The reception was going to be held from 4 to 7:30 p.m., and so we had about an hour between the ceremony and the reception. Enough time to check on Jacob, and break the news to Alan that he would be staying behind with Jacob. He was not happy, but as I told him, if he'd listened to me in the first place, Jacob would have been fine to go to the reception. Oh well.
Like I said before, the reception was being held in Scott's backyard, and it is HUGE. He loves gardening, so it is landscaped within an inch of it's life, and really looks beautiful. The house is a tiny Depression era home, but the backyard is 3 3 quarter acre lots. IMMENSE!!! Here are a couple of shots of some areas of the backyard:
We got the bridal party all assembled and the photographer took some pictures. I really liked this one:
That's all the nieces and nephews (except Jacob)
I really liked this shot of the mother of the bride and my mom (on the left). Notice that her face looks almost normal! Hooray for makeup!
Once the reception began, I spent most of my time making sure the bridal party had drinks and food. There were caterers bringing around trays of savory foods: chicken satay, teriyaki beef, spanikopita, and salmon mousse on crackers. We also had a dessert bar set up that had mini cheesecakes, cookies, baklava, petit fours, truffles, eclairs and fresh fruit. Yummo!!! It was really hard to keep all the little people out of that buffet. They thought it was their own private heaven!
After about 2 hours, they stopped for the cutting of the cake:
They cut a HUGE piece of cake for this, and once it was over, Josh tore off bits to feed the nieces. Have I mentioned that they think he's the coolest guy ever!
My sister and I took the bottom layer and began cutting it for everyone else. We cut about 45 pieces off the bottom layer and still had about half of it intact. HUGE cake!
Next came the bouquet toss. All the unmarried girls and women lined up for this thing. Here's Jamie getting ready:
During the toss:
I just had to laugh, because as she tossed the bouquet, not one of the girls made a move to catch it! Not even a flinch. Just as it was about to hit the ground, my Katie reached out for it and caught it. We were all laughing so hard!!! I've never been to a wedding where the girls didn't at least make a token dive for the flowers!
Next came the garter toss. I love the look on Josh's face here. He's just discovered that the garter she's wearing has the Seattle Seahawks on it. That's Josh's favorite team!
The men were a bit more excited about the garter, and luckily the man that caught it is, in truth, the next one to be married (next month, as a matter of fact).
From now on, it was just a fun party. Here are some fun shots of the kids:
At this point, it was getting dark, so I rounded up my kids and loaded up a plate of goodies for Alan and one for Jacob when he felt up to them. We made it back to the house, and spent the rest of the evening just gabbing and relaxing.
It was a beautiful day, and more importantly, it was just what Josh and Jamie had wanted!
I love you guys! I'm home. I got home about midnight last night and got to sleep in until 8:30. I worked from home all day. Chuck & I will be heading out around noon tomorrow to go camping up in Marquette. Katrina's 22nd birthday is Sunday. We'll also be going to Chuck's parents because his aunt & uncle will be there. Katrina really wants to go see them. 
I called right away & they are sending me the missing pictures.
Hopefully from now on Allen will listen to what you say.
