Jennie's Wedding!!!! Lots of Pics!

Just in case any of you didn't know this was a very big, wait no HUGE weekend. This was the weekend when one of my best friends in the entire world got married. Many of us have been waiting for this moment for a very, very long time. Actually, many of Jennie's friends were joking that this wedding was just as much ours as it was hers. Yeah, we are all close like that. I'm warning you right now this is going to be a long, long post with lots and lots of pictures. Enjoy......

The weekend started off Friday morning with Ry and I jumping in the car to make the six hour drive to Hocking Hills where the wedding was going to be. This was the first time since Ry and I have been going out where he would be meeting my Ohio friends. I think we were both a little nervous. Nerves, not be had because everyone loved Ry and Ry loved all of my friends and their families. I could not have asked for the meetings of my friends that I love so much and and my boyfriend that I love so much too, to actually go so well. It was GREAT and everyone got along amazingly well!! I really was in heaven all weekend having two of my best friends, their families, many other friends, and of course Ry there with me. Many great memories were made and we were all sad to see the weekend come to an end.

Anyhow, the wedding was in Hocking Hills, Ohio. It was seriously in the middle of now where in one of the biggest HillBilly, Hill Jack, no cell phone service places, where people actually still sport the mullet places I have ever been. With all that being said Hocking Hills was beautiful and extremely peaceful, and the perfect place for Jennie's wedding!! The entire wedding party stayed in cabins all on the same road we were all super close to each other making the fun all that more easy to happen.
This was the cabin where Ry, myself, Lora, her husband Chris and their little boy Luca all stayed. It was AMAZING. The five of us had so much fun Friday night! Ry and Chris hit it off instantly! Sometime next month the three of them are going to come up to Michigan and visit us...can not wait to see them all again!

Back to the wedding....
We all arrived at Hocking Hills between Friday afternoon and early Friday evening. The short rehearsal started around 5:30. We went through everything once and then we all agreed it was time to have a BBQ and party! Lora, Chris, Luca, myself and Ry all went back to our cabin and hung out for a few hours. It was so nice being able to catch up with Lora and it was great seeing Ry and Chris start their friendship off as well. The four of us got along very well. Around 7 all of the food was finished and we went down the trail to what we all designated as the "party cabin". We ate the yummy goodness of hot dogs, pulled pork, hamburgers, chips, potato salad and an endless supply of uhm....adult beverages. While the adults were eating and having tons of fun all of the kids played upstairs in the bedroom. They had just as much fun as us big kids were having. Probably around 9 it started to rain. First it was a slight sprinkle then it turned to a downpour. I will tell you what the raid did not damper the spirits of Jennie and Chris's wedding party. We all still sat outside with our hooded sweatshirts and had just as much fun as ever. A little after midnight we decided it was time to put the kids to sleep. (No the kids never stay up that late, but we all decided it was a weekend of fun for all, so we let them stay up) Then Lora, myself, Chris, Ry and Luca all went back to our cabin. Luca fell asleep in about 15 seconds and then Chris, Lora, Ry and I took our little party of four out to the deck. We talked, laughed, talked, and laughed some more until the weee weee hours of the morning. I think we finally all went to bed around four our maybe even five o'clock. Lora was so sweet the next morning and got up and made us all a big egg, bacon, hash, and english muffin breakfast. It so hit the spot after a night of a little too much fun.

After breakfast it was time to start the day of wedding festivities. All of the bridesmaids and Jennie had to have our hair done starting at 11:00. So we all piled in Lora's SUV and started our day while the guys had fun of their own. I tell you what we have not laughed so hard in such a long time. It was great just spending time at the hair salon with all of the girls. Jennie had not eaten since the day before (silly girl) and was begin to show signs of passing out, so we decided it was time to hit Bob Evans for a nice meal before the day got even crazier. Once again, we laughed and laughed.

Here we all are doing our "Senior Picture Pose"

For the wedding each bridesmaid could pick their own dress, shoes, and accessories. The only stipulation was that our dress had to be tea length, and either mocha, truffle, or champagne in color. The rest of the wedding was done in a fall theme with orange flowers, colored leaves, pumpkins, white gourds, brown and orange napkins, white china dishes and lights wrapped up in cream colored took strung from the ceiling. It was a gorgeous setting and looked very warm, inviting and fall like.

A picture of our bouquets. See those cute little gold bangle bracelets? Those were part of our gift from Jennie. I loved them and they went with all of our dresses great!

On the way back to our cabins from getting our hair done is when it got real fun. We were all in the same car and we were all laughing so damn hard. I think, oh wait I know a few of us were laughing so hard that we almost peed our pants. I say almost, but just for the record none of us did. Once we got back it was time to get our makeup, get dressed and finally get Jennie married. As par for course stuff got kinda messed up and we were running short on time. Lora, Amanda and I all crammed into our little one mirror bathroom and all shared make-up, got into our dresses and then headed on over to the chapel to help get Jennie ready.

Jennie is not one of those fluffy froo froo frilly type of girls. She is carefree, laid back and just goes with the flow more than any other person that I know and she is totally great at it. Many of her qualities I wish I was better at. When I first saw her in her dress with her make-up and hair all done I have to admit I got a little misty eyed. I looked at Lora, she looked at me and we instantly looked away from each other because I think we were both thinking the same thing. We knew if we kept looking at each other the both of us were going to end up crying. Instead we all started cracking jokes and ended up laughing. We were all good and there were no tears until Jennie's three little boys came into the room all dressed up in their suits. All three of them went up to her, gave her a hug and kept playing with her dress. It was an amazing site to see. Once again Lora and I looked at each other and we both had tears in our eyes. We were both good until we saw this picture and then I we all just about lost it.
Is that not about the most adorable picture? The expression on Jennie's face while talking to her baby Peyton and her middle son Chris looking in the background is priceless. I still get tears in my eyes when I look at this picture! And more than anything it makes me just smile.

The rest of the wedding went off with out a hitch. I think the majority of us made it through the entire ceremony without totally bawling our eyes out. I mean there were tears but none of us made fools out of ourselves from crying too hard. After the wedding we took a few more professional pictures and then started the fun of the reception. Before I get to the reception I will share a few pictures that were taken after the wedding.
This is of the groom Chris and all of us girls.


The entire wedding party! Don't we all look good?

A silly picture of me, Amanda and Lora. I personally think that I look like a bobble head in this picture. I had no idea my neck was that long!

These next two I love. Each bridesmaid got a picture taken with Jennie and these two were mine.
I totally love, love this picture. The only problem I see with it is the fact that my big boob is just about popping out of my dress. I had not had this problem all day, until of course it was picture time. I really wish someone would have told me to pull my dress up. Damn big boobs of mine!!
Another one of me and one of my best friends in the entire world! Oh, this was such a great day I can't even really fully explain it.

An extreme close up of Amanda and I.

Okay, lets move on to the reception shall we? The reception was great!! Once again we all had lots of fun. The guest list was pretty small and most of the people attending were either family or close friends of the family. So pretty much everyone knew everyone and everyone had a blast. I'm not much of a dancer and don't ever dance. When I mean ever, I really do mean NEVER EVER dance. I don't have a rhythm in my body at all and when I dance or attempt to dance I just feel as though I make a huge ass out of myself, so I usually just don't. However, for Jennie's bachelorette party and her reception I pulled out all the stops and decided to get down and boogie. I'm begging you, please do not pee your pants laughing at me!

It's hard not to dance to one of the best 80's hits ever....Pour Some Sugar on Me. This song just happens to be a favorite of me, Jennie and Lora. I mean I had to dance to that song.

Once again shakin my booty!

Jennie and I also love with a capital LOVE Bon Jovi. So we just had to have Livin on a Prayer played. Once again the girls and I got down.

Now for some more random pictures taken at the reception.

Lora, her husband Chris, and Luca. Uhm yeah, Luca wanted nothing to do with his parents at the reception. He wanted to get down and party with his buddies. He had SO much fun too. During the wedding and dinner Luca hung out with Ry. The two of them hit it off and I think they both found a new friend. I SO can't wait til they come to Michigan and see us!


This is Jennie's middle son Chris (nickname Nuby) and I dancing. I have known him since he was just four months old!


Luca and I. Can't even begin to tell you how much I love that little guy. Luca and I have a very special relationship and even though I just left him yesterday I miss him so so much.

This next picture is probably one of my favorites from the whole night! It's a silly picture of Jennie, Lora and I....
Do you like our "gagsta pose"?

The three of us did stop messing around just long enough to take a nice picture of us.
Once again, I just left these guys yesterday, but I just can't shake that miss them feeling. We had a great weekend and I so wish we all lived closer! I think I'm going to get a side by side frame and put these two pictures in it and hang it up in the house.

Oh heck, I might have to get a three spot frame and add this one to it too.

A picture of Lora and I.

For taking it ourselves I think this is a pretty good picture of the two of us.

Are you ready to see the only two pictures of Ry and I? I can't believe the entire weekend we only took two pictures.

I happen to really like both of the pictures that we took. And if you ask me I also happen to think we make a pretty good looking couple. I maybe a little biased though.

I even like this one even though it was taken at the very end of the nigh while we were dancing and not expecting a camera in our face, we may have each had a few drinks and our faces look all squished together, I still think it's cute. I'm so happy that Ry came with me this weekend! We got to spend some time just the two of us, made some memories of our own and I'm so glad he got along so well with my friends and their families. I love him so much!!

One of the bride and groom. They looked so happy and cute all night long.

And last but not least the one of the entire happy family!
Jennie, Chris, Devin, Nuby and Peyton. All three boys thought it was the coolest thing that Mommy and Daddy were getting married. All the boys told Jennie over and over again that she looked pretty. I'm so happy that all five of them are happy and now can live happily ever after.

This was probably one of the best weekends I have had in a long time. I was so happy to be able to spend an entire weekend with Ry and my friends. I'm so happy that everyone liked each other and got along so well and I am beyond honored that not only did Jennie have be at her wedding, but be one of her bridesmaids. She has been one of my greatest forms of support since Shawn's death and I'm so blessed to have been a part of her special day in such a special way.
We all had so much fun and created memories that will last a lifetime and then some. We all woke up on Sunday morning sad because we knew the fun weekend was coming to an end a little more quickly than we had all wanted it to. It's kind of hard to put into words, but it was one of those surreal type of weekends when only good things happened and you never wanted that time to stop or go away. After something so good it's kind of hard to "get back to life" All of us have said since yesterday that we wished the weekend could have lasted longer. However, we have all returned to our homes and have gotten back to our day to day lives. BUT....each and every one of us have hundreds of pictures and countless memories that we can remember for a life time.

Jennie and Chris, I love you both so much! I wish you a lifetime of happiness!!