Our past week and a half in MI was crazy busy!!! We had my brother's wedding and my Gram's 80th birthday, and almost all of our fam had come in for both occasions.

This is a super long post, but it's mostly pics!!!

Bachelor/Bachelorette Parties
Justin and I had gotten in a week before the wedding, which allowed us each to throw separate bachelor/bachelorette parties for  Josh and Suzy (also known as "Juzy"). Justin had set up for a bunch of the guys to go shooting, and do other guy things, and we threw Suzy a surprise "Old Hollywood Glam" Bachelorette party!

I had done up these invites and sent them out a few weeks before, and I had also made up some "Old Hollywood Glam" matchboxes to give away as favors. We flew in the morning of the party, so my mom had set everything up. She did an AMAZING job. The place looked so gorgeous and wedding-y.

Wedding-y looking house.


She even had a local bakery make up these adorable bra and panty shaped cookies!!!


My mom also put together a "Hollywood Glam" worthy lunch, including an awesome cheese plate (my favorite)!!! Oh! And I have to mention what a huge help Keri Murphy was!!! She came early to help my mom set up! Thank you!!!




After eating and opening gifts, we passed around a bowl of fortune cookies and read them aloud. You know how to read fortune cookies, right? I don't know where this originated, but for the longest time we have read them by adding the word "in bed" at the end. Why? I have no idea. Is it an appropriate way for a bunch of people eating at Pei Wei's after church to read their fortune cookies to everyone? Maybe not. But it's so funny.

So, in this appropriate setting, we went around the table three times reading Suzy her "fortunes". Hilarious!!! (notice the glitzy table cloth!).




Susan (bridesmaid), Suzy's Aunt Carolyn, Suzy's mom Helene, Keri Murphy, Keri (Maid of Honor), Suzy, mom and Gram. I, am of course, taking the pic!



The Rehearsal

We did the rehearsal the Thursday before the wedding. Here's Suzy rock'n the stairs with super excited fam on the sidelines.



On the left Justin (the Best Man) and Maid of Honor Keri. On the right, Aunt Karen, a.k.a. stand-in for Groomsman Tim, and Bridesmaid Susan.


Suzy's mom Helene rehearsed meeting her at the end of the stairs and then walked her down the aisle.


Rehearsing at the altar.





My parents did an amazing job on the Rehearsal Dinner!!! My dad grilled chicken and beef kebabs, and my mom set up a ice cream bar for dessert.



Have an old computer desk lying around? Use it as a ice cream bar!!!



It did start to get a little cold, but we didn't let it ruin our night. We started piling on afghans and sweaters and leaned in close to/put our hands over a candle...








The guys wimped out (or were smart?) as it grew chillier and went inside, and the girls piled on the remaining afghans and sweaters... and leaned in closer to the one votive candle.


Hehe. We crack ourselves up.





Hanging out with Fam
We have extended family all over the country, and most of them got to come up for the wedding and party (we missed you Amy and fam, Katie and fam, Joe, Lindsey and Ryan and Rebekah!!!).

Below, in front of Juzy's new house, we have Heidi, Caitlin, Karen, Vicki, Nancy, mom, Liz, me, Gram and Whitney holding Abigail.


Cousins! Liz, Caitlin, me and Heidi.




On the left, Juzy in front of their new house!!! On the right, John Thomas and Will hanging out in a tree on Juzy's front lawn!


Juzy's cat, Slinky.

When Erich, Whitney and fam arrived, the boys immediately wanted toys. Luckily we had a huge tub of Legos, AND luckily for the boys Justin was an expert at these plastic interlocking blocks! He helped them make a plane, a spaceship and a robot! David also joined them building an awesome robot for Will, which after seeing it, John Thomas tried to claim as his own.


Justin and Gimmy!


Little Abigail was having a hard time staying awake, but it made for a great pic!


My parents pool table is always a source of entertainment for the guys.


Flat Lindsey! If you've heard of Flat Stanley then you should get the idea. My cousin Lindsey couldn't be there, so they made a "Flat Lindsey" to come and be in pictures, so it's like she was there! Sort of. And to clarify, there is no actual "Stanley".

Here's Gram and Gimmy with Flat Lindsey.

The Wedding


Sunday, June 12th, the day of the wedding!!!

We started off the day by Suzy and the bridesmaids coming to my parents house. The hair and makeup people met us there to make us all look beautiful. Mission accomplished.


My hair in the back.


Suzy!


After being made beautiful, we all headed to the chapel. We had a huge bridal suite to get ready in.




Suzy's Aunt Karen, her mom Helene, mom and Suzy's Aunt Carolyn.


The flowers for the wedding were gorgeous!!! Here's a shot of Helene's corsage and a bridesmaid's bouquet.




The pictures don't do it justice, but my mom's necklace was gorgeous! It was so sparkly! Very red carpet, hehe.


Suzy's "something old" was this antique pin of my mom's, pinned to her bridal bouquet.


Bridesmaids! Me, Keri and Susan.


The dress!!! Isn't it gorgeous?





Because both Justin and I were in the wedding, I have no pics of the actual ceremony... but it was beautiful!!!

After the ceremony we had hors d'oeurves for the guests while we all took photos. And while the photographer was taking photos, Justin and I took photos!

I love these shots.


Josh and Justin.


Me and Justin.

Siblings!

Groomsmen Justin, Aaron and Tim.


Mom and Karen.



The Winegeart siblings minus Lindsey.




Gram and Granddaughters!!! "The Facts of Life" meets "Hot in Cleveland"...?




Erich and Whitney.


Jeff and Derek, two of the family members who played during the wedding (They did an AMAZING job).


Gram, Gimmy, mom, Karen, Jeff and Nancy.


And you can always count on my family for one of these...


Gram, Gimmy and Caitlin.


The Winegeart Fam!







Mom and her best friend from high school, Cathy.

The Groomsmen hanging out in their manly, leathery room.


Mr. and Mrs. Chaffin!!!

The reception was held at our favorite restaurant, Brio. They did an amazing job!!! Brio, along with the event planner my mom had hired, Creative Events, made the place look stunning!


In lieu of favors, Josh and Suzy made a donation to the Humane Society. I did however make some plum, lime green and hounds tooth glitter "C" matchboxes for people to take home.

The cakes!!! They were so good!


Mom and Dad.


Juzy's menu!!! Brio personalized it for them, so cute. The food was amazing!!!


Justin and I kept telling Austin how much he looks like Prince Harry, because HE IS HIS TWIN. So Justin did the logical thing and printed up a picture of PH and got into Brio before everyone else did, and put the picture at Austin's seat.




Fam having fun (except for Nancy who looks very concerned)!


Mom and Linda. Linda was a HUUUUUUUUUUGE help this entire wedding/party week.


Josh and Dad.








On the left, Nancy stealing flowers and food, on the right Heidi and Liz.


Erich and Whitney.


They had Juzy's initials on the floor. I caught Bob severely confused by this, looking hard to find where this light source was coming from.


Stealing cards from the card box!!!


Gram's 80th!!!


It was my Gram's 80th birthday this year, and we had a special party for her! The timing was perfect, since not only was most of the family there, but we also got to use the leftover wedding flowers and cake. Yay!!! Along with new, non-wedding desserts as well.




The newlyweds! Come Honey Moon in our backyard, with all of our extended family!!! hehe.


Jeff and Vicki.


Heidi and Will.

Liz.


We had decorated the backyard just for the occasion.

John Thomas and Whitney. I love this pic!!!


Hahahaha!!! (Pregnant) Amy confusing John Thomas.

Doug and Cathy Allen holding superstar Cali.




Cali's love/hate relationship with lemons.


You know what's fun at parties? Hula-hoops!!!


Work it Liz!


Also, ladder golf...




For a while now we have been aware that when you take a picture with one person sitting down, and everyone else in the picture standing up, it looks like the person sitting down is either an invalid, or being visited in the nursing home. So when we went to take this picture and my mom insisted someone sit next to her for the very reason listed above, we of course now had to take the invalid/nursing home pic. And man is that consistent. It even looks like my mom (the nursing home patient being visited) has a lap blanket. "Here Gram! You want to hold the baby?".

And a non-nursing home pic.


On the left, Heidi and Liz and on the right, Abigail.


For my Gram's 80th birthday the entire fam chipped in and we surprised her with an iPad2!!! She has an e-mailing machine, which only e-mails, so we wanted to get her something that would help her keep up with all the kids and grand kids, and vise versa!!! She was VERY surprised, as you can see. She's already a pro and is e-mailing, taking pics with it and video chatting!!!


Justin, David, Karsten and Austin were on video chat in the house, so that when she opened it they were on screen!








And another use for the box! hehe.


Gram got to video chat with Amy, Katie and fam right away!!!


We had such a fun week and a half! You get so used to seeing everyone every day, and every second packed with activity that you feel out of sorts once it's all over. I already miss everyone!!! Thanks for making it such a fun trip!!!