Congratulations Jennifer and Dale!

Friday

After getting my hair and nails done it was off to the city to check into the hotel and head to the rehearsal. The hotel (Hyatt Regency Chicago) was pretty sweet, but very very crowded...but we had a damn nice view of the river.

We got to the rehearsal a bit early and the woman there wouldn't let us in, so we met up with Jen, Dale, and some of their friends at a bar down the street, where I had a delicious bellini.

Once the start time was finally nearing we all headed over to the mansion and started rehearsing. I guess there isn't much to say about a wedding rehearsal except that we rehearsed a wedding.

Afterwards we ate a lot of pizza and salad and cannoli and got even more jewelry from Jen (I wore five times as much jewelry to the wedding than I normally do), then we called it a night.

Before bed, Nat and I went to explore the hotel...which definitely looked more exciting on paper. We did, however, see some other celebration going on in one of their ballrooms where everyone was wearing a ridiculously large hat costume. No clue.

Saturday

Saturday Nat and I got ready while watching American Gladiators. Then after being bored just waiting around we headed to Jen's hotel room to wait for the other bridesmaids. Finally everyone started to arrive in their fabulously individual little black dresses (we each got to pick our own dress, the only rules were black, knee-length, not shiny). Then the photographer came and we finished getting Jen dressed, met up with the boys, and set off for photos!

Now the photographer...well...kind of bugged me. She kept telling us to smile and laugh and look at the camera so we'd look happy. So she got a lot of pics of us being fake. But then when we were actually talking and laughing and having a real good time, she didn't take pictures. And then for most of the pics she had us throwing our hands in the air doing jazz hands or wave or something stupid. I mean, couldn't she have taken some pictures of us being natural? Or just pretty? Or taken the hint that we weren't ta-da-hand people? Whatever, I'm sure they turned out fine.

So, we went and took pics at Millennium Park, by the river, and by the Field Museum (I didn't get any pictures of any of these, because I wanted to be camera-less in the pictures.) Then, just as it started to rain, we headed off to Glessner House.

We all piled into the conservatory to freshen up, look down the windows at people coming, put together our bouquets (we just took a couple calla lilies and tied them together ourselves), and try to fasted Jen's 99 cent ebay veil to her head. Then we went out and took some family pics and then lined up for the ceremony.

The ceremony was beautiful and sweet and I really liked the minister while she was ministering (even though she was a bit of a complainer while she wasn't). We set it up so the groomsmen all walked out first, then all the bridesmaids (since there were more bridesmaids then groomsmen it would have been awkward to try and pair up).

The ceremony was outside in the courtyard, and it rained a bit, but it wasn't too bad and no one seemed to mind.

After Jen and Dale were officially married, we got to eat! (my favorite part as always, food!) There were some yummy appetizers of pigs in a blanket and stuffed mushrooms and an olive oil bar of different breads and different flavored oils. Yum! And, of course, the bar! (Just beer and 2 wines...but wine is all a girl really needs).

We were all entertained by the musical styling's of the "Wandering Endorphin" Although he stood and played his guitar. I was kind of expecting him to wander.

Towards the end of cocktail hour it started to rain a bit more so everyone piled inside for dinner (luckily that was set up for being inside anyways).

Dinner was a pasta bar, where basically you picked your ingredients (I had shrimp, veggies, green fettuccine, and alfredo) and they cooked it for you right there. It was totally yummy.

The maid of honor (Nat) and best man gave their speeches and we found out that Dale is a break dancer! Who knew!?!?!?!

By that time the real photographer had to go ( :( ) but that meant that I had to step in and become official.

So then it was time for cake cutting, first dancing, and PARTYING!!!

We moved the dancing outside. It was still raining and the dance floor was wet...

and dresses got pretty muddy...

But WHO CARES!!!

So we rocked out in the rain to Jen's iPod, danceddanceddanced, and tried to convince Dale to break dance.

It was an amazing wedding and a superfun day and I am very happy that Jen asked me to be a bridesmaid (even though I always told her that she was too old to be mine) and I'm happy to now have Dale as a brother (finally, someone else in the family who can appreciate things like the Simpsons).

The next morning I made Jen toss me her bouquet in the hotel parking lot, since she didn't want to throw it at the wedding (and if she had thrown it, it would have completely fallen apart).

So...after being a bridesmaid three times in this past year, I finally caught the bouquet. :)

(still more pics to come...but there are so many it's going to take a few more days until they are ready...)