Rehearsal and BBQ

Here is the speedy background version of Monica and Rick's lives.  Monica grew up in New York and Connecticut.  Her family moved to Arizona when she was in junior high because her step-dad got a job here.   She returned to NY for college, moved back to AZ after college, moved back to NY and bought a house, and then finally sold that house and moved back to AZ for good three years ago.  Rick grew up in California.  His parents retired to Green Valley, AZ a few years ago.  He was visiting them here in AZ when he met Monica.  They fell in love.  They decided to get married at the Tubac Golf Resort because they had spent a lot of time in Tubac while visiting his parents (Tubac and Green Valley are neighboring towns in very Southern Arizona).   

Which brings us to their wedding rehearsal.  After breakfast on Friday everybody drove the 2.5 hours down to Tubac.  My family went in two cars.  I took Brittany and Spencer and we stopped in Sahuarita on our way. We  spent Friday night with Michael's aunt and uncle in Sahuarita (another neighboring town to Green Valley and Tubac) so we could save some money and only stay at the resort for one night. Michael took Elliott and went to Tucson first to leave him with my mom and dad.

We met up at the resort.

Up first, the boring stuff.  We had to practice the ceremony so that nobody made fools of themselves the next day.

Monica and Rick got this cape for Spencer.  He wore it for the rehearsal and during the actual wedding ceremony.  It was awesome.

Then it was on to the party!

Rick's parents built and painted this adorable sign.

There was a really casual, country BBQ feel to the whole evening.

And the best part: the all-you-can-eat-build-your-own-s'mores-bar.

There were also little bags of pre-built s'mores with these adorable tags to take home as party gifts.

Rick's parents also built and painted this cornhole game.  It was the hit of the night.  I think that there was maybe 20 minutes during dinner when somebody wasn't playing it.

And finally, this was an awesome and fun touch to the weekend!

In terms of popularity the cut-out-boards were second in line, losing narrowly to the s'mores.

It was a super fun night.

We left at about 9:45 despite Spencer's protests that he was not tired and he wanted to stay longer.  We wanted to be sure that we all got a good night's sleep so we were ready for the BIG day the next day.

Apparently we missed an awesome card game after we left, which is disappointing, but I can't say I regret sleeping all night.

The big day is up next!  There will be no less than 5,483 photos.  Get ready for it.