Goin to the chapel (and we already got married): The Wedding Party

Hey everyone!

We had a pretty busy and fun weekend. Friday evening we went to have dinner with one of my dad's friends through Edward Jones, and he and his family were super nice. His son recently got married, and he was there with his wife. It was great to meet another set of newlyweds to compare wedding/honeymoon stories with who also just went through the job search. We're happy to report that they both got recently jobs after looking for quite a while, so that's definitely encouraging to hear.

We got home around 11:45 Friday night (due to lots of weekend construction traffic) and decided a couple of hours later that we needed to go ahead and dip both Jack and Charlotte with the special ringworm solution I'd gotten at the vet that day. It smelled like ancient rotten eggs and was BRIGHT yellow, but it's supposed to be really good at it's job. Armed with supplies, we gloved up, put away the white rugs, and closed the bedroom doors in preparation for a mess. Jack went first, and he's a bath pro. He also loooves to be dried off. He'll sit in the pile of towels for an hour if we let him. So he was easy. I was super nervous about washing Charlotte, but she continues to surprise us with her patience and dog-like temperament. I held and scrubbed her while Thomas poured on the egg stink, and she was really pretty good (for a cat). It was nothing like I expected as far as being clawed to death, and she even snuggled with me afterwards. I was really relieved, and Jack's spots are already looking better 3 days later.

We woke up on Saturday morning excited about going to the lake. We met up with Thomas' work friends to caravan the hour and 40 minute drive around 10:30, and we took a few pictures along the way.

Georgia roads are lined with so many trees--it's really pretty and very different from west Texas. As a side note, I recently downloaded a (free) app called  Instagram with which to edit photos, so I'll be posting lots more pictures with different effects.

The classic "I'm in the car" face.

We stopped at a store called Lavonia Foods near the lake to stock up on snacks for the day. I couldn't resist a photo of this little Chubby purple drink (I didn't buy it though).

We had lots of fun at the lake, and I even braved my fear of heights by jumping off a 20 ft. dock into the lake below 3 times! I was pretty proud, even though I wasn't brave enough to go top rail like Thomas did.. We both did a lot of running/jumping/diving and it was so much fun. We both love the water and it was a great day to be at the lake. It was nice getting to know the people he works with, and we hope to go again soon. Here's video evidence (sorry Thomas' part is sideways, one can only do so much).

Yesterday we woke up and were both super sore (because we don't do a lot of physical activity, especially involving 20 ft. docks). We lounged around most of the day, and in the evening we took Charlotte back to Petsmart to get her nails trimmed by the cat adoptions lady, who does it for free. She's not a huge fan of car travel, and we got this video of her on the way back panting from nervousness. It's really weird to see a cat pant, but we're happy to report that she was instantly happy and normal again once we got home. She's so resilient!

To continue with last week's wedding recaps, today I'm going to show you our favorite pictures with/of our wedding party. There are lots of great photos to share, so I'm breaking it down into more manageable sections. Tomorrow will be family pictures! (Note: Unless otherwise mentioned, all photos below were taken by our friends at Cinderella Photography).

This one is missing Tanner and Jack, but I think it's a really great picture.

 I LOVE the colors in this photo. Our photographers are great at what they do, as is Deana, who made all the bouquets. This is one of my favorites.

 These were taken in Thomas' parents front yard, which looks beautiful and green.

 Thomas and Robert, best friends since kindergarten.

 I cannot get over the adorable pictures of Jack in his custom bow-tie.

 These were taken outside the chapel in front of a nice rustic wall.

 Our photographer is really good about getting action shots, like these of the guys walking.

 I really like this picture of all the boys.

 The ushers/Thomas' cousins, Austin and Andrew. Austin was pretty chipper for having stayed up at his senior all-nighter the day before.

Sibling shots! Always a mom's favorite.

(Friend/family photo).

Taken right before the walk down the aisle (family/friend photo).

Sorry Robert, but Gracie's hair steals the show on this one (family/friend photo).

 Jack was all smiles before his big entrance (friend/family photo).

Bridesman/bridesmaid. 

Tanner did an amazing job getting Jack to cooperate.

At this point, all that was going through my head was "WE'RE MAWWWIED!"

 I love these goofy pictures. Disregard my left hand (sorry Janie, I got wild).

Thomas accidentally covered Robert's face, but everyone else looks hilariously awesome.

I'm obsessed with this picture of my girls.

LOVE. I'm glad I labored over picking those dresses after all;]

This is one of my favorites, because Jaymes was actually on my side during the ceremony. His official title was "bridesman" and NO, he isn't gay. Really. He's just my best friend from high school and we went with a non-traditional approach. Because we roll that way.

I don't know what happened here, but I like it.

 Then we kicked Jaymes out for a final girls only shot. I'm pretty sure he was ok with it.

The choice to have a wedding party turned out to be a great one, and needless to say, we're really happy with how things turned out. Everyone was super helpful and made the wedding day way easier on us. They also looked great standing together. Thanks again guys:]

Jack and Charlotte wanted me to close up today's post with some pictures of them to remind everyone how important they are. Or something.

This morning Jack stayed in this position staring at me for like 10 minutes until I took his picture. Whatta diva.

Charlotte has THE longest cat arms ever. All the better to snuggle you with...

Finally, here's a cute video of them grooming each other from last night where Jack licks Charlotte's ear while she sneezes and kicks him in the face. Typical.

-T, K, J, & C