The Bride

Mary Beth looked absolutely stunning this weekend. We don't have wedding photos yet, but I thought I would post a few of her from her portrait sitting. It has been such a whirlwind year for our family and this last week was so wonderful. I cannot imagine what it would have been like if we had not planned ahead so much with the details.

I've told so many people that you could pick apart the little things that you would do differently if you had the chance, but in the scheme of it all they are so little.

It is about making it a perfect day for Mary Beth and I think we all did just that. She was so happy and so beautiful. Having Rachel and Chris here for the whole week made it great too. They were here to run errands and give a helping hand whenever we needed them too. Thank goodness that Emme had loaned them her 4Runner for the week-how would we have ever made it without it? Of course the funny thing was when Steve and I were driving it that one time and he thought it was on dead empty, stopped to fill it up and it was full...he was just reading the gauge wrong. It's tough to get old!!! I even had to get the book out to find out how to flip open the gas tank door!!!

Greg was awesome helping out with the slideshow. And of course, he was always there with one of his great hugs that he knows he mom needs. When did he grow up anyway?

I would advise everyone to always have a videographer because you can't be everywhere all the time. I totally missed her throwing her bouquet at the reception because there were so many people there I didn't even know it was going on! It will be nice to have that footage to look back on and see the things we missed or were too stressed out to really take in and enjoy.

And Steve was, of course, my rock through it all. I was so clearly reminded of why I love and adore him and why I married him. He gave so willingly and generously to make Mary Beth's dream come true, even though he could have pulled the "but I'm only her stepfather" card....he never did. That's just not who he is. It was her dream wedding and he helped to make that happen.

As for me, I was reminded of how blessed we are to have family and friends that love and care about us. The outpouring of family that would drive so far to attend the events of the weekend, some of them even in poor health, just amazes me. It was so heartwarming to look around and see such a variety of friends, both old and new, from so many different areas of our lives. It makes me more committed to try to make attending these events a priority. And of course to Connie, Sarah, Ashley and Glo that came early and stayed late....what can I say? You girls have our hearts forever. It would never have happened without you tying, decorating, running for ChikFila for the family and bridesmaids at the house, laughing and crying with me, helping make decisions about what goes where, and of course always encouraging us to keep going. And Steve and I did keep going because of all of you. No one in the world has greater friends and family.

More photos and posting later. I'm back!