Cindy's Beautiful Wedding

Cindy was one of the most beautiful brides I have ever seen. Her wedding was simple and so pretty. We all had such a great time getting to hang out with everyone who was there.
We got to my parents house about 11 on Thursday. We stayed the night there. They had donuts for us for breakfast in the morning. Then we all (me, Aaron, Ethan, Nat, Holly G., and my parents) headed up to Denver. We ate lunch at Wendy's. Tammy had been working on the cake for a couple of hours and she was glad to see us and have a break. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the church finishing up decorating. They had already done a lot of it on Thursday, which made Friday a lot less stressful.
It
while to get the rehearsal started because Dad and Ethan got lost going to get EJ's tux and Caleb (Brad's brother) got off work late, but once everyone got there, rehearsal was really painless and went really well. Carole and Doug got Qdoba catered for the rehearsal dinner. It was delicious and the dinner was fun. After we cleaned up and decorated for the reception, we went back to the hotel and had a bachelorette party for Cindy. We played a game to help her "practice" her makeup for the wedding. Tammy handed my mom the makeup and then my mom had to put it on with her eyes closed. It was hilarious. Then we had some lingerie for Cindy, so she opened that. My mom got her some size 13 granny panties for a joke. They were the ugliest most hilarious panties I've ever seen. She got them at the dollar store on clearance. She had some purple lace so she sewed the lace around the legs of one of the pairs of panties. After we got through with that we went and got in the hot tub at the hotel. That was so relaxing. The boys played pool.
The next morning we ended up getting up pretty early because someone called to get directions to the church and the phone woke us up. The hotel had a continental breakfast so we just ate there. That was fun because Shelby and Debbie Cade (friends from Beaumont) were there and we got to talk to them and see their girls. That was great. Last time I'd seen them the youngest was a baby and now she is 7 years old so they had changed a lot. After breakfast Cindy, Mom, Tammy and I headed up to the church. We had to stop at King Sooper's to get fruit. Then we went and put the fruit plates together. While we were doing that, my mom realized that they had charge her $114 for pineapple so me and her went back to get her money refunded. They gave us the two pineapples we bought for free because they had messed up. Anyway, we got back and had to eat lunch and then start getting ready because we were supposed to do pictures before the wedding. Getting ready took quite awhile. Cindy did her own hair and Tammy did her makeup. Then it was finally time for Cindy to put on her dress. When she got done I almost cried because she looked so good. But I managed to control myself. She had these really adorable green shoes that she wore with her dress and they actually looked really awesome with the dress. After Cindy got ready we went and took pictures with the creep comments photographer. This is a guy Tammy knows from her church. I think he has a huge crush on Tam. While we were taking pictures he would take every opportunity to hit on her. He had heat lamps set up for the pictures and so when Tammy made a comment about the lamp being hot he'd say something like, "I don't think that's why it's so hot in here." He also didn't tell us any poses to do so we had to make things up or have 8000 of the exact same picture so everytime we'd change something we'd ask him if it looked okay--for a pose for a picture obviously--and he'd say things like "oh, it looks stunning from where I'm standing". Needless to say, it made for some very awkward moments. If we end up looking like our smiles are a little to frozen in the pictures, that will be why.
After the pictures we had about 30 minutes until the wedding started. Cindy started getting a little fluttery and was almost already crying so I kept telling her to just keep imagining Ethan rolling his eyes when we got up there and that she would be so relieved once the ceremony started because everything would almost be over. Finally it was time for us to walk out to the doors and get ready to go in. Ethan took me and Tammy in. Then my dad brought Cindy in. Well she started crying as soon as she saw Brad. It was so cute. Brad just thought it was adorable. She kind of got her crying under control after my dad gave her away. Doug preached the wedding sermon and then while he was saying a prayer we all got off stage and Brad sang Cindy a song with her the only one up there. I told Tammy to go give Cindy a kleneex while the prayer was going cause I knew she wasn't going to make it. Good call because she started crying again before Brad even started singing. I think everyone cried a little bit during Brad's song. He wrote it for her and it was so sweet. Then we all got back up and Cindy and Brad did the unity candles, rings, and vows.
After greeting all the guests we did family pictures and pictures of Brad and Cindy. Those went really quick. Then Cindy and Brad came in a cut their cake. They were really nice to each other. No smashing cake in the face or anything. Tammy made the cake and it turned out gorgeous. It was very good cake too. The fruit was delicious as well and my mom's punch was awesome. It was white grape juice and ginger ale and they cut up strawberries to float on the top.
Cindy threw her bouquet and Tammy caught it. Then Caleb caught the garter because Brad threw it right at him so hard it bounced off of him and hit the floor. It cracked me up. Ethan pretty much refused to compete for the garter in any way. Nat also disappeared mysteriously into the bathroom during the garter throwing. Then Cindy and Brad left. Brad had kept it a secret where they were going for their honeymoon so as they came out the door he said,"Well we'd better get going so we can get to Las Vegas." I think that is what Cindy's expression in the picture of them leaving is about. We threw birdseed at them. The boys had done a great job of decorating the jeep. They also put it in 4 low so Brad was having a really hard time getting out of the parking lot and down the street. It was great.
We cleaned up and then went to brother's bar-b-que for supper with Grandpa and Grandma, Jan,Jess, and Tric, Uncle David and Nat, and Holly G. The bar-b-que was delish and a good price. Aaron and I split a plate and it was plenty. We had a great time laughing and talking. Then all those going back to Texas left with my parents to go spend the night at their house again. Tricia joined us on the trip back because she couldn't get a flight back on Sunday. We got back and unloaded and then all sat out on the porch talking. While we were talking the police drove up. Someone had called us in for being too loud, even though when the police got there it was only 10. I don't know why the person didn't come talk to us theirselves becuase we obviously weren't drunk or having a domestic dispute, but whatever. Some people are just butt heads.
Unfortunately me and Aaron and Ethan and Holly decided it was a good idea to stay up until 3:30 talking. We were so tired the next day. We left about 9:30 I think. We got to Raton about 1. I was so car sick when we got there. We stopped at KFC to eat lunch but I had to stay outside for a while before I could eat because the fried chicken smell just about made me lose my cookies. We got to Amarillo about 5:30 and didn't get out of there until 6. We had to stop for gas. The others had gotten blizzards or ice cream when we stopped in Dumas so they weren't hungry, but I had to get a salad from burger king. Me and Tricia and Aaron drove the rest of the way to Dallas and got back at 1 in the morning. We are all tired today. But it was worth it. It was a great trip and I don't regret staying up so late talking to Ethan and Holly since Ethan won't be at the family reunion.
It was a great trip. I'll send you an invitation to see all of my pictures on Snapfish. Some are kind of blurry because my camera stinks at taking indoor photos in low light. It gets on my nerves. So be looking for that in your email if you want to see more pictures. I can't wait to see the official wedding pictures and hear about Cindy and Brad's honeymoon!