Jessica & Eric

Last week I had the pleasure of a trip to Knoxville for several days, which included the wedding celebration of Jessica and Eric. :) Mom came down the beginning of last week and we got to do some shopping and such before we drove up to TN on Wednesday. Matt had too much going on at work to leave that early in the week, but Jess' lingerie shower was Wednesday night. I realllly wanted to be there for her festivities, and Mom and Dad were gracious enough to find a way to make it work (and Matt was kind enough to share me). :) Her shower on Wednesday night was really fun, and a great reunion with Amy and Kerry, who missed our wedding due to being in Mongolia with the Peace Corps and studying in Germany (respectively). It was SUCH a blessing to see them and be with them again!

Thursday and Friday we did some shopping for the house, my classroom, and school clothes; and then Matt drove up on Friday (yea!). Brad, Joy, and Charis came over for dinner Friday, so Matt got to see them on Friday too (he arrived in time for dinner). On Saturday Matt and I did some driving around to familiar places (happy sigh), and then we got ready for the wedding. It was in the sanctuary at church, as ours was, and it was the first wedding in the sanctuary that we've been to since our own--very fun and wonderful memories. :) Jess was a beautiful bride, and Eric was practically glowing, too. :) Unfortunately, as I hurried to take pictures, I didn't put my camera in the optimal mode for no flash photography in the sanctuary. As such, my ceremony pictures are rather blurry (which stinks for the picture of the rather lingering kiss). :) My reception pictures came out a bit better though. :) And here they are...

With Amy, the maid of honor (home from Mongolia for a couple weeks)

With Kerry, home from Germany and engaged! :)

Small group girls with rings: Kerry, Jess, and me (minus Sarah)

With the beautiful bride :)

Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins receiving cake-cutting instructions

Preparing to cut the cake

I think this one is cute. :)

I love Jessica's concentration--cutting the cake was more tricky for us than I anticipated too :)

They decided to smash!

Trying to clean up from the cake smashing--it was all over Eric's face and a few bits took up residence down Jess' dress!

Mike enjoying the sparklers way too much. :)

As always, you can click on a picture to see it larger and click it again to enlarge it even more. :)