Wedding pictures!

Well, in case you haven't read our blog in the past 2.5 months, Jr. is a boy...see previous post. ;)  Last Friday, March 1st, was Sheila and Josh's wedding.  We had a pretty packed and (mostly) fun-filled two days!  Before I write anything else about it, a huge thanks goes to Dad and Mom Rassi for watching our kids for pretty much all Thursday and Friday.  I don't think we would have survived without your help!

Thursday night we had rehearsal at the church...details were ironed out and the little kids all got to practice walking down the aisle.  Nora, Elena, and Josh's niece Haley were the flower girls and Max was the ring bearer.

Their first walk down the aisle!  They did a great job and were incredibly cute.

The much adored Aunt Sheila with her little girls!

Then, we went to the rehearsal dinner at Pizza Works.  One of the groomsmen had a trivia game and there was the usual time of family/friends sharing stories about the couple, but Sheila also had a special gift for Josh...

He looks nervous...

But it looks like he likes it!!! :D

Background story:  Sheila made all of her bouquets and reception centerpieces, many of them having a component of styrofoam balls with flowers pinned to them.  One time Josh went to Hobby Lobby with her and saw these styrofoam heads and immediately wanted to decorate some for the reception.  Sheila, very wisely, disagreed. :)  However, she went back later and got some and decorated them.

One for each!  And no, they did not make an appearance at the reception, much to Josh's dismay!

Finally, Friday dawned...the big day!  My first job was to get the cake to the reception place.

Not a great picture, but I was nervous about transporting at this point and just wanted to make sure I got at least one picture of it!  This cake (or the idea or components of it) are what I blame the last month of blogging silence on.  Prior to that, I have no excuse. :)  The bottom two layers are actually fake (styrofoam), but the top was real!  The flowers were all made out of fondant.

 After setting up the reception (it looked gorgeous...Sheila did an awesome job on all of the decorations!!!), the bridesmaids/Sheila/moms/Roseli went out for brunch at Cracker Barrel, which totally hit the spot.  Then it was on to Sheila's house for hair/make up for her and the bridesmaids.  I don't have many pictures, but it was fun to just relax and hang out with all of the girls.

Haley reading a princess story while getting her hair done

Finally, we all got to the church and got dressed.  My parents brought the kids and Greg helped get them all dressed, too.  I know I'm biased, but they were all pretty adorable!

Max the ring bearer...with fruit snacks in his box! :)

While waiting for our turn at pictures, we handed out the fruit snacks rather liberally.

The handsome Tim Beutel family!

Me and my girls...oh, and Sheila made that headband Nora is wearing...the flower girls each got a matching one.

The wedding ceremony went off without a hitch...it was beautiful, nobody broke down sobbing too badly, the flower girls and Max couldn't have been more perfect walking down the aisle, etc.  Max forgot he was supposed to turn at the front bench and sit with my mom and dad, and walked a few extra steps up to where I was standing at the front of church. :)  I gave him a little hug and pointed him to where they were sitting.  Instead, he just went to the front bench and hopped up by his Great-Grandpa Beutel!  It was pretty cute, and he whipped out his fruit snacks and sat like an angel for the whole service, so I didn't mind one bit.  When the three flower girls came down the aisle, Uncle Josh stepped forward and handed them each a fruit snack, too....pretty cute!

Anyway, after the wedding, it was on to the reception!

The cake on its pretty table

Poor Tirzah was actually sick the whole weekend...she got a fever on Wednesday and it came off and on through about Saturday.  By 7:30 Friday night when we got to the reception, she was pretty much done.  She did calm down enough to come and sit on my lap at the head table for a bit...

She liked the chips and salsa!

When I made her leave her plate because we had to practice our song, (more on that later), she completely melted down.  Apparently the reception was loud enough that not too many people heard her, but she just screamed and cried for probably 20 minutes straight.  I finally got some cake and ice cream for Dad and Mom to-go, and they took the kids home.  Mom said she cried/whimpered the whole way home, and once they got to our house it was like she gave a huge sigh of relief and she perked up.  She ate some ice cream and went right to bed!  I don't think Max and Nora were too far behind...they were pretty exhausted from all of the festivities!

To be honest, once the kids were gone, I was the one giving a huge sigh of relief. :)  I love my kids, but it was much easier to enjoy myself without having to worry about them!  Now, about the song...Steph wanted our family to sing a song for Sheila as part of her bridesmaid's toast.  Sheila knew we were singing, but didn't know what the song was or anything else about it.  Steph (at least I think it was Steph) chose the song, "One Hand, One Heart," specifically an arrangement done by Vocal Spectrum, the barbershop group.  It worked out great, with eight of us singing the parts.  If you are interested, here is a link to the video of our performance on YouTube:  One Hand, One Heart

We had all decided beforehand that the single most important thing to remember while singing was DON'T LOOK AT SHEILA!  I think we all made it through without crying, so it must have worked!

The incredibly good looking couple...Mr. & Mrs. Josh Graber!

The cutest guy in the room with the bride ;)

Cut the cake!  Yes, they knew to only try and cut the top one. :)

Sheila and Farrah, one of her bridesmaids (her dress really is purple, I promise!)

Sheila and Taryn, one of her bridesmaids

We were so excited to have Paulo and Roseli come back all the way from Brazil for the wedding!

Since all of our attempts at a Greg Beutel family picture bombed at the church (screaming Tirzah in every. single. one.), I was adamant that at least we get a decent picture of Greg and I.  I thought he looked pretty smashing in his tux, and since I'm not usually dressed up this nice I really wanted a picture!  So, at least we did get one of us. :)

Greg, me, and Jr.!

Last picture of the day...the cut cake and Greg snitching a flower to taste!  Kind of funny, since the kids got into the flowers TWICE when I was making the cake and were under a pretty heavy sentence if they touched any more flowers or the cake or anything!  Greg ate one and remarked that oh, they ARE pretty good! :D

It's almost hard to believe that the wedding is really over and Josh and Sheila are married and enjoying the sunny (I hope!) Dominican Republic right now.  It was a fun-filled and gorgeous wedding and we were so blessed and thankful to be a part of it.  Welcome to the family, Josh! :D