Mawage.

Mawage is what bwings us togeder tooday. Mawage, that bwessed awangment, that dweam wifin a dweam...

Well, it's official. I now have a sister-in-law. I will do my best to highlight the weekend without going overboard on details.

• The weather was fantastic! It poured on Friday, but the rain led to much, much cooler temperatures for the actual wedding on Saturday. When I arrived in Houston, it was in the upper 90's. By Friday the temp had dropped significantly, and Saturday it was actually cool! Whew! They really lucked out in the weather department. No rain on their wedding day AND cool temperatures.
• Mom, Dad, Will, Ale, Francisco, and I missed the wedding rehearsal at the Cathedral. Not intentionally. We were the first to leave the hotel, but we got stuck in Houston rush hour traffic, in the rain, and with faulty GPS directions we were the last to arrive. We got there in time to hear the priest say, "OK, we're done here. Next wedding rehearsal." Needless to say, Andy was NOT happy with us, but there really wasn't much we could have done about it.
• Fortunately our lack of practice wasn't noticeable. We did a fine job during the ceremony. The biggest mess-up goes to the priest. He accidentally prounced Andy and Sandy "Mr. and Mrs. McGowan" at the end of the ceremony. This was followed by confused looks on the bride and groom, an "Oh, sh*@" mumble under the priest's breath, some name "help" from the audience, and a quick adjustment to the name.
• Ella and Sandy's niece Emma served as flower girls. We understand now why the church asks that the flower girls be at least 5 years old to participate. Ella was all. over. the. place. She doesn't handle not being the center of attention very well, and she snuck up next to Andy and Sandy whenever possible, carefully dodging and ignoring Molly's glaring death stare eyes following her. I'm sure the pictures will be cute, but we were soooo mad at her for misbehaving. And on purpose. She kept looking back at Molly, giving her "what are you going to do about it?" eyes.
• When welcoming everyone to the reception, Sandy's dad joked that he was learning about a whole new side of my brother. "Apparently he goes by some other name, Andy, and I guess his last name is now in question, too." (Sandy's family all know Andy as Will, so they had to get used to him being called Andy all weekend.) At that point, someone yelled out "Witness Protection!"
• The reception site was beautiful! Sandy had the tables decorated in city themes- each table was labeled after a city that they traveled to together. Mom and Dad sat at the London table, and the wedding party sat at the Bali table, where Andy and Sandy are honeymooning right now.
• Shaughn's best man speech was very emotional. I was great about not crying all day- I got teary eyed during the ceremony, but I didn't lose it until I heard Shaughn's speech. When sharing stories about how great of a brother Andy is, Shaughn talked about his accident and how when he was in the ICU, many nights he woke up and saw Andy there, uncomfortably sleeping on 2 chairs pushed together. And about how Andy pushed Shaughn to come to Houston, move in with him and Sandy and go back to school. It makes my eyes water just thinking about it. Shaughn told me later that the speech he had typed out and planned to give was nothing close to what he ended up saying. I told him that sometimes you gotta go with your heart.
• It was so fantastic to see everyone having a great time at the reception. The food was great, and the dance floor was full the whole night. I've truly never seen my brother so happy. Sandy is a great match for him, and I'm so excited to have her as my sister-in-law.

Here are some pictures that I especially loved from the weekend:

Sandy's almost ready!
And Andy's enjoying a hearty breakfast:

The cathedral was HUGE! But very pretty:

Ella and Uncle before the wedding:

And here's Ella again, right by Uncle's side as he escorts his bride down the aisle:

"I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. McGowan"

The whole family:

On the party bus, admiring their new hardware:

Kissy faces:

My favorite pic of all the siblings:

Shaughn's speech:

Me and my Willard (who was quite a hit at the reception, I might add!):

Mom and Dad:

Seeing the bride and groom off!