casting my cares: Mr. & Mrs. !!!!!! - Part 7 - Reception

The last post about our Wedding Reception: Friends & Family

(Only one more wedding post - The Send-Off, coming soon!)

If you missed the previous wedding posts, click here.

The following pictures aren't in much of an order - they go back and forth between family & friends who were at our wedding reception. I wish I had a picture of every single person who was there, but we sure covered a lot of folks by asking everyone to send us the pictures they took, combined with our photographer's pics. Of course, to keep this blog post from getting even more crazy long than I already make them, I didn't include every picture I could have, just the highlights.

First up is my Matron of Honor, Alisha, her husband Scott and their adorable son, "The Beave" (he earned that nickname after continuously biting the railing on his crib, which coincidentally, I used to do as a baby as well).

This is "The Beave" with his grandparents (Alisha's parents), Cotton & Mary Ann. Love them!!

My cousin Jennifer (who did a reading at the wedding) and her husband, Joe.

Jennifer and her two daughters.

Jennifer's older sister (and my cousin), Brandy, with her husband, Derek and their two kiddos.

Friends of mine from my church in the Ville, Liz, Al, Jamie (my right-hand gal at the wedding) and Jenn.

And another shot of just Al & Jamie. I met Al at a Starbucks in the Ville and invited him to my Sunday School class. I met Jamie when she started attending my Sunday School class. As you can guess, they met in our Sunday School class. :)

This is Alex & Katy. I've known them both since around the time our mutual friends Kori & Wes were getting married in 2005.

Katy & Jenn (our greeter/program passer-outer, etc...)

Cassie & her mom, Eddie Lee. I've never *not* known them. They are from my home church. Eddie Lee was my 'Girls in Action' leader when I was a kid, she also heads up the Kids Camp there every year (I attended that camp as a kid and then served as a counselor as an adult) and she still serves as the Children's Director at that church to this day. Cassie was in my group when I was a leader several years in a row for 'Disciple Now Weekend' for the Youth Group and has also been a co-counselor at the Kids Camp. She just entered the Peace Corps and is a great photographer.

This is Shannon's Dad, Garry. He lovingly refers to me as his "Other Daughter." I moved in with Shannon for about 8 months after I sold my first house and he, along with his wife, Barbara, treated me as their own. He even surprised me one time by replacing the broken side mirror on my car (that I had all but torn off on a mailbox!).

This is my Uncle Eddie (my Dad's brother - who drove his golf cart around at the wedding for us) and his daughter, my cousin, Jennifer.

From left-right, my Uncle Jeff, Uncle Eddie, Mamaw and my Dad. My Dad is the oldest of the three brothers.

Uncle Ed and two of his granddaughters (Jennifer's girls).

On the left is my cousin Lee's son and on the right is my nephew.

My nephew with my mom.

My Granny, reviewing the great pictures she took that day.

Sitting across from my Granny were my Mamaw (far left) and her sisters-in-law (my late Papaw's sisters), Betty (middle left) & Violet (middle right - Violet passed away just a couple months after the wedding). On the far right is Violet's daughter (my Dad's cousin), Patti.

Here, my Dad talks with Patti & Betty.

My cousin, Jamie (who was an Usher at the wedding), and his girlfriend, Heather. (In the background, you see Jamie's Dad, my Uncle Jeff).

My Matron of Honor, Shannon, and her nephew.....trying to steal kisses from him!

And her niece.....love that her niece matched not only the wedding colors, but the flowers too!

Brandon's cousin's wife, Laurie, and her twin girls, being played with by Brandon's Mammaw (his mom's mom).

Another shot of Mammaw with one of the twins.

Me hugging Margaret, my friend from church and fellow MSU Alum. That's her husband Forrest in the background on the left. In the background on the right are Brandon's friends (and now mine too) Leo & Sheila who just got married over Thanksgiving.

My mom and her older sister, my Aunt Sue.

My mom's younger sister, my Aunt Nancy, and her sons, Benjamin (left) and Gavin (right).

Benjamin and myself (he wouldn't dance with me at the reception! Little Stinker).

Gavin and I

One of my mom's friends, Sharon, and her husband, Kerry. I worked with them a few years ago to draw plans for their new kitchen.

Brandon's friend from work, Larry, and his wife, Roxanna. Brandon has house-sat for them several times too and they have two cute dogs that will go retrieve the newspaper from the mailbox.

My friends, Jennifer (left) & Lindsay (right). I know them both from church, although I met them at different times and at different churches. We all ended up at the same church in the end though. Jennifer, I also knew of from college, but didn't really hang out with her until after College when I met back up with her in the Ville.

Me & Bekah. She's a wise-beyond-her age college gal that I became friends with and mentored when she was in high school and attending my home church. She's in college now.

Brandon and his Aunts, Gwen (left) and Sharry (center).

My friend, Suzannah's husband, Tim, and their daughter. I've known Tim & Suzzanah since they were high school sweethearts in our church's youth group. But they were a few years ahead of me. It wasn't until after I came back from college that I got to know Suzannah better and she and I have since been to several scrapbook retreats together.

And another shot of their daughter - isn't her dress too cute?

This is one of my really good friends, Christy. We first met when we both worked for (and shared an office at) a construction company in 2004. She now owns her own business (she's an architect) and hopefully one day I'll get to work for her. She lost her husband Jim last December to cancer and I'm amazed every time I see her at her strength through it all. She's seriously the big sister I never had. She just gets me and we have such a great time together.

And these are all girls I worked with at the construction company. Left-right: Leigh Ann, Deanna, Connie, me, Crystal and Christy. We had such great times together working there. We did 'secret sister' all through the year giving each other small gifts, we shared many lunches and even more laughs, we created and encouraged each other to loose weight in the "Skinny Babes Club," and we even had our own secret club with secret nicknames - we were the lone females among throngs of men at the construction company so we had to keep ourselves entertained and sane! Although only 3 of the girls still work for the construction company, we still get together for lunch and/or the occasional celebration every few months. Love these girls!! Not pictured are April and Laura (you were missed!!).

And below on the left is Richard. He was in the same department with Christy and I at the Construction Company. That is his typical look towards me. ;) I know deep down in there he loves me dearly, but just puts up this front. Love you Riiiiichaaaard! (He's one of few who reads my blog - gotta give a shout out!).

Below are Brandon with his cousin, Tara, her husband, Greg and their little boy.

Tyler was a reader at our wedding. He and his wife, Arpitha, along with their daughter, happened to be in the States for a couple months from India during the time of our wedding. Brandon got to go to India in 2008 to be a part of their wedding, so we took advantage of the rare opportunity of Tyler being in country and asked him to be part of our wedding too.

Jason & Gaylene are friends of mine from church as well (well, I knew Jason from church when he was living in the Ville and first met Gaylene at their wedding). I attended their wedding in October of 2009 and they were so nice to come in from Indiana (where they live now) to attend ours.

I love this picture of Brandon's sister, Kim. She's such a sweetheart and so much fun. I swear she can make anybody laugh.

Sitting across from her at the reception was Jimmy (her and Brandon's dad). I like this picture of him too. He's very ~~corny~~ witty too. ;)

The picture below is more of me, I guess, but in the background is Chal, the pastor of the Hispanic church where Brandon and I volunteer.

And I just couldn't help but include this photo of my sweet man. Sigh. He is so adorable.

Me, talking with my Uncle Eddie and his wife, Brenda.

This picture makes me laugh every time - love me some Gina Bug and we always have a good time together! She took some great photos at our wedding too.

My friend, Suzanne and I. Ive' known her since our Youth Group days at my home church and I also visited her and her husband twice when they lived in Colorado (once with Brandon). She and her husband, Joel, moved back to the Ville when they found out they were expecting. Their daughter, Little H, was only a month or so old at our wedding - her first! ;)

My mom and one of her oldest friends, Alycea (old as in long-term, not age). My mom has known her since grade school and they were even college roommates. Alycea was on the double date when my mom met my dad for the first time (Alycea and then boyfriend, Donnie, set my parents up on a blind date).

Side note: The timeline of our engagement and marriage was similar to my parents timeline. They started dating in May 1974, got engaged about nine months later on February 14, 1975 and married just shy of 4 months later on May 24, 1975. Brandon and I started dating May of 2010, got engaged about nine months later on February 6, 2011 and married just shy of four months later on May 28, 2011. Cool, huh? :)

My cute friend, Kori and her soon-to-be-delivered little bundle. Kori is another church friend that I've known since around 2004. She and her mom attended my wedding (her hubby was sleeping off a night of Police duty). I was in her wedding in 2005. It was hard not include certain friends in the wedding, especially since I had been in theirs, but our efforts to keep things small and simple meant less Bridesmaids and Groomsmen. I think she was ok with that though. She had better things to look forward to. ;)

My sweet friends, Michael and Jennifer with their daughter. I was blown away that they came in all the way from Florida for our wedding! I knew it would be hard for them to make it (not to mention a big expense), so I was so happy when Jenn told me they were coming that I cried! It made my day and made our wedding even that much more special.

I've known them since before they were a couple. I got to know Michael at church (and knew of him before that from High School). I first met Jenn when she and I played on the same softball team at my church (she attended a different church, but played on our church's team). She eventually started going to my church and sparks flew between she and Michael. I was in their wedding as well and again felt the dilemma of what to do about her being a bridesmaid. But ultimately, I'm just glad she and her sweet family could be there. :)

The guys in this picture are all from Brandon's Life Group and two of the gals are from mine. Of course, I didn't know any of them at the wedding, but I've since become friends with all of them since moving to Lex and am so glad they're part of my life now. From left-right: Tom, Heather & Brian, Larry & Jennifer and Chris & Jacque.

I love this picture of me and my cousins, Jamie & Jennifer. I love these two so much and count them as friends too. I'm so glad we all still make an effort to get together with each other and hang out.