Holmberg

Today was Lars and Natasha's wedding and it was just beautiful! Their ceremony was at 4 in the afternoon at the Rockhold United Methodist Church which is located on what was Lars's family homestead. His parents and his grandparents both got married at this church, so they were continuing the tradition. It was small (but air conditioned) and really quaint. The Methodist ceremony was performed by a reverend and was fairly short and sweet. Their wedding party consisted of the maid of honor (Natasha's best friend), Lars's best man (Greg), 3 bridesmaids (including Lars's younger sister), and 3 groomsmen (2 of whom are friends of ours as well). The girls wore mint dresses that they each picked out and were cocktail length while the men had on gray suites with green ties. They had beautiful mint, white, and pink bouquets and boutonnieres all which complimented Natasha's stunning dress. She wore a strapless ballgown which had a simple top of folded satin and a tulle bottom. Her hair, which is shorter, was styled beautifully around a rhinestone headband.

The reception was 40 minutes away in Kingsport in a converted bank called Banq. (Clever play on words there.) It was a small venue, very well-suited to the 60 or so guests they had in attendance. They had a DJ who was playing when everyone began arriving as well as a slideshow of their pictures displayed on a couple tvs around the room. We were seated with our friends Sam and Kevin and their daughter Ryleigh and Kevin and his girlfriend Kim. Dinner was served shortly after the bride, groom, and wedding party arrived after taking photos. They had a delicious southern BBQ buffet complete with pulled pork and other comfort foods. For dessert, they had a small cake and several different flavors of cupcakes. They provided an open bar of beer and wine of which they were able to keep the remaining alcohol. I absolutely loved their guest book! It was a photo book with different prompts in it instead of just space for signatures or comments. They had pages asking for date ideas, how you met the couple, advice for them, and what famous couple they would be just to name a few. Matt and I left a little early so that Anthony could get to sleep at the hotel, but they did do a bouquet and garter toss! Natasha's cousin Brooke (one of her bridesmaids and Anthony's biggest admirers) caught the bouquet and their friend Josh caught the garter.

It was a great day with some of my best friends and I couldn't be happier for the newlyweds! Congratulations Lars and Natasha! We love you!

And here are some of the pictures:

program (front)

program (back)

escort card

escort card

escort card

Ryleigh and Anthony