Cathy in DC: Wedding back in Michigan

I went back to Michigan this past weekend for a wedding in Owosso that Matt stood up in. The groom, Jay, and his family have been lifetime friends of Matt's family and the bride, Kendra, was one of Matt's sister's friends who also went to Michigan so I have known her for a few years. The bride and groom were both from Owosso so this was like a reunion for Matt and his friends and even I know a good amount of the Owosso crowd by now through Matt. The weekend was crazy and busy but sooo much fun! I arrived in Detroit around 12:30 Friday and Matt's sister, Kim, picked me up from the airport on her way home from Ann Arbor. Then we had to drive 1.5 hours to Owosso where we met up with Matt's mom and hung out for a little while. Matt was at the dentist when I got there so he got back about half an hour after me and I was so exicted to see him because I hadn't seen him since Bermuda, which had been a month earlier, the longest break we've had since moving.

After that we had to get ready for the wedding rehearsal. Matt and Kim were both part of the wedding, Matt was a groomsman and Kim played her violin before and after the ceremony; I just sat and watched :). Then we went to the rehearsal dinner at the Wrought Iron Grill which was a cool retaurant that was in an old factory. All the people in the wedding party were introduced and received gifts, then hung out for a while at the bar...again like I said earlier, this was a big reunion for everyone because several of the kids who had moved to new cities were back in town and seeing each other for the first time in a while.

The next day, Matt had to leave the house by 11am to go to brunch with the groomsmen and Kim and I went to the salon to get our hair done. I wasn't sure how I wanted mine done and I was a little concerned when I left because my hair looked pretty fancy and I was worried it was going to be fancier than the people in the wedding party so I had a minor panic attack. However it ended up working out because I took out all the pins and just let it fall down and it stayed really curly and looked a lot less formal and then I loved it!

The wedding was a nice short ceremony and it was fun to watch Matt walk down the aisle! The reception was in Lansing so there was a bit of a break between the ceremony and reception to allow for pictures and travel time between the two cities (they are about 35 minutes apart). The reception was really fun and I finally got to talk to Matt after dinner for the first time since that morning before he left the house (other than about 2 minutes after the wedding). There was lots of dancing and fun times had by all, as you can see from the pictures. Also, the guys danced to the Michael Jackson song from free willy and I posted it on facebook because I am never successful with the blogger video tool.

Here are pictures from the weekend:

Before the wedding rehearsal and dinner (Matt's sister on the right)