Wedding Party/Flowers/Ceremony...

Here's the latest from Kelly's Korner! I'm loving this little "Show us your life" segment that she's doing! Again, I do not know her... but I'm liking her blog!

This week is supposed to be your wedding party and flowers/ceremony. She wants to know who was in your wedding party, what songs you had, flowers, etc. She did say not to do the wedding reception right now... I guess that's to come later- can't wait! So, here are some more pics/details of my wedding party/ceremony/flowers/songs. (and remember, I don't have all digital photos, so I've scanned some pics right out of my wedding album... so they may be a little blurry... sorry!)

me and my hubby


I absolutely LOVED my wedding day!!!! I remember EVERY detail about it... and it's been over 6 yrs since I got married. (That was one of the best pieces of advice that I got before my wedding... "make a point to pay attention to things and remember things at your wedding"... so I did!)

THE WEDDING PARTY:

I had 6 bridesmaids who stood on stage with me. They all had matching black dresses. I wanted something that they MIGHT be able to wear again if they ever had a "formal" event to go to. Black is always in style. They carried red, silk tulips. (Since tulips are my favorite flower but don't last long and start drooping when they get warm, I did silk! A lady in my hometown did all of the bouquets along with the center piece bouquet which is in my bedroom at home today! Thank you Fran Potts... you're amazing!!!! My bridesmaids were as follows: Mari Sue (my aunt/ Maid of Honor), Hillary (my childhood friend), Shannon (my sister-in-law, Brad's wife), Stephanie (my sister-in-law, Steve's sister), Toni Marie (my cousin), and Karen (one of my best college friends).
bridesmaids



In addition to my bridesmaids, I had 5 honorary bridesmaids. These girls are just as important to me! They also wore black dresses and carried red, silk tulips. They walked down the aisle and were seated on the front row! My honoraries were: Denalyn (a best friend and my roomie before I got married), Mandy (a best friend and my roomie before I got married), Dana Kay (college roommate and a best friend), Jodi (childhood friend), Jenn (my "now" sister-in-law, but at the time my brother, Jason's, fiance).
honoraries



all my girls

Steve had 6 groomsmen and they are as follows: John college/roomie/best friend, Tommy (friend/co-worker), Rob (college friend, volleyball teammate), Scott (his cousin), Brad (my brother), Jason (my brother), Zach-ringbearer (Steve's nephew)



THE CEREMONY:

Before the ceremony we played a slideshow of pics that my mom put together. It had everything from when we were both babies all the way to our engagement days.

My parents and Steve's parents did the "lighting of the candle" to the song "More Than You'll Ever Know" by Watermark. This is also the song that my honorary bridesmaids came down the aisle to.

One thing that I LOVED was that my wedding party DANCED down the aisles!!! They came into "Friend Like You" by Geoff Moore and the Distance. So much fun! (one couple did the tango, one two-stepped, one did the running man, and the others just came down doing their own style of dance!

Hillary and Rob doing the Tango, Mari Sue and John about to dance after getting Zach, our ring bearer (Steve's nephew) to come down the aisle with the rings! (he was soooo cute!)- me and my dad coming down the aisle



Top left are Karen and Tommy who helped get the dancing started by doing the running man! (the pic is just before they started dancing), Top right is Jason and Toni Marie doing the two-step, bottom left is Scott and Steph- they were a little bashful, so they walked down the aisle, and then Brad and Shannon did their own little style!



Jared and Molly were our singers... me and my dad coming down the aisle... Steve waiting for me to come in the doors.

I came in to the traditional "Bridal Chorus" that a lifelong family friend, Susi, played on the piano.

Before my dad handed me over to Steve, I gave him the purity ring that I had since highschool. (My brother, Jason, did the welcoming and this part of the ceremony- so that was very special to me!) My dad and I prayed together and while we prayed/talked/cried, Jared Wood and Molly Carrigan sang "Lord We Praise You Now".

I LOVED facing the audience during the cermony instead of having my back to everyone!!!

the vows (which is a funny story that will take a while to explain... but to this day we laugh about it and my facial expressions!)


exchanging the ring; lighting the unity candle (during that time the song "Make My Heart Your Home" by Watermark was playing; my brothers sang "Listen To Our Hearts" by Geoff Moore and Stephen Curtis Chapman. This was VERY special to me to have them sing!!!


top left: the Lord's Supper... Jared and Molly sang "The Lord's Prayer" while we did this. Top right: praying after lighting the unity candle. Bottom left: Steve crying...
I had recorded myself singing a song to Steve and no one but the minister, my parents, and MAYBE my brothers knew about it. So, I surprised him with it during the wedding. Steve BAWLED the entire time... snot and all!!! Bottom right: you can figure it out


"the kiss"


"Woo-Hoo"


This is how our wedding party left the stage... love them all w/ their hairy noses and all!!!





we had such a fun wedding party! Love my friends/family!!!


something was funny!


These people all play a HUGE role in our lives so they are important and need to be pointed out... our families!

Family is HUGE for both Steve and I!!! Here I am with my immediate family. (mom, dad, and brothers)


Steve with his (mom, dad, sister, and nephew)

Refreshing my memory

and other people's memory who live in San Antonio (or drought stricken areas)

This is what we call R.A.I.N.

Below are the pics of what rain we got yesterday. It was really just a good sprinkle... but praise the Lord for it... we can use anything we can get!!!





And this is what happens in SA when it rains... (sorry it's blury... I took a pic of my side mirror while we were sitting still!)
traffic comes to a stand still!

I have a few new posts below... please keep reading if you are interested...

Wedding Dress

KellysKorner is hosting "Show Us Your Wedding Dress." I do not know Kelly, but I just came across her blog and thought this looked like so much fun!!! So, I'm going to join in! You are to post pic's of your wedding dress! For the single girls/ladies out there, you are supposed to post pics of your "dream" wedding dress!!!! So, all you female readers... join in! This is fun!!!!

I don't know much about "brand" names or "big" named designers of wedding dresses... or any clothes for that matter ;o) My dress came from David's Bridal in Arlington, TX (where I lived at the time and where I was getting married). I tried on about 3 or 4 before I tried this one on. As soon as I found this one, I knew it's the one that I wanted!!!! I did have an issue after I sent it for alterations!!! (I went to the place that David's Bridal recommended... and I HIGHLY recommend you NOT do that!!!!)

I had moved to San Antonio (where Steve was already living and where we would live once we were married). So, I went back to Arlington the weekend before my Bridal portraits were scheduled so I could pick up my dress from the lady who did the alterations. I could not even zip the dress up!!!! I couldn't even get my arm all the way in the sleeve!!!! Note- Steve took the road trip with me but had stayed in the car because I didn't want him to see the dress. I was in the store BAWLING!!!! I thought I had gained so much weight in just a short 2 months!!!! The lady who did the alterations said "well, maybe you can lose the weight again??" ARE YOU SERIOUS??!!! Did she really just agree with me that I had gained that much weight??? I walked out of that store and was hysterically crying! I went to the car and Steve didn't know what to do! I told him I had gained too much weight and couldn't fit into my dress. I called my mom and she told me to go back in and get my dress and leave. So, I did just that!

We ended up taking it to a wonderful seamstress who made our bridesmaid's dresses for my brother and sister-in-law's (Shannon) wedding. She told me that the lady had taken too much (left all the material in the dress) out of the back and arms of the dress. Luckily the first woman didn't mess the beading up too bad and the new seamstress could just add some more beads and we'd never know it! Whew!!! So, sorry for the long story... here are the results!!!! I had to scan pics in, so some of them are hard to see... sorry.

(p.s. I LOVE my dress!!!!)





this is before the wedding. I need to sit down so they just put my train over the chair and I plopped down for a bit!





***This is actually last weeks assignment... but I wanted to participate. The one for today is supposed to be the "Wedding Party and Flowers/Ceremony"... so stay tuned for that update!!!*** And to all my female readers... I'm tagging you to post with your wedding dress or dream wedding dress pics!!!!

I'm a busy little bee with posts... so see below for my new post from the Cowboys Training Camp...

How 'Bout Them Cowboys!!!!!!!!!!!!

the mob of people down on the field before it started... this isn't even half the people on the field... much less up in the seats!


WooooooooooHoooooooo!!!! That's the excitement I still have left over from going to the kickoff for the Cowboys Training Camp last night (Tues night)!! So fun! Actually... there was about 45 minutes that I could've completely done without... I'll explain in a minute. But, other than that 45 minutes, it was so much fun!



Now, you may not have had as much fun if you aren't as big of a Cowboy's fan as I am! Let me refresh your memory of what I wanted for my birthday last year...

As I've said before, I'm like a guy when it comes to football!!! Give me football ANY DAY over shopping, talking, or anything "girly"!!!! I'm like the guy (boyfriend, husband, dad, brother, etc) that will ask you to wait until commercial to talk to me when there is football on!!! ;o) Especially if it's my Cowboys (even when they aren't playing good!). So, back to the point... after work we headed to the Alamo Dome for the kick off! We've gone to the training camps each year when they've been here, but we never made it to the "kick off". It was great because they had concerts (one was good, the other... I'll get on my soapbox about in a minute)... but the BEST was when they introduced each player!
Jerry Jones doing his little pep talk .

Since I don't have many (if any) male readers, girls, you may not understand all this... so I'll keep it short. But, they introduced the players by their positions (i.e. offensive line, Defensive line, running backs, etc). Welp, my FAVORITE player, Marion Barber, is a running back. When it came time for them to come out, they introduce all the rookies of each position first. They save the "better/best" players for the last of their groups. Barber was of course the last... 'cuz he is the BEST!! I lost my voice from screaming for him, Witten, Romo, and MANY other players! Steve did quite a bit of yelling too... he was just fortunate to not lose his voice! I would post the video of our favorite players coming on stage and you can hear us both screaming! It was quite humorous to hear... I guess we are "fanatics"! I'll spare your ears so you don't have to hear it!) Now, to the part that made me feel like this....

For 45 minutes they had a band perform. Now, the first band was country... totally cool and in English. The key word there is that it was in E.N.G.L.I.S.H. The second band, not so much! Not a SINGLE WORD OF ENGLISH! It was ALL in SPANISH... even when they talked to the audience in between or during songs!! So, that was a little annoying to me. Here's a little taste of what we had to hear for 45 minutes... (It made me wonder what other football teams do for their kickoff... do they bring in bands that only speak/sing in Spanish or another foreign language too????)

Several New Posts....

I am stealing the way of doing this from my sister-in-law, Shannon. She posted several new posts and in order to let everyone know of them, she linked them all so you could click on them from one post. So... I will do the same with my 3 posts that I just added.

Here is what we've been up to over the past month...

July 4th

Meemaw's 39th!

The Bankhead Family

The Bankhead Family...

Below are pics from the annual Bankhead Family reunion. Steve and I haven't been in 4 years... so it was GREAT to get to see everyone again! I will say it made me feel old though! I used to be one of the "kids". Welp, now, all of the "kids" have kids... so, it was fun to see them with their families!

The reunion is at Camp Butman outside of Abilene. Below are pics of our events...

Nanny, Tweety, Mallory, Shannon, and Steve- just before the "business meeting". We mean business at our family reunions!!!!



Morgan playing with my dad (Pop)



Morgan and mom (B-Mom) taking a nap outside in the rocking chair



it may be hard to see, but there are at least 5 baby birds in this nest. Mallory loved watching the mommy bird come feed them!







These wind mills were E.V.E.R.Y.W.H.E.R.E.!!!!! As Steve and I drove home, we were literally surrounded by them! They went on for miles! They are stinkin' HUGE! Anyhoo... I thought it was worthy of a picture.



This is at one of the meals in the dining hall. This is my cousin Joanna's family (and her mom is there to help out with her 4 kids)



Morgan was so excited and so proud of herself for pulling herself up on the back of the chairs!!! You can see it in her face! Too cute!!!



Mallory wanted to try it as well!



Dad with his sister, Tweety, and his mom, Nanny. (I think Nanny and Tweety had just taken a bite of food so they couldn't really smile very much... sorry Nanny and Tweety! Y'all still look beautiful!)




These girls are so precious!!!



The table on the left is my cousin, Kimberly, with her family at breakfast. The table on the right is my cousin, Shae, and his family.



This is my cousin, Chris, with his mom and Dad (Ray and Janice)


Again... it was SO great getting to see everyone!!!!