We Like to Dance!

This past weekend was the big one... my little brother's wedding weekend! To put it bluntly, Mark and I had a blast!!! While my brother and his new bride had their own wedding activities to enjoy, we enjoyed our own. Our weekend of celebration started on Thursday, March 8 when we went to pick up my grandparents from the airport. They were flying in from Florida and I was soooooo excited to see them! It took us about thirty minutes just to get out of the parking garage, and then another 45 minutes to get to the Enterprise Rent A Car that was "conveniently" right down the street (I couldn't find it!!!), but finally the four of us made it to the restaurant! Mark and I took them to one of our favorite little places in town, Cannoli's, and we had a lovely time. 

 

The four of us at Cannoli's.

The next morning, Mark went off to work and I drove out to the Family Compound to help get things ready for the dinner that night and the wedding the next day. Mark met me at the Church for the rehearsal, and then we spent the remainder of that Friday night visiting with family and friends at the rehearsal dinner that was hosted at the compound (: My cousin Jen, who had just driven in town for the wedding the next day, even came over from the hotel to spend some time with us! 

After staying up with Mom & Daddy until 1:30 in the morning attempting to finish as many of the sugar cookie wedding favors as possible, Mark and I finally hit the sack and Man! were we exhausted!! Still, though, morning brought the wedding day and there was no time at all to relax. Breakfast, showers, gathering of gown/nylons/shoes/spanx/jewelry/make-up, painting my toe nails a freaking bright orange for the bride, deciding whether or not we should try to hem Mark's tux pants... then, twenty minutes late, we were out the door for my hair appointment. I'm just going to note here that MY HAIR TURNED OUT GORGEOUS and I was so happy with it. When my now-sister-in-law requested all bridesmaids to wear their hair in a up-do I felt absolutely ghastly about it. I never wear my hair "up". With the help of my amazingly talented cousin Angie, we came up with a hairstyle that was both "up" and "down" and hopefully (hopefully!) made everyone happy. With the hair done, and Mark waiting patiently for me all ready in his tux, he got out my new nylons from the bag and stretched them out so they would be easier for me to throw on once my hair was done. So, with hair done, nylons on, gown zipped, shoes slipped into, make-up complete (big thanks to my Ang, who helped me escape a freak-out when my face concealer splattered on the front of my gown) Mark and I headed to the Church only 30 minutes late - which is BASICALLY on time for us! Yay! lol

Ceremony was lovely. Pictures will be great. THE RECEPTION WAS SUPER FUN. For me, it was having all the family out there that really made the reception what it was. Once Mark got me on the dance floor (he asked a few times and I finally gave in) we hardly stopped dancing all night. Here's a picture of us during our first dance of the evening, courtesy of my cousin Jen...

  

"You say it best, when you say nothing at all..."

Mark and I really had an amazing time dancing. Mark said it was the most fun he has ever had at a wedding. The next morning, he went around to my parents and grandparents apologizing for my dirty dancing. I want to note that HE WAS DANCING JUST AS DIRTY AS I WAS!!! He is as equally guilty! We just didn't care... we were having a blast! We danced every fast song, every slow song, and really only left the dance floor to get a glass of water. Here are a few pictures from the wedding:

 

Us, with my parents, at the Church.

 Us, with my siblings, before the Ceremony.

 

Water break!

 

Gena sat on Mark & Jeremy's lap while my brother went in for the garter. LOL!

 Us slow dancing with Ellie. :)

Really, I could post pictures all day. There are oodles on my Facebook, if you care to see :) Mark and I stayed until the end of the reception, which is something we had not planned on, because we were having too much fun. We got back to my mom's house around one in the morning, and after drinking our usual hot chocolate and talking about the day, we fell asleep and it was heavenly.

The next morning we went to Cracker Barrel with our Chicago family... they've got really scrumdidilyumptious pecan pancakes, ya'll!... and then it was off to the gift-opening party. I will point out that at this point, sadly so, my hair was still up (if you could say it was "up") from the day before. I was nicknamed "Medusa" for the day... yes, it was THAT bad. But oh well. We left the party around 4:30 and headed home.

So here is the best part of the whole weekend...

When we left for home, Mark told me to just follow him (we had both of our cars because we had met up at the Church for the rehearsal Friday). It became rapidly clear that we were not heading home. I didn't know where we were heading, but it certainly was not home. I'll give you the short version - 

Mark pulled up in front of the park that he used to hang out at when he was a kid. I pulled in behind him and turned off my car when he turned of his. We got out and he led me into the park. It was dark, chilly, and raining - not a down pour, but more than a drizzle. I had no clue was was going on. Then, he stopped us in front of the gazebo, took me in his arms, and we started to slow dance. AWWWWWW! I melted completely!! We danced there in the rain, saying sweet things and kissing and being waaaay too in love that it would make most people puke. I LOVED IT! After awhile, he got out the iPod, put one headphone in my ear and one in his, and played our song (My Heart Belongs To You by Hailey Westenra) CAN YOU IMAGINE!?! It was romance at it's best! "Dance in the rain" and "Kiss in the rain" were items on the to-do list. I love how we just let the list happen and don't just experience them so we can cross them off. Once we were completely soaked, we went home and, after Mark lovingly removed the dozens and dozens of bobby pins from my hair, snuggled up on the sofa with popcorn and enjoyed an episode of Highlander. He snapped a picture of me watching the show because he told me he wanted me to see "What I get to look over and see" every time we watch something together. AWWWW, he was just scoring all sorts of points that day! Here is the pic:

Perfect ending to a perfect weekend.

The next morning Mark said, "Wasn't it nice that God gave John and Gena the sun for their wedding day, and the next day he gave us the rain for our dance."