The Nolte Fam: Our Wedding: The Wedding Party

I figured that since the majority of the upcoming posts are going to have pictures of the same people, I
should probably inform everyone of who these people are in all the pictures!! Therefore, this post will be used to first introduce everyone in our wedding party!

Before I start, I will say this. Matt and I wanted to have friends & family from different times in our lives standing up there with us on our wedding day. We both had several cousins, college friend(s) and high school friends as our attendants, so it was a good mix of where we've been!

Let's start with the bridesmaids!

My Maid of Honor was my sister, Abby! There was really no question about her being in the wedding, haha. I remember shortly after getting engaged and starting the preliminary wedding planning process, I was talking to Abby and said, "Well, I guess I never actually asked you, but I'm assuming you're going to be the Maid of Honor?" and her response was, "Well, DUH!" haha.

I also had my best friend from high school, Mallory! We've been friends since 9th grade, and our friendship began because we shared the same hatred for a story we were reading in English, and the only way we got through the reading and the assignments was by complaining to each other and working together! haha.

Then, I had Emily from Longwood! Emily and I both became RAs during our Junior year at Longwood, and we both started out in Curry! From numerous staff meetings and being on duty together, we just became great friends! We worked on a few programs together, and then when it came time for us to move out, I remember sitting in her room--mostly everything had already been moved out--and we talked about how depressing it was to be leaving. We then decided it was time for ice cream, haha, so that's exactly what we got :)

Next, was my cousin, Brooke! I don't care how long we might go without seeing each other, when we get back together, we staaaaaaay laughing!! I was so glad to have Brooke in the wedding, because growing up, I always wanted to be just like Brookey :-P Most of our memories are from being down at the river, especially the nights we stayed out in the little camper, laughing and talking loudly for hours on end! {"Brooke! Shut your Nascar mouth up!!"} hahaha.

Another cousin, Gabby! Gabby is another great cousin who made me laugh on wedding day! {I have to share this simple story!} On the day of our wedding, it seemed like everything I had planned for the past 22 months didn't matter any more. I didn't care what wasn't exactly right, as long as we all got there on time! haha. But Gabby certainly made me laugh about one little detail. After she put on her lipstick or lipgloss, she asked me maybe four or five times if her lips were too dark or should she fix them. I had to laugh because I kept saying, "oh no, it's totally fine, whatever's good!" but she kept on checking by saying, "are you surrrre?" to which I just kept replying, "oh yeah!" haha. But thank you Gabby for caring & checking! :)

Finally, the third cousin in the wedding {and the youngest in the wedding party :) }, Alison! We were all a little worried about Alison for the last week and a half before the wedding. She had an unexpected injury and she was on crutches until three days before the wedding!! Even though everyone else was, I didn't even stress about it. Just as long as she could physically be there {walking or not}, I was good! Needless to say, a week before the wedding, we did decide we would decorate a walker in the wedding colors, ad a basket to the front to hold her bouquet, etc. It would all work out! ha.
Sidenote: I have to share this story. When I asked Gabby & Alison to be in the wedding, -I asked them at the same time- Alison freaked at first and said "YES!" but then she calmly said, "as what?" hahaha. We never let her live that one down ;)

And, before I share the group pictures of the bridesmaids and myself, I have to introduce the flower girls, as they're in some of these pictures, too!

Matt & I have so many people in our families, so there was no question that we wanted to ask one of each of our cousins. We asked my younger cousin, Victoria, and Matt's younger cousin, Ashleigh. It was so funny the day we went to pick out flower girl dresses. Victoria and Ashleigh had never met before, but they were immediately like best friends! They had such a fun time looking through the dresses and trying them on. I had my printouts with pictures of the flower girl dresses I liked, but when it came down to it, they picked out their dresses for the wedding day! I said, "I don't care which one they pick, as long as I can tie a ribbon around them!" haha. They also ended up choosing to both wear pink ribbons {they had the option of pink, orange or green}!

Here's Victoria:

and here's Ashleigh!

And this is perhaps one of my favorite pictures from the whole day!

Now, some group pictures of all the girls!

This next picture CRACKS. ME. UP.

Now, let's meet the groomsmen!! {Sorry guys, there won't be as much written about each of you, since it's me writing, and not Matt.}

Matt's best man was his brother, Mike. I do have a quick story I can put here. I remember asking Matt if he had asked his brother to be the best man, and he said something along the lines of, "I think I did...I think he knows..." so I then said, "um, that's not something you can only *think*. You might wanna double check on that..." haha.

Next was Stephen, Matt's best friend from high school, who also ended up going to Longwood, as well! Matt & Stephen also lived together their Junior year in Lancer Park apartments. We were also all in Key Club together!

Then, Jesse. Jesse & I actually worked on the same RA staff during my senior year, but Matt & Jesse are two of the original founding fathers of Phi Mu Delta at Longwood. So we all were friends!

And, here's Noah! We first met Noah when Noah and I worked together on the same RA staff in Curry {with Emily!}, but it turned out that Noah and Matt were also in the same major, and therefore in most of the same classes.

The first of Matt's two cousins in the wedding, Nick. Nick was actually one of Matt's first cousins I remember meeting, and I think it was at Matt's family reunion that first summer we were together!

Last, but certainly not least, another of Matt's cousins, Josh. When we had a bridal party cookout last summer for everyone to meet each other, there was this random inside joke, and Josh became "the one with the eyes." That's still how I have to describe him to my sister so she knows who I'm talking about!