ShannonAlbert.com - June 2009

Saturday morning we got up and got ourselves ready. Andy had to be taken to the church early so he could be in pics so we dropped him off and came back later. One of the perks/drawbacks of staying at our hotel was that our car was valet parked. I said recently that I vowed to make better use of valet when it was available (some people vow to do more for charity, I vow to use valet) and this hotel gave us a whole weekend of that. Nevermind the fact that our 10 year old van is falling apart and was a mess...somebody else was parking it!

Andy and Blake while waiting for our car to be brought up.



Once we got back from dropping Andy off, the kids and I got dressed and headed to the hotel restaurant. The wedding was over lunchtime so I wanted to make sure we got something to eat before we left. I thought about taking pics because it was so lovely to be dressed up with my kids eating in a semi-fancy restaurant in our hotel and having nice conversation. Instead, I just enjoyed it and kept the camera in my purse.

We had a few minutes to kill so we waited in the lobby before our car was brought back.



The kids and I finally headed to the church. The weather was unbelievably beautiful, especially for August. We hung out in front of the church for awhile before heading in to be seated.






The ceremony started and I'll never forget the image of the church doors opening and Celeste being at the back with the outdoors shining in behind her. It was so beautiful and I can't wait to see the pics. (With some bribery) Blake survived the (lengthy Catholic) ceremony so we were grateful for that.




We had a few hours between the ceremony and the reception. We headed back to the hotel for a nap and then the reception was within walking distance of the hotel.


Groom's cake made with a Williams-Sonoma bundt pan...


The wedding cake which is always made by Aunt Barb...





Getting Althea to smile is like trying to catch Bigfoot but I caught her!


Tony, whose fabulous wedding we attended in New Orleans...




Joey, breaking it down...





Wedding reception ended at 10:30 so we walked back to our hotel to take the kids back to get to bed and then Andy and I met lots of other people out in the Kansas City Power and Light District. We had a great time and it was very busy with people watching the Olympics on the big TV in the middle (TV crews had been there earlier showing the crowds). Andy's brother, Dan, will be opening a restaurant there hopefully in the near future which could be the next time we see this many Alberts in one place again!