melinda & alex's wedding - june 16, 2006

They say how things go on your wedding day will indicate how things will be in your marriage...if that is the case, Melinda and Alex have nothing to worry about!

From the weather to the speeches, dresses, decorations, flowers, the food...everything can be summed up in one word...PERFECT.

Melinda was a vision in white, with lovely orchids in her hair, and Alex looked quite handsome in his tux and blue accent vest. And as you can see in the photo, they were smiling non-stop!

I was Melinda's matron of honour, so I got to see all of the aspects of the wedding close up and personal. And my 5 1/2 month pregnant belly even fit into my espresso brown Alfred Sung outfit...barely, but I at least I could breathe and my ribs are still in tact ;-) For anyone who is pregnant, a two piece bridesmaid's outfit is the way to go!

The wedding cerimony was held at Victoria Park in Kitchener at 4pm. There was a nice breeze that kept us cool (I know Melinda was very thankful for that to keep the perspiration down!). The reception was held at Grey Silo Golf Course, which Melinda and some of the other girls nicely decorated in their 'spice' wedding theme. The colours for the wedding were brown with a blue accent. Everything looked beautiful.

At the reception, Alex's younger brother Cam made a very emotional speech about Alex's dad, who passed away a few years ago. He was so sweet, trying to think of all of the things that his dad would've said (I still get teared up thinking about it). I knew I was speaking next, so I was fighting hard to stay composed...but it was tough. Fortunately for me Gina got up there right after Cam before I had to go up and made a few jokes so that lightened the mood a little.

There was a lot of mention of Alex's dad and I felt like he was there in spirit...he must've been watching over everything, making sure things went perfectly for his son and his new bride.

In my toast to the bride, I talked about a few of Melinda's 'unusual talents' - like her addition to online Warcraft...it was funny, because JC said that he heard a lot of people talking about Warcraft afterwards...so I don't think she was the only closet addict in the room!

In many ways their wedding reminded JC and I of ours...especially it being on a Friday and the very casual and relaxed atmosphere at the reception. It is so nice when people get creative and go outside the 'template' wedding. Those are the weddings you tend to remember more I think.

It was also very nice to see a few faces that I have not seen in a while - Mandy and her husband Mike were there from Iowa, and Eric Voss as well, who has just moved back to Guelph from Calgary. Gill was also in the wedding party and I don't see her too often, so it was great to catch up with her. I also enjoyed meeting Melinda's younger sister Becky from Vancouver and her boyfriend Frank, whom I have never met before.

~*~