Wedding Weekend Extravaganza

This weekend was so great for us! Cortney's little sister, MacKenzie was married yesterday! The weekend was so exciting!

We started the extravaganza on Friday evening. MacKenzie and Dave were married at Second Reformed (same church where we were married), so the rehearsal was there Friday. We decided to give the couple their wedding gift at the rehearsal because it was a little awkward to take to the reception...and I won't lie...I did NOT want to wrap it.

We had our friend Mat (check out his website by clicking on the painting of the Public Market on the sidebar of this blog) painted a view of Comerica Park. The view includes their season ticket seats along with the scoreboard and a partial shot of the Detroit skyline. He is an excellent artist and we were excited he agreed to do this freelance job for us! His contact info is on his webpage if you are thinking you love his work. Sorry...shameless plug for our great friend!

After a very smooth rehearsal, we all drove to the south side of Holland to the Piper for the dinner. For those of you who have never been, it's a great restaurant with a view of Lake Mac and yummy food. This evening, however, our view of the lake was hindered by the sheets of torential rain that was falling. Yes, the great storms begin while we dug into our steak and salmon. Although, the bridesmaids sure look cute, do we not?

While the rain poured we posed for pictures...until the electricity went out. Then we dined on our dessert and opened our thank-you gifts by candle light. Even with the set backs, it was a wonderful time, and we thank the Stefanich's for treating us to such a lovely evening.
By the time we were ready to leave, it was still pouring, there was still no electricity, and the parking lot (along with most of South Shore Drive) was completely flooded. Cortney had to roll up his pants to his knees and ditch his shoes and socks to get the truck.

We slowly took South Shore until we got a call that Lynne (who had left ahead of us) was stuck in her truck in a huge flash flood. So we quickly turned off South Shore and headed south on 160th toward Allegan County (all the while the Visel van was following us). Luckily, I thought to call my direction-savvy dad who helped us find "higher ground" by getting us to 48th street. There was still some flash flooding, but luckily we were headed uphill, so we made it to Washington in Holland Ok. I was sure we would have easy-going on the way home now. Nope.

32nd street was flooded out, so we wove through downtown Holland avoiding the streets that looked like ponds, had flooded vehicles stuck in them, or were blocked by police. Finally we made it to our subdivision after about an hour and a half of driving just to find that the creek and the pond in our subdivision had over-flowed and we couldn't get in.

I won't lie...at this point I lost it. I was hot, in a dress, had to pee, and just all around uncomfortable and now I couldn't go home. I got back on the phone with my dad (it was about 10:30 at this point) and told him we were going to try to come over there. The problem, however, is that there is low ground (re: the creek) to cross to get there. after another half and hour or more, Cortney finally weaved his way through Zeeland (which also had down trees, flooded streets, and police-blocked roads), and made it to my parents house. Thank goodness!

We watched the end of the Tiger game and they let us stay as long as we needed. At 1:00 am, we decided to try to get home. It took about a 20 minutes to a half hour, but we were able to get into our subdivision and get home.

I got right in bed and set the alarm for 7:00 am. We had a wedding to be in the next day, of course!

Saturday greeted us with debris, but also with sun! We couldn't have asked for a nicer day for Kenz and Dave's wedding! Plus I think the bridesmaids all look pretty great for running on almost no sleep!
And MacKenzie made just a gorgeous bride! Cortney was so proud of his little sister!
The wedding ceremony was warm, but beautiful. Cortney stood as an usher and I was a bridesmaid (yes, that would be the seventh time if any of you are counting!) It was such an honor to be part of their day!

After the ceremony, the wedding party took a trolley around GR for some photo shots. Cortney and I followed since that was a bit more comfortable for me. The reception was on the third floor of the BOB in GR.

Dave and MacKenzie started out with their first dance and then we dug in to some GREAT food!
Cortney and I were pretty relaxed for how we normally are at wedding receptions. I guess that is what happens when you've had no sleep and have a little one on the way!
After the mother/son dance, they tried to play the video of MacKenzie with her dad, Steve. The video wasn't working right, so Cortney and Cody and the grandpa's took Kenz for a spin around the dance floor.
Then the party got started! Everyone dance the night away! Corteny and I even shared a little dance together, although, as you can tell it's hard to get close with our Eddie still in there!
I mostly sat and watched the fun. I wasn't ever lonely though! Many, many people made sure I had water and great conversation! Here I am with Jason (my friend, Trisha's brother).
Even my future sister, Liz, took a minute from all her dancing to sit by me. She is our little dancing queen!
Trisha spent lots of time with me too...it's what she does...she's such a great friend!
Before we left, we made sure to get a shot with MacKenzie. Everyone was impressed that I even made it to 10:00pm, so I didn't feel too bad leaving, but boy, was I TIRED!
Today we were able to share time with the newlyweds as they opened their wedding gifts. It was such a great weekend! We are so happy for MacKenzie and Dave because for us, marriage has been the ultimate great time!