The Carstens: Rehearsal and Rehearsal Dinner

Tonight we had the wedding rehearsal and then went back to my parent's house for the rehearsal dinner. The rehearsal was nice but a little stressful. It was nice Father Tom and Carol (the wedding coordinator) knew their jobs so well that they could corral people in the right spot and lead us through everything we needed to do. It was a little stressful because I have a three-year old niece, who's the flower girl, who was a little rambunctious. Thank goodness Father is cool with kids and Haylee didn't bother him. It was also a little stressful because rehearsing made the 'big day' that much closer. Like butterflies in your stomach before a good interview. You know you want the job, you know you'll get the job, but you still get a little nervous. :-)

After the rehearsal we went back to my parent's house where I was met by probably 30 people milling around in the living room. Within 20 minutes another 30 had showed up for a big ole' party of 60 people. My mom's co-worker had the great idea of having the actual dinner in the garage. See, my parent's had just finished moving into their newly built HUGE house that happened to have a six-bay garage. Instead of trying to cram 60 people into the living room, dining room, and kitchen with not enough space for everyone her co-worker thought about renting tables and chairs and using tarps to hide one bay while everyone ate in the other two. It was perfect!!! The casual atmosphere (along with a little booze) made everyone feel right at home and before long people were laughing and having a great time. A really neat way to end the day and start the wedding festivities.

Father Tom explaining the ceremony while I hold Haylee and Nate tries to be cool.

Nate and I repeating the pretend vows. We got to hear and say the first part of everything, but that's as far as we got.

Ben, Karen, and Rick. Ben flew all the way from Missouri to be at the wedding. He's a dear friend that moved away two years ago and is sorely missed. I can't wait for the day I hear that he's moving back. Karen is my bestest friend since first grade. Rick is an awesome friend who's always good for a great game of Kube.

One view of the garage. The blue tarps hid the third garage bay with all the garage stuff. You can see drink tables in the background with the lighted vases.

Nate and I enjoying dinner with family and friends. Going around the circle there's Nate's Grandma Sylvia, Nate, Haylee, me, Valerie (Nate's college friend), her son Jonathon, and the back of Connie's head (Nate's Mom's caretaker). The other table includes Nate's cousin Kila, Aunts and Uncles Bev and Bruce with Max and Claudia, and Nate's Dad David sitting second from the right. Yes, there's a quiz.