May I Present....

....the new Mr. and Mrs. Obed Acevedo! (Or Mr. and Mrs. Emily Nelson, depending on which side of the family you prefer. :P) Obviously I'm going to have a TON of pictures on here, so more after the break!

(Apologies for not posting anything lately--I bit off somewhat more than I could chew for this post. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things soonish though)

The other bridesmaids and I all met at a local hair salon at 8 AM to get our hair done. Emily was at the church getting dressed and her makeup/hair done by a friend, so it was just a matter of getting over there and waiting for the wedding to start at 10.

The dress was homemade by a girl we know down in Texas--she basically did the whole thing after looking at a picture of what Emily wanted. It turned out gorgeous.

Emily's sister in law Emily Lynn's hair (which made for some confusion early on, but we got past it by including their middle names for clarity's sake :P).

The string quartet is from a nearby college--they're all exchange students from the Philippines (I think) and were AMAZING.

Wade, all dressed up and in shell shock from seeing so many people.... XD

I gave my camera to Lydiana at this point so she could take pictures (hers was acting up) and most of the rest are by her. My mom's family as seen in this row came to crash the wedding. :P

Obi's parents in the foreground, and Emily's mother in the background--I would like to take a moment here and have a shoutout to Emily's mom Debbie, who is one of my favorite people ever. 

Waiting at the altar...

I'd like to take a moment here and point out that I went tanning before this wedding, and I had NO idea I'd be that dark. Just sayin'. But the dresses were great and the flowers only gave me a mild headache when all was said and done.

The groomsmen! From left to right: Pastor R, Obi, Gabi (his brother), Isaac (my brother), and Michael (Emily's brother).

That's a lot of brothers...

Funny story: my brother and Michael were both in the military, so during the wedding they were both at parade rest and standing stock still. Gabi, on the other hand, was all OVER the place. It turned out later that he didn't even remember flopping around like a dead fish--he had been running on 12 hours of sleep within a 36-hour period so he wasn't all there that weekend.

The poor little kids were getting instructions from like 4 different adults at the same time, so they wobbled around for a bit before figuring out where to go. XD

I didn't have pictures of them coming down the aisle (not clear enough ones, anyway), but Emily's dad almost lost it at one point...it was almost enough to make me start crying too. D:

Oh! Another funny story here--they were supposed to be taking communion, but someone forgot to put out the communion elements. So while they were faking it they looked like they were taking shots. *facepalm* It didn't help that we were all trying not to die of laughter onstage...

"May I present for the first time Mr. and Mrs. Obed Acevedo!" :D

In the reception hall Gabi and I came in last. What we didn't know was that there was an order for sitting and such, and we both went "Ooh! Cake!" and wandered off to look at the cake and fountain. ^^; Things got worked out in a moment, but let's just say that having us together probably wasn't the best idea (the effect was that of two ADD puppies wandering around).

But wasn't the cake AWESOME??? The lady who decorated it also had the fountain, thus it was an automatic decision to have both together.

Trying to get her attention...

:D 

After swearing up and down that he wouldn't kiss the bride on demand, what does he do? XD 

(I mean, obviously he's going to kiss her. But there was a discussion about ringing the bell for kissing and Obi swore that he wouldn't do anything he was told to do. But he told me it was Lydiana asking, so she was the exception.)

There was some excitement when we couldn't find a cake knife--there was a butter knife at the ready, just in case, but the cake knife was found and all went well.

This is one of my favorite shots from them all. Emily made the cake topper based off of her dress and Obi's tux, and Lydiana had the idea of taking the picture of them together. :P

Toasting with sparkling cider (because sparkling grape juice wasn't available--it was still good)

Gabi's speech!

He started off really well...

...and then he almost lost it. D: It was very quiet for a few moments, and we were all internally screaming "Don't cry!!"

Awww.....

I'm not sure who thought it was a good idea for me to give a speech...but I managed to swing it. (I had about 30 seconds to pull something out of thin air. It was awesome. 8D)

And then Obi gave a quick speech. I think we all did a good job of it.

Later during the dancing I was trying to get Wade into it, but he wasn't too thrilled. Sigh.

(I think it was getting was past his naptime, which didn't help. XD)

Showing solidarity with the Wade-man...

Isaac and Lydiana wanted me to get a picture of them--I think they look really great here. :D

So that was the wedding! Fun story: they missed their train to Chicago, so Emily's brother and sister-in-law drove them up (they can laugh about it now, but at the time I'm sure there was more than a little grumbling) and they were off on their honeymoon.

Emily and Obed, I wish you both the best and a smooth beginning to married life. Congratulations! :D