Truly a Badger Wedding

Saturday we attended my nephew's wedding in Madison.  Kyle and Mary met as students at UW-Madison, so the festivities were held in our capitol city.  Aside from the parking, Madison is a fun town to visit.  The whole affair was gorgeous and it all started at this exquisite church, Luther Memorial on campus.

 Kyle is in his second year of law school, and Mary works for an insurance company (but don't be bored--she is an art history major!).  They have dated for several years and are a very sweet couple.  Mary is just a nice, nice girl and--thank the Lord--she chose to NOT wear the usual strapless gown.  Thank you Mary for choosing a beautiful, flattering, modest yet elegant gown!!  (Have I told you lately how much I hate the strapless dresses?)  Okay, back to the wedding.  There was a choir in the balcony singing as the bride walked down the aisle, her own pastor read Scripture, and this pastor pictured (the resident pastor) gave a very special message on how Kyle and Mary can commit to each other like Ruth committed to Naomi, relying on their loved ones for help through the trials that inevitably come our way.
 Mary loves books (I may have mentioned in the shower post last month), so everything was book-themed, with a vintage feel.  Instead of signing a guest book, the couple requested their guests to bring an old book/favorite story and sign our names on the inside cover.  How unique and thoughtful!  The cocktail hour was held in the Hall of Ideas at the Monona Terrace, where young ladies welcomed you and escorted you to the library area (where you could either drop off your book or sign the guest book they had just-in-case), then over to a board of keys.  Each key had a tag on it with your name, and on the back was written your table number for the reception.  Again, quite unique and charming.

The young ladies working at the cocktail hour reminded me of the Price is Right Girls....all dressed similarly, with big friendly smiles, eager to help :) I should have taken a picture of the Price is Right Girls.

Okay, back to the wedding.  Show me the cake!! Love me some cake.  Here is the cake, I guess, although I didn't see the bride and groom cut into it.  And there was no stuffing-into-each-other's-faces part.  This wedding was a bit more sophisticated than that;)  (Actually, now that I think of it, Mark and I never stuffed cake into each other's faces, either.  Gee, I guess that makes us sophisticated, too!)

The panda cake was for the groom.  Kyle and his dad (my brother Ken) went to Australia last year, and somebody told me that Kyle's nickname is Panda.  ?

Ah, the food.  Here are my little lovelies (and big hunk-a-love in blue in the back) ready to be served their chicken tenders or sirloin.  I didn't know I missed Cy's face, but you can see it in the cork container if you really squint!;)

Six years ago, we attended Uncle Jamey & Aunt Elle's reception is this same room.  The view of Lake Monona is breathtaking!

I will have to write a separate post on how we prepared the girls for this wedding.  The excitement of dressing up for a wedding and dance built up for over a year.  Paige looks a lot taller than Shae in this picture, but there isn't that much difference in reality.  She was just wearing heels, while Shae wore flats.  See the yellow wristbands?  They are for their cousin Crystal (who we visited in the hospital between the wedding and the reception).  Love you Crystal!!

 I found out last week that my son's current favorite color is pink.  I didn't know that, but I don't dispute it...I think he looks fantastic in pink!  (It happens to be a favorite of mine, as well;)   As you can see, the dance was super-fun.  The DJ did a great job of involving everyone, and there weren't awkward moments.  For example, the wedding party dance included everyone, not forcing groomsmen to dance individually with bridesmaids who may or may not be interested in them. ;) There were a lot of group dances to avoid those awkward moments.

 The bride and groom are a lovely couple.  I especially enjoyed how they asked every married couple to join them on the dance floor, then you had to leave if you were married "5 years or less", 10 years or less, 15, 25, 40, .... The last couple on the floor should have been my mom and dad (61 years), but they had just left.  So Kyle's maternal grandparents took the crown with 55 years. 

 Aren't they the cutest thing??  And let's talk about this dress again.  I mean, how delightful is this bride in her gown??!

 The cousins get down....it's been a few years since a family wedding!!  Always a BLAST!!

 And look who crashed the party!! BUCKY BADGER!!!! 

 The garter removal...(Bucky's covering his eyes)......

 ...and the Engelke Outlaw skit.  I can't remember when this started, but whenever you marry into the Engelke family, the in-laws have an initiation at the wedding dance.  For Mark, it was the Packer Polka (because he's a Bear fan).  They took it easy on Mary, going with a Cinderella theme where everyone tried a shoe on her until Kyle came out with her shoe and proved to be her true love.  My girls gladly gave up their shoes for the skit ;)

 Cy has dreams of playing football for the Badgers some day.  Even if that dream doesn't come true, it's good to have goals and it sure doesn't hurt to dream a little bit!

Best Wishes, Kyle and Mary!  Thanks to you and your parents for throwing a great party!

Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.--Ruth 1:16