A Wedding

My son, RJ and his longtime girlfriend got married on Saturday the 24th of April 2010.

They have lived together for the last four or five years and finally got around to tying the knot. Most couples get married before they have babies but RJ and Terah gave me a grand daughter before the nuptials and that is perfectly OK with me! I not only gained a daughter-in-law, I also gained a grandson, Brenton, from a previous union of hers.

One happy little family making the vows to stay together for eternity.

I do believe they are a good match for one another. They balance each other out most of the time.

Terah, RJ and Little Annabel

Brenton had been at his dad's house when this picture was taken back in March.

This wedding had been in the planning for almost two years before it actually took place.  

More than likely I have messed up the placement of the photos as they relate to the story but you'll get the idea, I'm sure. There isn't going to be a whole lot of commentary on some of these pictures anyway.

The wedding party is at the altar waiting for the bride.

The bride arrives at the altar on the arm of her dad, Rick.

On Friday evening we had a rehearsal for this wedding. The preacher, Mike (that's what everyone called him!) lead us through the paces and got us all to pay attention and we were all pretty certain we had our parts down pat.

My part, as mother of the groom, was to kick off this wingding. As the music started at the beginning of the ceremony, it was my job to walk to the altar and light the right hand candle to signify I was responsible for the boy getting married. Terah's mom then came down the aisle after I had lit RJ's candle to light Terah's candle (on the left side of the unity candle which RJ and Terah lit at the end of the ceremony) to signify she was responsible for the girl getting married. Sherry had no trouble getting Terah's candle to light. I had to try three times before the flame stayed lit on RJ's!

At rehearsal Preacher Mike had said, "You know if something goes wrong, don't worry about it! There is no such thing as a PERFECT WEDDING! Something will go wrong. That's just how these things work." And he was right!

If this picture were larger, you'd be able to see that everyone in this photo is laughing out loud! The Bride laughing the most! RJ had already said his "I do" as the groom does that first. Preacher Mike was going through the vows with Terah....do you take this man to be ....yadda yadda yadda....well he wasn't quite done with the yadda yadda yadda and she says, "Yes! I do!" and immediately realized she had not heard the cue to say such just yet. Preacher Mike hadn't got to the part about forever and ever yet. Preacher Mike looked at RJ when Terah missed her cue and said, "She's quite eager for this!" and the whole church burst into laughter! It was a precious moment indeed! Cause Miss Terah, she was eager to be my son's lawful wife! And I am so glad to officially have her as a part of this family!

Here the preacher is fixing to present the newly married couple to the  heathens congregation seated in his church.

And RJ kissed his bride.

I was going to say this is their official wedding picture but it isn't. Not THIS particular picture anyway. The real official picture, I am sure came out much clearer than this one did! Danielle, their good friend and photographer will have made all the wedding pictures she took look beautiful! Of that I am certain! This picture was taken with my cheapo digital camera and I know it ain't as good as the pictures taken with Danielle's expensive set up. I can't wait to see the pictures she took of this wedding!

Both RJ and Terah look fabulous!

The happy couple and their children, Little Annabel and Brenton.

RJ was smiles all day long! He was indeed a very happy man!

My handsome sons, RJ and RW.

Otherwise known as Ronnie and Richard. It's just easier to call the RJ and RW while typing.

Down the screen some, you'll find a picture of  RW in the outfit he showed up to the wedding in. He was dressed appropiately in my opinion. No one, NO ONE, expected RW to show up dressed to the nines! If RW had shown up dressed to the nines, I'm pretty sure there would have been some fainting going on....RJ would have fell right on the floor from amazement! RJ had gone through his closet the day before to find something that RW could wear so he'd be dressed up somewhat. Therefore RW got to wear a white shirt and black pants instead of his Tshirt and jeans. More on this subject in a few moments....

The lady in the middle of this picture is RJ's grandmother, his father's mother. I didn't know if she would be in good enough health to make the trip or not. I should have known she wouldn't have missed this for world! I was so glad she did come. I hadn't seen her since Feburary of last year.

And here is RW in the outfit he showed up in. His wife and younguns couldn't make it to the wedding because they had no way to get there. RW bummed a ride with my sisters and there wasn't room for 5 other people. My brother was going to come with the sisters but he gave up his seat in the car so RW could come instead. And there he stands in his ONE LOVE Tshirt, a bandana, blue jeans and flipflops on his feet! He did trim up the beard but I doubt very seriously the boy combed his hair before he put that bandana on his head. That's just RW...the rebel at heart....and he'll always do things his way and to heck with what anyone thinks about it! He caved and agreed to wear the white shirt and black pants though. He gave me a hard time about the bandana though, said he was going to wear it. I said he was not going to wear it and he was going to comb his hair....grinning the whole while, he said no, no, no! I'm his mother though and he knows he has to do things he's not agreeable to from time to time and this day was one of those times! He looked rather handsome when he showed up dressed like you see....but he was even more handsome (so long as you didn't look at his feet...the flipflops, you know!) dressed in the white shirt and black pants, minus the red bandana.

RW cleaned up rather nicely even with the flipflops on his feet! I was resizing this picture to put it here when I noticed that RW not only has the silliest shoes seen at this wedding, but he is giving his brother rabbit ears in this picture as well. LOL Typical Rich! Love that boy dearly! Never a dull moment with RW around!

I have no idea who took this picture of me and the kids. There were very few pictures of me on my camera when I downloaded the smart card on Sunday afternoon.

Here is a picture of me with RW, his grandma, his Aunt Cindy (RW's dad's sister) and the fellow behind is one of my sister's husbands, Brad. Grandma Edna had ahold of RW like she was never going to turn the boy loose. It had been quite some time since they had seen one another.

This little guy is Oren. He belongs to my sister's boy, Jake. Marilyn brought him with her but left Jake at home. Jake is 6 months older than RJ and I really wished Jake could have come as well but it just wasn't to be. Little Oren was one of four babies at the wedding younger than a year old. Oren is 4 months old. He's such a cute little guy too! That is my sister Susan holding him.

Something that struck me after the fact was that there were four babies and numerous young children in that church as the ceremony was in progress. Not a one of those children made enough noise to be distracting. Little Annabel slept through the ceremony actually. Susan was holding her then. Just before the ceremony started, Annabel was fast asleep! And she didn't wake up till it was over!

This is Oren and his grandma, my younger sister, Marilyn. The lady in the background is one of Terah's people. I'm not sure how she fits in to Terah's family but her name is Kim.

Susan is the woman nearest in the picture and Linda the one in the driver's seat. Both are my sisters. They didn't stay for the reception because they needed to get back home before it got dark. That was their excuse anyway...that and they had Evelyn with them and they weren't sure Evelyn could hold out that long if they went to the reception as well. They were probably right in that aspect as the reception went on till well after midnight.

And here is a picture of Miss Terah in that beautiful gown! She looked so pretty!

I didn't get any pictures at the reception. I don't have a clue what the heck I was thinking leaving the camera in the van at that time! I did go retrieve it and got a short video of RJ being bossy telling me, "You have to dance! Put the camera away!" If I knew how to get that video here for you all to see, I'd do it, but since I can't, you all will just have to take my word for it! I had to dance with that bossy boy cause I'm his mother. I had never danced with my son before this. As we were on the dance floor, I forget which song we were dancing to....we were laughing up storm and contemplating mosying over the doorway into the bar to have a beer! We didn't do that though. I didn't drink at all that night...only ice tea.

All in all, it was a beautiful day!

And I've been pooped since I got home early Sunday morning around 3a.m. After the reception broke up I followed RJ and Terah back to their house and helped them unload the gifts so they didn't have to haul them around when they went to Salina for their honeymoon. I'm not sure what was so appealing about Salina but when I talked to both of them earlier today, they had a great time! The went to see a movie on Sunday after they slept in that morning. Then they came home on Monday. And it's back to the same ol' same ol'.

Lots of hugs were given and gotten on Saturday and on Friday as well.

I do hope you collected your fair share of hugs over the weekend! If one could save up hugs, I'd have an over abundance of them! But being hugs must be renewed continually, I guess I better go collect some more before too long!

Peace

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