For Christmas, Brian made me the the beautiful cedar arbor from wood he milled at Allerton. The arbor was not only for our garden at home but he asked me to marry him again. It stood as our alter on this special day!
Our families were there to help us celebrate, along with lots of wonderful friends. Here are the Fultons.
The Bechtels
and Grandma Nelson
Brian's friend, Shane played music for us
Amara walked me down the aisle
The men met us as the alter
My Dad, Dave Bechtel, gave the welcome, a few words on love, and a prayer.
My best friend, Alicia, helped us recite our vows to each other.
Brian's mom, Chris Fulton, recited our favorite poem- Desiderata- which was read at our wedding five years ago.
Group kiss!
Back to our house for food, beer, music, and games!
Lil Porgy's BBQ in Champaign catered
We had a first dance to the song we danced to at our reception, Carolina On My Mind by James Taylor.
Then the live music began with Kevin Stearns, a favorite of mine from college in Bloomington-Normal- he was AMAZING!!!! The kids LOVED him and the adults did too. Here Brian is singing "AMY" to me but changing the words to " KATIE"
My great friends from Monticello: Lisa, Cara, and Liz!
The kids and the girls did the Hokey Pokey!
Kevin was INCREDIBLE!!!! We loved him so much!
My girlfriends who came from Chicago!
The guys playing bags!
My sweetie!
My oldest friend ever, Jill, and my dear friend Arin!
OK....so the party was great! The live music went on for 2 hours and then the afternoon was filled with catching up with friends, watching the kids run around, and just hanging out! It was great. By 7PM, the group was down to just Brian and I and the 6 other friends who were staying over. Once the kids went to bed and it was dark out, we killed the keg, played card games, and hung out. Until.....Brian and I decided we needed to get out the balloons we are blown up earlier in the week for a super fun-and adult-relay race! There were two teams of 4 people. One person had to hold on to the chair. The next person in line had to run halfway back into the yard, chug a wuarter cup of beer, run father to get a balloon out of a garbage bag, run all the way back to the person holding the chair and try to break the balloon between them ( like humping). It was the funniest thing ever!
My team won!
It must have been our technique and our true dedication!
Anyway- it was an absolutely magical day and I'm so honored to have such an incredible husband, beautiful children, and wonderful friends and family! Thanks to all who came- we love you!****
Below is just a little taste of the kids request of Twinkle Twinkle and Alaric rocking out like Kevin!
