I'm totally gonna use this picture more often than I should. Even though it looks like I haven't slept for weeks - I guess I always have that look - I like the microphone and tux look for me. It can work for almost anything!
Ok, enough about that, back to our story, wait, no, first...Yes, I'm a known slacker/procrastinator. It's taken me WAYYYYY too long to write about this wedding. It's been almost a month and a half now. I'm sure I've forgotten more than I should have, so anyone reading this, feel free to add to it by
adding it as a comment.
Now back to our story...So after all that, it was finally time for the reception. Again, the wedding party was kinda winging our entrance. We had no idea what we were supposed to be doing, where we were supposed to be going. I guess it all works out in situations like these. At the last minute we were told to 
make a U-shape around the dance floor for Kim & Brian's first dance. Ooops. We just kinda stood in a line against the stage by the band. It worked out ok I think. It was a little late, ok, it was during the dance but I had the idea to hold up signs to judge them during the dance (think Olympics) since the Cooper's are such a competitive family...it would've been funny. Oh well. They danced, you could tell that Brian was jogging his memory trying to think of what the next step was!
make a U-shape around the dance floor for Kim & Brian's first dance. Ooops. We just kinda stood in a line against the stage by the band. It worked out ok I think. It was a little late, ok, it was during the dance but I had the idea to hold up signs to judge them during the dance (think Olympics) since the Cooper's are such a competitive family...it would've been funny. Oh well. They danced, you could tell that Brian was jogging his memory trying to think of what the next step was! Next came some speeches. In a shocking turn of events, my mom actually was spotted with a microphone in her hand (I tried, but couldn't find any photographic proof) and said a couple of words. I think anyone that knows my mom was shocked...but it was nice. My 
dad may not have appreciated it though. It completely ruined his speech. He had all these things written down of what to say and wound up ripping up his speech (literally) and starting from scratch. Betsy (maid of honor) and Andy (Best man) gave their speeches. Then I had to poke in there, I don't think they remembered that I was planning on speaking, but I got in there in time. After all, I had been thinking of what to say for a couple of months by then! A couple of drinks helped my cause too! I really had been clueless on what I was gonna say. I started thinking about it after Liz's wedding when Rob, Danny and ummmm, uhhhhh, oh yeah, Jon had awesome speeches. And yes, I'll come clean, I really did go blank on Jon's name during my speech! I thought I played it off well though :) I knew I had to start things out with something of a mini sportscenter score update, so I happily announced that FSU beat Maryland (which I think is when Brian's Miami friend reminded me that Miami beat FSU, again, Kim's friend Lauren is the only non-obnoxious Miami fan there is). Some other important scores from the families of importance were that Kansas beat Iowa State...by a lot. And Missouri beat Kansas State, which was good and bad apparently. And that ended the fun part of the speech for me! So a couple nights before the wedding I was laying in bed at about 2am and I was finally coming up with some good ideas on what to say. It reminded me of Mitch Hedberg's quote, "I sit at my hotel at night, I think of something that's funny, then I go get a pen and I write it down. Or if the pen's too far away, I have to convince myself that what I thought of ain't funny." It totally applied to my situation. It was pitch black, it was 2am and I had to decide if this stuff was worth writing down. But these days, who uses pens? I got my laptop and starting typing. I thought a couple of my favorite quotes were worthy....first, "Don't ever take anything I say seriously...unless I say it twice...Don't ever take anything I say seriously...unless I say it twice." (which I later remembered was from a neighbor of ours in Roanoke, Mrs. Kempster). and my other favorite quote that Grandpa used to tell me when fighting with Bubbie..."Stay Single". Then I bragged about Kim being the smart one, finally realizing that maybe Grandpa was kidding. She really is the smart one though, technically she's my younger sister, but I completely look up to her. Hell, I'm something of an accountant and she still does my taxes! I've come to her for help when I bought my condo, anything resume related, and any time I need advice. She really is basically my big sister that I technically don't have. Not to let Brian feel left out, I made sure to thank him for introducing me to my new shaving cream of choice, and that I was excited to get the chance to take some pictures with Wilt Chamberlain. I've never had a brother, and I think Kim did a pretty damn good job at finding me one.
dad may not have appreciated it though. It completely ruined his speech. He had all these things written down of what to say and wound up ripping up his speech (literally) and starting from scratch. Betsy (maid of honor) and Andy (Best man) gave their speeches. Then I had to poke in there, I don't think they remembered that I was planning on speaking, but I got in there in time. After all, I had been thinking of what to say for a couple of months by then! A couple of drinks helped my cause too! I really had been clueless on what I was gonna say. I started thinking about it after Liz's wedding when Rob, Danny and ummmm, uhhhhh, oh yeah, Jon had awesome speeches. And yes, I'll come clean, I really did go blank on Jon's name during my speech! I thought I played it off well though :) I knew I had to start things out with something of a mini sportscenter score update, so I happily announced that FSU beat Maryland (which I think is when Brian's Miami friend reminded me that Miami beat FSU, again, Kim's friend Lauren is the only non-obnoxious Miami fan there is). Some other important scores from the families of importance were that Kansas beat Iowa State...by a lot. And Missouri beat Kansas State, which was good and bad apparently. And that ended the fun part of the speech for me! So a couple nights before the wedding I was laying in bed at about 2am and I was finally coming up with some good ideas on what to say. It reminded me of Mitch Hedberg's quote, "I sit at my hotel at night, I think of something that's funny, then I go get a pen and I write it down. Or if the pen's too far away, I have to convince myself that what I thought of ain't funny." It totally applied to my situation. It was pitch black, it was 2am and I had to decide if this stuff was worth writing down. But these days, who uses pens? I got my laptop and starting typing. I thought a couple of my favorite quotes were worthy....first, "Don't ever take anything I say seriously...unless I say it twice...Don't ever take anything I say seriously...unless I say it twice." (which I later remembered was from a neighbor of ours in Roanoke, Mrs. Kempster). and my other favorite quote that Grandpa used to tell me when fighting with Bubbie..."Stay Single". Then I bragged about Kim being the smart one, finally realizing that maybe Grandpa was kidding. She really is the smart one though, technically she's my younger sister, but I completely look up to her. Hell, I'm something of an accountant and she still does my taxes! I've come to her for help when I bought my condo, anything resume related, and any time I need advice. She really is basically my big sister that I technically don't have. Not to let Brian feel left out, I made sure to thank him for introducing me to my new shaving cream of choice, and that I was excited to get the chance to take some pictures with Wilt Chamberlain. I've never had a brother, and I think Kim did a pretty damn good job at finding me one. That was the gist of the speech, or at least what I think I remember from it! I had to include that so that some of my friends who weren't there can get this one chance to see my cheesy side (why is cheesy a bad thing? I love cheese!)
The rest of the time was just a big party, dancing (yes, I danced...seriously! Kim threatened me if I didn't) lots of drinking - by the way, how great is my Bubbie??? 80+ years old, and still can act like she's my age. She did several shots with us (there's pictures somewhere in one of these blogs), and even had one of Brian's friends asking for a dance!
It really was a fun time, it was great meeting the Cooper side of what is now our family. It was great catching up with people I hadn't seen in years and hanging out with Kim & Brian's friends.
As if I haven't put enough on here, below are some more random pictures from the weekend.
Oh, and I have a request of Kim & Brian...who are currently on their honeymoon in Hawaii. Write about it!!!! I know you guys have been surfing and wandering through jungles so far. I'm very jealous!
So by now you're probably dying to know if we made it back in time for 
