A friend of our's, Hannah Kintschi, got married to Willard Shannon last Saturday. She asked our family to cater the reception meal, make the cakes and do the wedding cake.
It was super busy, but a lot of fun! We hardly sat down at all. :)
This was our home base for the weekend. We put most of the food for 240 people together right in the Axtell house.
Josh was using his leatherman scissors to cut up the grape clusters. :) Don't worry, he did wash it. :)
Abi and Josh had to mix the snack mix on the floor. :)
Daddy and I cut the pineapple and watermelon. That was a lot of pineapple!
Wrapping up a forgotten watermelon quarter.
Mixing the frosting (and sampling!).
I forgot to bring the camera, but we went to the Holdrege community building where the reception was being held to slice the meat for sandwiches, make the sandwiches, set up tables, make other odds and ends, and have fun! The meat ended up being too wet to put on the sandwiches, so we had to pat each piece dry with a paper towel! Ugh! We had to pat some of the lettuce dry too.
We got back to the Axtell house around 9 pm. Dad still had to frost the wedding cake so Abi and I stayed up with him. I think he finished it somewhere around midnight. It was around 1 by the time we got to bed. :)
Reading...
Abi did a great job frosting the sheet cakes!
Dad had the chocolate cakes in the office on a desk. We had to put stuff wherever there was room! There are some funny quirks to that house... Like no kitchen sink... We had to wash dishes in the bathroom sink! :)
Early the next morning, we loaded up and headed over to the reception hall.
Smiths got there about the same time we did.
The hall...
Mayonaise and Miracle whip
Josh was in charge of keeping the lemonade and ice tea jugs full.
Decorating the wedding cake! Hannah asked for carrot cake with cream cheese frosting...
They had a country style wedding... all the decor was burlap, canning jars, daisies, and country type flowers. It looked really nice!
Condiments
The head table was huge! There were 12 bridesmaids and groomsmen altogether, then they had extended family at the bridal table too.
Did you happen to notice the stage and curtains behind the head table? These next several pictures are behind stage. It was fascinating back there! Abi, Josh and I had fun exploring everywhere. :)
I'd never been behind scenes before. There were layers and layers of curtains for scenery changes, rods, ropes and pulleys, lights, everything you could ever image!
We even found the dressing rooms!
These are the second story bleachers. We think that the chairs up here and all the curtains on stage are original to the building, built in 1916.
Hello... down there!
Grandpa Ayre is up!
Bridal table
I went with Kiley to the wedding, while Abi, Dad and Josh stayed back at the hall. Dad was too busy to go, and Abi and Josh opted to stay back with him. (I had my first ride in a nice Cadillac, too!)
Aunt Annette sent us a few pictures of the wedding. I, unfortunately, forgot to bring the camera (again). This picture was taken just after the family prayer.
They did a mostly traditional wedding. Here, Willard is lifting Hannah's veil for their first kiss. It was a very sweet wedding! They had it at Cottonmill Park outside of Kearny.
The finished cake! I loved it!
Back at the hall, we stepped right into action! The wedding was over by 11, and the reception started at 12:30, so we had a little time to get everything ready.
Abi and I arranged the fruit and veggie trays, and Dad, Aunt Annette and Abi did the sandwich trays.
We had coffee, iced coffee, iced tea and water and lemonade.
We set up the buffet line like they had it at Darrell and Teresa's reception.
Guests are trickling in...
We didn't have time to take pictures as we served the food, but we got some dishing the cake.
Ad and I had a finger lickin' good time dishing cake! :)
I saw this little guy crawl out from under the head table. He sure was cute!
The Smiths shared 2 songs during the open mike time.
Willard and Hannah shared a really sweet thank you with everybody.
Cutting the cake! The reception hall didn't have AC, which was bad news for cream cheese frosting! The whole cake was sliding because it was so warm!
Cutest baby girl on earth (Joseph is the cutest boy now!)! :)
They were saying their goodbyes...
The bridal car...
We never got to see them leave as we were so busy cleaning up. That was a long day! After packing everything up at the hall, we packed our van and headed back to the Axtell house to clean up there. We hadn't packed our bags or gotten the house tidied up yet, so we had to go there and clean up. I think we got on the road about 5:30 or 6, and made it home a little after 10. Bedtime was still far away, though. Abi and I didn't hit the sack till after midnight...
I'm glad the rash of weddings is nearing the finish line, but it was an awful lot of crazy, good family time fun! We've made so many family memories through it all. I'd do it over again in a second.
