Zee Vedding Lunsh-on!

After our sealing, Bill and I and my parents went back to our apartment. (Nothing brings greater joy to my heart than referring to things in first person plural possessive pronouns, i.e., we, us, ours.) Madre and Pops picked up our picture frames that we bought from D.I. and spray-painted ourselves (with some help from our friends Al and Loraine). The parentals were LIFE-savers by taking them to the church and setting them up prior to our reception. Then quick as a wink, we realized that we needed to be on our way to our wedding luncheon in Brigham City, or we would be late!

So we hopped in Lex, my masculine beater car, and zoomed down to the Maddox Lodge.

The Lodge was beautiful! I was so impressed and it smelled divine. I LOVE Maddox food. All the tables were set up, people were sitting down and conversing, and Bill and I mingled for a bit.

Bill mingling

Michelle, Me, Ashery, and Shananaba

  

Acting upon Judy's brilliant suggestion, Bill and I and decided that instead of your traditional toast, we would like our parents to put together "survival kits" for their future son/daughter-in-law. The point was to have the wedding party get to know the bride and groom a little bit better and to keep the mood light.

In the survival kit presented to me, I was given:
    
     A giant bottle of ranch -- because Bill pours ranch on everything. Especially potatoes.
     A blow horn -- to use to wake Bill up in the morning because a little nudge and a sweet-sing-
          songy "good morning" WILL NOT wake my Bill up.
     Earplugs -- to use to allow me to fall asleep at night when Bill starts to snore.
     A book of 5,087 trivia questions and answers -- because Bill is always spouting off random
          trivia. I need a chance to stump him!
     Sunglasses -- because Bill is always complaining about how bright it is.
     A purple vase -- because I need somewhere to put all the flowers Bill brings me. And purple is
          his favorite color. :)
     Roman Holiday -- the perfect chick flick to pop into the DVD player when Bill starts working on
          all his computery things.
     A stepping stool -- because both of us are vertically challenged and can't reach things in
          certain cupboards in our apartment.

Greg presenting me with the almighty bottle of ranch dressing.

Bill was presented with a survival kit containing:

     A clock -- because I'm always complaining about how there's not enough time in my day to get
          everything done.
     Movie tickets and Cars Pez dispensers -- to go see Cars 2 in the movie theater when it came
          out...because I LOVE Lightning McQueen.
     Toilet bowl cleaner -- because I'm always cleaning, and it's what I do for my job working for
           USU Housing.
     Gardening gloves -- because I used to be into a lot of that kind of thing back when I was in
          FFA and working for Allan Plant Co.
     Bubbles -- because I'm a kid at heart, and Bill can take me to a park and play bubbles with me!
     A gift certificate to the Emma Eccles Jones Theater -- I would DIE without the theater in my
          LIFE. This is essential to Bill's sanity.
     A gallon of hairspray -- to save Bill a little money...because I do, in fact, use that much
          hairspray.
     A box of Charleston Chews -- my favorite candy to share!
     A piggy pot holder -- I just love pigs...and baking?

Pops and Madre presenting the survival kit.

Note the yellow carnation that Bill stole from the vase in front of him and then placed in his lapel. ;)

After our parents presented each of us with these survival kits, lunch was served! And our waitress brought out an extra cup of ranch for Bill's baked potato. Yes. She was listening well. :)

We offered top sirloin steak, turkey steak, or fried chicken to our guests along with a never-ending supply of Maddox's delicious rolls.

I was so full! And then Judy and Greg decided that they would like to offer dessert to our guests as well! Snicker ice cream cake, or cheesecake. It was a piece of heaven by the spoonful.

It wasn't as terrible as I thought it might be sitting in front of everyone. I had Bill beside me to talk to and to distract me. Thank heavens. But rest assured, an occasional face was pulled now and again to various people in attendance.

When we were no longer hungry, and by that I mean stuffed full, everyone went their separate ways. And we two and our families wandered out to the cars.

Judy and Greg had picked up the tuxedos and swapped them from car to car making sure all the men had their tuxes.

Greg looked at Lex's headlights and noted that they needed to be buffed so that you could actually see the light shine out of them when you drove at night. He offered to buff them before we left on our honeymoon to Bear Lake. So we traveled down to South Weber to allow my father-in-law to do us such a magnificent service.

While Greg gave Lex a fix-up, Judy suggested Bill and I crash on the front couch for a nap to help us survive the rest of the evening. Brilliant idea. I need naps to survive any regular day...I think one would be especially appropriate on the day of your wedding!

And all too soon...

It was time for our reception!