in time for the wedding!
After the rehearsal my mother created a slide show of my sister and Cody, photos from young through old for both of them and it brought me to tears. I am turning into a sap in my ‘old age.’ Then the bride and groom gave their wedding gifts to the bridal party, which included 6 necklaces made by me for all of the girls including myself. My sister had asked me to do this and I was honored to be asked; everyone loved the jewelry even more than I had hoped and I was sooo pleased with all of the compliments that they and I received. The jewelry even lead to several necklace sales while I was home to family and friends, and I can thank my sister for that. 
No comments:
Post a Comment