Michelle and Josh's Wedding

Paul and I drove from Cheri's in Tennessee on Wednesday, June 25th and arrived at Michelle's about 8pm. (takes about 10 1/2 hours to drive) Michelle had already spent hours and hours in preparing and getting most things ready. She had the center pieces all made up and in her den as well as bubbles all tied with ribbon and in a basket. She and Josh had gotten strings and strings of little lights for use all over the hall for great mood lighting. These were put up the day before along with the final decorations and set ups with the help of Josh's groomsmen and Michelle's brides maids following Josh and Michelle's lead and instructions. Michelle and Scarlett had the black and red tablecloth runners all sewn and Michelle had gotten yards and yards of red and black twill to tie to each chair back. They had beautiful pictures of themselves to put at the sign-in table as well as inside the hall on the "couple suggestion cards" table. The side wall areas were covered in black and tiny lights went from the center of the ceiling outward to the walls. There were tiny lights under the cake table and other areas giving it just the right effects.
Dave's flight was late and didn't arrive until after midnight Friday night (actually Saturday morning). Michelle had planned on a sister-brother chat, but as it got later and later, plans changed and Paul and I picked him up. Since Michelle has cats and Dave is very allergic, we dropped him off at the Marriott, then headed back to Michelle's. We were excited that Dave was able to come and really were missing Doug and Cheri. We knew with Cheri getting Chemo that it would be unlikely for her to be to the wedding, but were still holding out a little hope. Craig even found a great flight for her at the last minute, but when Cheri checked with her doctor he told her her blood count was still dangerous for her to be with crowds and said she should not go. She is shifting gears and looking forward to Orlando next summer where we're all planning on having the ceremony again and all the Coover clan there for that.
Dave and Paul were kept busy Saturday morning running errands for last minute needed items for the wedding while Michelle and her bridesmaids were at the salon getting their hair done. I was finishing the cake. Then Paul, Dave, and I left for the church to put the cake together there and get ready ourselves. We left just as Michelle was arriving back home.
At the church everything was looking very lovely. Michelle arrived just as I was finishing the cake and then she and I went downstairs. I got ready then and we finished getting her ready in her dress upstairs in the big room. Her bridesmaids joined us and Michelle gave them beautiful necklaces and we all had a little time to catch our breaths and have some interaction before the ceremony started.
The wedding itself couldn't have gone better. It was just like a movie where everything went just like it should. Everything was beautiful and the ceremony was done perfect.
After the ceremony, the photographer took more pictures. We can't wait to see how all those professional ones turn out. The site will be posted when we get it.
The reception was well attended and fun for everyone. A Southern wedding definitely has food served at the reception! A beautiful spread of fresh green salads, spagetti, meat sauce (Josh's mom's speciality), pasta noodles (the scalloped long round ones), Fettuccini Alfredo sauce (Thank you Luke for picking this up at Olive Garden for me - and Thank you Cheri for suggesting Olive Garden for me to order it from since there was just not time enough for me to make it!!) and delicious home-made tasting rolls (Sam's club was a great place to get these). To quench the thirst, there was a pink lemonade based punch bowl as well as ice water with lots and lots of freshly sliced lemons and limes in the bowl.
And of course the wedding cake. After making sure the middle layers were the ones to cut into, the bride and groom did the first cut and took bites. Another Southern tradition is to have a grooms cake. This was fashioned after Josh's favorite show, "Mythbusters".
Josh's brother-in-law MC'd the music and everyone could enjoy dancing after the Bride and Groom did the first dance as husband and wife. Then followed the Bride and Father-of-the-Bride dance. I lost it here and the tears flowed seeing Paul and Michelle dance together. Michelle and her brides maids had fun line dancing and others joined in with dancing as well. A very fun evening with friends and family, eating, mingling, and dancing.
Jen Fries (California best friend) flew in for the wedding and she did a touching toast. Later, Josh's brother, Eric gave a nice toast. You could tell they both held very dear and special feelings for both Michelle and Josh. It was very nice!!
We all lined up to see Michelle and Josh leave and just like the movie "father of the bride", Paul was missing - down changing. Michelle noticed this and had Josh bring her back after they had left because she "hadn't said goodbye to my dad". That was special for Paul to have her come back just to say goodbye.
We all stayed and filled the cars with presents, decorations, etc. and actually didn't take long before we were all going our separate ways.
Paul, Dave, and I stayed at the Embassy Suites Saturday night and the next morning Michelle and Josh joined us for their delicious breakfast along with Josh's parents and Jen and Luke who also were staying there. After breakfast, Paul, Dave, and I went to Michelle and Josh's home to watch them open presents. Then Michelle and Josh were headed to a camp about 2 1/2 hours away where they had a cabin reserved for a "rough it" short honeymoon.
Paul and I took Dave back to the airport so he could catch his flight back to Utah and we headed back to Tennessee for Paul to get his elbow rechecked after his surgery, have just a little time to visit with Cheri and family, before heading to the airport to catch a flight back home.