Wedding in the Woods Part II and I Had Lice

Ok to catch everyone up from last blog post.... I give you THE REST OF THE WEDDING.

Here are some of the last photos where I gave up photo control and am relying on Crackbook pics people have posted (thank you!)

here i am lacing amanda up in her dress

i think i have done this like 100 times over the last three months

brenda admires her soon-to-be sister-in-law

making minor perfecting adjustments

here are my cute mama, dipsey, sara and john berry (back row) and john's mama and her two friends in the audience

Amanda and John decided to have a pagan wedding ceremony! I have never BEEN to a pagan wedding, let alone participate in one! As you may imagine... it was quite exciting. In it, we honored the four directions (there was some discussion re: honoring the SIX directions {add up and down}; I asked for SEVEN {in, duh}) but it was determined we would limit it to the standard four. Then we honored the elements. It was very cool.

during the ceremony (seriously, how pretty is this wedding site? there were children piled on boulders over our heads looking down on the service.)

attendants patrick ironwood and beth buczynski help amanda and john honor water - david del vecchio was the officiant

many tears were involved... except from me. i'm stoic. i even stashed a hanky in case amanda was struck with a major case of the waterworks, and i ended up handing it (pulling it sweaty and gross from my bosom during the service) and handing it back to beth and hillary to share. i tried to work up some tears in sympathy... but i'm stoic. but happy for my friends, see? and wearing too much blush I KNOW!!

and a-MWWWAHHHH!!!! please take note of her gown all pristinely flush out in back. my job was to keep her train out of her way (check) and hold the gown while she peed (check - there is photographic evidence which you will never see... an outhouse was involved, peeps. during the making of the dress i asked her not to take the gown to the mall in order to avoid dragging my creation through THE MALL {shudder}. i had to steel myself because i knew during the wedding itself my creation would likely be worn in an outhouse {resignedly, check})

the happy couple! um.... may i say, again, for the record.... DESIGNED, and MADE this dress. to quote my idol, margie nichols "i did not know you had these talents." i DO. (not to make this all about me. amanda and john's happy day and all that jazz. but... MY BLOG.)

photos in the garden! beautiful, beautiful backdrop for wedding photos! (siiiighing again resignedly... my creation was worn in a garden full of dirt.)

i really don't care so much. i am still in shock that i managed to pull it off. no joke, when the dress more or less came together and it was evident that she would have a dress to wear on her wedding day, i made a point (not. kidding.) to tell my mother where i was in the dress and what minor details needed to be done in case i got hit by a bus and she was responsible for finishing.

the whole wedding party

One minor mishap...

amanda reached up too high and broke the ribbon holding her sleeves onto her dress. no worries though - she had intended to take them off after the ceremony and photos and we were almost done. she faked it until i was able to stash the sleeves in my clutch for later repair.

Next, party, party, party!

dipsey, me and mama

here is barking beetle transformed... as kristina says, if you are looking for a wedding planner, don't call us. we're exhausted.

oh i forgot! i did cry this weekend! i am a PLANNER and a DOER, ya'll. and... getting dressed for the wedding with amanda she said something about toasting during the reception, and i felt my face do that deer in the headlight thing... and she said all in a panic, "WHAT?????" and i started crying and told her that i forgot to write and practice saying a toast. i forgot. but remembered lots of other nice things to do! so here is a photo of me nervously faking a toast on the fly.

during our cleaning/planning weekend the week before the wedding, amanda and i walked up to the top of barking beetle and she said, "what a COOL photo will that be, from the ground looking up at all our guests toasting!" it is, indeed, a cool photo.

the quote of the wedding, which i coined a week after the fact: "it went better than anyone expected." and in fact, it went PERFECTLY. such a great weekend; beautiful and touching ceremony; good friends and new friends; incredible and amazing union between two people. *sigh in contentment* (that's as mushy as i get)

In other news:

me and lottie sue self photo!

and rowdy can't get enough of him some uncle tommy

Then, Tommy and I go on a date! To see Toy Story 3! When the woman told us it would be $23 we were like... ... ... But it was in 3-D! (ahem. used to WORK at a 3-D theater, remember? it was totally lost on me...)

WE ARE FROM THE FUTURE. or nerds.

And NO, I did NOT get lice from the woods! On my birthday, my parents cracked open a Megan Venable authored original, circa 1981. It was a wordless book that children were encouraged to make a story to; and folks, I'm a woman of words. Inking is mine too. To wit (captions are what I really meant to say):

i was walking

i had lice. (i think that i had just learned that you should wear a hat if you had lice) i wore a had because i had lice (aaahhhh, yes... makes sense)

i went to the police and said...

i lost my babby

we tried to catch her... but we can't...

(that cat is p and o'ed, yo - i colored her RED) we went in the birl (barrel)

she got on the other side... we went too... she looked in (can you tell i have tired inking?)

he fell in... she ran up the hill (policeman is red... then GREEN! love it)

we went in the birl (barrel)... we fell in...

we went... boy (punctuation is optional, if you have not noticed yet) give me that

SPOS (splash)... her... she ran...

i told you... she ran up the tree...

she huge (hung) on... polceman got her (the policeman got her)

he dropt (dropped) her... cras... (crash PERIOD. because that does not need emphasis.)

to home we ga (go).... sh sh! (0h look! emphasis!)

yea yea yea (no emphasis... i'm STOIC, YO!)

Lastly... on my birthday I was given a stack of cards my mother was given when I was born. Um... stoicism aside I cried a little over them (maybe I'm NOT so stoic after all? I cried a lot). Please peruse my favorites:

this is from my big brother, clay! he's 18 months older than me, but apparently his *my* mama raised him right because he sent flowers.

this is from my auntie suzy. i love three things especially about this card: #1; she sent this, #2; she was excited about me being a girl, and #3; she said "Dear MEG," and i've always, always, ALWAYS gone by megan, and love to be called 'meg.' she insisted on greg being called by his full name gregory (not), but he never was. i love going by meg, and she recognized from the beginning. love you, auntie!! BEACH BEACH BEACH!!!

Lastly...

i ended up working for susan as her assistant. she encouraged me to get my master's degree and i'm where i am today because of her (and many others, but mostly her letting me take comp hours and time to get school work done) encouragement and support. susan. i owe you. BIG TIME.

Whew. I know I'm a broken record... but I'm so lucky I don't know how I deserve it. Fun wedding, fun birthday... and fun 4th of July (i.e. Mama's birthday) coming up!! Stay tuned, yo!!