Wedding!

On Saturday November 29th, 2008, Joel Hoeksema and Kaylin Ostermeier were married! Garrett was the best man, so I took all of the photos from the church ceremony. I think I got some really great shots, since I got to sit in the front row with the family. I would have had a good shot of their first kiss as husband and wife, too, but the darn official photographer got in my way then!Kaylin looked beautiful and looked very composed, although I'm sure she was a little bit nervous at least.After the rings were exchanged, we sang some songs, listened to a sermon on love and sang some more songs. Below is a picture of Joel and Kaylin kneeling while we sang a song.Next, they signed the marriage registration. First Joel:And then Kaylin:(p.s. Actual events may not have occurred exactly in this order. But it's all mixed up in my head). Joel and Kaylin waited while Garrett and Rhonda, Kaylin's maid of honour, signed as witnesses.During the signing, Kaylin's sister Marieka played the flute.After the marriage certificate was signed, the minister congratulated Joel and Kaylin and gave them their certificate.Then Joel kissed his bride! But I missed that shot. Oh well!! I have lots of smooching pictures from the reception, so I'm satisfied.
After the ceremony was complete, we filed out of the sanctuary and into the foyer, where we walked down the receiving line to congratulate the newlyweds. There's Joel with his Mom and Dad:Family shot! Except for Garrett, who took the picture, so I guess he's there in spirit too.We enjoyed some sandwiches, snacks and drinks in the foyer for the next hour or so, chit chatting with some of the relatives and friends that I knew. Then we had some family photos in the church again, before the wedding party took off for photos at another location. I helped cleanup some of the stuff at the church to take it to the ceremony, then we headed off into town to run a few errands before the reception. Usually when I say "we" I mean Garrett and I, but for this part I actually mean Garrett's sister, Sarah, and I. Garrett was off with the wedding party, being his handsome self in all those photos. Sarah and I changed into our casual wear for the casual reception and then went down to Fort Edmonton early to help set up. However, once we arrived at Iggy's Barn (very rustic! Hence the "casual reception") we saw this:Luckily for us, everything was basically ready to go already! So...we were early and had nothing to do...so...we wandered around Fort Edmonton and had an interesting time. But that's for a follow-up story later, so stay tuned.Here's the head table. Garrett got to sit there.I also had some extra time to take a few shots of the wedding cupcakes (which were YUMMY!).The reception invited guests to arrive early to partake in sleigh rides, however since we've had basically no snow this winter so far, the plan was amended to wagon rides. First, the wedding party arrived and went out on the wagon for some last minute photos. Unfortunately, it made the whole party a little chilly in their light clothes, despite the relatively good weather for the end of November (it was above zero! But windy windy windy!). Here's the wedding party on the wagon:Here are Kaylin and her bridesmaids once they disembarked the wagon.Once that crew finally moved along, the rest of us monkeys got to go on a wagon ride. I went on with Sarah (top) and Heather (bottom):Here are the horses. Their names were Nick (left) and Maggie (right).They're Belgian. Well...Belgian something kind of horse. (not the technical name, no).Here's a movie I made of our wagon ride! It was a little cold actually.
The large building we head towards eventually was Iggy's Barn. The reception was held upstairs and the food buffet was downstairs. They had yummy food, including pulled pork sandwiches! Not your standard wedding food, but I liked it.
After the wagon ride, we headed back inside for the dinner and reception. I got a nice shot of Joel with his top hat:This is Garrett's flower from the wedding - he was very proud of how much it opened up during the course of the day. It was very pretty.Sarah and Joel - the top hat made its way around on many people's heads that night.
Kaylin looks bored here, but really, she was having a great time!This guy was the Master of Ceremony. He's Kaylin's brother-in-law.Instead of running your standard "clinking of the glasses means the bride and groom have to kiss" gig, Kaylin and Joel had a jar where you could put money to see them kiss. All of the proceeds went to the Stollery Children's Hospital. I think they thought this plan would mean less kissing for them, but I think it backfired. People were more than willing to put 5 bucks in to see them kiss! They raised over $120 that night!I made a movie when someone put a twenty dollar bill in the jar, since they had to kiss for longer than the standard five dollar entry.
Here's the bro's, during an intermission:Kaylin's sister ran a little game for them. Joel and Kaylin each had one of each of their shoes. When Kaylin's sister would ask them a question (eg. Who will do all of the cooking?), they would each answer with the appropriate shoe. It was funny.8.Next came some speeches. Garrett did the "toast to the groom" and pulled off his speech marvelously. I think people are surprised at how funny he can be, considering he's such a quiet guy usually. Of course, I know how funny he is!Here's a peak of the first part of his speech:
Next, the maid of honour, Rhonda, gave the "toast to the bride".
Both sets of parents gave a welcoming speech and reminisced about Joel and Kaylin's childhoods.Hey, who's that monkey?Kaylin's family sang a song for her (it was nice).Other than that, Garrett and I ran the slideshow movie he made with old photos of them (which was only two songs long and tasteful, so people actually liked it), Joel and Kaylin said some thank-you's and the whole shindig was done by 8:30pm. We all helped to clean up and pack up the cars, before heading out the Garrett's parent's house for an after party.