Has it been almost a month already? Time sure does fly. I know people would much rather see pictures than read about everything, but I can only do so much. We got our wedding pictures from the photographer, in an album, so I'm going to have to scan them all individually to get them up here. At the moment it's hard to find time to do that between working, errands, visiting, settling into the apartment, and especially getting through that stack of thank-you notes. Bear with me. :-)
The weekend "officially" kicked off on Wednesday evening when Joe and I met Wyl at the airport. I was and am still so excited that he came all the way from Arkansas to visit and it was great to see him in person again after 7 years! We met up with Angela and Mike at the motel (another yay!) and all went out to Cracker Barrel for dinner, then Joe, Wyl and I met Jason at the movie theater to see Pirates 2 Part B (or Pirates 3 for those who insist). I hope Wyl can say it was one of his better birthdays even if the motel was not as nice as we thought.
Thursday morning Angela, Mike, and Wyl came down to see our apartment and meet the cat (who was terrified). Wyl had gotten a rental car to make his way around while he was here, and they had upgraded it because it was his birthday, so he was driving around the area in a silver Mustang. It was definitely pretty awesome! We showed everyone our building and some of the campus, including taking Angela to play in the creek, and then we all went to East Aurora to have some ice cream. So now at least some of my friends have seen where we live!
For the afternoon Molly had planned a bachelorette party at the Build-a-Bear workshop, so Ange and I met up with Kristie, Molly, and Joe's sisters Jana and Sandy there and we all made cute little stuffed animals and dressed them up in funny outfits. It was really a lot of fun. If I remember correctly, we had an orange cat in a spa robe and bunny slippers (mine), a turtle in a Harley outfit (Ange), a koala in a jean skirt (Molly), a dog in a cowboy hat and boots (Kristie), a surfer bear with sunglasses (Jana) and an Army bear (Sandy). Unfortunately I forgot to bring the camera so we don't have any pictures of the whole group with our furry little friends. :( Since it also happened to be Kristie's birthday she got a "I'm the Birthday Bear" sticker and our party leader thoroughly embarrassed her (and me) at the end. I think everyone had a good time, even my poor sister whose horsie died that day. :( After that we met up with the boys and went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, followed up with (naturally) cheesecake. *drool*
That evening there was a rousing game of Apples to Apples with Joe's family, Locke, Jason, Molly, and Wyl. Mostly what I remember about that was that Joe did not think whips are disturbing. And, I think I won. ;)
Friday! After dropping off a very upset Asher cat at the kennel, we drove up to the motel to meet up with my parents, Kristie and Hamilton, Wyl, Ange and Mike for a quick trip to Niagara Falls. Angela, Mike, and Hamilton had never been there before. We didn't have time to do much, but we had a nice walk around Goat Island, and then went down the Cave of the Winds (my very favorite thing to do there) to get up close and personal with the Falls. It was a hot, sticky morning, perfect for getting soaked. I do have pictures of crazy wet people from that little side trip. :)
That evening was the rehearsal and I think that was the only time I got nervous that whole weekend. (Why is that?) Between our families, the wedding party, and their spouses and dates, we had a pretty good crowd at the church. Joe and I signed the marriage license with my sister and his brother as our witnesses. Father Sean introduced us to our wedding coordinator, a sweet hard-of-hearing lady whom he had to call about 3 times before she came up. ;) Then we ran through the basic outline of the Mass. The main thing that I remember was while Fr. Sean was going over the vows, Sean (as in the groomsman, not the priest) was standing behind Joe with a huge grin on his face and kept bouncing around and giving me the thumbs-up. None of which is abnormal for Sean as he's generally a pretty happy person. ;) But it did make me smile!
After the rehearsal dinner at Tina's we all trooped over to Joe's parents' for cookies and tea. Locke, Jason, and Ray were over there too (they were house-sitting, and we had put them to work folding programs), and it was nice that the bridal party had some time to get to know each other a little bit in a more relaxed setting. Joe's mom had also told me to be sure and invite anyone from my family that was in the area, and Aunt Kristie and Uncle Bob, Aunt Terry and Uncle Monte all came! One of my favorite moments was recognizing my Aunt Kristie's voice after someone (Locke? Jason?) opened the door, and rushing down the hall with the exclamation "Those are mine!" They had driven in from Minnesota. So we had a mini family reunion going on at the same time, and they all seemed to enjoy chatting with Joe's parents. We also gave out our gifts for the bridal party. Joe gave the guys putter sets in personalized cases, which I thought were really cool! The idea was that they could use them for putt-putt at the reception though I have no idea if they did. The girls got jewelry which they all seemed to like. They each had a necklace with a different silver charm: Ange's was a diver's helmet which opened to a crab, Kristie got a lighthouse that opened to a little guy with a candle, and Molly's was Cinderella's coach which opened to a tiny shoe. Plus there were silver earrings to compliment (octopi, sand dollars, and pegasus respectively). I thought the charms were neat and had fun picking them out. They also each had a silly gift because everyone needs silliness. :D Joe's taste was much classier than say, a giant stuffed pink poodle. But it's the thought that counts, right? ;)
At the end of the night, I got to ride in Wyl's Mustang because I was staying at the motel. That is a sweet car. Only wish I could have driven it. ;) It was a nice ride though and I know Wyl was glad to have some time to chat without so many other people around! When we got back I got to say hello to some more of the family who'd arrived throughout the course of the day, and found out there were unfortunately several problems with people's reservations being lost or not being able to get the room they wanted. And also, that one of my cousins had knocked a window out of his room and subsequently been kicked out of the motel (um, probably his being drunk at the time didn't help anything). Leave it to my family. ;) I stayed up to chat for a short time, but I was really tired and needed my beauty sleep, so I went to bed early. From what I hear, everyone else was up late visiting and having a good time though. :)
This is uberlong so I'll recap the day itself in a separate post I guess. Which is probably the part that everyone actually wants to hear, so sorry to disappoint. ;)