Happy Autumn

I've always been partial to Fall, for so many reasons. I'm a Fall baby, I love the colors of the changing leaves, Halloween pumpkin carving, and all the wonderful smells. The first indoor fires of the year, spilling out of chimneys. All the wonderful food for Thanksgiving. 

Mrs. Smith

 

she found "the one"

My best friend of ten years got engaged in April to the man she'd been with for three & a half years, the father of her adorable little girl. I was driving around downtown Olympia with Brandon when she called and said "you KNEW?!?!" (he'd shown me the ring the night before) and then chastised me for not telling her. Although if I had told, she'd probably have been pissed beyond words that I spoiled the surprise, because as much as she wanted it, she wasn't expecting it.

And so the next three months were hectic. Dress shopping for her, dress shopping for us girls, her shoes, our shoes. Or lordy, our shoes! My small feet were the woe of trying to get us to match, and eventually we gave up on that all together. The bridal shower, the shopping, the bachelorette party, the getting people to respond to our invitations.

bridal party at bridal shower

The rehearsal dinner was fun, but I definitely wasn't feeling confident about what the hell I was supposed to be doing. And I probably bitched just a little too much about being hungry. But hey, I was.

here comes the bride

Then came time to get ready for the wedding and I showed up almost right on time. I'll blame my chauffeur for my tardiness. But the fact that the woman who was supposed to do our hair and makeup never showed up, that is inexcusable. We were so lucky to find someone willing to help us last minute. When you consider that we got started on getting ready three hours later, I was really annoyed when people started asking us when we were starting. 

We weren't even a whole hour late in starting the wedding.

getting married!

As soon as we headed down the stairs to line up for the procession, the nerves hit. My best friend was really about to get married. But I felt like I did okay. I walked down the aisle without tripping, and without giggling my head off. Of course, as soon as my Kendra walked out, the tears started falling down my face. Thank goodness everyone was looking at her!

The ceremony was rather short... but it was far better than sitting through an excruciatingly long one. And even though they had silly little things they did (I mean that in an endearing way guys, really!), it was still absolutely lovely. Russ did a wonderful job barely tripping over his words.

matron of honor, maid of honor, bride, groom, best man, groomsman

And of course, the reception was a blast. I managed not to cry during my toast, and gave everyone a good laugh with Kendra's note from high school ("I'm not a pinhead who likes Shawn anymore so hahaha!), but was shaking like a leaf for 20 minutes afterwards. I am going to have a hard time forgiving the DJ for getting me excited for the Macarena and then cutting it off and never letting me dance it.

PS, guess who caught the bouquet and garter?