No wedding is complete without some kind of bachelorette party. For Kate's party, we planned a pool and pizza party at the hotel where we were staying. When Kate arrived, we gave her a bridal swimming suit which read, across her bottom, "Andy's." One of the bridesmaids made her a swimming veil, we gave her a fake bouquet, put a Miss America style "bachelorette" sash on her, and ordered her out the door and through the hotel to the pool. Many pizzas, daiquiris, slices of cake, and inappropriate card games later, I kicked the bachelorette and all of her "hens" out of my hotel room. Fortunately for him, Jim had not arrived yet, but when he did get to New Orleans, he found our room decorated with black and yellow striped "Caution Wild Girls" tape.
Kate enjoys a beverage:
Showing off her bootie with her bridesmaids. Leigh made us all "Bridesmaid" tee-shirts, as well as the veil.
Getting into the pool:
Mom and Dad snuck in to take some pictures:
Girls in the pool...the neighbors were thrilled. At one point a little girl came to her hotel window and shook her finger at us. But, miraculously, no one called and complained about the noise that was being made. There were some LOUD women at this party...
Someone brought "Billy Bob" teeth.
Liz helps Kate drink some champagne out of her bachelorette shot glasses:
Still no complaints as the party moved to the courtyard--Bachelorette Mad Libs and a card game with X-rated cards caused a lot of laughter. Fun!
Mom and Dad joined us after dinner out. We were partying outside of their door, so there was no way they could avoid us:
On Friday, we gathered at the site of the wedding for the rehearsal. Despite the rehearsal, I still messed up in the wedding...actually, ALL of the bridesmaids, except for Melissa, the first one out, walked to the wrong place. Jim missed the rehearsal, but made it in time for the rehearsal dinner.
Kate and Andy look very serious as Fr. Rocky goes through the service with them:
Happy bridesmaids:
The best part about the rehearsal was the rehearsal DINNER, which was at Mother's, one of the best restaurants in the world (according to us).
Jim, fresh off the plane and with no sleep, was incredibly social and friendly and happy (as usual):
Will was in from Iowa, too!
We have really cute little cousins. Jessica and Sylvie show off their Mardi Gras masks.
Will also couldn't resist the Mardi Gras masks:
Colton isn't too sure what to think of that.
Someone let Gene work in the kitchen. He made the Debris.
The toasts were eventful and abundant and full of inappropriate comments and allusions to embarassing life events. Especially Dad's. Which will not be repeated on this blog.
After the rehearsal dinner, we attempted to sit and talk in several of the courtyards at the hotel. Let it be known that the volume level was about 1/16 of that of the bachelorette party, but the management was called by crotchety hotel guests not once, but twice. So we moved on...to bed.
On the big day, all the bridesmaids and other important women got to go to brunch at Brennan's, hosted by Aunt Sue. It was really good and we ate strawberries and cream followed by some sort of extra special Eggs Benedict and Bananas Foster, which Kate made. Even though the flames were about 3 feet high, Kate did not set herself or the building on fire:
While we were gorging ourselves in Brennan's, Jim and the guys were eating one pound hamburgers at Port of Call. Suffice to say, we were pretty satiated for the rest of the day.
After the brunch we got our hair done, got coffee, and waited for everything to start. I got this once in a lifetime picture of Mom getting her makeup done by Jimmy. We were flabbergasted. Mom has NEVER in my 30 years of life had her hair or makeup done.
The professional photographers were there are this point, so I stopped taking pictures. I ironed all our dresses and we drank some champagne. Kate remained very calm throughout. Then, when she put on her dress, she started to get a little flustered and nervous. She looked BEAUTIFUL! We were ushered down to get ready for the ceremony, walked in, had the wedding, Kate cried and laughed, Andy comforted her as she tried to get through her vows, they kissed, we walked out...and then the party started.
The band was a Cajun band, who ROCKED. At one point, the bassist was standing on top of his bass while playing it (he was pretty skinny).
I danced with Cole a little bit:
Certain guests really enjoyed the open bar:
Kate and Jim looking SEXY (or, in Jim's case, lecherous):
The cake was delicious! Kate and Andy cut it and then fed it to each other.
Then the bridesmaids were instructed to pull on some strings hanging out of the cake. Inside the cake and attached to the strings were some charms. My charm was a heart for "Love forever." That works! The only unmarried bridesmaid got the ring, which means she'll be the next to get married. All us married ladies were relieved to know that we will continue to be married and don't have to plan to get married again.
The bride:
In Andy's family, everyone who gets married drinks out of this chalice and so far none of those who have, have gotten divorced. He has a lot of relatives, so this cup commanded a lot of attention (and concentration from the looks of it) and the bride and groom drank their toasts out of it:
Eventually, Jim and I remembered to dance:
But Kate was really a dancing fool:
After the wedding, the bride and groom sailed off in their horsedrawn carriage...well, once they could get out of their parking spot, which was hard since there was a traffic jam.
We were stuck hanging out with this guy and without a carriage:
Just after this picture was taken, Dan ran into a sign post. He didn't seem to notice.
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