Week in Review: Julie's Wedding!

Last week was a whirlwind of activity with Julie's wedding. I'm sure I'll be posting a lot about that this week. So today's "week in review" is a big overview of the fun wedding week!

~ On Sunday after church, Luke, JC, and I went out for some Five Guys and shopping. I bought some last minutes things for the wedding, plus these cute yellow shoes that I'm obsessed with~ Sunday evening we took my Dad out for Father's Day to Applebees. It was a fun night spent with family before the crazy week began!

~Later Sunday night, Luke and I watched Meet the Fockers, which was surprisingly funny! Sunday night movies are beginning to be a tradition of ours.

~On Monday I took a trip to Pittsburgh to IKEA with my family. We shopped there all morning, enjoyed a lunch at Steak and Shake, and then looked for a few more last-minute things for the wedding. It was a great time spent with my family, and the last really laid-back time we had together that week. ...this is the best picture I could get :-P

~Monday night I visited with my grandparents for a little while since I hadn't gotten to see my grandpa on Father's Day. We talked about the wedding most of the time.

~On Wednesday I received a panicked text from Julie saying she felt stressed out and needed help with wedding stuff. So I was at my parents' house for about 5 hours working on programs and other wedding-related things. Then my mom invited me to stay for dinner which was nice. Getting to spend so much time with my family the week of Julie's wedding was a real blessing. (I'm not sure how much Dad enjoyed his job of making ribbon wands :-P)~ Thursday was the day the real craziness began. I needed to clean my entire house because one of Julie's bridesmaids was going to be staying there, along with baking for the cookie table at the reception. I woke up early and didn't stop until my head hit the pillow later that night (uh, the next morning I guess) at 2 AM. I don't know that I've ever had a more productive day :-P

~The real excitement started on Friday! I went to the church in the morning with a bunch of family members and bridesmaids to help Julie set up the stage for the wedding. She got married in the new, HUGE sanctuary at our church, so a lot has to be done to the stage to make it feel "weddingy." We were probably there for 3 or 4 hours hanging draperies and setting up plants, flowers, and candles. As you can see, my dad was ready to crash after that, but we still had a full two days ahead of us.

~Friday afternoon, I went to my parents' house with Julie and two of her bridesmaids. Julie had made a slight mistake in the programs, so we were spending the afternoon gluing a little tab on each and every program to cover it up and fix it. Mom and Dad ordered a pizza for us, and we went to town. Below are Meredith and Sarah, two of Julie's bridesmaids, hard at work.
~Finally after hours of cutting and gluing, it was time for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner! The rehearsal went well. Julie's dog was in the wedding, and it was my job to walk the dog down the aisle. It went pretty well at rehearsal, so my stress level went down a bit. I promise she's adorable, even though she just looks like a black blob in this picture
The rehearsal dinner was a Hawaiian Luau at Andy's parents' house. They must have been cooking for a month getting ready! There was so much food! It was all delicious, and we all had a great time. Here's a picture of all the bridesmaids opening cute wedding day survival kits from Julie

And a picture of the bride and her matron-of-honor ;-)

~After the rehearsal dinner, the night was not done yet. We finished fixing the programs, and then had to decorate the reception hall. We couldn't even get in until about 10:00 PM because there was an event there on Friday night! It was a late night to say the least, and I felt like a zombie when I got home around 1. But I think all of our hard work paid off

Are these not the cutest salt and pepper shakers ever?

~Saturday morning I was up bright and early simply because of excitement, I think. Shortly after getting up and getting ready the wedding preparations began. I went to the reception hall to help finish up some last minute set-up, then went to Mom and Dad's where Julie put a cute little waterfall French braid in my hair.

~At 1:00 it was time to head to the church to start getting ready! I had so much fun with Julie and the other bridesmaids! We got all ready and then had lots of pictures taken. Julie and Andy opted to see each other before the wedding and do most of the pictures then so their guests wouldn't have to wait forever at the reception hall. They did have a sweet little reveal moment where Julie walked down the stairs to him. I'm sure I'll be sharing more about that some other time. After that, we all walked to the old schoolhouse across the street from my house. We got LOTS of stares from people as we walked along the side of the road in our dresses and heels. haha! And a very strange man with no shirt and a beer in his hand watched the entire photo shoot from his picnic table. Umm, awkward. Haha... I can't wait to see the pictures though...the photographer had some very cool ideas for pictures including one of all of us walking down the center of the road. A somewhat busy road. So yes, we risked our lives for a good picture :-P Anyway, it was a really fun afternoon getting ready for that evening!

~Before we knew it, it was about time to walk down the aisle! I was so nervous that Oopa (the dog) would do something crazy. And all the other girls and especially Julie were feeling very nervous about the ceremony. so about 10 minutes before it was time to go out, we started a game of 20 questions. This helped so much, and we were laughing so hard by the end of it!

~The ceremony was so beautiful! Oopa and everyone else did great :-) I'm sure I'll write more about that later too.

~ After the ceremony, it was time to party! I am sooo glad we were able to do speeches pretty much as soon as we got there so I didn't have to be nervous about mine for long! I'll be sharing my speech sometime on the blog too. Anyway, the food was delicious - they had a mushroom ravioli that was to die for! The dancing was fun, and the company was even better. It was one of the best receptions I've ever been to, second only to my own. Okay, I may be a little biased :-P We danced and talked and laughed all night. So much fun!

**For anyone who read my post on Friday, please add to the list that JC can dance. Or at least he can Dougie ;-)

I am so happy for Andy and Julie, and can't wait to see what God does in and through their marriage. They leave for Scotland on Thursday, and I told Julie there better be hundreds of photos for me to drool over when she gets back! Haha!

Congratulations Julie and Andy! Love you guys!