wedding snapshots

Yesterday was a beautiful day in so many ways - the sun was shining, everyone was looking their best, and, of course, we had the privilege of watching Chad and Katie tie the knot. Here are a few snapshots from my camera - I am eagerly waiting to see what Mindy came up with for the pro shots :) Loved every minute of the day and the reception was a blast! Love you Chad & K3!

marriage

It's Katie and Chad's Wedding Week, so I've got marriage on my mind. We also heard a great teaching on Sunday on Jesus and Divorce and I read a funny (but true) article in Real Simple the other day. I thought I'd share both because I'm generous like that.

I really enjoyed the practical pointers near the end of the teaching - I love the idea of working at your marriage so it shines like a little bit of light in a dark world (instead of just "sticking it out" - make your marriage actually mean something for Jesus).

And my favorite point from the Real Simple article is below:

7. Accept that everybody needs alone time. Sometimes your spouse needs to go to the bathroom for 45 minutes. Look, he’s not going to the bathroom the whole time; he’s trying to get away from you. And that’s OK. Maybe you’re being annoying. Sometimes you can be kind of annoying, you know.

HA! (Matt loves to be in the bathroom alone and now I know why ;) )

In other marriage news, we are all getting very excited for The Weddin' tomorrow. The kids are all fired up to "practice" the wedding tonight (mostly I think they know there are presents involved). Ella and I are off to get pedicures today and tomorrow will be a whirlwind of hair appointments, pictures, and dancin'. We are so happy for Katie and Chad as they begin this new phase of their lives together...and I'm enjoying my last day as the only Katie Terpstra in H-ville!

june wedding

Matt's cousin Rachel got married yesterday. She and Brad had a beautiful outdoor wedding in Grand Haven on top of a hill overlooking Lake Michigan (it sprinkled a little, but no downpour) followed by a reception in the backyard of Brad's mom's house (outside too under a big white tent). Matt missed the wedding because he was working - he met us at the reception - but I got have to have some good girl time with my sister-in-laws.

The Wedding Photos

Some of the wedding pictures are up on the photographer's blog for those of you interested in Brett & Kara or photography or weddings in general. Check them out here. The photographer, Leah Mullett, is a friend of Brett and Kara's and just does the photography thing on the side. This was actually her first wedding ever.

The Wedding.

Kara and Brett's wedding was last night. Everything went pretty smoothly, but it was a busy day! The other 3/4's of my house is fast asleep right now :).

The kids were adorable in their wedding attire, but Ella was a little sick so she wasn't her usual self. We ended up walking down the aisle all together as a family because it wasn't looking like either of the kids were going to walk down by themselves. Ella ended up sleeping on Matt's mom during the ceremony and Dylan sat with my parents and Uncle Kyle and Aunt Michelle.

Dylan provided a little comic relief near the end of the ceremony - the plan was for the little kids to walk out in the recessional with Uncle Chad (the Maid of Honor was singing a solo), so the other little flower girl Sophie got up to walk with Chad and then Dylan suddenly dashed out of his pew and yelled "Uncle Chad!" because he thought he was getting left behind.

A BIG thanks to my parents and Kyle and Michelle for shuttling the kids around all day and entertaining them before, during and after the ceremony and reception.

I'll post a few pictures now but I was too busy to take a lot, so I'll post more later if some good ones trickle in from other people.
I stole this picture from the photographer's blog.
Kara and me at the hair salon - Innovations in Holland.
Mommy and Ella getting ready at the church.
The Terpstra family minus Kara and the kids - Brett and Kara didn't see each other before the ceremony.
Dylan with the other flower girl Sophie, hanging out in the gym at the church.
This is classic Matt - trying to get in on the Bride and Groom's picture in the limo.
My two precious little ones at the reception.

Wedding Week

Wedding Week is upon us. We kicked off the week last Saturday with Kara's bachelorette party - dinner at a friend's and then out to The BOB. Kara's friend Jenny had Bride-To-Be and Team Bride t-shirts made up for everyone which just added to the fun.
Today I helped out with the wedding flowers at Andicott. We put together the centerpieces for the reception (cute tins from Goodwill - 25 cents each! - filled with fresh flowers) along with flowers for the hoopa/arch and Kara's and the bridesmaids' bouquets.
Rehearsal is tomorrow, bachelor party is Friday night, and then the big day is Saturday!

a dress for Ella

I finally found an adorable dress for Ella for the wedding at a reasonable price. Gymboree just came out with their special occasion line for the year and this dress is just what I was looking for and less than $40! I also picked up some shoes at Target for her for $9.99. At least she will be cute now when she refuses to walk down the aisle (j/k...I would guess she has a better chance of making it down than Dylan does :)).

3 months to go!

I'm looking for a flower girl dress for Ella for Brett and Kara's wedding...does anyone have any ideas of where to look? Kara would like it to either be white that we could add a ribbon to (the bridesmaid dresses are kind of a pool blue) or the pool blue itself, but that might be harder to match. There is also another flower girl and her dress is white and tulle-y with a blue ribbon and some blue sparkles on the skirt (however, Kara doesn't want them to match).

This will be quite the wedding extravanga for our little family because all four of us are in the wedding...I've already told my parents I need their services that entire day! I'm mostly thinking about how we're going to get the kids to walk down the aisle and then they will probably need to be whisked away since I don't really see either of them sitting through the entire wedding (and neither Matt or I will be in a good position if a meltdown happens). I'm excited and honoered that we can all be a part of their special day, it's just going to take some logistical planning on my part!

I also keep thinking that we have some time before all this happens, but I keep remembering we only have three months! Kara is furiously planning, although if anyone has ideas about reception halls (they want to be able to bring in their own caterer), photographers (artsy, fun and not too expensive), or flowers (anyone ever do them themselves??), please pass that info along!