Nate and Sarah’s Wedding Weekend

We had a blast at my cousin’s wedding in Minnesota this weekend. It’s always an awesome time seeing my family. Throughout all the changes, the moves, and distance, they are a constant and an amazing support system to both Neil and I.

The weather this weekend however, was the complete opposite. I’ve never been under the threat of tornadoes for so long in my entire life! We arrived in Rochester and the sky was all sorts of green and purple and the lightning was right out of a movie. We decided to hit up a restaurant near our hotel in case we had to duck for cover or race back, so we hit up John Hardy’s BBQ. I’m not usually one for barbecue, but Neil is, so we decided to give it a try. We each ordered ribs and fries and were blown away by the plate of food we got. The portions were HUGE! I’ve only had ribs once, so I figured they’d be around 5 inches or so but each rib was over 8 inches long! Picture that with a bed of fries beneath and I was stuffed in no time. Who can eat like that? Needless to say we both took doggie bags, and I gave mine to the night desk guy at the hotel.

We survived the storms the first night and awoke to more warnings the next morning. We made our way to the wedding, and the sun graced us for a bit. My uncle owns a  beautiful nursery, and the place was fully decked out for the wedding. Gorgeous flowers, fountains, and archways, perfect place to have a wedding (though he insisted it will never happen again).

My cousin Canin was a groomsman

Nate as Sarah pulled up in the car

Grandpa misses Grandma so much…

The kiss!

Father of the Groom and Sue

Check out the car Sarah arrived in!

My new second cousin Jacob!

Cute little robin’s egg favors.

So beautiful

A few of the great-grandchildren, missing are Jacob and the new twins Logan and Sophia

Uncle Larry and Auntie Paula. It was really hot out!

Adorable gift table

Sarah and Jacob

First dance as a married couple!

It was a gorgeous wedding. The flowers, the food, the open bar, the music, the open bar – did I say that already? It was all completely amazing. We laughed and danced and drank more than we should have…

…then Neil brought me his iphone.

The weather app showed red all over the radar. At almost that second the wind started whipping through the tent. We hurried and tied down all the sides. We were thinking that it was merely just a thunderstorm and that we’d just continue dancing in the tent, but Neil wasn’t convinced and went to get the car. While I was waiting, two police officers ran in from either side of the tent, screaming for everyone to evacuate and find shelter. Tornadoes had been spotted west of town moving east. The sirens started going off, and then it was mass chaos. I quickly hugged a few family members and everyone just grabbed what they could and ran with who they could to find the nearest shelter.

Okay, so I was scared. I was screaming and crying in the car. I’m terrified of storms. I’ve never seen a tornado and nothing terrifies me more than a tornado at night and not being able to see it. Remember that scene in Twister? The tornado comes out of nowhere and swallows the drive-in movie theatre! We even ended up hiding in a gas station just like in the movie! EEP! After 30 minutes we started back to the hotel, following the storm all the way to Rochester.

We left the next morning under more severe weather warnings, and essentially drove through it all day. At one point, we even had to pull over, with about ten other cars, because the rain was going sideways and no one could see! I was so happy by the time we drove down my street, and opened the door to home. It was a beautiful wedding though, and I’m so glad we were able to be a part of it.

Do you have a crazy wedding story?

I’m still editing photos, and quite a bit of scandalous video footage so stay tuned!