Jaime got married

My favorite cousin Jaime got married in May in beautiful San Luis Obispo, CA. It was a big deal. Back in December, my parents let us know that our Christmas present this year was a trip to Cali! And the icing on the cake was that Derek's parents watched our babies for SIX DAYS while we were gone!!! The rest of the trip will appear on the blog later (too many pics and stories to tell).

This post is all about the MISSUS and her amazing wedding. First up, the ceremony. Most of the wedding guests took the PARTY BUS that Jaime provided so that we could party it up right! And to truly start it off right, cocktails were available, if not encouraged, pre-ceremony.

Jaime's bridesmaids were assisted down steps by the ushers - all lined up down the side of the steps. It reminded me of the Miss America pagaent when the contestants come down the aisle of men and they do something fancy like uncross their swords in unison when each contestant passes. Jaime definitely had the details down!! I mean, I thought the ushers could have used jazz hands... but whatever. And how does J walk down the aisle? With a rock-and-roll wedding march, of course.

After the ceremony, the final photos were taken and hors d'oeuvres were served. I wish I had a photo of them. Tomato Bisque Soup Shooters with a sliver of a fancy grilled cheese sandwich? GREAT! (In fact both Derek and I ordered the full size of this at Hattie's when we went for our anniversary last week). But you should hold your applause for the bacon-wrapped dates. **smacks lips** Something else was served with goat cheese. I am against goat cheese on principle, so I didn't try it. I don't think I'll ever understand goat cheese.

We took some family photos, danced, mingled, ate dinner (which I remember was delicious but started to get foggy on specifics).... all the usual fun wedding stuff. The bride and groom danced for the first time. Then Jaime and her dad, Art, started dancing to Butterfly Kisses.... We were mystified. WHY WOULD JAIME, the same bride that couldn't walk down the aisle without an electric guitar accompanying her, PICK THIS SONG? Super Sandy built us up, "I know! Can you believe she chose this song?"

As if on cue, Art leaves the dance floor... bribes the DJ to pump up the tunes... and gets the nearest young boy to start snapping with him. WHAT?! Is that Party Rock Anthem?!?! I scrambled to the front to watch the choreographed routine.

I'm not big on this word, but it's appropriate here - AMAZEBALLS. I mean, 3 months ago Art couldn't even walk. Plus he's got the rhythm of a Paxton (that's not a good thing). Despite the fact that everything was going against him, he NAILED it! Reactions after the dance from the crowd:

From there, the five cakes were cut... magnificent cakes, but I only have photos of people eating them:

We danced to classic 80's tunes, ran out of Texas Spiked Lemonade (don't fret - there was plenty of wine!), and before you could even THINK about rolling your eyes at another Tiffany song, the band appeared. The Atomic Punks - not just A Van Halen cover band, but THE Van Halen cover band. My brother and the groom helped them out a little from time-to time during the night:

But mostly we all just danced, sang and enjoyed the show.

And when the Punks took a break, there may or may not have been a dance-off. Sadly, it's not the first dance-off I've lost at a wedding. But I recovered well because a FLASH MOB to I'm Sexy and I Know It made me feel allllll better!! Unlike all the other wedding surprises, I was in the loop on this one. And by in the loop, I mean that people I didn't know approached me before the wedding saying "Hey - I know you from that youTube video" and it wasn't even a bad thing.

From there, the band played, we drank a little more, then sent the newlyweds off with sparklers. And beer cans tied to their car. CLASSY!!

The party bus moved the party on to the hotel bar, which was already open late for the festivities. Derek and I didn't party very long - we were in bed before midnight, which was good because we had more fun planned for the next day. But that's for another blog...