Right after the reunion, we went home and got ready for Anthony's wedding. Ant & I were really close in our youth group/high school days. He would always take me home from school and pick me up for youth group events and I would go to his family's on Christmas Eve. I thought of him like my older brother. I introduced him to Mike Hartmann & that group of friends after he had had a rough break up, and they're still close (in fact, Seth - one of Shawn's friends from high school who also hung out in that group - was in his wedding). Shawn is still in the fantasy football league with Ant and probably sees him more often than I do now, but I was still honored that we were invited to their wedding.
Lauren & Anthony exchanged vows at 5 pm on Sunday at Willow Valley chapel (where Shawn's sister Missy got married). Meanwhile, my Mom watched our boys at our house (thank you!!!). She had been going to take them to Long's Park to see the music but decided against it, which I think was probably a wise call. We got to the chapel early (better early than late for a wedding!), and sat next to Sarah Tangert (who we also went to church with - her brother Mike & Ant were roommates at one point and are still good friends so Mike was also in the wedding). Sarah was cracking us up - she & Mike are pictured left. He's in the military or national guard or something like that. In fact, Seth told us that four out of the six guys up front in the wedding were packing (and I'm not sure if that included the pastor or not!).
The wedding was beautiful (other than the pastor being... well, maybe I shouldn't say) and the bridesmaid dresses were gorgeous as were the flowers. I didn't take any pictures, though. My brain wasn't completely with me after such a long day/weekend.
They left the church in bubbles and rode in a limo around the block while we went to get appetizers in the palm court. Then they took pictures for HOURS (which I know is normal) and eventually came in around 8ish to start dinner. We sat with Mike & Kelly Hartmann and Glenda Byler. I also saw Jen & Ryan Showalter (I'm pictured with Jen below), Jen's parents Julie & Jim Waldron who I just adore, and Faith & Eric Beck (they went to our high school as well - just a little younger than us - and Faith taught at Calvary last year).
Of course, I also saw a couple other folks I knew like Mike & Sarah's older sister Mary who I worked with years ago, Jess & Tim who couldn't stay for the reception, and Eric & Connie (Anthony's younger brother who was in our grade and his wife who I was good friends with in youth group). I also got to say hi to Anthony's mom and sisters. So, this was another little mini-reunion of seeing old friends!
While we were having fun and the music was nice in the background, we left just before they cut the cake since were were tired and it was already 9 pm. We knew my mom would want to be going home and it would be the boys' bedtime. So, we bid everyone we saw farewell and headed out from a very nice but very busy weekend. Our warmest wishes for the utmost blessings to the happy couple.
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