Weekend of Weddingness - Precursor (WARNING: LUCAS VERSION!)

Hey everyone (not sure who "everyone" is...)!!
I've finally finished editing all the pictures of Jody's wedding day, but not the ones of the general family stuff prior to the wedding. I could only choose 60 for Facebook, and I think 60 here would really be pushing it...so I may have to make some collages or something to get all my pictures in! Since I was part of the wedding party, I don't have pictures of the ceremony or the portrait session afterwards. To check those out, go to www.68photography.ca/blog. There's also a slideshow that's finally up and working again. It may take some time to load though!
It was SO hot on Saturday that there was much fanning of the bride and ourselves, and poor Jody had hair issues :( All her curls had basically fallen out before the ceremony even started, and by the end of the ceremony you could see the combs on her tiara because her hair was so hot and straggly by then. She was sad. But all in all the day was quite good..aside from starting the ceremony late :) Hey, who ever starts a wedding on time?! We sure didn't. Their excuse was pew bows. Or the lack thereof. Jody had all these cute pew bows made up and they, unfortunately, never made it to the pews before the ceremony. Well, not until a kind soul came to Jody in the back room just before the ceremony and said, "I found the bag of bows, do you want them put up?" Jody told him not to bother, but he convinced her he could do it...so she finally said ok. I think she was just so flustered, and we all could have cared less if they were there or not, so we all waited an extra 20 minutes while he put the bows on!! And I shouldn't forget to mention that this was while everyone was already IN THE SANCTUARY waiting for us to start!! Arrrggg...so frustrating. And tacky. Anyway, what's done is done. The ceremony went smoothly and Jody sang a special song for Nigel...which was rather cute :) Then came the receiving line at the end. Can I say GONG SHOW??? None of us were really impressed that the wedding party stood in the line and had to shake hands with the entire throng of visitors, but it was done, and then we got out of there for pictures. Isn't it more normal to have the bride & groom, and the sets of parents in the receiving line to get congratulated on their children's marriage? People just don't know what to say to a wedding party when they shake hands! I basically told people "thanks for coming" or "good to see you" or "I'm the bride's sister"...yeah, weird. I love my sister, so I did it anyway! I just complain about it after the fact :)
Pictures went by as smoothly as they could have. Duane and Kevan did a great job and were methodical and strategic in getting all the family shots done quickly and properly. We waited an extra bit so we could get pictures of grandpa once he got there, even though he had no idea what was going on. The poor man looked like he was just being dragged around and told what to do...which was, essentially, exactly what happened...just in a nice way :) We're glad he was able to fly out for the day with auntie and uncle.
The reception was a bit of a cafuffle at the beginning when Jody realized she hadn't asked anyone to emcee for the evening! We're all standing out back waiting to be announced...waiting and waiting...and then she realized that she'd thought about who she wanted, but hadn't asked them! Oops! Brother-in-law Joseph stepped in and did a great job :) It was a very relaxed reception with dinner and cake cutting and a little dancing. Jody had told me she didn't have much of a program planned; just dinner and dancing. Alicia, her maid of honor, did plan the shoe game...so that was a good addition (until the mike was opened for more questions!), and then they did the first dance, cake cutting, garter toss, bouquet toss, and a short dance afterwards. I think they were expecting more dancing, but by the time we got to that part, most people had left. Meh, that allowed me to be less self-conscious and I actually got out on the dance floor with my little sister and fooled around for a bit dancing to the "Twist"...I even made it into some professional pictures ;) When you're one of only a few out on the floor, I suppose that will happen!
We ended the night corralling the drunken revelers out of the hall and sending them on their merry way, while loading gifts into dad's van and loading wedding party (including the bride and groom!) into the mom's van. This was because Jody's car keys were accidentally locked in her car on Friday night and we hadn't had a chance to get them removed before the wedding on Saturday. It was to be their get-away car after the reception..oops! Ah well, we all piled in and headed to the parents' house to pick up a few of Jody's things, and had bro-in-law Joe drive them to their apartment afterwards. Not exactly ideal, but it's what had to be done! We then saw them Sunday afternoon because Jody had forgotten something at mom and dad's that she wanted on her trip, so that was a special treat to see them off :) They had planned to leave Sunday morning, but weren't able to get the keys out of the car until later in the morning. They made it down the Oregon Coast and into California safe and sound, though! Just later than intended :) They camped all the way down until they got to Los Angeles, where they planned on a hotel for the rest of their stay there. Mom told me that she received a phone call from Nigel on Monday needing a phone number and address of family in the USA. They had forgotten to exchange their money to American currency and weren't able to change it down there without the address of someone related with a US bank account. Mom gave them the info, and I imagine things are fine as we haven't heard back from them! I hope they're having a great time!
I must head out to grocery shop for now (my fridge is EMPTY!), but I will post more pictures tonight, hopefully!