Rehearsal Dinner Extravaganza

I know I am so behind on putting up pictures from Daniel and Erika's wedding, but I have good reasons for it. I've been waiting{and waiting and waiting}for my friend Hannah to send me to the pictures her dad took at the wedding so that I could do it all at once. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't use Mr Professionals pictures so I had to wait. Her dad-despite what he said-took some beautiful pictures during the ceremony and afterward many of which are similar to Mr. Professionals. There are lots and lots of pictures here, but I want to put them up anyway. I showed great self-control in not putting all of them!

Today is 3 months since the rehearsal dinner so its the perfect day to start.

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I've only been to one other rehearsal dinner but I doubt that any will be more fun than Daniel and Erika's. After we ate, we went to the living room for what was an Undisclosed Event. Turns out they had spent weeks preparing special heartfelt gifts for each of us in the wedding and it was time for the great unveiling.

Each gift was so creative and personalized for the recipient. I'm not surprised by creativity out of Erika,but the level of input from Daniel was STAGGERING. They gave the best speeches for every gift and had us dying of laughter the whole time except when I almost cried. It was so touching!

Wesley's college has a lot of, shall we say, interesting musicians so Daniel and Erika thought he needed a few accessories to help him fit in: rainbow-striped suspenders, tie-dye shirt with a hippie 70's group on the front, fake cigarette, and a black fedora complete with fake yellow flowers to top it off.

Between church, work, guitar practice, watching soccer, spending time with Joanna{side note-please marry her}, house sitting, calling his family back home in Africa and much more, Bernard is one busy man. To keep him organized, he now has a clock with tags going all the way around to help him keep track of where he needs to be. They even made him a tag to put at 2 o'clock reminding him of when the wedding was!

Before Erika graduated, she and Rudy were mistakenly taken for robbers when they were locking up the lab. They thought if she was going to be a robber,she might as well look the part...hence the mask,mustache, gloves, and extra-strong pliers. She laughs so easily anyway, so it was almost funnier watching her open the gifts then it was it see what was inside.

Gramma enjoying all the laughter.

The guys with their gifts.

Peter~ What does the person who attends four weddings in Canada within 1 year need? A rain poncho, map, travel games, and maple sugar candy!!

Wesley~ fully decked-out in his outfit

Geoff~ Geoffrey has a mild obsession with his name. He thinks its the coolest thing since sliced bread. I don't know where D & E got the idea, but they ordered him shorts and a striped tie with his initials sewn on. He likes the tie so much he wore it to a Christmas party.

Bernard~ the busy man and his clock

Andrew~ Daniel and Erika thought he needed a little push in the getting engaged area, so they bought his this huge diamond ring. They also gave him a two picture frame with a picture of him and Debbie on one side, and the Nike 'just do it' symbol on the other.

And the girls with theirs.

Debbie~ She wasn't in the wedding but being the recipient of the huge engagement ring she was in the picture.
Sarah~ {oh,that's me!}I had told Erika a few months away that if they have triplets they can keep one, give one to her mom and the other to me. They bought me three of the cutest little dolls{that hold hands!}and wrapped them up in the blue blanket. How sweet is that?! This was the point I almost cried! ; ) Erika said I don't have to keep the dolls but I most defiantly am going to save them for their little girls!
Dani~ Dani is very, very multi-talented. She's an assistant manager at JC Penney,a clown, sheep sheerer, pizza maker, creative hairstylist, balloon artist,Irish step-dancer, mime artist, conductor, singer...and the list goes on. For each job, Daniel and Erika made her a real business card with her name and the job description on it!

After the gifts, Wesley played the piano while Dani taught the soon-to-be-weds how to waltz for their first dance. It looked like so much fun that most of us joined in. Erika's dad was reteaching me and we had the best time together. He's a very good dancer which means we danced very fast, but I was able to keep up {for the most part}. By the end, we were even twirling!

I slept over Katie's that night since she lives so close to the church, but I really didn't sleep much; I was waaaay to excited!!