The Wedding Recap

I cannot believe I didn't get a picture of the shrunken head.

And that I didn't make that up.

Last weekend we went to my cousin's wedding. Technically he's supposed to be a distant cousin, as his dad and my dad are first cousins, but his dad has been in and out of our lives since as long as I can remember, often living next door to us when I was growing up, so we don't really stand on ceremony when we label his kids as cousins. They are. They now live in Minnesota, although one kids lives next door to my brother in Vicksburg and the one that got married just graduated from Mississippi State and will be in med school at UMC in the fall. I had a feeling there wouldn't be a lot of people from our side of the family there, since the wedding was just outside of Memphis, so I talked my mom into going. (That was real hard. I said, "Hey Mom, wanna go?" and she said, "OOOOOHHHHH!!!!! Let's go!!!!!!") I'm glad I did, as we were one of very few people there for the groom and most of those were from his mom's side.

The wedding itself was incredible. I wish I had a recording of the service because the minister talked about the mystery of marriage and used passages from Song of Solomon and I wish I could remember everything he said because it was awesome. One of the things I love about weddings is how I usually feel a renewed sense of purpose in my own marriage after the service. I sent Greg a text right after and told him we should go to church there. It's only a 4 hour drive!

And right outside the church there was this old train that you could climb on. So of course we did. Because what else are you going to do when you're all dressed up and waiting to go a reception?

They had the reception half an hour away at the Pink Palace Museum in Memphis. What a bizarre place. I don't know how to describe it, and we only saw the main hall. Most of the museum was blocked off. There were all kinds of taxidermied animals and birds, artifacts from all over the world, including a shrunken head in a glass class as the center display.

How did I NOT get a picture of the shrunken head?

The light was awful so I didn't get to take many pics at all, but I did get one of the outside of the building and the polar bear. Yes, they turned the polar bear exhibit into the gift station. How awesome is that?
And here's a picture of the happy couple, Sam and Ashley.