Sophia: from Miss to Mrs.

 Well, my sweet Sophia has gone from a Miss to a Mrs. 

(I'm going to warn you right now that I only have a few pictures that I took because I was so busy and because it often doesn't occur to me to take pictures when I'm experiencing a thing. When the professional wedding photos arrive, I'll post some of those. My own pics are, of course, pretty terrible. Sorry in advance.) 

The wedding went very well. I mean, it was absolutely exhausting, and as the mother of the bride, I was running around making all the decisions and putting out all the little fires that came up during the ceremony and reception, but it turned out very well overall. At least Sophia was happy with it, and that's what counts. 

Sophia in the car on the way to the venue. She was in very good spirits, and I loved having one last chance to drive with her as just my daughter before she became a married woman.

I totally underestimated how much food we would need. We had the wedding ceremony first and scheduled an hour between the ceremony and the reception during which the photographers could take all the family and group pictures. Just about everyone who was at the ceremony stuck around for the reception, and by the time we started putting the food out, people were famished. The nacho meat ran out about twenty minutes after we started serving, and we went through the nacho cheese alarmingly quickly. I sent Elannah to the closest Walmart twice for lemonade mix (it was such a hot day and everyone was dying of thirst) and a couple other things, but when we were in danger of running out of cheese and chips, she didn't want to make a third trip and risk missing Sophia's and Matt's waltz that they had been practicing for months and that Dalton and Elannah had choreographed for them. 

Elannah in the car on the way to the venue. She and Sophia joked and laughed and controlled the music selection during the drive.

Fortunately, the venue assigns hosts for each event, and our host, Susie, was so eager to assist me in any way that she happily made a list of what I needed and ran off to get it. Neither Elannah nor I had to miss the waltz, which was adorably and perfectly executed, and Susie soon returned with bags and bags of chips and four large cans of nacho cheese. By that point, however, the people who were going to eat had pretty much eaten, so I ended up with ten extra bags of chips and three extra cans of nacho cheese that we had to haul home, but at least we never ran out of anything except the meat! I used the receipt the next day to return the chips and the cans of cheese and got over $50 back, which was good because I had no idea how we were going to eat all of it before the chips went stale. 

I also had to teach a couple volunteers how to use the rented cotton candy machine, which was a trip. I had practiced briefly at home that morning, but I was still no expert after just the one try. My kitchen ended up covered in wisps of sugar, with more in my hair and on my clothing, and I was frantically grabbing paper cones to try and corral all the cotton candy before more of it flew out of the drum and continued coating myself and my kitchen in festive stickiness. 

My initial experience, however, taught me that 1) we should use the machine outside, and 2) I needed more than one person to wrap cotton candy on the paper cones because the industrial-size machine made so much cotton candy at once. Our final product looked very wonky and amateurish, and one of my volunteer ladies suffered a bit of a burn on her hand, but the cones of blue and pink cotton candy turned out to be a popular addition to the reception fare. However, never again. That was all the lifetime experience I need in the cotton candy department.

Around 9pm, Sophia and Matt left the reception as we all lined up down the sidewalk and clapped and cheered them out to their car and their new married lives together. After that, most of the guests also left, and the family members who were kind enough to stick around helped me break down all the decorations and clean up. I was limping by that point, but with all the help, we got everything wrapped up, put away, washed, swept, and mopped in only forty-five minutes. 

I had not eaten all day. I didn't have time. I've been eating low carb for weeks now, so not eating all day is not nearly as difficult as it would be if I hadn't been eating low carb, but I was still ready for a little nosh. The boys had gone home earlier with my in-laws, so it was just me, Husband, and Elannah in the car. We went to the McDonald's drive-thru, and I ordered five plain hamburger patties and a large water. That hit the spot, and I was able to not cry even once during the long ninety-minute drive home while my feet and legs cramped and ached. I was in good spirits because Sophia was happy with the whole thing. Also, I looked forward to sleeping in the next morning and not worrying about the wedding anymore. It's done and dusted. I won't have to worry about Elannah having a wedding for at least the next nineteen months as she's serving a mission; the boys will have fiancees who will probably want to plan their own weddings, so I'm nearly out of the woods. After Elannah's future wedding, I may not ever have to plan another major party if I'm very, very lucky.  

Early Sunday morning, I drove Sophia and Matt to the airport so they could leave for their honeymoon in Cancun. Their trip went smoothly, and when they arrived, the hotel staff gave them a free upgrade to a suite and comped all their room service because they were honeymooners. Meanwhile, Matt's mother and her sisters have gone through his house and done a deep clean, so Matt and Sophia will arrive home to a sparkling clean former bachelor pad with barely any furniture that Sophia will quickly turn into a home for the both of them. I'm very excited for Sophia to start this new chapter of her life.

Additional pictures:

Matt's parents hosted a rehearsal dinner with a luau theme the night before the wedding. A local Hawaiian restaurant catered with kahlua pork, rice, macaroni salad, and grilled pineapple, so it was all very delicious, and I even allowed myself a little scoop of the mac salad. 

Dalton (Elannah's boyfriend), Elannah, and my grandson, Tyler, at the rehearsal dinner. It was so, so hot, but there was a blessed breeze that kept us all from dying of heat exhaustion. Tyler had so much fun running around and getting frequently scooped up for kisses by his aunts, uncles, and grandparents. His mama doesn't often let him use screens, so he was very happy to use Elannah's phone for a bit.

Matt's parents own a lovely home on a small lake. They let Joseph and Little Gary take out the paddleboat after dinner.

We ate our dinner in a tent that kept the hot sun off our heads and was large enough to seat all 100 or so of the guests, which included family from both sides along with bridesmaids and groomsmen and their significant others.

Husband and I and Matt's parents sat at the head table with the future bride and groom. Matt's best man (a childhood friend of Matt's) and Sophia's maid of honor (Elannah) made speeches, which were both hilarious and touching.

Husband at the luau looking cool. He has a Hawaiian shirt, but he refused to wear it, lol!

After the actual rehearsal, Matt and Sophia were busy greeting guests, and I barely saw them other than when we were sitting down to eat, so I don't have any pics of them from this evening, which is a shame.