Wednesday, June 19, 2013

My Sister's Wedding

Well, it is a little late but my best friend and sister married in a beautiful ceremony at the foothills of Virginia the weekend of April 5th.  Amanda wanted a small ceremony in the country with family and close friends and after only four months of planning, she had every detail finished and had the wedding of her dreams.

The weekend kicked off on Friday with a bridal luncheon at the Allandale Mansion in our hometown of Kingsport, Tennessee.  All of the ladies that were invited to the wedding we invited to the lunch  as well as some local friends of our mother's. After a rainy day on Thursday, the sun came out and it was a great beginning to a perfect weekend.  We gave out Pennsylvania maple syrup as favors and Matt showed up at the end with flowers for his soon to be bride.

That evening the Boone's hosted a rehearsal dinner at The Peppermill in Abingdon and thanks to Matt's moms creative side, she had made custom signs, favors, and a picture to sign all with the theme and colors from their wedding website.

On the Big Day, we started our primping and prepping at the salon at the Martha Washington Inn.  Besides doing the brides hair, my mother also did seven of the eight flower girls hair (Ava was napping during this so she had her hair done at the church).  We then drove to a little country church 30 minutes outside of Abingdon and when Amanda started walking down the aisle, there was not a dry eye in the church.  Matt's father is a pastor and married them and surprisingly all eight of the flower girls made it down the aisle.

At the Wedding reception, Amanda and Matt did not want dancing but they did have a first dance to "So This Is Love" from Cinderella.  The rest of the evening they had a pianist and violinist play while guest ate and mingled.   The cutest part of the reception was the kids craft table that Amanda had put together that was full of candy, coloring, and stickers.  We took our eyes off of Ava for a second and next thing I was told that she was double fisting it in the M&M bowl and by the time I saw her she had a rainbow of melted M&M's down her white flower girls dress as she ran circles around the room yelling her name over and over and over...

Before everyone left on Sunday, we met for brunch at Heartland where Ava entertained the building by dancing to the live Gospel music and I had the best peach cobbler and homemade pecan ice cream for dessert. 

I am so proud of my sister and am excited to see all of the many blessings that she will have in her marriage with Matt.

Bridal Luncheon at Allandale



Pennsylvania Family




Amanda with her new sister in laws.

Amanda with her nieces and also the flower girls

Amanda and Matt with their mothers



Ava and Abigail did not want to be in the picture



How cute are they!