the rehearsal: a series dedicated to laura and eric's wedding

i've been postponing this post for a few reasons:
a. there is no way i can do the evening justice...
b. i'm still so very excited for my sister!  and i'm having a hard time not crying tears of happiness for her and eric everytime i start to think about it...
c. it kind of took me a while to recover from the whirlwind 6 weeks from the announcement to event!
d. i was waiting on professional pics, but i've decided to settle with my own.  besides, there's no reason not to create another post when i get them!

i'm thinking of posting in a series, to be sure everything i want to include is in there.  and to give myself a few posts built up while i'm being visited by my long-lost friend from new-freaking-hampshire and while i participate in and celebrate the marriage of becca and mike.
-rehearsal + eric family
-day of, set up, getting ready, pre-ceremony, ceremony
-reception
-contributions/credits (includes green family designs as previously hinted at): invitations, necklaces, candy labels, sheila's brilliant tablescapes, the dessert bar, sister extraordinare (ME, j/k!), all of PG's handywork

we will start with the beginning, the rehearsal!

pete, jack, and i spent the majority of the day doing some prep work at home (which will be shared in series: contributions).  after a long day (especially after staying up for the royal wedding - yes we have a dvr - no, we didn't record it - yes, we watched from revealing to ceremony, pete and i - yes, i did multi-task - see series at a later date).  anyway, we were very tired, but nothing could keep us down with all the excitement of rehearsing the ceremony, convincing our son to walk down the aisle, and meeting eric's entire family!!

the rehearsal was held at the cermony location, of course, which was my parents' backyard.  laura has always talked of/dreamed about a backyard bar-b-que wedding, and that's exactly what she got (classed up a bit!)!

my fellow bms
angelica, allyn, samantha

the aisle

coordinator (&officiant's wife) with sheila gail

i would like to say that the rehearsing went really well!  carolyn (coordinator) knows her stuff and most of the bridal party had been around the block a time or two (and 3 of the 4 guys and i are married).  the experience lacking on my side was made up for with my bossy-ness.  you know how i can be :).

and my son walked down the aisle.  like the big 3yr old boy he his. (stressed relieved!)

but it was FREEZING.  which kind of freaked me out because the entire evening was planned for outside, with no tent or heating available.  (don't worry, it was like, the warmest night this year for the actual wedding!)

so, on to the rehearsal dinner.  it was hosted by eric's parents' at a local brewery, the blue frog.  yummy food, great beers (one had a hint of banana though, which was super weird.).  what really blew me away, though, was having eric's entire family in one room (he has a TON of relatives).  they were amazing.  his little neices and nephews were so, so well behaved and so very kind to jack (who, btw, was on his VERY BEST behavior EVER - i was like, who is this kid?!?  he was super excited for ant lawa's wedding!).  check them out playing games:

this is unc david (we knew he rocked!)

teaching jack a twisty-hand thing

and the result - unlocked hands!

after the big night, we went home (exhausted) to rest up for the big day!!!