Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Natalie Bradley and Brett LeMmon were married Friday April 30, 2010. After much preparation and work they had a beautiful and memorable wedding day, even despite the cold, wind, snow and rain.
Thursday was spent decorating the gym. Natalie picked some very bright green and orange colors for her wedding and I believe that at some point we all thought it would be impossible to find enough decorations to make the church gym look like a beautiful reception hall. After a day of setting up, I thought it was the most beautiful reception Mom Bradley had ever pulled off. There were lanterns and fish and fountains and flowers everywhere and they all worked wonderfully together.
Thursday night we had a family BBQ/shower for Brett and Natalie and all family members.
Friday morning we headed down to Bountiful for a day of celebration.
The new happy couple. I never thought that I much liked white tuxes before, but I really loved how these two looked so pure and clean with both in white. It really worked well with the orange too.
For the last day of April, it was COLD! James and I remembered how cold it was on our Labor Day weekend wedding day. We recall there being one coveted blanket among the group and so asked Bryson and Scott grab some blankets to take with us. The grandkids basically horded them. I'm pretty sure this was the last time Thomas smiled until we got him inside a warm building.
This picture illustrates my point. The little buggar wouldn't even smile for a picture with Natalie because he was cold. Ryland also seems to not care about being away from his warm mommy. I think it's funny though that Abby and Breckan have such nice smiles. Abby was the only grandchild around for my wedding and she could care less about being happy in any of my pictures (I recall that she was sick that day). And I have a few pictures from Lisa and Jenny's wedding where neither Abby or Breckan were interested in being happy during pictures. Thanks for being such big girls this time ladies! 
Brett and Natalie and Great Grandma Bradley outside the temple.
I absolutely LOVE this picture of Grandma. I tried to hide the camera so that she wouldn't pose and I got exactly what I wanted. It makes me feel so cheerful and happy when I see it. 
After the temple everyone headed over to the wedding luncheon. It was yummy sweet pork tacos! Hmmm, I love sweet pork on anything. There were also these beautiful cookies made from wedding shapes. Hailey couldn't get over her pretty dress cookie complete with edible pearls on it. It was a great motivation to get her to eat all her food. You can see she snuck a little bite out of the sleeve before lunch started.
The best part of being in a family with so many children is that you can often live by the phrase, "many hands make light work." After lunch we all split up to do various jobs so that we could put the finishing touches of the reception together. Our job was to go and buy 40 goldfish for bowls that would be the center pieces on the tables. I can't say how much I loved this idea!When Thomas woke up Friday morning he proclaimed that "This was the best day ever because he would get to take some fish home at the end of it!" We still have two of the four we came home with, Whitie and Wilbur (both named by Thomas). He hasn't cared too much when the other fish have died. I asked him after the last fish died and he watched him swirl around the toilet if he was even a little bit sad. "No." he said, "When they all die we can just get new fish." Ah, that's exactly why I like goldfish pets too, easily replaceable. Later that day James asked him again why it didn't make him sad and he replyed, "I'll just put on a sad face." As if to say I'll only do it for you silly parents who want me to make a big fuss over a dead fish. It both made us laugh pretty hard.
Jenny and Lisa working on more hair. There never seems to be enough time to do the finishing touches on the reception and feel like you had sufficient time to get yourself dressed and ready before it's time for pictures. I'd like the remedy that next time we have a wedding. I'm not sure how though.
Church gym turned reception hall.
The original Bradley 12 with parents. Aren't they a good looking bunch?
Natalie and Hailey. Hailey wasn't so sure about Natlie in this big white dress. You would think that any little girl would love a dress that makes you look like a princess, but I think it was just a little much for Hailey to see Natalie so unusually dressed. 
Artisitc pictues...I mean, does it look like we like each other? I knew this one would turn out a little strange looking when we were placed in our spots. Everyone kept saying it'll look good. Um, not in my book. Maybe from the actual angle that the picture was taken. This one is just from where James is standing, but I doubt it.
James, Thomas, Ann, Hailey before the reception began.The rest of the night was spent serving orange and lime serbet (another ingenious idea to bring in the orange and green colors), cookies, chocolate strawberries, and citrus punch. I loved visiting with all the family that came, some of which weren't expected to make it, but showed up any how.
Ann and Jenny. She's ready to have her baby any day now. I feel like I am.
Thomas tackling Ryland. I think Ryland was having fun, but I'm not sure.
Thomas and Eric.
The sweet girl cousins minus Kira.
They have so much fun together.
My cute boys. Could I ask for anything more?After the reception we cleaned up and threw everything into the back of the Bradley's van. The boys had real motivation to get to a T.V. and watch the end of the Jazz game. There have been so many I don't even remember if that was one they won or lost. Forgive me, I'm not such a big Jazz fan. That's a whole other story. I was also somewhat out of it because we had been going non stop for two days now. That's rough work on a pregnant lady.
A week later we headed down to Elsinor, UT for a reception hosted by Brett's family.
I hate to say we weren't excited to be there, because, well, I thought it was a lot of fun to have a great excuse for a mini vacation. But, this is what I often found people from the "wedding party" doing, sitting around...away from the reception. Sorry Kelli and Scott for putting you on the spot. It wasn't just them, it was everyone. I think we were weddinged out. Shortly after this a game of Bananagrams was started in the reception hall. I'm not sure which was better. But, it was a small town gathering and no one seeemed to mind. Brett's siblings even got in on the action as well. Brett's family had a beautiful back drop that I tried to utilize for some good pictures of my kids. Try was the key word here. They were a little silly. I'm pretty sure they were thinking, "How could mom pull us away from running rampid around with our cousins for THIS!" Because I'm the mom and whatever I say goes. But, the beauty of digital is that I was able to take 10 pictures and get 2 semi good ones out of it.
And finally a picture of the newest arrival to the Bradley Family. Little Andrew. He was born a week before the wedding. I guess he just didn't want to miss all the excitment. It's aweing to hold a little spirit who was probably just hanging out with our little guy a few days before he came down to the earth.
After this reception, we headed over to the hotel with everyone for a quick little extended vacation. I'll do a separte post about that stay.
Congratulation Brett and Natalie! I wish you the best in your new adventure together. Marriage is work, but mostly it fun because it's with your new best friend who will never leave you not for all eternity.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
The Bradleys are a beautiful family. I wonder if I'll ever have 8 soon to be 9 and then 10 grandchildren. I think I counted right.
Close. It's 9 soon to be 10 (Jenny), 11 (Me), and 12 (Becky).
Post a Comment