December 2009

best wedding ever

Nathan and Katie are married! Another wonderful sister to add to the 7 I inherited in May. Here was the day-to-day activities:

Wednesday (2/10/10): Matt,  Manti, Rach and I fly to Dallas.

Thursday: Snow ALL day...setting a record of 12.5 inches. Last fitting for bridesmaids dresses, helped momma put together the rehearsal dinner flowers and then Rach and I went to Katie's Bachelorette Party with the rest of the bridal party at the mall for manis and pedis and dinner at Maggianos.Then drove as slow as possible to get home on the slushiest roads I have ever been on. It was so bizarre to see Dallas completely covered in snow.

 

Friday: Momma, Grandma Nelson, Adrianne, Rach and I went to a cooking school/kitchen appliance store with all the women relatives on both sides of the bride and groom to make our lunch with the chefs that teach classes there. Such a good idea! We've never done anything like it. We made paninis with  freshly made mozzarella, vinaigrette dressing made from scratch with our salad and freshly chopped herbs rubbed on delicious pork sirloin. That night, met at the church for the wedding rehearsal, luckily the church 's power came back an hour before we arrived (most of Dallas was out of power because of the snow) and we practiced walking down the aisle and placed where we would stand during the ceremony. Dinner rehearsal was moved to another Catina Laredo right by our house because the original location didn't have power. Ate delicious Mexican food and watched the video Katie's brother, Tony, made for bride and groom. He did a great job. Nathan and Katie showed off their dance moves for the video, a little preview for what was to come at the wedding reception. Afterwards, friends and family came to the house to celebrate Dad's 58th birthday, yes 58th! Mom and Dad stocked up on a variety of delicious Blue Bell ice cream (one of the reasons I want to move back to Texas) for his birthday/the weekend.

Saturday: The big day! We headed over to Katie's parents house to get our hair and makeup done with the bride, bridesmaids and Maddie and Abbie (the flower girls). Maddie and Abbie looked like princesses in their fluffy dresses and up-dos. Us bridesmaids put on our dresses and got into a huge limo while Katie in her cute white track suit got into her own limo to. We arrive at the church, Katie puts on her beautiful dress and it's picture time. After pictures we had about an hour to talk in the bride's room and played charades. And it's show time! We lined up and Luke needed a little gum motivation to break away from his dad and wait to walk down the aisle with his sisters. He was so adorable in his little tuxedo! After the ceremony, more pictures and to the hotel to rest up for the reception. And holy cow, the reception was amazing. It was at Union Station, an old train station in downtown Dallas. Pictures of parents and grandparents from their weddings were set up as you first walk in, up the escalators to a bar area for cocktail hour and then dinner. Before dinner the parents and wedding party were to be announced and dance out to the dance floor. It was all improv dancing, but luckily I was with my brother Matt. Dinner was so good and my favorite part was the mashed potato bar with all the trimmings. Besides dancing for the rest of the reception with the amazing band and DJ, their was a room set up to make a 7-second video that was made into a flip book. Matt and I did one, as well with all of the bridesmaids and the bride. Back to the dancing, Nathan was the star. I've known he is a great dancer, but dang, it was incredible. Everyone loved it. Katie had a special surprise for Nathan after the toasts, Beth had Steve record a toast because he would be in Afghanistan and sent it to Katie to be played at the reception. It was really sweet and funny. At the end of the night, we lined up outside to throw flower petals at Nathan and Katie as they left. They are going on a South American cruise for their honeymoon starting from Rio de Janeiro.

 

Sunday: Valentine's day! Brunch at the hotel with family and the bride and groom. And all the festivities for the wedding are over. It was so nice to be around family and old friends. Later that day we visited Nathan and Katie's house they had just moved into maybe a week before. Then finally, Rach told Manti we were going to the NBA All-Star game that night. I don't know how the surprise wasn't ruined. Even though we were in the nose bleeds the game was so much fun and the entertainment was amazing with performances by Usher, Shakira and Alicia Keys. I was star struck by all the players and in awe of how huge the new Cowboys Stadium is. With that said, we are apart of a Guinness world record now as we were apart on the largest crowd ever of 108,713 people to attend a basketball game.

Monday: Back to reality and flew back to Utah. And Matt took a picture with Reverend Jesse Jackson at the Dallas airport.

Mom and Dad

 Grandpa and Grandma Nelson

Grandpa and Grandma Musick