The Big Day

I meant what I said in my toast. That she has always encouraged me to go after God more and more. That she has always trusted Him. That she has patiently waited for her tall, dark, and handsome (and most importantly godly) man. And that her wedding day was one of the most exciting days of my life.

The only thing better than having a dream come true for yourself is watching it come true for someone you love. And actually, watching it might be better. Because watching it inspires and gives you hope, while at the same time allowing you to feel a piece of what someone else it feeling. It’s such a beautiful thing.

In fact, it was such a beautiful thing that I’m not sure I can ever get married now. There is no way I could have that fabulous of a wedding! It was perfect in every way.

When I left you all, I had just recovered from a bout of really bad anxiety. Fortunately it never came back.

On Thursday, Grandma and I had lunch at Runza (a Nebraska fave), picked up croissants at the bakery and went home to fill them with chicken salad and bake cupcakes. I put pink SweetTarts on top of the white cupcakes. S is for her new last name. I also made some delicious chocolate cupcakes (for the bachelorette party) with my new ‘unique’ cupcake tin. I wondered what Grandma would say, but fortunately she thought they were adorable. She also thought they were supposed to look like ice cream cones. I just went along with it.

At the personal shower, Best Friend got some beautiful, beautiful pieces of lingerie and I successfully embarrassed her with a game . . but too successfully I’m afraid – whoops. We ate the croissants, mozzarella and tomato skewers with olive oil and basil, fruit skewers with fruit dip, and bread with spinach and artichoke dip. Delish!





BF was ready to put on her sombrero and boa at the fiesta-themed bachelorette party and have some fun. She loved posing with the wall decorations, hitting the appropriately-shaped piñata, and watching us all create cute, colorful panties for her new hobby – ha.

Her brother flew in from a semester in New Zealand that night, so we were even able to re-use the fiesta decorations as a ‘welcome back’ in his hotel room.



Friday was pedicures, and boy do I need to get those done more often. It felt so good! That girl really knew how to massage a foot! We spent the next several hours at her aunt and uncle’s lakehouse eating, tubing, and catching some sun. The weather didn’t look good for the outdoor rehearsal, but after many prayers the rain came and passed just in time for practice.



The rehearsal dinner was at one of our favorite restaurants, Biaggi’s. We had chicken farfalle alfredo with peas, chicken parmesan, and some delicious salmon dish. I don’t know what we had for appetizers, but those were amazing, too. The desserts were a cheesecake, chocolate chip banana bread, and chocolate something. But wow!

BF and the groom didn’t see each other on Saturday until she walked down the aisle. Well, she saw him. She did his hair actually, but he kept his eyes closed. Her ten bridesmaids and two personal attendants gathered around her to pray before it was time to line up. She looked so beautiful.



Standing on that stage right next to the lake, it was so hot! I thought I had spiders crawling down my legs, but realized they were beads of sweat! The bride and groom wrote their own vows which were so beautiful. (Beautiful is basically the key word for this entire thing.) The fireworks went off a little too soon, but other than that, everything went smoothly.



The jazz band at the reception played great music, and everyone had fun dancing. And the food stations. Don’t even let me get started! The biggest disappointment, or rather the only disappointment of the entire night was me not eating more. I was so exhausted and my head hurt to the point of causing my stomach to not want much food. You better believe I was all, “What the heck, Stomach? I have been waiting months for this food and you don’t want anymore??” I did make it to the Lebanese station and filled my plate to overflowing. I thought it might look a tad gluttonous to proceed to the Italian, French, and Irish-American tables on the same trip, so I added only a French pastry and slice of prime beef to my plate right next to the grape leaves, falafel, hummus, pita bread, and tablouleh salad. I had every intention of returning to the food, but like I said the stomach was being ridiculous! I saw so much on others’ plates that I wish I could’ve tried. Fortunately, by the time the cake was cut, I was ready to dive into not only a slice of the white almond, but the chocolate groom’s cake as well. Best Friend drew a picture of the cake she wanted for the cake baker (or whatever they’re called) and again “beautiful” would be a good word for it.



The toast, thank goodness, went well I would say . . or at least that’s what everyone else seemed to say. I said everything I planned to say, and I was not nervous. Uh, sort of not nervous. Actually I was quite nervous every second leading up to the toast, but once I took the microphone I felt confident that things would be smooth sailing from that point out. My leg apparently didn’t feel the same way, because it shook the entire time. And I was thinking “LEG, you can stop shaking, because I’m doing FINE up here!” Let’s hope no one noticed.

At the end of the night, we saw the couple off with sparklers and returned to the dance floor for a few more songs.

And now my Best Friend is married.

Beautiful.

(Obviously you can see my Flickr for more pictures.)