Daaaa weddin'
Joe and Nessa's wedding was the best wedding I have ever been too. Stress of preparation and all!
We all got together on Friday night before the wedding to run through rehearsal, which was... a comedic episode in itself. No one knew what to do. It was great! Joe and Nessa aren't big on religion, so the ceremoney itself ran for like... less than 10 minutes. It was awesome. And the service was officiated by our good friend Probe, who got his officiate online for $10. It ROCKED. One of Joe's relatives kept giving us pointers, saying, "You all should walk slower" and "As the maid of honor, it's your duty to do this and this." Which was great, 'cause we had NO CLUE. But things went very smoothly at rehearsal and afterwards, we went to Nessa's parents for food and beer! I swear, for being Greek in heritage, Mommy Long makes a MEAN Italian dish!
The morning of the ceremony, I woke up early to go to Nessa's mom's house because I needed help with my makeup. (I have NO CLUE about that sort of thing...) Also: there were mamosas. HELL YEA, MAMOSAS! After drinking in excess preparing, we went to the country club for the ceremony and helped with set up. The country club did a lot of work for us (and they SHOULD have, for the rate they charge!) and Joe and Nessa's uncle did a fantastic job on their arch for the ceremony (I wish I'd taken a picture, but it was SO COLD out!). We took our group portraits the hour before the ceremony... and it was a huge pain in the tush. There were three flower girls, all of which were Joe's nieces, and they were very temperamental. I don't think they liked being up that early... there was a lot of crying. But the pictures were took and the guests were seated and then it was time for the ceremony.
...which was REALLY damn cute because Joe and Nessa botched the exact same part of the lines, without meaning too. Instead of saying "in times of joy and sorrow" they both said "joy and... worse joy." (Damnit, they are SO CUTE!) Instead of a long ceremony with lots of psalms and scripture, the ceremony remained under 10 minutes. There's symbolic gesture was the exchanging of rings and pouring two different colored sands into a single glass vase... it was very pretty (of course, I didn't get a pic of that either). And then it was time for the reception.
Bill (Joe's brother) and I both gave a speech at the reception... Bill talked about how Nessa had always been the girl for Joe, even before they started dating, and commented that this was a long time in coming. I gave my speech as maid of honor, saying how I'd watched the two of them grow from being good friends to good significant others, and how happy I was to be present to watch not one, but two of my friends find their happiness in each other. I managed to not cry during the speech... which I thought was going to be a problem, 'cause I teared up when I thought it up. I did a good job apparently because I got a lot of compliments. I meant it though... it's one thing to see one of your friends find happiness, but to have two find happiness in each other? That was special to me.
We drank and danced and had a good time. And at the end, we all went to Nessa's parents' house for an after party. We had more food and Joe and Nessa opened their wedding gifts. They got a TON of kitchen gadgets, which is PERFECT for Nessa because she loves to cook. I crapped out after 8 pm... I was honestly exhausted by that point (and people kept taking pictures in my face, so my eyes hurt like the dickens).
But here are some photos for anyone interested!
This is Nessa and her puppy Dakota! Her gown was GORGEOUS, I wish I had gotten more pics of her veil (it was very shiny!)
This is me in my bridesmaids' gown. That bouquet was HEAVY. I swear, it weighed over 5 lbs. but it smelled HEAVENLY.
Heather and her boyfriend, Jeff aka Jefe. Nice guy, kind of a goofball. Should be apparent why.
Me and Bill, Joe's brother and best man. Isn't he a cutie?
Here's Joe, trying to appear dapper. Did I mention there was an open bar? ^_^ Sadly, he wimped out of wearing a kilt to the ceremony at the last minute...
This is Dave, a good friend and one of the groomsmen. Yes, he wore his hair like that for the ceremony. I only wish he had dyed it to match the bridesmaid dresses as was planned.
THE SHOES. Oh my god, these things killed me! They hurt SO MUCH but I couldn't take them off! Aren't they SHINY?!
ME! The morning after the wedding! Aren't I HIDEOUS?! I slept for like 12 hours before this picture was taken too... My god I was tired.
All in all, it was a great time, and I was really happy that Joe and Nessa were so understanding that my wedding gift was... less than fantastic. I could only afford to give $50 in cash for their wedding gift and it earned me a kiss on the forehead. They know I'm freaking poor right now and they appreciated it. I'm really blessed to have such good friends. All the best to them. I know they'll be happy together and that makes me so happy.
Next up will be pics from the con!