A Series of Unfortunate Events: Beth Gets Married

Poor Bethany. Weddings are always complicated, but this took things to an entirely new level. First, she had to put up with all her sisters whining about flights/hotels/rental cars. Then there was the wedding dress fiasco (thanks, Etsy). Then issues with recommends and vacationing bishops. Then the Southwest disaster. It would have been comical if it weren't so stressful.

We all had high hopes that the actual wedding day would end up being perfect in order to make up for all the previous chaos. Ha. 

First some of us (including yours truly) arrived at the temple approximately one minute before the sealing was scheduled to begin. Turns out the bride was a bit late herself--lucky the Sacramento temple isn't running as tight of a ship as Salt Lake was during Christmas break (ask me how I know).

Waiting for the bride and groom

 

Why my hair is never down

Grandma, Marah & Elise 

Aunt Marah loves

The Elvis smirk

Then the groom's boutonniere didn't show up.  All the other flowers made it, but not the groom's. We cannibalized the fathers' and grandfathers' boutonnieres to make one for poor Bryan. Also in the chaos, we forgot to get our cute little succulent necklaces from Beth. Boo.

The attending Mikesell grandkids, with falling Elise

A better shot.

Marah's kid might actually be whiter than mine, which I find highly ironic.

Getting these kids to look takes a large team of professionals.

Due to chaos with grandkids and cameras, most of us missed their big exit from the temple. My dad made them recreate it later so he could get pictures.

Mr. & Mrs. Bosworth

Meeting Elise

It was 97 degrees and direct sunlight. Just awful for taking pictures. My dad complained about the humidity--Marah and I almost died laughing.

Look closely--I am the whitest person in the entire group.

The Mikesell clan

A better shot of the clan

All Beth wanted for lunch was for all of us to eat together at Cheesecake Factory. I had to be excluded from that group in order to rush to the chapel and decorate the wedding cake. Marah and Stephen were also excused since they were my chauffeurs.  We got some greasy Panda Express on the drive instead.  As it ended up, no one from our family made it there to eat with them. 

And then there was the cake...

Because I flew in the day before the wedding, Beth arranged to have someone else bake the cake and I would decorate it. I thought this would be a huge time-saver, but it ended up causing some problems. I had to cut down the layers in order to make them more distinct from each other, and icing cut cake is a huge pain because of the crumbs.  Also, they had pre-assembled the cake, complete with supports and a giant stake through the center. But I (obviously) had to disassemble it in order to decorate it. Somehow, when it was put back together, it was not straight. And there was no time to fix it. FYI: 90 minutes is not enough time to cut down and decorate a wedding cake. 

Also helpful: me not paying attention and somehow adding an extra 1/2 bag of powdered sugar to the last batch of icing, and then not understanding why it was so dry and crumbly. Genius. 

Cake transportation time

During the reception the top two layers of the cake slowly tilted. They finally had them cut the cake before it fell over completely. I was so embarrassed. I promised them another cake if they ever come out to Maryland. 

Tilty picture = hiding a tilty cake

(She was going for a rustic look. I promise I'm not bad at icing cakes.

 Just making them straight, apparently.)

Finally, about ten minutes before they were about to leave, we realized the bridesmaids and groomsmen had failed in their solemn duty to decorate the getaway car. We did our best with decorations snatched from the reception, but it was pitiful. 

BUT...

The things that really mattered were so lovely. The sealing was beautiful, even though it was really weird to think that my baby sister was old enough to get married. I may have only gotten to talk with Bryan for about 30 seconds, but he seems like a good guy.

She is so proud to be related to me.

Their reception was nice and relaxed.  It was at a church, which is not my thing, but it was OUTSIDE. This chapel had an outdoor pavilion surrounded by woods. (Also an outdoor playground area for the nursery kids--this should be standard for all chapels!). They also had a DJ and dancing (also not my thing), but it wasn't cheesy like I was expecting. Beth even got Dad to dance with her! I loved when they had a "generations" dance: all married couples danced, and then sat down when the DJ announced a number greater than the years they had been married. So the longest-married couple was the last one on the dance floor. It ended up being our Mikesell grandparents, and they had to give advice to Bryan and Bethany. I thought that was a really fun idea.  Also, shout-out to Brian for filling in for two absent husbands: Jon and Grandpa Bud. 

Elise, Grandma & Adleigh party at the reception

Grandma's necklace is delicious!

Grandma bonding time

Elise is done wedding-ing

Happy again with Grandma Jan

Grandpa loving on Elise

Selfies with real cameras are hard.

Elise getting loved on by Aunt Marah.

She was the most popular baby at the wedding.

Despite the chaos, it ended up being a lovely day. We love you and wish you the best, Bryan and Bethany!