Love, all around

I don't really use a lot of words except amazing, lovely and perfect when thinking back to the wedding day. It felt big, hug-a-licious, slow-motion, double-speed, sunlit, buzzy, incredibly happy, greatful, thankful, in awe. It set the perfect stage for what we wanted our marriage to be. Here's to one year of being totally awesome at being married!

Hubs got ready at a downtown hotel, munching local BBQ with his dudes (all seven groomsmen!), while I got ready at home.

I invited all of our out-of-town guests to visit and brunch with us while me and my small but mighty crew of three bridesmaids got gaw-gee-ous. It was easy to stay relaxed when all of my far-flung nearest and dearest where squealing about how cu-ute my house is and how superbridey I looked. Highly recomended!

Hubs and his momma.

I dyed my slip blue.

The two dudes on "my" side are Hubs' hometown pals. I usurped them in the name of semi-symmetry.

Hubs' parents were hugging champs in the receiving line.

Between the ceremony and the party, the bridal party slipped away to a German bar, where another bridal party was also taking a pit stop. They challenged us to a boot-off and of course, we won (hello, seven groomsmen!). This photo, however, was our practice round.

We decorated with Craigslist Christmas lights and more pesky luminaries.

My parents. I love this picture.

Clearly, once we started to party, there was no turning back. Two homebrew kegs, 12 cases of wine and endless margaritas plus a cognac toast will do that to a crowd.

Our people, we hold hands.

P.S. All these awesome photos were taken by the most kick ass photographer of all time ever, Mark Kegans.

P.P.S. Normally, I am a grammar stickler, but somehow this doesn't count. In fact, the mistake makes it more endearing. I like to think that old people overuse quotation marks a lot and never mean them sarcastically. Anyway, my heart melted.

P.P.P.S. I am what you call a kareoke dancer in that I don't really dance, I just flail my arms and sing.

P.P.P.P.S. Did you catch photos of the ladies' who taught me all I know about mega-event planning/dancing fiends/bloggers extroidinaire, Brittney and Kelly?