We got hitched!! Part Two: Mad Tea Party

Sorry! It took me awhile to get to part two because I've been gathering (and waiting on) photos from everyone. I'm sure I'll get more even after I post this :) Thank you everyone who gave me pictures! I love them!
Anyway, back to the story.
One day Malachi was sitting in his backyard when suddenly, the Mad Hatter appeared He demanded a tea party He decided to show off his new socks and nifty shoesHe poured some tea for little Malachi Such an adorable little guy :) Malachi was wondering, "Who is this Mad Hatter? He looks really familiar." When his grandma and grandpa showed up and and started hugging the strange man in the top hat, he realized "Oh, I know that guy! That's Uncle Jesse! He's here to play with me! I hope Cori comes to play too."
Soon, lots of other people started showing up. Some he had seen before and some new faces. Everyone looked very nice. "What is going on?" he wondered.
"Hmm...there's cousin Drew, Viet, Daddy (Paul), and Uncle Tyler"Has everyone come here to play with me?"
Finally, things got quiet and Grandma (Beth) and Grandpa (Tony) came out of the house with Uncle Jesse between them and they walked to the gazebo where Jesse's friend Dustin stood waiting Next came Rachel and Uncle TylerThen Mommy (Melissa) and Daddy (Paul) brought Malachi to the gazebo. The sun was in his face, but he was having fun playing with Mommy's flowersAfter them came Brian (Cori's brother) and cousin KateNext was cousin Caroline and cousin Drew Then came Valerie and Warren Kellie came out with rings attached to her flowersNext, Viet came out and starting throwing flower petals. He was trying to throw them at the people watching, but he couldn't reach them. Silly Viet Cori's Mom (Gwen) and Dad (Gary) came out with a lady covered in lace. "Is that Cori?" he wonderedWhen everyone made it to the gazebo, Dustin started talking Then he read to everyone from a kid's book called "I Like You" by Sandol Stoddard Warburg Malachi thought it was a pretty good story.
Then Uncle Jesse and the lady gave eachother rings. They said things like promising to always make eachother laugh and that Uncle Jesse promised he would get the lady a dog as soon as they got a house. Finally, Dustin said something about them "successfully tying the knot," but Malachi hadn't seen them tie any knot. He told them to kiss and Uncle Jesse took off the lady's lacy hat thing. "It is Cori!!" thought Malachi Then they kissed. Ew! "Oh! I get it now," Malachi exclaimed. "Uncle Jesse and Cori got married! I have a new Aunt! Yay!"Everyone was so happy that they started hugging Uncle Jesse and Aunt CoriThey looked so happyMore and more people started showing up and the kept bringing more and more foodUncle Jesse brought some of his homemade "tea" in bottles. The adults really liked it, but the kids weren't allowed to drink itThere were a lot of silly people playing dress up and looking into the magic "looking glass" Malachi got his picture taken with his Uncle Jesse and his new Aunt Cori Everyone was having a great time! Suddenly, out of nowhere, the White Rabbit appearedApparently, he is good friends with the Mad Hatter Shortly after that, Malachi had to go with his Aunt Marion because it was his bedtime. So that is where his story ends. But I can tell the rest of the story.
It started getting dark so the candles and paper lanterns were litMusic was playing and people started dancing

Then the White Rabbit came back Everyone was having such a great timeThen all of a sudden, something came out of the shadows Look out behind you, Teri! Zombies have invaded the reception! But it was ok. They turned out to be friendly zombies! Everyone danced the night away, even the zombies. It was a very interesting tea party, definitely, but it is one that no one will ever forget
The End

We got hitched!! Part One

We did it!
And it turned out awesome! All our hard work was so worth it.
Our theme was essentially "home made" but it was also "Alice in Wonderland." I know a lot of people had a hard time understanding how that was all going to fit together, but I think they understood once they saw it.
We wanted it to contain aspects of all the things we love: hand made, Alice in Wonderland, Tim Burton, Harry Potter, zombies, ninjas, good food, beer, etc. But most of all we wanted it to be fun.
Jess and I have been together for ten years, so it feels like we've already been married for awhile now. And since neither one of us likes being the center of attention, so we tried to make it less about "everyone gush over the happy couple" and more of the coming together of families and friends.
Since I have a ton of pictures, I thought I would separate them and do two posts. This one I thought I would just show all the decorations we had worked on. The next post I'll put pictures of the actual wedding.
But first, I wanted to show off the awesome gifts that we received at our rehearsal dinner.
We got this painting of Sally and Jack from "The Nightmare Before Christmas" from my friend Valerie and her brother Brian. Brian painted it

Here's the nameplate:
Our friend Viet painted this for usWe have really talented friends!
Malachi already wants some beer. Uncle Jess was very proud
Our wedding was held in Jess's brother Paul's backyard.
We didn't really have a dance floor, so we improvised. Jess made pillars to hang paper lanterns from
I crocheted party favors for the guests. Here's little guys I created using patterns from Christen Haden's book "Creepy Cute Crochet"
Here's a ninja
Here's some Pygmy Puffs (Harry Potter) from this pattern: http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/features/crafts/crochet/pygmypuff
I made Mome Raths based on this: http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2008/07/crafts_by_alices_crocheted_mom.htmlI crocheted our wedding cake. The goblets next to it were a gift from my aunt and uncle. Thanks Neenie and Woody!
Jess made five or six batches of homemade beer and mead and gave them all Alice in Wonderland theme names like "The Mad Hatter's Tea" and "Beware the Jabberwock."
For center pieces, we just filled mason jars with buttons, put one of those battery-powered LED lights on top, put tulle over the jar and put the lid back on with ribbon. My Mom sewed checker board placemats
Paul really doesn't like their shed and his wife Melissa really dislikes this big mirror they have, so Paul and Jess made a "looking glass." They covered the shed with yellow plastic and put the big mirror in front. Tada!
It worked out perfectly because all the little ones enjoyed looking at themselves in the mirror.
Jess and I made the Mad Hatter and the March Hare out of sculpey clay
They sat next to the guest book Jess made and the card cage I decorated.
These were our centerpieces at the food table that my friend Kellie helped me put together
Here was our kids table. The adults seemed to like it too
I glued tea cups to dowels and make these cute little path markers. We put LED lights in them and lit 'em up.
I also made big flowers out of ribbon and yarn, but didn't really get any good pictures of those.
We had a lot of fun making everything and wished we had more time to do more. But Paul and Melissa's backyard was so beautiful it didn't need that much.
Thanks again for letting us invade your house, Paul, Melissa, and Malachi! We love you guys!