A November Wedding

    Now, I always seem to start these things saying that I'm only going to post a small number of my favorite pictures, and then I start posting and before I know it, I'm only halfway done and have already posted 10 photos. So, I am not going to bother making any promises of that sort here - there will be many many pictures. 

   This weekend, J and I went home to Mountain View to attend the wedding of two friends : Margie and Steven. I've known Margie since we were tiny and took tap dancing lessons together. And J knows Margie, well, mostly because I do (and a LOT of our other friends do too). We met Steven a month or two after they started dating, and we decided pretty quickly that we liked him a lot. So, it wasn't long before we all became friends, and it wasn't long after their engagement that our invitation arrived. 

   So, the day before the BIG day, we caught a flight in to San Jose and spent the night with my family. The next morning, we met my cousin Chris and his wife Leslie for breakfast! It's been ages since we've seen them, but every time we get together, it's awesome. We had a huge breakfast and talked all morning about everything and nothing. We were all sad when it came time to leave, but we all agreed that we would make the effort to get together again as soon as possible!

   J and I rushed back home to get ready for the ceremony. We had an appointment to get our hair cut at my salon (I've been going there since before I can remember), which was entirely my idea, since I needed a haircut anyways, and it was a great opportunity to have my hair styled for me (and also an opportunity for J to get a different haircut!). When we got back to my house, we had just enough time to get changed and rush over to the church. 

   The church in which the ceremony took place was the same one that I attended when I was young, and also where Margie and I became close friends in the youth choir. When we arrived, we ran into the groom who told us to take a bell and to please take a sit on the groom's side. 

We were given bells to ring during the
bride and groom's exit.

    Knowing both bride and groom, it was nice to not have to choose a side, and it was doubly fortuitous, since our friends Kimmi and Tony were also sitting on that side. We happily took our seats next to them and waited for the ceremony to begin.

Kimmi & Tony

Groomsmen. We are friends with most of them too!

    I didn't get any other photos of the ceremony - mainly because they requested that people just watch and let the professional photographer do his thing. Normally, I would ignore this and pretend to be the official paparazzi, but such things really are more enjoyable when you're paying attention and not worrying about getting the perfect shot. The ceremony was relatively short and I've been to so many weddings by now that repeated vows all start to sound the same... but Margie had written a song, which was performed, and the officiant read a poem which Steven had written to Margie (which was sooo adorable and sweet!).
   After declaring them man and wife and serenading them with our bells as they walked back down the aisle, we all went outside and decided to take a few pictures. I took one of Kimmi and Tony, and Kimmi took one of J and I. I also managed to snap a few of our friend Brian, who managed to sneak away from the rest of the bridal party to say hello.

    A few snaps later, and it was time to head to the reception, which was held at the Tech Museum in San Jose. Each table had a different TV/Movie couple as its identifier. Ours featured a picture of Kaylee and Simon from the show Firefly.

Table Centerpiece.

   We were all given a word search and crossword puzzle of words and clues about the newlyweds, which was fun, as well as a favor of glitter-covered chocolates. After finding our seats, we made a beeline for the bar to get a glass of wine or two and to look around the room. Aside from the yellow and teal tablecloths and some uplighting, there wasn't much in the way of decoration. The head table was home to the bridal party's bouquet, as well as the Bride and Groom's centerpiece featuring Ariel and Eric from The Little Mermaid (Margie's favorite movie).

Without much further ado, I would like to introduce you to our table..

(from left to right) Jessica, Me, J, & Nicole

Will & Shauna - Shauna is telling me to not take pictures
of people while they're stuffing their faces.

Baby Nathan (who kept trying to eat inedible things
and was taken home) (J: Bow ties are cool.  Especially Nathan's)

Kimmi and Brian

Nicole and Roy
(Roy was taking photos with Steven's Lytro camera)

    After several singing performances (mostly by the bride) and the traditional toasting by parents, maid of honor, and best man, it was time for dinner. The meal was served buffet style, with each table going up in turn to get food. Food options included a salad, green beans, mashed potatoes, pasta, salmon, beef, and bread. I tried a little bit of everything, as did J. He, of course, liked the salmon (I don't think J's met a salmon he didn't like) as did I. I was a teensy bit jealous of the kid's meal, which Kimmi and I noticed on the way back from the hors d'oeuvre table: Chicken fingers and french fries!

The Bride singing with her father.

I snuck up to get a photo of the couple...

...then got my table of cohorts to clink glasses to make them kiss!

    After dinner, we all picked up and moved to a different room downstairs which was set up with a dance floor. The couple took up position on the floor and the music started for their first dance. They danced to 'Kiss the Girl' from The Little Mermaid, which was cute. It wasn't necessarily my cup of tea, and definitely not the type of song I would choose, but it fit them as a couple, which is the point.

   The rest of the night seems like a blur to me now. There was much dancing on the dance floor - J had fun twirling me at every opportunity - and then of course, there was the cake-cutting and the bouquet and garter toss. 

The cake was rainbow tiered and tasted a bit like marzipan.

    But, I think one of our favorite parts of the wedding, was the photobooth set up for their guest book. Instead of a typical guest book for people to sign, we could have pictures taken and printed that we could paste into the book along with a fun message for the couple. Of course, being the crazy bunch of friends that we were, we got a little carried away, and there were many many many pictures!

  

    We had so much fun hanging out with old friends and making a few new ones, it was hard to call it a night and go home. But the party had to end, and as we walked out to our respective cars, we agreed that we definitely needed to do this again someday. It was definitely a night to remember!