Rebecca & Eric: Wedding

My sister got married in June at my parents' house in Virginia on the lake. It was very much a DIY wedding. 

For the last year since my parents bought the house, they and my sister (who lives there full time while my parents are in NY) have been fixing it up and preparing for the wedding. The house itself was in kind of rough shape when they bought it, so there was a lot of cleaning, painting, etc. to do. My dad went down last Thanksgiving to New Year and actually tore out the old (very non-functioning) kitchen and put in a new one. 

My sister and Eric also prepared the landscaping and other random things around.

Even the flowers planted were pink this year.. You will quickly realize what the wedding color scheme was..

After/during the first kiss, one of the neighbors whose boat house is in the background shot off a cannon that he has! Other neighbors across the lake set off fireworks at supper time.

We got down to VA on Friday around lunch time and were quickly put to work (with a bunch of other family and family friends that got there early) ironing tablecloths, putting out place settings and other random chores.

On the boat house before the rehearsal dinner. Also- there are 3 of us in this picture and we didn't know it for 2 more days.

Saturday morning was a flurry. First thing we (my mom, sister and I) started making the table centerpieces and then shortly moved on to the corsages and boutonnieres.

My dad and John were sent out to get balloons for the driveway.

I didn't even get to work setting up the cake until the flowers were all cleared from the kitchen island and then as soon as I finished with the cake I got dressed and then ran around doing last minute things... like putting flowers on the tables, etc.

Eventually it was wedding time, the caterers showed up and basically took over the other prep/setting up. They were awesome.

No one could figure out the bustle. Also? Fancy bouquet I made there, eh?

And he had had absolutely nothing to drink besides sprite.

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Crystal's Wedding!

This is a little late, but better late than never right!?

Crystal and Kelly got married July 4 at our church (the same one that John and I got married in) and then had an at home tented reception at her parents' house. It was awesome because you can see the Albany fireworks from the yard. At one point, I think that there were 4 or 5 sets of fireworks going on that we could see from outside the tent.

Crystal is originally from upstate NY and Kelly is from New Hampshire. A couple of years ago they moved together down to Florida. For the wedding, they brought the beach to NY!

The church before the ceremony.

Programs

The first kiss!

The new Mr & Mrs!

The table numbers.

The centerpieces.

The favors- sugar cookies cut into beach things and frosted!

The tent. The lanterns were so pretty!

The menus. I was in love with the shrimp.

Place/table cards.

On the table with the place cards were sparklers! These were so fun later on with the fireworks.

The bridal party. It was really windy & you can tell a bit in this picture.

The cake that my mom and sister made! Notice the cake plate??

Up close.

Cutting the cake.

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Amanda & Ben's Wedding! - Part The Rest

So apparently I have been slacking.. When I left off with Amanda and Ben's wedding, I had only showed you the rehearsal. The next day I got up early and headed to a bitty town on the border of West VA to get my hairs did with the rest of the girls. Later we headed back to Amanda's parents house for a delish lunch of Panera sandwiches and cookies. We all got dressed, took pictures and then headed off the the ceremony!

Amanda looked awesome and the ceremony went off perfectly. It was awesome seeing two of my best friends get married to each other. After the ceremony was obviously.. party time.

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The Reception - The Rest

After the toasts, salads were brought out. I think this is when we did our mother-son/father-daughter dance. John, my dad and I were none to excited about these dances, so we combined them. This was one less boring thing for everyone else to watch too..





My dad and I pretty much giggled the whole time. A lot of it was about John and his mom trying to ballroom dance with him.


Apparently she was really begging for a spin the whole time- he said no.




After the dances, dinner was brought out. Everyone ate and loved it- the filet was cooked perfectly (according to those beef eaters), which I think is hard to do for a banquet setting.

After John and I ate most of our meals, we started going around and saying hi to all of the tables. It was BORING. And awkward- same conversation at every table.. oi. It was nice to see a lot of people that we hadn't seen in a long time though.

During this time (since it took SO long), general music and dancing started.

My dad and grandma (his mom).

After a bit, the DJ called John and I up to the front to set up the bouquet presentation. I decided ahead of time to give my bouquet to my grandma for having the longest marriage of anyone in the room. An anniversary dance wouldn't have worked since my grandpa is pretty immobile. Since I knew that they had the longest marriage (65 years this year!) I just gave the info to the DJ ahead of time and presented it.


She was all excited to get the bouquet & I figured I wasn't going to do anything with it- she would love it while it lasted. We had a thank you note from her in the mail when we got back from the cruise a week later.



Either the electric slide or the Hokie Pokie- the only two dances I do- the moves are pre-determined!

Some sweet moves demonstrated by my sister.

My mom, dad and sister.

John's little cousin- caught in the act! (More fondue pics to come later!)

John's dad & I- I am not so much a fan of the ballroom dancing...

Us & the groom's cake- Hokie colors & John's cake topper choice.

At the end, the DJ had all of the guests get in a circle on the dance floor and had us get in the middle. He played our first dance song again and made us dance. It was kind of awkward. Oh well.







All pictures by Keira Lemonis.

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