yet another gorgeous wedding

last weekend was the wedding of my friend, erin, to her aussie beau, brett. erin is the (barely) older sister of my dear friend chrissy, and their family is absolutely wonderful. they have taken me in as a member of their family since i met chrissy on the second day of kindergarten. erin and brett's wedding was absolutely amazing! it's really no surprise if you know erin and her family, but i was still in awe of everything throughout the entire event!

there were amazing church decorations...

an absolutely gorgeous couple...


wonderful music...
erin's sister, chrissy, sang a gorgeous rendition of the lord's prayer, while their aunt played guitar. erin's youngest sister, caitlin, played harp, which matt proclaimed he could listen to all day long (i agree!), and one of erin's voice students made a guest appearance via recording to sing a song. he's only 10 years old but has recieved from very prestigious awards for his vocal talent already! at the reception, erin, who has an amazing voice, sang a song for her husband and did a little dance along with it (brett's 2 favorite things for erin to do!). the song/dance number was so much fun! i wish i had a video of it!

...lots of international guests, including the aussies (24 strong!), anna (bridesmaid)from sweden and antoine from france. antoine was one of the many foreign exchange students that erin's family had as we were growing up. he has remained close to this crazy family and came to be an usher for the wedding. here is antoine ushering erin's grandma up the aisle and anna doing a fire dance for all the guests. yes, a fire dance! it was awesome!

beautiful reception decor...
(a couple of tables)

(entry decor - table where the name cards were, guest plate table, pictures of parents'/grandparents' wedding pictures, close up of pic of erin's dogs dressed up as bride and groom(how funny!))


(chocolate bar destroyed by excited guests, gorgeous cake tower made by erin's dad (after half the cake had been eaten..., boomerang that each guest got as a promise that the couple will always return to where they came from - a touching gift for those of us who are so sad that erin will be living half way across the world in the land down under!)


wonderful friends and family...
(my dear, dear friend, chrissy and her hubby, lance)

(caitlin - erin's youngest sister, maid of honor, my "little sister" - and her boyfriend, nick)

(erin dancing with her dad)

(antoine walking erin's mom down the aisle)

(alyssa, a reader at the ceremony and an old friend from home who i hadn't seen in years)

(matt and i enjoying ourselves)


alek, the adorable son of the groom sitting at the couple's sweetheart table...

and after he grabbed the sash off the groom's chair to wear it for the picture! how cute!


the bride's grandmother receiving the bride's bouquet with lots of tears (her husband died just 2 weeks before the wedding...it was a wonderful way to make her feel very special)...



and a sparkler send off to end a perfect evening...