First Day of Our Life: Late Night Dance Party

The band had packed up and headed home, and many of our guests had retired to their rooms.  But those of us that clung to the night just weren’t quite ready to let go.

{guest photo}

We had asked Neighbor-B to create one of his infamous dance mixes to get the after-party started off right.  And boy, did he deliver…

First Day of Our Life: Whiskey, Cigars, and a big Whoops!

After the bouquet toss and a bit more barn-stompin’, Enginerd announced that he would be enjoying a bottle of Basil Hayden’s and an Ashton maduro cigar on the front porch, and welcomed any interested guests to join.

{Mark Hayes Photography}

Yes, that is a baby bottle nipple atop the bottle of whiskey, but I can assure you the baby did not imbibe.

First Day of Our Life: Grooms Attire, Act II

So you all convinced me that suspenders on the men would look great, and you were right!  They looked downright dapper:

{Mark Hayes Photography}

But you should know that the route from point A [deciding] and point B [wearing] was not exactly straight.  In fact, it it was quite squiggly.  What follows is a word of caution about using Etsy’s Alchemy process.

First Day of Our Life: Breakaway Bouquet

I feel obligated to explain my prolonged absence, lest you fear I’ve abandoned my regular recaps. Without going into too much detail, 2011 has not been off to a great start for the Ginger-Nerds. We have endured family, financial and career hardships that I never would have expected to be compounded into just two short months. Mr. E has been everything to me and for me since the year began, and I am so very fortunate to have unending love and support from him. Thank you for being patient as I come back around to blogging.

My oh my, where did we leave off?  Oh yes, the dancing!  The band prepared for their next set break, and I prepared to toss my bouquet.  All the ladies, regardless of marital or relationship status, were invited up to the dance floor.

{Mark Hayes Photography}

Life Got Hard.

I just wanted to take a second to apologize for my extended absence.  The last several weeks have been the most difficult I’ve had to endure, and blogging was not at the top of my priority list.

I spent 3 days, from dawn until dark, fixing a crashed server.  When it finally recovered from its massive failure, I jetted off to spend a week with my father who has been very ill in recent months.

The morning after I arrived, we had to take him to the emergency room, and he spent the following 4 days in ICU.  I called my sister and my husband in for support.  My dad was moved to the regular floor for another 3 days and then came home.  Enter: Flu.

I went down first, and it was miserable.    My dad’s condition makes common illness become very serious, so Mr. E and I checked into a hotel to keep me quarantined.  My flight back home had to be cancelled.  Then my cousin - who has been caring for my father over the last several weeks – went down too.  And then my dad spiked a fever, and back to the hospital we went.  Turns out he (and most likely we) had come down with H1N1.  Another 3 days spent in ICU – this time in the isolation room.  We finally got him back home, and then had to fly out the following day.  I’m hoping to avoid hospitals for a while.

Two full weeks later, I returned home to my puppy (who had grown exponentially during my absence), and tried to decompress in time for my birthday.

This long, drawn out story is all to say that I’ve had a good reason to ignore my blog.  But I will be back soon.

♥

Ginger

First Day of Our Life: Hoedown Showdown

After our spotlight dances, it was time for the real dancing to begin.

{Mark Hayes Photography}

First Day of Our Life: First Dance of Our Life

The toasts were over, and the band was ready.  Enginerd and I prepared all four of our left feet to dance.

{Mark Hayes Photography}

Our band played an amazing rendition of our song, and I must confess to a major wedding regret here.