Winston and Maddie's Wedding, part 2

Whoopsies, I almost forgot that I needed to post a part 2!  The wedding festivities were tons-o-fun, as can be expected with any Allen wedding.  The ceremony was nice and their priest did a good job officiating.

The reception was hosted at Main Gate therapy arena, a philanthropy and cause that is very close to Maddie and her family.  They transformed the riding arena into an elegant ballroom through the use of a few key pieces.  My favorite element was the chandeliers that hung over the dance floor.  It caused you to forget that you were even in an arena and feel like you were in an intimate, elegant ballroom.  I also loved the tall trees at the back, it helped to close in the "room" and also the uplighting on them was beautiful.

Next are a few of the wedding details, my favorite part of any wedding I attend ...

This was the centerpiece at a majority of the tables.  They chose to do purple and green with pops of orange for the wedding colors.  They also kept with an "elegant country" theme with the wrot iron holder.

This is how Maddie displayed her bridal portraits.  She took a simple frame, added chicken wire and then attached her pics with clothespins.  She also had my favorite candles, the mercury glass votives; they looked vintage and chic, tied perfectly into the wedding style.

The cakes were also great.  Maddie's cake was six tiers with intricate designs all over.  Winston's was a four tier cake with a Louisiana theme.  The top level was the LSU logo with a white tooth, next was the state with locations for Hodge and NOLA identified, then of course, the TCU logo and frog and lastly the fleur-di-lis for the Saints and Louisiana in general.  Sadly, I didn't get to taste either of these at the wedding ... too busy dancing and all!

A few pics of the fam.

Thurston and Madalyn decided to be risky and get everyone party shades for the reception.  They were a huge hit and made for some extra fun pics. 

Since we knew the reception was outside, I opted to braid my hair and keep it off my neck to stay cooler.  It was such a great idea, especially as the night wore on and we stayed busy dancing.  This was probably the only pic I got of me and Grayson were we looked normal that evening.

I am so excited to add another sister-in-law to the family.  Growing up with a brother I never realized how much fun it could be to have a sister, and now I have FOUR!  Between all the siblings getting married, our little family is growing by leaps and bounds.  It's especially fun to add Maddie to the bunch since we share a few things in common, we are both Texas girls and TCU graduates.  Among the Lousiana crowd, we should be able to hold our own.

The night ended way too soon, but we had a blast celebrating the new Mr. and Mrs. Allen.  They headed off to an Italian honeymoon and have some great stories and memories I'm sure!