Wedding Part 1: The Rehearsal

I drank some of Mike's coffee at 9pm and now I can't sleep. But that's good news for anyone who was wanting to see wedding pictures! The weekend ended up going really well, especially considering how quickly everything was put together.

First of all, I would love to thank Lainey, Papa D, Nanny and Boppa. We all know that I totally love my inlaws and that I think they are incredibly amazing but this weekend...man. Truly, there is no way I can thank them except by promising to do for others the way they have done for me and my family. I'll tell you more about what everyone did in Part 2: The Wedding. Lainey and Papa D let me host the rehearsal dinner at their house because I wanted something more intimate than a restaurant and, well, I have no living room furniture so my house wasn't going to work. :P I was thinking it'd be something simple and nice but...yeah. I forgot that Lainey doesn't do anything by half.

The rehearsal was fun. I got to go to part of it. Long enough to get a picture of Autumn dancing down the aisle!


I decided to use a little bit of a warcraft theme for the rehearsal dinner. I wanted it to be something that Donnie and Liz would get but that other people who aren't geeky would just think, "hey, that's cute!" It ended up working out perfectly. Faith Long recommended Shannon Taylor to make the rehearsal dinner cake which was a replica of the Alliance banner, the faction we play in warcraft. Seriously, it was awesome:


I also made potion party favors which were just test tubes filled with red m&m's to go with the fall theme and to simulate health potions in game. Cheri, who did the flowers and general awesome set up for the wedding and rehearsal dinner brought me a treasure chest to put them in.


I took some photos of us in game and set up a little thing that plays on the idea of Best in Slot, which just means that a character has the best, like, weapon that he or she will ever get in the game. Playing with my friends (with a shot of the 4 of us being stupid as our WoW characters) + Playing with the one I love (with a shot of donnie and liz dressed up as a bride and groom in the game) = Best in Life (this shot was after we killed the big, bad guy at the end of the game).


The invites were along the same lines. Warcraft quest text and a Warcraft-style monogram but not super obvious to anyone who doesn't play.


The full theme cart:


Other than the WoW stuff and buying the food, I can't take credit for how amazing everything else was. Cheri turned Lainey's backyard into a romantic, candle-lit oasis and all I did was put things where she told me to and they continued the work while I was with Autumn at the rehearsal. Even Ryan pitched in by going to pick up the food for us.








I think everyone had a good time relaxing, eating and, later, sharing stories about Donnie and Liz.


Lainey even found this adorable plate that doubled as a gift and decor. :)


Another great thing about the wedding? Seeing old friends. Here are Kiley, Rachel, and Louis. Louis was the minister and Kiley shared a few words with and about Donnie and Liz. I don't think I have seen any of them in a long time although we keep up with each other via Facebook and the grapevine.


I liked this picture of Donnie. I took it while Liz's grandmother was telling a hilarious story about the time Donnie caught a fish and was amazed and terrified at her fish butchering ferocity.


Liz's eyes are totally shut here but Justin there in the back? I lol'd.


And, of course, since I was either panicking about something, taking pictures, or doing something, I wasn't in any photos so I asked Donnie to snap a few of me and Mike. It degenerated very quickly.


It just went super well, not without drama (like unexpected out of town guests, timeline issues, and forgotten items), but what about a wedding is without drama?? Haha. That ended up being the case with the day of the wedding, too. Hopefully I'll get wedding pics up soon! Here's a preview:


Seriously. How can you stand it?