The wedding day

On Friday, we started the day at Planet Hair in Wichita. Kristin let us pick our updo style because all four of us have completely different types of hair. There was no way we would have been able to all look the same, no matter how hard we tried. It was fun to see how everyone's hair turned out....especially Kristin's. It was beautiful. She wore it down, which I thought was perfect because she has the best hair ever. Here's one last picture of her with her dad before the wedding.

We headed back to her parent's house so that Kristin could get her makeup done. A girl that I had gone to school with, Brooke Cero, did her makeup with a giant plethora of MAC cosmetics. I was very intimidated by the process since my makeup routine is embarassingly simple and subtle. After finishing my own makeup, I asked Brooke what she thought and she said "You're going to need more color." She threw color on my face so fast I didn't know what hit me, and then I kept staring at my big pink lips in the mirror wondering how I all of a sudden had lips! It was like magic.

Here were our final products. The bangs freaked me out the whole weekend, but in the end, I was glad they were there. When you are feeling a little shy, bangs can make you feel like you have a little something to hide behind.

Kristin and her mom finished up with final spraying and makeup-ing, and then we all jumped in the fleet of Denalis that this family seems to own, and we were off. I was lucky enough to get to ride with Kristin and her dad so I had a few final moments with my childhood best buddy.

She was a vision. The dress was some spanish design, which was perfect for her. It wasn't too big or poofy, and it looked gorgeous on her. The details and sparkles were fabulous.

So I don't exactly have any pictures of the wedding itself since I was kinda busy being a bridesmaid, but it was beautiful. I had Matt bring Claire to the wedding and she was completely amazed by the whole thing. She waved at me when I walked down the aisle with Jon's brother, and her very favorite moment was when they released a huge box of butterflies as the bride and groom left the church. Claire even got one butterfly to ride on her finger all the way back to Grammy and Grandad's house! She and Sammy had a sitter for the rest of the evening (thanks Mandie!).

The reception was at the Scottish Rite, and, of course, the decorations were beautiful there as well.

Her cake, (Bagatelle Bakery) was gorgeous and the groom's cake was coconut cream. Very delicious.

Her photographer was Tim Davis, and he was amazing. He did her engagement photos and wedding photos, and he stuck around until the very end! I'm a little afraid of what he got on camera by the end of the night; we bridesmaids were tearing it up on the dance floor.

This weekend also happened to mark 40 years of marriage for my own parents. Congrats Mom and Dad! And my mom is as stunning now as she was on her wedding day.

Many more favors were on the tables: silver cups, exquisite butterfly jewelry boxes, chocolates, vintage flower seed packages, cookies. These people give some serious favors! The whole day was beautiful and exhausting. Matt and I had a blast at the reception, and I think the bride did too.

The big hit (besides the open bar) was this vintage photo booth that printed black and white pictures of the guests. You got your picture taken in the booth and then gave two of them to the photographer who put them into a guest book. Then, you got to sign it and leave the bride and groom a message. Very clever and cute. I'm looking for my pictures with Matt right now. Anyway, it was fun! The bridesmaids even went out for a little further partying in our dresses afterwards. Let me tell ya: a bunch of bridesmaids in long formal gowns stand out a bit at the outside Old Town bars in downtown Wichita. It was fun though! A whole day of makeup/hair/dancing/partying: not something a stay-at-home-mom gets to do every day.