Austin and I woke up, kissed hello, and headed back to the hotel with all the guests. The girls and I headed off to the Marshall Field's nearby for hair and makeup appointments. We cut it a little close for my liking, but finished in time for some last-minute dress steaming back at the hotel, some thoughtfully brought over snacks by the groom, and some group photos by Tom, our photographer. Beth and Tom talked shop most of the day, it was pretty funny.

We got to Tina's by 4:30, and the first thing I needed to do was drag my train inside to look at the hall. It was just beautiful, the perfect mix of classy and not too overdone. The placemats and centerpieces were great, the CDs were all lined up and set, and the cake was just beautiful. We brought Deonna's sampler she stitched and Orshi's Bride and Groom bears for extra decoration. With the ketubah set up outside and some more pictures ahead of time, we were all ready for the ceremony. The brass quintet made a few mistakes, and Ilenya messed up a bit with the ceremony. But all the mistakes were covered up nicely and I doubt people noticed who weren't in the wedding themselves.

Austin was fine during his vows, and I was the only one to get a bit teary and choked up during this ceremony. I loved our vows so much, they really felt like they came from the heart. Austin and I ducked out to the bridal room for a few seconds together and then went back outside for some last pictures once the rest of the party had filed inside. The entrances were quite fun, with the bridal party jiving to Soul Bossa Nova (the Austin Powers song) and Austin and I grooving in to Back in Black by AC/DC. He stole the shades off the groom teddy bear on the way in; I have yet to know if he did that on the fly or if he left them there on purpose ahead of time.

The wedding! It was so much fun, but some of the best things were:
The food
Getting constantly told how beautiful I looked (and not how beautiful the dress was)
Raymond making best friends with the bartender, Kurt
Tommy P. making bunny ears at us behind the photographer
Johnny Hill being assigned to the Boxelder tree totally by accident
Stevie cutting a rug
The coffmans being the last group at the wedding
Crashing the other wedding and telling the other bride I'd stand in on the dance floor while she took pictures
The other wedding crashing us and the entire parties merging for a few minutes
The toasting goblets Shawn's pause and Deonna's covering for him. "Wow. There's a lot of people here."
Swordfighting with the cake knife and server
Ray telling me at the end of the night how beautiful I looked, and really really meaning it.
The boys taking care of everything all weekend long, and not having to worry about a thing.
Opening Steve's iPod in the car back to the hotel.