Megan's Fairytale Wedding Pt. 2

 Megan and Shane's Fairytale Wedding Part Two: The Reception!

Here are Allie and Eleanor at Allie's house right before we left for the reception at Wadley Farms, which if you can- you should have your reception there. It's unbelievably gorgeous.

 Megan and Jenni (and Shane?) had such great ideas for how the reception should look, the food, the cake, the flowers etc... It all turned out so beautifully! And boy do we know weddings now, give us a call! Here are Hank, Eleanor and Rhett playing Bocce on the lawn. So charming!

 I mentioned those boys are cute. The little boy attendants are Shane's nephews Hank and Rhett (Jordan & Sarah) Abe, Shane's other nephew (Chase & Jessica) Jed (Megan's little cousin) and Winston.

 

 Holy crap, I love this picture. There wasn't an ugly corner to be had there. Everywhere is photo magic. It's kind of like a condensed versions of the gardens at Thanksgiving Point.

 Our little family all dressed up!

 The ladies. So so pretty.

 All the kids!

 And Shane and the little boys. I love how baby Abe is looking up at Shane as he sportingly eats grass fed to him by Jed and Win.

 Winston pointing out the Bocce and Croquet balls all over the lawn. Winston lives for anything to do with balls.

 Tom, Jenni, Shagan, Allie and a special guest appearance by Elder Tommy Howell! They pasted his head to a Mitt Romney cutout. It looks surprisingly real in this shot. Too funny. I also saw some girls taking their picture with his cutout later in the evening. Go Tommy!

 The cake! I originally planned to make the cake, but bowed out after I made one for someone else and it didn't quite turn out like I wanted. I didn't want to ruin Megan's, or be stressed about it the week of the wedding so Jenni hired a gal. She did a wonderful job, but it began to tilt at the reception and so there was some last minute patching and rigging. I did make the cake topper though!

 

 I had so much fun making these for Shagan! I've made quite a few clothespin dolls before, so I just amped these up a bit for the occasion. I made the dress, bouquet, suit etc... to match as closely as possible. I also repainted her hair quite a few times to make it the right mix of highlights. They turned out pretty cute.

 

 Happy couple!

 

 Here are some of the Howell folk at the reception. Abby and Jennifer are seated and standing from left are Josh, Hannah, Kirsten, Rosaline and Cassie.

 My great aunt Kathleen (Megan's great, great aunt and Rosaline's great, great, great aunt!) holding my cousin Stefanie's daughter Sophia.

 Sophie giving an exuberant Eleanor a squeeze.

 Allie with her best neighbor friends Kate and Claire.

 Shagan cutting the cake! Yeah, I don't know how to take night time pictures on my camera. Oh well, that's why you pay someone else to take the real ones.

 

 Throwing the bouquet!

Megan's cousins Abby and Anna manning the cookie decorating table. This is a bit post clean up, before there were the most adorable containers of candy and sprinkles I wish I had taken more pictures of all of the magical touches. Cute Scrabble pieces in bowls for guests to try and spell out Megan's new last name: Van Oostendorp, Amazing food, and assorted cakes to try throughout the night, a sign in book of all of their bridal shots they took in San Diego, games, flowers, candy stick favors in hand stamped little bags... oh man. There were a billion adorable details that added up to one perfect night. All night I kept thinking: "Man, I am so glad I got married 6 years ago, or I would be dying inside!" It was all so perfect.

 The proud parents: Tom & Jenni Howell and Dana & Allen Van Oostendorp.

 

 The getaway car! Off to a honeymoon in St. Thomas.

Megan's Fairytale Wedding Pt. 1

 Part One: The Temple

Megan and Shane got married at the Mt. Timpanogos Temple on August 8th 2012. The day was lovely and clear. A bit hot, but hey- it's August in Utah. The ceremony was lovely and Megan looked happier than I had ever seen her. Shane's a lucky guy. 

Here is Grandpa Tom attending to Winston, which is his full time job most days. Winston is obsessed with Grandpa Tom.

 

 Little flower girls playing on the hand rail while we all waited for the couple to come out.

 I got to make Eleanor, Allie and Rozzie's flower-girl dresses. Pictured here from left: Millie, Eleanor, Sophie and Allie. And behind them seated is Morgan, Shane's little sister.

 

And a few hugs squeezed in too.

 Cute people I like.

 Awww, Uncle Adam is always the best.

 And there they are! Funny story, Clayton was holding Eleanor about where I took this picture and while everyone is clapping and cheering, Eleanor is hollering at them as loud as she can: "Mayden! Mayden! I'm over here! MAYDEN! I'M OVER HERE!" Yes, she thought that Megan's first concern was, "Where is Eleanor?" Ah, to be 3 and not know the universe isn't spinning around you.

 Some people are prettier than others, folks. And these two are prettier than pretty much everyone.

 Eleanor finally getting "Mayden's" attention.

 Oh, and there is Hank. Eleanor's boyfriend for the day. He's Shane's adorable nephew and I am adding him to the list of suitors that may date her after his mission.

 I adore this picture. Megan leaning over to Shane, his sister holding his arm and Eleanor hugging his leg while all the girls look up at them. Couldn't pose it if you tried.

 Cute!

 Megan and all of her attendants. Her bridesmaids were all so pretty. Note the weak link in the picture, yeah- Winston. Eh.

 Tom used the light reflector as a giant fan during the group shots. What a team player.

 Abby holding Winston (who was in dire need of a nap) under the shade.

 Did you know the Mt. Timpanogos Temple was getting some major exterior work done this summer? Neither did any of them when they booked the wedding. Who knew it would have these glaring orange scaffolding all around the top and most of the sides? Oh well, I know it's not what matters, at all! But it's still an "aw shucks" type of deal. Luckily they did their bridals together as a couple in San Diego at Balboa park which is so lovely, so they had lots of gorgeous shots.

 Abby and Eleanor.

 And up close. Those two spent nearly every day together all summer long.

 

 One of the "mandatory" shots. But man, if they don't sell it!

 Winston "helping" baby Rozzie in the shade.

 Or you know, pretending to feed her, then yanking the bottle away over and over. Yeah, really funny buddy. Look at her poor little arm reaching out to him. Awww, sorry Rosaline.

Part Two: The Reception to come!

Allie's Special House

Tom and Jenni have a sweet timeshare in Park City that they normally trade for something even sweeter in Hawaii and stuff, but with cute Megan getting married this summer they held onto the Park City week to stay closer to home. I took the kids up to enjoy their awesome hotel and pool for two days and we had a blast. Eleanor doesn't quite understand the idea of hotels just yet and so she kept referring to it as Allie's special house. Special, indeed it was. The kids and I got our free money's worth with quite a few outings to the pool, as seen here.

Allie and Winston!

He loved it!

Megan and her then fiance, Shane (or Shagan, as we call them) with Winston by the hot tub.

 Of course, we remember how much he loves Megan.
 
 And with Eleanor.

Allie would hold Eleanor and drag her around the pool/hot tub forever. Eleanor loooooved it.

Tom helped Allie do her best high-flying stunts. Look at those splits!

And let Eleanor try as well!

 Woo hoo! Look at that air!

 

Cutie.

The girls relaxing up in the room in their "matching" outfits. E always feels so special to match Allie.

Happy girl, down by the pool.

Tom, lugging Winston down the very long hallway. Later in the summer we stayed in a hotel and Eleanor thought it was once again Allie's special house.

Winston in his little safety-suit. Mainly for insurance while he crawled at mach-speed around the pool areas over and over. Man he can crawl fast.

And for extra snuggling with mom.

Cute E, all wrapped up to return to the room, didn't realize the whole point of the towel. She's always been our little fish and hates to leave the water.