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The Reception!

The reception was awesome!  We had an absolute blast!  Someone from Noelle's side of the family told me I was the happiest person they had ever seen.  I was very happy!  I can't remember the last time I laughed so much!

The newlyweds had a cupcake tree with one small cake on the top for them to cut.  The cupcakes were all different flavors and were awesome!

Ben's tumbling team performed some stunts outside for the guests.

Gracious, I hope she had shorts on under that skirt.

Noelle's accapella group performed as well.  

When Noelle started singing, Ben's friends all looked at him in surprise and Ben smugly nodded at them as if to say, "Yep.  That's my wife!"

 We had very good friends who came all the way from California!


We had wrapped Katie's cast in a gray scarf to match her bridesmaids dress for the wedding.  At the reception, we had a giant pack of colorful sharpies and had people sign her cast.

There was a DJ in a big room for dancing.  Kerry and the girls did some serious head shaking.

 Ben and Noelle had their first dance together.

 Then the parents of the bride and groom each got up and spoke.  Ben told us the day before the wedding that we would be giving a speech.  We didn't have a lot of time to prepare!  Kerry spoke about five principals of a strong marriage.  He choked up while he was speaking.  I talked about how I had been praying for Ben's future spouse since he was a child and I was so glad to know that it was Noelle I had been praying for all of those years.  I choked up while I was speaking.

Ben came over afterwards and told us, "Mine and Noelle's dance softened everyone up.  Then your speeches just finished them all off.  Everyone was crying!"

 Ben and I had a mother/son dance.  I found out about that just before we were called out onto the dance floor.  

 Ben tried to spin me at one point but my shoes have a very non-skid bottom and I stumbled and almost fell.  We were laughing our heads off over it.  When I was young, I would have been mortified to have done that in front of such a large group of people.  Now, I just think it's hilarious and knew it made a fun moment for everyone to laugh.


Ben and I decided to dramatically tango up and down the floor a few times for a few more laughs.


Then I warned Ben, "Just so you know, your dad is about to cut in like he's going to dance with me but he's going to dance with you instead."

Ben responded, "I can go with that."


When Kerry tapped Ben on the shoulder the entire crowd said, "Awwww."

When Kerry grabbed Ben and started dancing it got a huge laugh and lots of applause!

 We will always go for the laugh!


When Ben and Noelle left we all blew bubbles over them.


And the newlyweds headed off into married life! 


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