A Wonderful Weekend Wedding

 My niece Amslie was married this past Saturday and it was an absolutely beautiful day.  

Grif and Amslie met a couple of years ago at a church where Amslie was attending while she was in graduate school near Chicago.  They began getting to know each other for those first couple of months and then we were blessed to meet Grif a couple of months later when he came down here for a family event.  Right away we loved him and her together.  He obviously cared for her a lot but he also just immediately cared for all of us as well.  He was very genuine and he loves Jesus.  So needless to say, we were definitely excited about this wedding.

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Morgan was a bridesmaid in the wedding, so she had went over the evening before for the rehearsal dinner and then she stayed overnight with Amslie and several of the bridesmaids.  The rest of us would drive over to the wedding on Saturday afternoon.  Since Nolan is usually really casual with his dress code, the girls were pleasantly surprised when Nolan came upstairs and was wearing dress pants and a dress shirt.  Marissa wanted to have her picture taken with him because he made such a nice looking date.

We arrived at the Barn around 3:30 and the wedding wouldn't start until 4:00 so they asked guests to sit in the lower level until 3:45 and then we would be ushered upstairs to our seats.  We used the extra time to drop off our gift and to write messages in the guest book.  We also took a couple of pictures and then we sat and talked with some of our friends and family who were also in attendance.

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The ceremony was just absolutely beautiful and their joy just filled the room.  I didn't want to interfere with their hired photographer during the ceremony so I didn't take any pictures.  As soon as the ceremony was ended, all of the family was asked to all head outdoors so they could take family pictures with the bride and groom.  When those professional photos were finished, I pulled out my phone and we started taking pictures for fun.

My nephew Luke was one of the groomsmen and Morgan was one of the bridesmaid.  This was the first that we were able to see her or talk to her since she had left the day before.  They both looked so nice.

And then just a couple of other pictures to document how nice we all looked.

This is Marissa and her cousin Anyssa.  

And then the girls and the father of the bride.  'Never a dull moment with them.

Noel's Uncle and Aunt were able to come in from out of state and we all enjoyed visiting with them.

And then we finally caught the bride and groom as they were making their way back for the reception.

Grif got sidetracked for a couple of minutes...

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While we were outside getting pictures, the staff at the Barn reset the ceremony location and set out several tables for all of the guests so we could all sit down and enjoy dinner together.

I asked them to smile... this is what I got!

This wasn't any better...

And then a couple of pictures from the end of the evening when everyone (except me and some old people) started dancing and really having a fun time.

About 9:30 pm, we had a joyous send-off to the bride and groom and then several of us stayed behind to help clean up all of the food and decorations.  

And a couple of us went back for a few more dance moves when the dance floor was completely empty.

What an amazing day!!

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EDITED on June 29th to include these professional pictures that I will add to our Blurb book.