The Pickles: Sweet Home Alabama wedding

Today our pastor gave a homily about the Four Last Things (i.e., Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell), in which he spoke about heaven as the great wedding feast. He made the point that on the wedding day, the happiest person is the bride, since she's been planning this day since she was 8 years old. After Mass we were talking with him and Mr. Pickles said, "Father, I have a little correction for your homily." The priest looked a little concerned (since we had just been talking about Scott Hahn) and said, "Oh really?" Mr. Pickles replied, "Yes, girls don't start planning their weddings when they're eight -- they start when they're TWO. A few weeks ago Katie asked if she could have bubbles at her wedding." He just bust out laughing.

Obviously Amalia's wedding made a huge impression on the girls. I think the fact that Mommy was in the wedding made it even more interesting for them. As I mentioned before, the actual driving part went pretty well. We made the trip in two days, breaking it into very manageable 7-hour-ish segments.

Helping Daddy get the car ready for the trip.

Having fun with the hotel amenities. :)

Hm, wonder where the girls could be?

The Great Smokey Mountains of Tennessee -- aka the view from the balcony of our first hotel.

Much to everyone's sorrow, the hotel we were staying at in Birmingham had just closed their pool. So while I was having fun doing bridesmaidy stuff, Mr. Pickles took the girls to have fun at a Children's Museum instead.

They were fascinated by this giant marble-moving contraption. I think they would have stayed there all day if Mr. Pickles hadn't insisted that there was more fun stuff to do there.

...like play with water.

Hey, doesn't a ladybug have six legs?

Katie making a new friend.

And just because it's cool...

Hogwarts Castle!

All right, on to wedding pictures!

The flower girl, Anastasia, begged to be introduced to Miriam at the rehearsal dinner. The two girls hit it off immediately, with Katie playing tag-along as usual. Miriam still declares that Anastasia is her "best, best, best, best friend." (Edy, you must understand, is her "best, best, best, best cousin.")

During the bride's entrance procession, another bridesmaid and I couldn't keep a straight face. I glanced at the groom's mother, and saw that she was in tears -- I then noticed that she was looking at her son, the groom, who was in tears -- and HE was looking at his bride, who was in tears. I've never seen more bawling at a wedding! It was so sweet. You couldn't help but be happy for them.

The wedding was beautiful too. It's not every day you get to attend a wedding in a CATHEDRAL, in which the music is done by the Cathedral choir! It was glorious -- a real celebration and foretaste of the Wedding of the Lamb.

The bridal party afterwards. Quite a good-looking crew, aren't we?

Katie putting on the charm. Do you like my black widow shoes? :)

Speaking of the happiness of the bride on her wedding day...
What did it matter that the caterer was being a pain? What did it matter that 3 days before the wedding all their phones died? You need only look at her radiant face to see what really matters on the wedding day. "He's mine!"

Cute patootie. I let her hold my flowers until she started using them as a broom to sweep the sidewalk in front of the cathedral.

Later on at the reception though, she very gently put them to bed.

The reception was a little rough on me at first -- I hadn't eaten a real meal all day, and for a mom in her first trimester, that's suicide. I was SOOOOO cranky! Once I finally got some food in me I felt better. The music was really loud, too, PLUS the cathedral bell ringers chose that afternoon to practice their change ringing, making it difficult to find someplace for quiet conversation. But they did have a live band which played AWESOME music.

The seating at the head table was different from any other wedding we'd been to, but I think I liked it this way better. Instead of the usual wedding party at the head table, it was all the bride's and groom's families. If you think about it, that really makes a lot more sense -- since it was a joining of two families. That way the rest of the bridal party could sit with their own families and friends, which I'm sure Mr. Pickles appreciated at this point, since he'd been in charge of the girls all day!

The wedding cake had little charms stuck in it, so all the single ladies got to pull one out. The tradition is that the girl who pulls out a little wedding ring will be the next to get married. Miriam pulled out a little cross.

And now to the whole point of having a wedding in the first place...

Dancing!!!

Miriam with some of her new friends. (There were lots of kids at the wedding -- one of the reasons it was so great!)

Yay! We like weddings! (sorry -- the person who took our picture had apparently forgotten how to use a viewfinder on a digital camera)

Well, since we were so close, we HAD to take the time to visit Mother Angelica's monastery, Our Lady of the Angels.

This is her "little farm chapel," the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament. We weren't able to take any pictures inside, but you can get a little peek here. It's one of the few places in the world where when you enter, you feel that you want to be a better human being. The last time we visited Amalia a few years back, we came here for Mass, shortly after the Shrine was completed. Amalia said that many of the workers and craftsman who built the shrine were brought from Italy, and when they finished the church they wept, mourning that they would have to go back to building office buildings, and would probably never again work on anything so beautiful. It is truly glorious inside.

Miriam really, really wanted to go inside this castle. Unfortunately, the only day we had free to visit was Sunday, so it was closed. :( Well, next time.

Even the DOORS were cool.