Monday, August 24, 2009

Abby's Wedding - The Big Day Part III

When I last left off, I had just given my speech. There were lots of other speeches, and they were all fantastic. Especially my dad's. He's kind of more soft spoken and not one that likes the lime light, but he did an awesome job. He used a perfect mix of humor and sentimentality. I know he is also super excited to have Ryan as a son-in-law!

It had been rainy and overcast all day, but after dinner the sun came out and it was a beautiful evening so we decided to head outside for some impromptu family photos. I've mentioned before that I have a large family, but these pictures give you a visual.

Here's my mom (4 from the left) with her 7 siblings. Yes, we are Catholic. :) It was awesome having all of her siblings there - my one uncle came all the way from Florida!


After getting a shot of the siblings, we got as many of the McDougall clan together as we possibly could. Getting everyone in the family in a picture is quite like herding cats. But this is pretty close to the whole family!


My dad's side of the family was up next. Unfortunately I didn't get a shot of my grandma, dad, and his 3 siblings. All of my dad's siblings, including my aunt from California, were there. The last time we were all together was for my Grandpa's funeral in February so it was nice to get together to celebrate a happy occasion. My Grandpa's presence was definitely missed, though. Whenever we took a big family picture together, my Grandpa would smile and say, "all because two people fell in love." My Grandma is there in the center of the photo, next to Abby - she looked so beautiful! I hope I age as well as she has!!


After the family photos, it was time to go inside and get the party started!! They started off the dance with the Father/Daughter and Mother/Son dances. I definitely look forward to dancing that dance with my dad some day. My dad was actually voted best dancer of his senior class - and my parents were voted best couple!! Kind of cool, huh?


After those 2 dances and the wedding party dance, it was time to get the other guests involved! Here's a picture of 2 of my nephews, James and Andrew. They had a great time playing with the props that the DJ brought along!


They played "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" pretty early in the night & I got some great shots during that song!


My aunt Barb cutting a rug!


My mom dancing with her 2 sisters!

I was dateless for this wedding (as usual) but who needs a date when you have a dance partner like this!!

And of course I wouldn't be fulfilling my duties as a bridesmaid if I didn't end up in the middle of a dance circle at some point in the night. What can I say - I LOVE wedding dances! :)


And that's all I've got for you. Do you feel like you attended the event after the 5 recap posts? I feel like I was a member of the paparazzi, but pictures are priceless, so I am glad I got so many great shots from the wedding.

Now it's back to life as usual. Abby & Ryan returned to Tucson the Monday after the wedding & just left for their honeymoon last Wednesday (I think they return today). I was pretty much with Abby non-stop from Thursday morning through Sunday night. It was probably the most time we've spent around each other since I left for college 10 years ago. I got so spoiled seeing so much of her, now I miss her more than ever.

They are coming home for Christmas, though, and given how fast this year is going, December will be here before we know it. And then I'll be in Tucson next May for a joint graduation party for Abby & Ryan. It's good knowing that I will see them a couple of times in the year to come, but it doesn't make it any easier to have them so far away. Luckily, I know they are in good hands down in Tucson since they live really close to Ryan's Dad and his wife, Lora.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the wedding posts! It was fun to re-live the memories when writing this post, and I know I will come back and re-read these posts when I miss Abby or want a reminder of the play of events of the weekend.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, love those family photos. I really like that your family came from all over the US; true testament to what an awesome family you have! (and makes me miss being with my extende family too.)

How cool is that the DJ brought props for kids to play with?

Mama Nastase said...

Brava! :applause: Great recap...I really enjoyed reliving the wedding/reception through your eyes. It was really a beautiful event.

I enjoyed meeting so many of your relatives...your mom has some crazy (in a good way) brothers and your dad has some really sweet sisters. Your grandma is very beautiful; you're right, she has aged really well.

I love your grandpa's quote, "all because two people fell in love". Such a sweet yet profound sentiment!

Amber said...

I LOVED all these wedding posts! So fun! It looks like it was a really great weekend!!

Dancing at weddings is my FAVOURITE part! Haha

Kelly said...

Those family photos are awesome! I especially love the little kids with blow up guitars! Congrats on the speech too- I read your post below and it sounds like you did a GREAT job, I love that quote too!

Marlys said...

Great job on the wedding recap, Lisa! It was a great weekend with all our families present! I look forward to the next family event! It was also great meeting Ryan's families and friends and sharing those precious wedding events with them. I miss A & R both so much, but time flies and they will soon be home for Christmas!

Marlys said...

Great job on the wedding recap, Lisa! It was a great weekend with all our families present! I look forward to the next family event! It was also great meeting Ryan's families and friends and sharing those precious wedding events with them. I miss A & R both so much, but time flies and they will soon be home for Christmas!

Abby said...

Bravo!! I will be rereading these 5 amazing posts probably monthly :).

I also miss you a ton! Especially after being so spoiled for a weekend.

Thank you for recapping the wedding! It is so awesome :) You did a much better job than I...for my blogs tend to be either disastrous or OVERLY wordy and novel-like ;)

Shoshanah said...

I love the picture of your nephews with the blow up guitars. Very cute!