An Allen becomes a Menge!

I'm trying to do a good job at posting pics promptly, but the busy-ness associated with my new job has kept me from doing as well as I would like. Regardless of the timing though, I wanted to share the amazing time we had this last weekend celebrating the marriage of Natalee (Grayson's sister) to her wonderful husband, Dax.

The wedding weekend began with a bridal luncheon at a lovely tea room in Shreveport. I believe the suggestion for the location came from Thurston because it is one of his favorite restaurants in S'port. Sorry to throw you under the bus Thurston, but I just find that piece of information interesting ;)

Anyways, all the females in the family & wedding party were invited to attend and begin the weekend by celebrating Natalee and honoring her together. The food was delicious and quite hearty, there was great shopping and I fully intend to head back again one day to spend more time in the store. Next came the rehearsal that evening. The wedding was at Holy Trinity in downtown Shreveport. The church was gorgeous, had beautiful stained glass and a nice long red carpeted center aisle. Here we are about to go in and "rehearse".
This is Madalyn and her amazing date "Hiller". Really, his name is Michael, but it's more fun to sing his last name to the Michael Jackson song "Thriller". I'm pretty sure it got stuck in my head everytime someone called his name. But, I digressed. Hiller stole the show this weekend. He was our "go-to-guy". Since he didn't technically have a duty, Madalyn and I utilized his photography skills to capture action & posed shots all weekend. He was so much fun and a great help and we really loved having him around. Not to mention he drives a sweet car that I was privileged enough to ride around in during the weekend.
The happy couple figuring out the last minute details of the ceremony. They were both so calm and poised and ready for the big day!
I was such a proud wife. Grayson had the all important responsibility of walking Kathy (and other guests) down the aisle. He took notes (not really) and paid attention to the details for himself and the other two brothers. He was really intent on making sure he understood exactly where everyone was supposed to sit.
The bridal party outside the church. It was so fun getting to know Natalee's friends even better and learning all about their special relationship with her.

The ladies in the Allen family!
This is the wedding day. Let's take note that the ushers were supposed to be at the church for photos @ noon. This picture was taken at 12:15pm. No need to worry that Grayson & Winston weren't overly concerned about the delay. They insisted on posing prior to leaving.
Some shots with the family before the wedding. Everyone looked stunning.
Kind of far away, but you get the idea that we were all very excited for the show to begin.
Me and Grayson after the wedding. We figured since we were so dressed up, we might as well make a photo-op out of it :)

The Magic Carpet also made an appearance this weekend. She served as the Get-a-Way vehicle for The Menge's and Grayson served as the chauffeur. I think they made a great pair for the evening.
Mr. and Mrs. Dax Menge!
The groom's cake! Please note the fake crawfish, the real lemons and the newspaper underneath the cake. It really did look like a crawfish boil! The German chocolate cake inside wasn't too bad either!
The bride's cake. It was tinted a light shade of purple with dark purple sugar flowers draping down it. It was delicious and I'm secretly glad that not all of it got eaten b/c it has served as my evening dessert for the past 4 nights!
Only one of the buffet tables. The caterer did an amazing job and it looked almost too gorgeous to eat.

One of the centerpieces in the food line. There were tons of these spread out throughout the reception hall.
Natalee & Dax cutting her cake.
Cutting the groom's cake & eating.

The typical TCU photo! We actually did the cheer for the entire reception hall. We definitely had TCU spirit that evening.
Natalee dancing with her new brother-in-law. This was only one shot of the dancing. The entire evening was filled with all of us out on the dance floor having a wonderful time.
After a full day of celebrating, we were both tuckered out and tired. We had a great time and were so glad to be a part of such a fun celebration. We look forward to hearing how the honeymoon in Jamaica went and celebrating future anniversaries with the Menge's (seeing as how we're only 10 days apart!) We've had a blast the past few weekends celebrating the marriages of people we consider dear. Congrats Dax & Natalee!