The street meets the symphony {Mike & Jen's wedding}

There have been an abnormally high number of those days in the four short months of

2010 when my heart has just felt FULL. I don't want to just say full of happiness - that doesn't
seem to be the right word. Maybe I'm thinking full....of life. Mike & Jen's wedding was one of those days.

If you've been following my blog at all in the past year, you might have deduced that I love them both a ton and it's been a honor to see their relationship develop. You might remember their Neverland inspired engagement party... but to think that I would get to help them out for their wedding be apart of the behind the scenes action, oh man, what a blessing. Mike is a long time friend that I truly consider to be my "big" brother and in true "little sister" fashion, I almost could't believe it when I heard that Jen (one of my first friends in SD) had agreed to not only date him, but ACTUALLY liked him.

I admit it was partially because I thought that someone might have a crush on my scrappy big bro bewildered me :) but it was also because classy Jen seemed like an unlikely match for simple b-boy that Mike was. Pastor John put it well in their ceremony when he said something along the lines of when he thinks of them together its like hip hop meets classical music. I'll spare you the line about them now making beautiful music together :P but from how I've seen both of them grow in their love and trust in God and into both a man and woman that together reflect God's beautiful design for marriage....well, their testimony is music to my ears.

can't you see the family resemblances in the moms and their beloved children?

(this was mike's auntie was visiting the states from Japan for the first time!)

Jen's dad was "throwing away his tears" as they walked down the aisle.

A really lovable bridal party, really.

Tender moments during the rehearsal dinner.

So they fed us some good Chinese food....

and then we headed back to work. There were centerpieces to be made and tables

to decorate! We had our army of 8+ worker bees folding origami, assembling manzanita

trees, gluing program covers... you know what though?

Being with good friends throughout the night made it FUN.
I was truly happy being a wedding elf.

For the second time in their engagement period (the first being the night before Mike proposed)

it felt like we were in finals week, staying up together studying. How could I miss that feeling? While I didn't get to go to school with the bridal party or the bride & groom, they have come to be buddies of mine, and we're all around the same age....but what I appreciate is that they are brothers & sisters who also truly love Christ, our savior and God, our heavenly father. Our common goal for the weekend was to see the Lord glorified through Mike and Jen's new life as a married couple.

Martin's (above) and Ryan's (below) faces kind of sum up how we felt as the night went on.

SUPER tiring and delirious around 2 a.m. when we finally went home but I was still really

excited to head back to the church in the morning (after a mere 3 hours of "beauty sleep),

see the bridal party in their glam-ness...as well as to finish putting together what was

a BEAUTIFUL reception and tons of warm fuzzy memories.

{cheering sometime around 1:30 a.m. after we finished all the programs}

Tia is one lady that certainly doesn't need to be glammed up.

But I like her both ways. :) I was so busy running around that I barely took ANY photos till the end of the night. But what a great time to snag the beautiful bride.. :)

I love you guys so so so  much!