Brian and Aja's Wedding

This year, our whole trip was planned around a very special event- a wedding!  It seems ages ago, but my best friend in university was Brian.  Most of my memories of that time in my life involve him in some form.  He was pretty much the main guy in my life until I met Jason.  Brian is dear to my heart and there was no way I was going to miss his wedding!  It was held on August 9, which any other year, might not have worked for our family to attend.  The first day of my new school year is August 11!  Every year, I pretty much "live" at school to prepare my classroom leading up to the first days of school. As things would turn out, I don't even have a classroom this year, so it was not problem at all that we planned to return on August 10.  It was for this reason that we flew in and out of Calgary this year.  We were able to spend a little bit more time with Peter and Teresa since we stayed with them.

Here are some pictures from Brian and Aja's wedding...

 Waiting for the wedding to start

From the start, I knew this was going to be a special wedding.  Brian and friends played "What I Wouldn't Do" by Serena Ryder as the bridesmaids and Aja walked down the aisle. They asked for us to put away our cell phones/cameras, so I don't have any pics from the ceremony.  Let's just say that it was a beautiful ceremony that was exactly "Brian and Aja."

 University friends- Jack, Brian, me

 Brian and Aja had little goodie bags waiting for the kids at our table!

 Every table marker was a picture of a couple and the number of years they've been married- so honored to be Table #14 (technically, we should be #15, but...)!

 Gee and me (high school/college friend)

 Beautiful Aja and me

 Amazing dessert bar (there were tons of options- I made myself stick to just these)

My "grandpa," Keith Thomson was there with his daughter, Carolyn, who I hadn't seen in decades. Both Brian and I grew up calling him our "grandpa" because of the significant role he had in our parents' lives when they first arrived in Edmonton in 1975.

 Brian with his mom

 Brian's sister and my dear friend, Grace

I can't believe this is the only family pic we have from that night!

The reception was such a fun time!  There were dance offs, lip sync contests (Jimmy Fallon-style), and funny, emotional, heart-warming toasts... I laughed uncontrollably one minute, and then cried the next.  Both Grace and Jeremy danced their heads off!  Dare I say it- it was probably the best wedding we've been to and all four of us had the most amazing time.  We were so sad when it was time to go- after all, we had to be at the airport by 4am, so we couldn't stay til the end.  I am so incredibly grateful that we were able to attend!  Love you both, Brian and Aja!

(I have no idea who to give the photo credit to- this was from Brian's FB page)