I want Y'ALL to know about this INCREDIBLE wedding!!!!

I'll warn you, this wedding was so unbelievably stupendous that this may be a long post ;) I couldn't wait to hit the blog to tell y'all about it! Do you like my new Louisiana accent? :) I made SO many new friends today, and many of them were from Louisiana. Today was Stacy and Judd's wedding. You may remember their engagement photos from a couple of months ago Stacy and Judd's engagement session If you remember correctly, I spent only a short amount of time with them the day of their engagement session because of Judd's crazy schedule at the hospital. So, when I got to the wedding today I felt like I really didn't know anyone (at least not very well). However, I can't even begin to tell you how I felt when I left tonight. I actually felt like I had just left a family member's wedding!!! Whether it was Stacy's family from California, or Judd's family from the south, there was Louisiana hospitality oozing out all over :)

So, I have to be honest and let you know I was a little nervous about today. I received an email the other day from Angie (Stacy's mom) with the latest time schedule. She "mentioned" that Judd's mom (Jane) had broke her neck and no one was sure whether she'd be at the wedding or not. WHAT!!???? SHE BROKE HER NECK?? Okay, since no one really knew what was going to be happening, I certainly didn't want to ask too many questions (not knowing what the situation was). Was this mom in a wheelchair, could she speak, what was her situation, how was the family handling it? I was hoping everything was okay and that the wedding was going to be even happier than ever. What I saw was the LAST thing I expected. First off, I have to say Jane is superwoman and a miracle all rolled into one! I won't go into a lot of details, but she broke her neck in a freak accident that one would never think could happen. Her break was like the break that Christopher Reeve had. However, because it was positioned slightly differently, that is what allowed her to survive. Not only survive, but LEAVE THE HOSPITAL THE NEXT DAY AFTER THE SURGERY! I could not believe this happened a week ago and she was at her son's wedding today! Weddings are always a blessing, but these families must have really felt doubly blessed today.
Once my trepedation about the situation had resolved itself, there seemed to be nothing but laughter, smiles and fun all day. Judd was such a handsome groom who is so in love with his new bride. Stacy really wanted to put a touch of one of Judd's passions into this wedding, so she purchased the ties that he and his dad (Louis-also the best man) wore. Judd's family has quite a connection to LSU, so the ties the guys wore were "LSU" ties. In fact as Stacy and Judd entered the reception this evening, the LSU fight song is what was played. Stacy looked so beautiful in her ivory dress and she wore something special on the back of it. Stacy and her mom wanted to incorporate fleur de lis into the wedding (as part of the favors, guestbook, napkins and on her garter). On the back of her dress was a fleur de lis pin that belonged to her paternal grandmother. Speaking of grandparents, Stacy and Judd are so lucky to have grandparents who were there to share the day with them. Stacy's grandparents are originally from Germany and are SO cute!!! I chatted with them a while and I just kept smiling when I saw how much they love their granddaughter. Judd's grandma Juanita (I believe they call her "Nit" (Neet)...sorry if I've misspelled it). I guess when Judd was little he couldn't pronounce her name, so he gave her the nickname. She was so adorable and gave me a kiss when I left and told me I need to visit her and the family in Louisiana (actually, so did his mom and Aunt Syl). I asked them if they'd adopt me and they said "we already have" ;) If I hadn't known all the "players" I would not have known who was who at the reception. I don't think I've ever seen a family commingle as much as these two families did. Often times a reception looks like a junior high school dance (you remember those right? The girls on one side of the gym and the boys on the other :). The bride's family and groom's family don't usually dance it up together like all these folks did.

Stacy's family was absolutely just as incredible and hospitable as Judd's. Stan and Angie have been so great to work with. Since they did a large part of the planning, I have been working with them for the last few months. We only met the one time at our initial consultation, but by the end of tonight, I wanted them to adopt me too :) And, what dancers the two of them are--they can cut quite a rug!! :) Stan and Stacy were teasing me tonight because I guess I looked a little emotional when they were doing the father/daughter dance :) Oh, well...if you've read this blog often enough you know how attached I get to some of my clients and that I do get emotional at times. Stacy is the only daughter and I could tell that her father absolutely ADORES her!!! By the end of the evening, I was getting a very strong feeling that this man is a very sensitive person. I watched him all day with his daughter and his wife and it was apparant that he is very thoughtful. In fact he did something tonight that I have never seen, or been as honored to be the recipient of. Just before I left, someone told me I was being paged. I turned around and Stan was on the microphone thanking me in front of all the guests. He went on and told everyone about how I write about my clients on my blog (I think he said that was one of the reasons they hired me) right after the wedding. I joked with him that he's obviously been stalking me (my blog), because he knew my routine so well :) It was very touching to feel so appreciated by these families (although getting applause was a little embarrassing) :)

I think one of the reasons I felt like this was one of my family weddings was that these people LOVE to party!! The dance floor was never empty (just like at the weddings that our family has)! It was so cute watching Judd and Stacy dance with all the kids. I think there must have been about eight little girls and a boy :) I met a few little girls today who were SO cute! I think one of my favorites was Peyton. I have a funny story about her. I was trying to take her picture today and she kept playing hard to get. When I told her she couldn't trick me because I have three daughters and I know "how to play the game", she asked if they were at the wedding. I said, "No, but here's a picture of them" (I tape a photo of them on my flash so I can look at it :) She looked at it and pointed to Katie and said "I've seen her before". After talking to Peyton, I found out that she lives in Lincoln and has seen Katie at Target (where she works). Eight years old, and has a memory like that? AMAZING!!

Well, I can't wait to show you these photos, so without further delay, here are Dr. and Mrs. Stacy Anders!!! (Sorry for the long post...My mom says she loves reading about all my couples, so I like to humor her :)

Please leave comments for Stacy and Judd (as well as their families). I know they will love to read them! I have my blogtracker activated, so let's see how many hits we get from all over the country...especially Louisiana!