So, this post will have stuff from the rehearsal/rehearsal dinner and the wedding itself (finally, right?). The R/RD was held the night before the wedding at the home of a relative of Mark (well...now Melissa too, I guess...though not me, right? Surely you have to draw the line somewhere...). Interestingly, the rehearsal was not at the wedding site, so some adapting had to be done as far as pretending to walk down and aisle and all that, though it seems to have worked out just fine. Melissa was really chill about this stuff...I'd rate her a mild 1.5 on the Bridezilla Richter Scale (by comparison, LL gets a 2.5...still pretty mellow, but not so much as Melissa...neither would cause much more than a ripple on a pond). Actually...is the Richter scale too confusing? It's log-based, and the scaling is wack. Maybe I should have used the Bridezilla Hurricane scale instead. For that, LL is a Tropical Storm and Melissa is a Tropical Depression...basically just good surfing weather.
Which would you pick? I think everyone I talked to preferred the one on the left. At least that was LL's personal favorite. In addition to the frozen drink machines, we also have Leslie (bride's mom) and Streak (bride's Godmother). Actually, by divine arrangement, Leslie is Godmother to all Streak's kids and Streak is Godmother to all Leslie's kids.
Here's the rehearsing part. The woman in blue is Mrs. Lewis, who choreographed all the who-goes-where-when parts of the ceremony. Behind her are the bridesmaids, to the right are the groomsmen, and in the center are Mark, Melissa, and the Father of the Bride. Gene is a really good sport about weddings. He is also not-so-secretly happy to have a grand total of zero daughters left to get married. He still has two boys, but the difference between the marriage of a son vs. a daughter is like the difference between making Pop Tarts for 2 vs. dinner for 50.On to the wedding day...!
This is a lobster. He lives at the hair salon where all the bridesmaids got their hair done. His life sucks.
Here's the bride with her hair done! Melissa was a super-pretty bride, and she was completely awesome all weekend about dealing with all the weddingness. I'm sure it was stressful for her. I know about this stuff first hand after all. No...not because I have already been through a wedding. Remember, I'm a boy, so my wedding was a breeze for me! But I DO remember LL being under a lot of stress, and, considering all the crazy things there are to worry about, I thought Melissa did great. She was a gracious hostess and all that.
Now that the hair is done, Melissa has to get her makeup on (Mark, following the standard male wedding day agenda, is probably about to wake up). Katie is something of a make-up martial artist (huh...one of the few times where 'martial' and 'marital' could be mixed up with little or no consequence), and she is putting eyelashes on Melissa individually. I didn't even know that could be done!
The bride and the matron of honor! LL looked great too. She was a little worried about the, er, front of the dress, but she always worries needlessly about that. I thought it was fine, impartial judge that I am!
Here's some family (of LL's and mine...I'm pretty sure I claim most of these). Right to left on the row with the Cheshire uncle we have Tom (Leslie's brother), Stacy (Tom's wife), Laura (Leslie's sister), Joyce (Gene's sister), Harry (Joyce's husband), and Mema (Gene's mother). Note that I went right to left so that I could introduce the blood relatives first (e.g. Tom, Leslie's brother) and then the relatives by marriage (Stacy, Tom's wife). Had I gone left to right, it would have been awkward to, e.g., introduce Stacy first (as Tom's husband or as Leslie's brother Tom's husband...it just gets messy to say all that). See how hard I work for you, dear reader?!
OK...actual, actual ceremony! LL gets a fancy yellow flower in her hair because she is special. The other bridesmaids look on enviously. In this pic, Melissa is about to be given away by Gene. We assume Mark, smiling, knows what he's getting into. Isn't' the wedding pretty? Also, I should add, the weather was really nice. Unfortunately, as we enjoyed a beautiful, if a little blustery, day, there were tornadoes ripping across other parts of Oklahoma. But whatever the surrounding weather was up to, it was perfect here at the wedding. Sunny, but not too hot. Really nice.
The Matron of Honor and the Best Man (Mark's brother). You could tell that LL was very happy for Melissa. They are great siblings. I mean, they raid each other's suitcases for new clothes when we're all together for the holidays and accuse each other of stealing any clothes that they can't find at the end of the trip. They both engage (and deny engaging) in the pirating, which seems to be in good fun, until someone's favorite cami goes missing. But when it comes down to it, they adore each other. Sisters. 
Smooch! All hail the happy couple. Personally, I think posing for a kiss is hard.
This is Lillian. She is (Leslie's sister) Laura's granddaughter, which means she is LL's cousin, once removed. I took 5 or so pictures of Lillian, and she was cute as a button in every one.
In this photo, you might think that everyone is just chatting, but that doesn't explain why everyone is sort of in a circle. Well, actually, these people are all avidly following the exploits of a certain...
...MOLE!!! Ahhhhhhhhh! Killer mole!! Run!!
No, silly, moles are not killers. In fact I recently read The Wind in the Willows, and Mole was very nice indeed.
Mole actually introduces the wildlife section of the wedding. Oklahoma is known to be home to some of the most interesting animals in North America.
Here is Frog. He's looking forlorn, and is contemplating a leap off the table. We're pulling for ya, little guy.
Oklahoma is also apparently home to a boatload of hummingbirds. There were a ton of them around this bird-feeder hanging off the porch at the lodge. Enough, anyway, for me to get this National Geographic quality picture (or at least Wikipedia quality).
Cousin Wil, in the house.
Sometimes LL scares me with all her talk of cute babies, and I have to remind her that I'm in school and we're poor. This little guy was fantastic. Thankfully, though, we also occasionally come across noisy, whiny ones and she realizes that maybe we don't want one for our own just yet. Schwew.
Here's the mother of the bride taking a load off. You can also see Lynette (left), who is Lillian's mom. So Lynette is LL's first cousin. Leslie had a lot going on, as mothers of the bride often do, but she came through and helped make the wedding a big success and a lot of fun for everyone.
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