| Jennie and Gavin's wedding was so wonderful! I had the biggest smile on my face the entire time, it was so happy =) And so many great people were there! Ok, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start at the beginning =) They hosted Thanksgiving dinner at their house for their families and all the out of town guests that were there already. The food was delicious! Scott deep fried two turkeys, and Maribel and Ann were in charge of all the other cooking. Their hotels had kitchenettes, so they fixed ham, jambalaya, cookies, brownies, roasted veggies, some eggplant dish for the vegetarians, mashed potatoes, bread, cranberries... the list goes on and on =) I didn't really help much with that, as I was in the guest room working on flowers. Jennie and her sister painted the screen. Laura is amazing with the straight lines. I was in awe =) Jennie gave it a second coat the next day. It was beautiful!    After dinner, we went back to playing games! As you can imagine, we played lots of cars! Richard had brought the wii, so Eric really enjoyed that! They played the Crystal Cup, which is part of some mario soccer game. It's very silly, sometimes you get hit by lightning, the captains can make super shots that shoot four or five balls at the same time, crazy stuff like that. They had played it at the bachelor party as well, but they didn't beat the crystal cup. Evidently Richard said Gavin couldn't get married until they did (Gavin didn't know this, but Jennie heard) Fortunately, they beat it in our hotel room the day of the wedding =) Eric also got addicted to tanks, a game where you try and shoot enemy tanks. It's very simple, but he hasn't made it to level 20 yet and he's obsessed! Besides wii, we played a lot of Apples to Apples. I actually won three times. Very strange. The funniest moment was when Gavin got Delightful, and had to choose between My Love Life, and Duct Tape. Hard choice! I almost won with that duct tape =)   The rehearsal went really well =) Jennie skipped down the aisle, which is the image I will have in my head forever =) It's so Jennie! The rehearsal dinner was at Zio's, which is so appropriate. The food was amazing! I was also impressed at the amount of wine we went through. Well, not me, obviously. We ordered appetizers, and still shared about five desserts around our table. My favorite was the cheesecake. =) Gavin and Jennie sat across from us, which was so much fun. Watching the Gavin and Jennie show! Jennie made a very detailed list in crayon on the tablecloth, which we took with us because it listed all the things that we had to do! =) Eric made a great toast! We're still not sure who started chanting Eric, but he really did a great job! He told the story of the first time Gavin mentioned Jennie. He'd gone over to chat with her, and mentioned Faraday cages. She knew just what he was talking about, and he was amazed. He told Eric "She knew what a Faraday cage was!!! I think I could really like that girl!!" =)    The day of the wedding was wonderful! We started off with brunch with Jennie's Gathering friends, Laura, and me. We gave her the scrapbook that we'd made for her. She loved it! I was so glad that so many people participated! I had to finish putting all the pages in at the hotel, and I barely covered it in time when she came by for a visit! But she was surprised =) During lunch, we got a call from Eric and Brian. They'd gone to Norman to do the errands there, like feeding the dogs and picking up stuff from the house. They'd neglected to get the keys though. So Eric snuck in through the DOG DOOR! Can you believe that?!? We were all laughing hysterically at the restaurant. After lunch, Jennie Laura and I went to Norman for hair and makeup. Hair was a bit of an ordeal, but it turned out beautiful and the makeup was good too! Then we went back to the hotel. We made sure Jennie got some food (Just a muffin and a latte, but there was plenty of food coming at the reception!) Then we went to the Myriad Gardens to get ready! The bride's room was huge! We had lots of space for changing, wrapping bouquets, and dance practice! Jennie practiced her swing dancing with Laura =)  Before I put on my dress I went down to supervise the decorating, since I knew the plan for all the flowers =) They all survived just fine =) We made little vase arrangements of blue and white flowers, and scattered wooden platters, bowls with floating flowers, sea shells, and votives all over the table. It was wonderful! And I think it's appropriate, since they got engaged on a beach and all, and Jennie is addicted to boats and beaches =) Jessie took over the supervising when I had to go put on my bridesmaid's dress. Everything got all set up, thanks to a lot of APO volunteers! We have the best friends =) Then it was time to put on my dress. Jennie just let us pick any brown dress we wanted, with blue accents. I love my dress! It's so pretty. I even bought heels for the first time since my own wedding. Marilyn talked me into two pairs. She's a bad influence =) Anyway. We took a bunch of pictures with the photographer,(I was scheduled for 7:04) and then it was time to get started! The ceremony was beautiful! Her uncle or great uncle performed the ceremony. I love that, I think it makes it so personal. Jessie and Scott did a reading, and so did Jennie's brother. The music was very pretty, although it didn't exactly play in the planned order =) I had the perfect view of Gavin's face. He just lit up like a Christmas tree when he saw Jennie =) I smiled so much I probably looked like a goofball =) After the wedding we did a few more pictures. Their photographer was great, very organized and efficient. He took some awesome pictures too! The food was extremely good, appetizers and desserts! Yum! Jennie and Gavin had chosen a jazz band to play during the reception. That was a lot of fun! All the APO people were dancing. Jennie and Gavin did a swing dance for their first dance, which was so much fun! Swing is the perfect dance for Jennie, she's so bouncy! |
