Abby's Wedding - The Big Day Part III

When I last left off, I had just given my speech. There were lots of other speeches, and they were all fantastic. Especially my dad's. He's kind of more soft spoken and not one that likes the lime light, but he did an awesome job. He used a perfect mix of humor and sentimentality. I know he is also super excited to have Ryan as a son-in-law!

It had been rainy and overcast all day, but after dinner the sun came out and it was a beautiful evening so we decided to head outside for some impromptu family photos. I've mentioned before that I have a large family, but these pictures give you a visual.

Here's my mom (4 from the left) with her 7 siblings. Yes, we are Catholic. :) It was awesome having all of her siblings there - my one uncle came all the way from Florida!


After getting a shot of the siblings, we got as many of the McDougall clan together as we possibly could. Getting everyone in the family in a picture is quite like herding cats. But this is pretty close to the whole family!


My dad's side of the family was up next. Unfortunately I didn't get a shot of my grandma, dad, and his 3 siblings. All of my dad's siblings, including my aunt from California, were there. The last time we were all together was for my Grandpa's funeral in February so it was nice to get together to celebrate a happy occasion. My Grandpa's presence was definitely missed, though. Whenever we took a big family picture together, my Grandpa would smile and say, "all because two people fell in love." My Grandma is there in the center of the photo, next to Abby - she looked so beautiful! I hope I age as well as she has!!


After the family photos, it was time to go inside and get the party started!! They started off the dance with the Father/Daughter and Mother/Son dances. I definitely look forward to dancing that dance with my dad some day. My dad was actually voted best dancer of his senior class - and my parents were voted best couple!! Kind of cool, huh?


After those 2 dances and the wedding party dance, it was time to get the other guests involved! Here's a picture of 2 of my nephews, James and Andrew. They had a great time playing with the props that the DJ brought along!


They played "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" pretty early in the night & I got some great shots during that song!

My aunt Barb cutting a rug!

My mom dancing with her 2 sisters!

I was dateless for this wedding (as usual) but who needs a date when you have a dance partner like this!!

And of course I wouldn't be fulfilling my duties as a bridesmaid if I didn't end up in the middle of a dance circle at some point in the night. What can I say - I LOVE wedding dances! :)

And that's all I've got for you. Do you feel like you attended the event after the 5 recap posts? I feel like I was a member of the paparazzi, but pictures are priceless, so I am glad I got so many great shots from the wedding.

Now it's back to life as usual. Abby & Ryan returned to Tucson the Monday after the wedding & just left for their honeymoon last Wednesday (I think they return today). I was pretty much with Abby non-stop from Thursday morning through Sunday night. It was probably the most time we've spent around each other since I left for college 10 years ago. I got so spoiled seeing so much of her, now I miss her more than ever.

They are coming home for Christmas, though, and given how fast this year is going, December will be here before we know it. And then I'll be in Tucson next May for a joint graduation party for Abby & Ryan. It's good knowing that I will see them a couple of times in the year to come, but it doesn't make it any easier to have them so far away. Luckily, I know they are in good hands down in Tucson since they live really close to Ryan's Dad and his wife, Lora.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the wedding posts! It was fun to re-live the memories when writing this post, and I know I will come back and re-read these posts when I miss Abby or want a reminder of the play of events of the weekend.