The Roberts Family Celebration season officially came to an end (well, for the time being anyway!) with Kara and Rich’s wedding over the recent three day weekend. Their wedding was the culmination of all the events we’ve been going to, and it’s somewhat sad to see them go as we always knew there was another function in which we would all see each other again. I guess we’ll just have to keep celebrating milestones as adults to bring us together!

But on to the wedding weekend (because in my family, weddings are weekend-long affairs!). I left for the Old Mill in on Saturday afternoon in order to arrive in time for the wedding rehearsal and dinner. Arrival and check in went off without a hitch, and I settled myself into my room for the weekend. For a person who was only away for two nights, I had managed to bring with me enough stuff to clothe a small village. Thankfully, I didn’t forget any of the essentials, as I had spent the week leading up to the wedding filling a bag with things I absolutely did not want to forget (i.e. my bridesmaid dress).

Once the bridal party was assembled, along with parents and grandparents, we headed downstairs, wandering through another wedding-in-progress’ cocktail hour to find the rehearsal room. The rehearsal was led by Michelle, the sister-of-the-groom who was also officiating. After a little wrangling of people and pets (because Gracie the bulldog was acting as the flower girl), and making sure everyone was in the right order we went through the ceremony, and then it was time to eat.

The rehearsal dinner was a nice, quiet, calm-before-the-crazy affair. We ate, we drank, we laughed and – of course – took lots and lots of pictures. It was a good opportunity to capture the family together before the wedding day.

I actually wasn’t feeling particularly well the whole weekend, and so I left the rehearsal a little bit early so that I could get to bed in order to be ready for the big day on Sunday. We were up bright and early for the hotel breakfast, and then it was down to the bridal suite to get our hair and makeup done for the day.

Can I just take a moment and say how fun it is to get your hair and makeup done? Theoretically I know how to do both things, but having one less thing to worry about is awesome, and it’s fun to get a makeover. Though I wasn’t actually thrilled with how my hair came out, the makeup was awesome and it was fun to do anyway! And getting to spend the morning with the bride and bridal party was a great way to begin the day. I still wasn’t feeling particularly well, but we had so much going on, I was able to kind of shove my cold to the side, which I wanted to do anyway so I could focus on the bride.

Once we were dressed and ready, it was time for pictures (well, the formal ones anyway… I had been taking pictures all day at this point). The Olde Mill Inn, where the wedding was held, had lots of stairways and windows that made for good photo backdrops. It was around this point that Rich & Kara did the “first look” of each other in their wedding attire; since they had opted to do photos before the ceremony, there was a set up for them to see each other. We all gathered on the staircase and there was a very Titanic-esque moment as Kara came down the stairs.

When I wasn’t busy posing for photos, I spent a lot of my time observing the photographer’s cameras and flashes so that I can tackle event photography in the near future. And when I wasn’t doing that, some of the bridesmaids drifted up to what I called the “Captain’s Parlor,” a room with “someone’s art school portrait of a captain” (I believe it was Colette who coined that phrase) prominently placed and we goofed around taking our own portraits.

Photos complete, we started to get geared up for the ceremony. This was one of the first times all day that I had to sit down, and this made my cold all come rushing back in. However, I continued to push through it since I actually wanted to enjoy the reception.

Ceremony time arrived, and it went off without a hitch – and this was a ceremony that included a dog! Since I wasn’t available to take pictures during the ceremony, I don’t have any, so I’m hoping I can steal a few of Kara’s when she gets them back from the photographer.

When the ceremony was over, it was time to get to the cocktail hour – and I was starving! (And I had also been told in advance that there was a mashed potato bar, and I was dying to try that out – which I did; I visited it twice.) Food, drinks and mingling galore took place for the rest of the evening, and so I’ll allow a ton of pictures to speak for the fun. Why talk about it when you can see it?

At the end of the night, there was a very low-key after party. I changed clothes and hung out for a bit, and ultimately headed to bed at around one a.m. All in all it was a great party.

So what’s next for the ever-growing Roberts clan? Only time will tell.