Texas Skies: C&C's Wedding ~

Please feel free to watch these two videos of Caleb and Claudia's wedding that I created:

The fews weeks leading up to Caleb and Claudia's wedding were filled with all kinds of preparations that had to be made. But the Thursday and Friday before the wedding were, of course, especially busy.

Caleb & Claudia, and the majority of their wedding party, drove up Thursday evening. We had a meal that evening and just hung out - oh, and we got some preliminary set-up done, too. ;) All early afternoon/evening, I (Phoebe) was working on making the groom's cakes (which also took me most of Friday to complete).

Friday, we were up and at the church building bright and early (ok, only about 9:30am), and worked all day on a hundred different things: from decorations in the sanctuary, to decorations in the fellowship hall - which included hanging streamers and lights from high on the wall and ceiling in the fellowship hall - to finishing the groom's cakes, to making cabbage rolls, to cleaning, to ironing out technical details, and finally, to the rehearsal that evening at 6pm. With 7 bridesmaids and groomsmen, three flower girls, and one ring bearer, the whole process was kind of complicated, but thank God for a rehearsal! On Saturday, it all worked out perfectly! :)

After the rehearsal, we went to a local Italian restaurant, Roma's, and ate a delicious dinner with all of the participants in the wedding and some of the helpers (like photographer, wedding coordinator, family of flower girls, etc.) Needless to say, we were out very late that night - or should I say early. Because, after staying at the restaurant until closing (10pm), some of us went back to the church building to do more decorating. Joel, Abby, Johanna and I were all at the church until around 12:30am, and Caleb and Claudia, no less, were there until past 11pm. Crazy peeps! :P

Saturday, the hubbub was all around the building. The groom and his groomsmen were finishing up decorations in the fellowship hall, while the bride and some of bridesmaids were out getting their hair and nails done. Ms. Roy (a lady from our church) was busy in the kitchen, I was scurrying about taking photos here and there, along with Talley D., who was the other photographer, or should I say, main photographer. Also do other things along the way, like getting my hair done and getting dressed (good idea, right?!), and setting the cakes out.

Surprise, surprise! The bride and bridesmaids were ready before the guys! Everyone was ready a good thirty minutes before the set time for the service to start (2pm). Plenty of time for some before-the-wedding photographs, relaxing (or trying to!), and making sure everyone knew what they were supposed to be doing. Maria, the wedding coordinator, did such a fabulous job on directing everyone!

Another surprise! The wedding started shortly after two - something like 2:05pm. Oh, I mean, everything really went very smoothly and couldn't have gone any better! God is so good!

The service lasted around 45 minutes. It was fantastic! Around 120~ attended. And the reception was exceptional, with lots of delicious food, Caleb and Claudia's amazing first dance, Beatriz's (the maid of honor) toast, Jaden's (the best man) toast, and lots of dancing at the end. Most of the people who came stuck around for the reception, so the hall was packed. It lasted until around 7pm when Caleb and Claudia officially left.

And then... The clean up. :) We had so many people help us - we would've been up until one or two in the morning if it weren't for them. As it was, we were only at the church building until 9-9:30pm. So, from cleaning up the kitchen, to taking down most of the decorations and sweeping the fellowship hall, to taking down the decorations in the sanctuary and setting back up the stage, there were a lot of things to do! And all of the help really made it easy and fast - and fun, too! :)

I will leave you with a few pictures, and will try to post some more photos when I get a chance.