prior to the wedding, i did some crafting with kristi.

and once that was done, we were allowed to have fun. (not that gluing and cutting and measuring isn’t fun… it’s a different kind of fun.)

the rehearsal dinner was two nights before the wedding, and kristi told us about when she knew she loved jared. it was sweet.

the day of the wedding, the ladies all got up bright and early to get fancy hair-do’s. jen didn’t get a ‘do but she brought mimosas and conversation to the salon.

i wish my bangs looked like that every morning. all mod and sleek.

and though i took a few more photos throughout the afternoon/evening, i gave my camera to jason to document most of the day.

the ladies’ bathroom was garish and awesome.

i never have any photos of myself from events. i will be giving my camera to jason more often, perhaps.

i can’t wait to see the photos from the photographer’s session in this bathroom.

oh, oh! here are a few photos that i caught:

and then, just like that, they were married!

what is that face i’m making?

and the toast i couldn’t make because i was already so overwhelmed with joy for the day that anytime i tried to tell it, i burst into hysterics: when jen arrived in minneapolis a few days prior to the wedding, we were discussing the duties of the maid of honor. i think she brought up the tradition of “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.” oh, shoot, was this something i was supposed to take care of?! we talked it through though and decided that kristi had three of the four: something new was her wedding/engagement ring, something borrowed was the slip i had loaned to her, and something blue was the necklace that she was wearing. but where was her something old? i was stumped. i thought about it up until the wedding day, but has basically resigned myself because i had nothing old and no good ideas. so as we were waiting for the ceremony to begin, jen and i were telling this problem to corinne, kristi’s mom, and erin, jared’s sister. “well, she’s got you guys – her old friends.” at the same moment, jen and i let out a happy sigh – so overly cheesy but absolutely perfect. thank you for that, erin!

instead i toasted about how i was a bit over-protective of my girl and may have accidentally-on-purpose crashed their first date, but seeing how excited jared is now to marry such a fantastic girl makes me happy. of course i said it a lot less concisely and more blather-y (“i might cry so i have to keep this short”) and then i forgot to toast at the end! bah! oh, well.

dancing! the band was super fun.

and by this point i was a little drunk on wine and wedding. dancing with jason was a highlight of the evening, even though i may have twirled in the wrong direction a couple times.

then i guess the camera got put away for the night. when the party was over, we moved it over to the hotel for a little bit longer. it was an excellent, happy night!

the next day was a little difficult. checkout was noon, so we had to get up and get out. too early. and then the hotel’s kitchen had closed so we had to go search for food. ugh.

we hung out with a few other family members while kristi and jared opened millions of gifts.

then there may have been a nap that lasted for several hours.

many cheers to my dear friends. i wish you a lifetime of awesome!