What a Week!

I can't believe this week is almost over! My friends Rachel and Jeremy got married yesterday, and we were involved in many of the events leading up to that great event. It started Monday night here with a party for the bridesmaids and bride. We had a lovely Italian meal, prayed together, played games, made our fake flower bouquets, and did a great deal of laughing. Rachel's the girl in the bright green sweater.

Tuesday night was a personal shower for her. Wednesday night I went to a symphony rehearsal, and Thursday was the wedding rehearsal dinner and rehearsal. Check out the long pink table of people! There were seven pairs of attendants, plus a ring bearer and two flower girls, so much of the rehearsal was spent just trying to situate us all on stage.

I think I was one of the only attendants who got enough sleep Friday night. The bride and groom got only a few hours, which is most unfortunate, because they looked quite tired all day. I left at 6:30 to meet the girls at a salon where Rachel's stylist was doing all 8 of us girls plus moms and grandma for free! That took a long time, though, making us late to the church for pictures. But despite all the rushing around, the wedding started pretty much on time. Here's a picture of me with my escort/groomsman, Nathan, with whom I also sang a duet. Fortunately, the Lord healed me from bronchitis in time to sing!

Here's a picture of me with the bride and groom at the reception, plus the beautiful cake made by my poor, exhausted mother. Rachel is a cake decorator herself, and had very specific requests, so my mom stressed out more than usual. But of course it turned out fine, and got rave reviews!

As you can see, Jeremy is a pretty tall guy. I was about 6' tall with my shoes. One of the cutest parts of the ceremony was when it came time for The Kiss (their first). Rachel's dad, the pastor, fetched a little stool from behind the curtain for Rachel to stand on so she could be a little closer to Jeremy's head! But they seemed to manage well whether they had a stool or not! So happy for this couple. Jeremy has waited a long time, not knowing all that time that his bride would be 11 years younger than he is. They'd known each other for awhile, but God "woke him up" at the right time.

This evening I played in a symphony concert. It was all Spanish music -- yeah! I played in all but one piece. The finale was Ravel's Bolero, that repetitive piece that audiences love, but musicians tend to hate because of the 15 minutes of absolute concentration and monotony. I still like it, even if the harp part wasn't great. The poor snare drum player, who has done great at every rehearsal, cramped up at the beginning and took a few measures to get into it. Hate it when that happens.

So life quiets down significantly now. Ho hum.

Note: Sorry the pictures didn't post in the order that I put them on there, but hopefully you can still attach the description to the picture!