Seven Brides And Seven Brothers...In-Law

I have five sisters and two brothers. Unfortunately for the brothers, they came after the six girls in the family. When the first brother, Rob, came along, we were all still pretty young (no excuse). We dressed him up in girl clothes when he was a baby... and a toddler. We teased him and laughed at his phraseology. To his discredit, he could be quite annoying.

Now Rob is a man. A big man. And he got married on Thursday to the lovely Claire. He was happier than I've ever seen him. They are both beautiful (as you can see). Claire was the most gracious bride I've ever seen. She looked perfect and everything about their day was special (and not in the eating paste way). I loved the place where they held their reception - and she let all of us wear what we wanted. See? Gracious.

Rob and Claire's wedding was very different from the six that came before it in our family. Jen and Ben got married in December 1993. By then the rest of the family lived in North Carolina, so we drove across the country in the blue Buick station wagon. We spent Christmas at Uncle Mark and Aunt Julie's house, so the car had Christmas presents packed in it as well as having 8 people (Katy drove with some friends of Mom and Dad's). I remember having a stack of something between me and Allyn in the middle seat and I didn't see her for the entire trip even though she was sitting right next to me. As for the rest of the wedding day, my memories are pretty random. I remember Ben carrying Jen across the street and it looked like he was carrying a big marshmallow. They both smiled relentlessly the whole day and looked adorable. I didn't like my hair. Lots of people told me I was next mwa-hahahaha (I wasn't). Aaron fell asleep and when he woke up he wouldn't go to anyone but me. Aunt Margaret wore a housecoat to the reception.

The next wedding was Katy and Matt's in July 1996. This time the wedding was in Washington D.C. and the reception was in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. I was home from my mission for exactly a month when they got married. (My youngest brother, Aaron, informed me at Rob's reception that no one could top Katy and Matt's p.d.a. I wouldn't know about that.) It was a hot (HOT) day and everyone was melting outside the temple while we took pictures. For the reception, the sisters were all in black or red dresses (made by Mom - as were the dresses we wore to Jen and Ben's reception). I loved seeing Katy dance with Dad and Matt dance with his Mom. I think she was the only one who had dancing. Katy and Matt made a beautiful bride and groom. Dad continued his tradition of singing "Daddy's Little Girl" to the bride, which made (makes) all the sisters cry no matter who he is singing to.

Four months later, Brian and I got married. To hear my Mom tell it (and you can hear this story even today if you are around her long enough), it was the most inconvenient of all the weddings in the history of weddings. Brian and I got engaged soon after my family was in Utah for a visit and to drop me off to live with Jen and Ben. We were engaged in August and Mom begged me to wait until April to get married so that they wouldn't have to make the trip to Utah again so soon. Um, yeah. I found one dress in my size at ZCMI, so I bought it. We were married in Manti on the day after Thanksgiving in 1996. (To quote my Mom, "We passed 32 temples on the way to Manti.") The reception was in Sugarhouse at a place whose name I can't remember. It was a beautiful, long day. I loved the colors I chose (dark blue and yellow) and the dessert at the reception (gingerbread). And I loved that I married Brian. Other than those things, I would have changed everything had I known that I would be hearing about it for the rest of my born days.

Allyn and Aron were next in July 1998. It was another steamy day in Washington D.C., but this time Brian and I were together and we could take in some sights before all the hoopla. I remember thinking that Allyn and Aron seemed like great pals. I mean that in the best way. They looked perfectly comfortable together. I'd never met Aron, so it was good for me to see her so happy with him. Their reception was at a church in North Carolina and Allyn chose a minty green fabric for all the sisters' dresses. Poor Brian got very sick during the reception. We ended up spending most of the night at a hospital. Our plane was leaving the next morning in Baltimore, so I had to drive the five hours while Brian suffered on the passenger side. We stopped for gas and as I was pumping it, he opened the door and puked. Yep, it was that bad.

In February 2002, Melissa and Jeff got married in Raleigh, North Carolina. What a pleasure to have everything right there - the wedding, the luncheon, and the reception were all within a few miles of each other. Melissa cemented her status as The Favorite by marrying Jeff - it's what our parents would have arranged if they'd been given the opportunity. Their reception was at the LDS Institute and they violated the fire code with all the people who came. Melissa wore our Grandma Shirley's wedding dress and veil. Their photos were perfect, the food was perfect, everything was perfect. Marsha, Marsha, Marsha! Except maybe the musical we performed in their honor. Don't get me wrong, I love musicals. I'm just glad no one has ever written one about me and Brian.

Makenzie and David got married in October of 2003 California. Huh? Dad was serving as a mission president at the time and the only way he and Mom could be to the wedding was if the wedding came to them. Their wedding and luncheon and both receptions were very easy for us. All the siblings who could come stayed at the mission home along with a few friends who came at the last minute. Somehow Brian and I ended up sleeping on the couches in the family room next to the kitchen. When I say sleeping, I mean not sleeping. One of my favorite memories of the day was sitting in the temple (next to Jeff's younger brother who had taken a chair by me even though it was supposed to be women only in the limited chairs) and noticing a total stranger sitting across from me bawling her eyes out. That still makes me smile. I loved waiting outside in the perfect weather with my sisters and brothers laughing and talking. At one of the receptions David's family served authentic Mexican food. Everyone who came to that one remembers it fondly. (No family picture because all the pictures have been promised to me for almost 5 years now.)

And now a slideshow of Rob & Claire's big day. Hopefully you can tell who is who from all the above information. :)

If you got through this whole post, it's time to get back to work.