Amy's Wedding!

Waaaaayyyy back at the beginning of March I made a little trip to Arizona to get my best friend hitched! Since I was Maid of Honor I wanted to be there for as much time as possible so I could help with last minute things and have a chance to be more hands on with wedding stuff since I obviously don't live in the area. 

My Mom was able to watch Anna for a couple days (thanks Mommy!) and I got in early on the Tuesday before the wedding. Just in time for a final dress fitting for Amy (plus some last minute hemming for my dress). We took care of some errands and then headed over to one of the groom's sister's house for dinner. It was great getting a chance to meet more of Brent's family and his good friend Olly who flew in from Hong Kong for the big day. 

Olly, Amy, and me!

We kept ourselves busy the next day too with numerous last minute things. It was also our spa night and several of us in the bridal party treated ourselves to massages and facials. The facial especially was AMAZING and it was fun to get pampered. The next day consisted of more wedding details and then manicures and pedicures. I hadn't had either of these since October (Moria's wedding) and I was in definite need. I was missing my baby by then but luckily Kevin and Anna would get in that night after the rehearsal so I was going to get my fix soon.

It was great finally getting to see the location of the wedding/reception at the rehearsal. Brent and Amy chose the Botanical Gardens in Phoenix and it was absolutely gorgeous. The plants all around made for an incredible location. Perfect for a wedding!

At the Gardens

The next morning I got to spend with Kevin and Anna but I decided to blog about my time with those two separate from wedding stuff since I have a lot of pictures to share.  It worked out well though that I had the morning with them. Since we were staying at Amy and Brent's place I think the Bride needed some alone time. It would be  basically the last alone moments for her for the entire weekend so I'm glad it worked out. 

That afternoon was the Bridal Shower that all of the bridesmaids and groomladies threw for Amy. We had it at this wine bar called "The Living Room". It was absolutely perfect for our event. Our area was semi open to the outside so we could enjoy March in Arizona. I think it was nice that we were able to have something so that out of town guests could attend as well as local ladies as well. 

Party Decor

One of the games we played was "Pin the tie on Brent". It was hilarious seeing a flat Brent at our gathering. 

Hi Flat Brent!

One of the other games that Brent's sister Samara came up with was the creation of a paper dress for Amy. We may or may not have made her wear the dress while opening gifts :)

Another sister, Shannon, came up with this clever idea for our dessert. Shannon and sister Suzie then made "panty cookies" since our shower had a more intimate theme to it. I thought they did a great job!

Dessert...yummy!

While I did my best to delegate and keep communication lines open between all of the wedding party (about half of us living out of state) it was really Vicky who did a lot of organizing for the shower. She found us the location and took care of decorations along with several other little things. I truly enjoyed working with her and getting to know her better the week of the wedding (we'd met previously). Amy is lucky to have such a wonderful friend in Phoenix!

me, Amy, and Vicky

Finally the wedding day was there! We headed over to Sarena's house (another of Brent's sisters) for hair and makeup before heading over to the gardens to get dressed. Amy had gotten all of us ladies robes to wear which I thought was such a cute idea. We all wore them for pictures later on.

Looking glam before hopping in a limo!

Just a few of us on the way to the Gardens. The lovely lady between me and the bride is one of the flower girls...Amy's Grandma Dammann. Her other Grandma Billings was the other flower girl. Such a wonderful idea and it was so sweet how she included them as part of her special day. 

We finished up getting ready at the Botanical Garden's and took care of most of the group pictures before the ceremony began. Amy looked absolutely stunning in her dress! 

I also loved the dress that Amy picked out for me to wear although I did have a small problem. I had contacted the company (each dress is custom made) and they informed me I could get the dress turned into a maternity dress and told me which additional measurements I would need. I sent those in and received the dress and it was HUGE! A few of the measurements were pretty far off and the thing was swimming on me! It was actually quite funny how ridiculous I looked. I took it in and mostly it just needed taken in on the sides and I ended up getting it hemmed some more last minute because I was worried about tripping since there was so much fabric. Very glad I did that!

Kevin was a little busy with Anna during the ceremony (she started saying Mama Mama during...so he had his hands pretty full). Therefore he was unable to really take many pictures during. The ceremony was beautiful though!

Got to see Dustin at last! (Went to high school with me and Amy and lives in Phoenix). It was awesome having time to catch up with him.  

We even took our turn in the photo booth :)

The reception was also wonderful. It got a little windy as the night went on (but nothing in comparison to Kansas wind). I was fairly nervous about giving a speech but I think it went well. At least that is what people told me. Perhaps they were just being nice to the pregnant lady :) I felt good about it though. 

Even after the sunset the place looked beautiful with all the trees wrapped in lights. 

A little cake cutting for Mr & Mrs!

I still had little things to take care of during the first part of the reception but I finally had a little time to spend with my sweet little lady. We enjoyed a couple dances together.

Kevin also got to get his groove on with Anna. I don't know if it is clear in the picture but Anna was singing out to whatever song they were dancing to.

I needed to stay longer than Anna was going to be able to last so Kevin took her back to the house and I got a ride home afterward. Before they left though we headed over to the photo booth. Anna was a little confused by everything...with the fast prop changes and all but I still think they are cute. I think Amy got a kick out of Kevin keeping the same pose of strangling the Jayhawk in every picture.

It was a fantastic day and I recently got to see the professional pictures and they are amazing. I'm so lucky to have Amy HUMBERT (It's still strange getting used to her new last name) in my life. I had an amazing week with her and I was truly honored to stand up for her on this big day. 

One last photo booth picture!