Love and Marriage

Aunt Jessa, Popop, and I had a wine night scheduled for last Friday night that turned into an impromptu bachelorette party. I want to set everyone straight right now-I AM NOT A DRINKER! I get a sniff of wine and turn bright red (as you will see in pictures below!) and I know my limits. I will occasionally have a glass of wine with friends but I was all about the spinach & artichoke cheese and fresh bread on Friday night. That wine I'm holding-same glass almost all night!

Aunt Jessa just wanted the pictures to end and I had already had 1/2 a glass of wine resulting in a bright pink face!

I received an email from Aunt Jessa saying that she and Uncle Josh wanted to tie the knot on Saturday...keep in mind that I received the email on FRIDAY! Since the wondrous state of Nebraska doesn't make it difficult to get married (unless you are a same sex couple apparently), Aunt Jessa was able to get the marriage certificate on Friday night and just had to find someone to perform the ceremony. That was the tricky part. We needed someone who was ordained to pronounce them husband and wife and sign the marriage certificate. After several calls, I found ZERO judges available on such short notice and no ministers who were willing to join these two in marriage without a) being paid or b) having them complete pre-marital counselling. Enter Super-J (that's me!!) who swoops in to save the day! I got ordained (YUP!!! How crazy is that?!), planned a mini wedding, planned a bachelorette party, and actually did some work on Friday. Suh-WEET!!!
So..back to the bachelorette party:

As evidenced above, we had a great time! Aunt Jessa got her girlie tiara and the rest of us had mini tiaras and leis. Hey-It was the best I could do in short notice!!

I am truly honored that Aunt Jessa and Uncle Josh were trusting enough to let me perform their ceremony. I tried to infuse some humor into the vows but also make them meaningful for the couple. JJ (as Popop calls them) giggled, teared up, and flat out laughed as they made their promises to each other. There were times that I choked up and Aunt Jessa had to yell at me to "Pull it together" and then there were times that I had to remind her to pull it together. One of our absolute favorite pictures (I will add it on here as soon as I get a copy) is right after I pronounced them husband and wife. Jess hugged me and we just cried like little girls.  One of the most special moments of that day for me was hugging Uncle Josh afterwards. I'll leave our conversation between the two of us (I'll treat it as a confessional since I'm now an ordained minister of the Universal Life Church! LOL!!) but it truly touched me and made me cry.

The little touches:
 Jess walked down the aisle on Popop Randy's arm to "Hallelujah" and choked up as soon as she figured out what the song was.
Jess carried a bouquet from Hyvee that we had wrapped in purple ribbon (fav color) and hung a little ceramic plaque that said "Congrats" on it.
Even though the decorations were minimal (two tissue paper pomander balls hanging from Sheppard's hooks signifying the altar) they were beautiful and added a special touch.
After updating their facebook statuses and first kiss (IN THAT ORDER!!) we popped a bottle of pink champagne and made a toast to the new couple.

<3<3<3

Trouble Makers For Life!!

Best Friends Forever!!!

Dad & Aunt Jessa

We celebrated at Red Robin..YUM!!!!