My Best Friend's Wedding: The Ceremony

So obvoiusly, I don't have a lot of pictures of the ceremony because I was little preoccupied. But believe me when I say it was perfect!! There was such a sweet spirit in that church that really captured the hearts of Jenny and Andy (I can't really believe I just said that. Who am I? Oh well...let's go with it).

I was the second to last bridesmaid to walk down, so I had a long time to be anxious. Good news: I didn't fall, which is a miracle considering the shoes I was wearing AND the fact that I never wear heels...ever!

My only REAL emotional time was when Jenny and Don walked down the aisle. I have NEVER seen Jenny so genuinely happy and peaceful. It was beautiful. And Don...I can't really even go there. He just breaks my heart...but in a good way. precious.

I was pretty close to all the action, so I got to see the expressions and emotions on both Jenny's and Andy's faces. Their little hands were intertwined and squirming the whole time.

Their vows were so sincere and heartfelt...so special!

The music was aMAZing. There was a string quartet and the soloist (a girl Jenny and I went to high school with) was flawless! Her voice was so perfect for that ceremony!


So...I'm leaving out a lot of details, but you get the gist. It was really a beautiful ceremony and Jenny is MARRIED!!!!!




I do have some ceremony related photos. Here ya go...

our flowers....GORGEOUS!!

programs on some fancy, shiny paper...so pretty!

the guestbook Jenny and Andy got as a wedding gift. So classy and such a good idea!!

I'm not really sure how ceremony-related this is, but it's too good not to share. Actually, I'm not sure if I'm clear on the whole story, but I'll tell what I do know and make up the rest. Sound good? ok....Andy's mom has 5 kids. When the first son got married, his wife got her a handkerchief with their initials and wedding date embroidered on it. After that, Andy's mom got the initials and wedding dates of all her other kids on the same handkerchief! I will have to say that I'm a sucker for family traditions like these, but I thought it was so cool!



Jenny and Andy!!!!!!!!!!!

My Best Friend's Wedding: Getting Ready

I apologize for my lack in blogging lately. I've just been swamped and wanted to give my blog topics the attention that they deserve. So, Jenny has been married for over a month and I still haven't finished blogging about her wedding. I'm a slacker, but I will try to make this my goal today...


First of all, the weather was BEAUTIFUL on March 12th. I really don't think God could have blessed Jenny with a more perfect day to get married. She and the weather channel have a really close relationship, so I'm thinking that maybe had something to do with it.

She got her (ballin') hair done at 2 Chic on South College. I met Jenny and Toni there, we ate breakfast (thank you, Don) at a little picnic table outside the salon and then made our way to the church.

When we got to the church, we hit the ground running. Jenny started doing her make up and other bridesmaids started showing up, so we kind of all got ready together.

THEN...it was time to put on the dress!! I will have to say that it was a group effort to get everything situated and in place, but the finished product was absolutely STUNNING!! Seriously. I have no other words.

Next was the veil, which made her look like a real bride. My emotions were pretty low key at this point. It was like none of this was really happening...just a dream.



Ahhhhhh!!!

For the next little while, we kind of hung out, took pictures, and I pretended that we were just playing dress up...homegirl was NOT about to get married.

Coming Soon...The ceremony!!!!!!







My Best Friend's Wedding: The Rehearsal

So...even though I didn't finish my countdown, Jenny did, indeed, get married!!!

I got a little caught up in the wedding festivities and excitement, so blogging was the last thing on my mind.

Basically, everything was perfect. Jenny was super calm and happy and as cheesy as it sounds, absolutely radiant.

I took off work on Friday, and got into full wedding mode as soon as that 3:15 bell rang on Thursday. I met Jenny and her sister in Montgomery, ran some last minute errands, and had Jenny's last single meal with the Stough fam. Once we made it back to Auburn, Jenny and I finished packing for her honeymoon, made piles of things to go to different places (church, hotel, big don's house), and pretty much acted like this was all a dream...because it was.

The next day was the rehearsal. Jenny stayed busy, but again...cool as a cucumber. She was so organized and on top of things.



The rehearsal was beautiful and I might have started crying as soon as the priest started praying. Don't worry...I got a hold of myself, but things were questionable for a minute. At one point, the priest started saying the vows and it seemed like he wasn't going to stop, so we got kind of nervous that they would be married before their actual wedding. This didn't happen...the priest knew what he was doing...go figure.

This was when Jenny was giving us our bridesmaids gifts...jute bags (good thing because mine is getting holes), monogrammed hat (with my NEW initials-she's so thoughtful), and some really pretty jewelry to wear the next day. I'm pretty sure in this picture, our conversation is going something like this..."I luh you so much"..."I luh you too." I feel like we said that a lot this weekend, but it's true, so it's ok.



There was a little drama (because my life wouldn't be complete without it) with my speech. I had typed almost all of it out on the computer and planned on printing it out, well...Marti's printer wasn't working, so I proceeded to write my long-winded speech out on paper 30 minutes before I had to be at the rehearsal. I still wasn't finished when I got there, so I did what I could when we had little breaks. I actually finished writing it in the church parking lot.

Their rehearsal dinner was at Zazu in downtown Auburn and it was sooo nice!! It was an Italian theme since both Andy's and Jenny's family are Italian and let me tell you...they went all out! Everybody had a little bottle of olive oil with Jenny's and Andy's picture on it to tell us where to sit. Tyson had a seminar that Friday, so we knew he would be late to the dinner, but he made it just in time! I was so glad!



It was so good to catch up with friends AND be reunited with four friends! When we saw Perryn and Ro Lynn, we hugged and cried for a pretty prolonged period of time! I stole these pictures from Perryn's blog...



 There were LOTS of speeches during dinner and they were all SO good! I swear, everybody but me must have majored in public speaking. I was so nervous! I wanted to do a good job because Jenny is so special to me and I really wanted to tell her what was on my heart. The only other speech that I've given like this was at my sister's rehearsal dinner and I'm ashamed of it to this day. I had written out what I wanted to say, but I freaked out and just decided to wing it and it was awful. I didn't say anything that I really wanted to! So...I knew I had to be prepared this time. I wrote down and read everything which isn't my favorite, but desperate times call for desperate measures. I did have to put my hand in an ice bucket because I talked to long, but I was ok with it. I had things I needed to say. Jenny's Dad's speech almost sent me over the edge. It was absolutely precious.



After the rehearsal dinner, a bunch of us went out to 17-16 for just a little while. We made it a pretty early night because we wanted to be rested up for the BIG DAY!!