A Long-Expected Party

Shay and Maria Nielson
June 5th, 2009

6/12/09

A week has passed since the wedding and life has almost gotten back to normal. Maria and Shay are back from their Mexican cruise, have an apartment full of gifts (including enough new kitchen and bathroom stuff to supply them four times over) and I finally sat down to do this marathon post. I'll have to do it in three parts due to the multitude of pictures but hey--an event this long in the making deserves extra coverage. (Did anyone notice my Tolkien reference in my post title? It's the name of the first chapter of The Lord of The Rings. OK, I truly am a dork...)

Here goes nothing... (And I want to you to realize that I am practicing great restraint in not posting all 200 pictures that I took. Really.)

Part 1: The Wedding!

Madelyn (midair, of course) and Nathan were the first to break away from the crowd to greet the new couple

The proud parents
A HUGE thank-you Meg and her friend Veronica for watching the kids during the wedding.

Mark + babies = Love (and our niece Ava is especially lovable)

Maria's best friend and official wedding photographer Sammi. Check out her amazing blog:

http://feelslikehomephotography.blogspot.com/

The magnificent St. George temple

Part II: The decorations
(because I sacrificed so many of my brain cells for this part)

Thanks, Aunt Susie for frosting/decorating the cake
Aunt Susie, Mom and Dad were all wondering why the Social Hall didn't have anywhere for them to take a nap.

Thank-you Lori for making all these adorable fabric polka dots!
Thanks, mom for doing all the refreshments. Yum!
...and thank-you Madelyn for testing out the chocolate fountain and leaving a distinctive Madelyn mess all over the tablecloth and chair.

Part III: The Reception

Ava (and look how cute the daisy wrist corsages turned out!)
Brothers Mark, Tyler and Kevin

Sisters Melissa, Megan, Maria, Monica (with Ava) and Lori (with Hattie). And where was Madelyn?
Yeah, it was a long day for all of us.

With G-ma Murset

The throng has gathered...

Look how cherry red Maria's face is! Priceless!!

Justin must have really wanted that lacy garter...

Yay, Chelsea!

Riding off into the sunset, and the rest of their lives