Papermaster Nuptials

Congrats go out to Aaron and Amy. The wedding was so beautiful and it was great to be able to spend the weekend in Austin celebrating with all of their family and friends. The ceremony and the reception were at Austin 71 which is this really nice venue that over looks the lake, it was an awesome view. There was a little bit of rain in the area and it really made the ceremony very romantic. By the end of the ceremony, there was a rainbow over the venue-it was perfect. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Thursday night, Sarah and I decided we should move to Barton Creek. Their family friends threw a Stock the Bar party for them.

On the bus heading downtown for Bachelor/Bachelorette Parties

The Beautiful Bachelorette

The girls

Rehearsal dinner at Mandolas,

Derek pretending to be a member of Dancing with the Stars.

Salute!

The gorgeous ceremony

Clark won the reception.

Sarah, Ali and I
Dustin and I

Me and Ali

Happy Birthday Ryan!

What can I say, our friends love a good excuse, especially during the week, to get together. Lisa threw Ryan a great fiesta at The Original last night to celebrate his birthday. The Margs and Food were terrific as well as the birthday Cheesecake. After we all ate, we went to Showdown to celebrate with the Birthday Boy. Here are some pics from the evening:

Birthday boy blowing out his candlesLindsay, Lisa & I Me & Caroline

The Girls

The Boys (refusing to pose in anything but a line) Larkin, Lisa & Linds
Ed, Clark & Richard
The group

Family Time

Whoa! I know, 2 posts in 2 days. I am officially an overachiever.

After Ali and Nick's wedding, Clark and I were fortunate enough to be able to spend Mother's Day with my mom and Brother. We drove to San Marcos (halfway between SA and Austin) and had a very nice Lunch at Palmer's. It really worked out perfect that we were able to meet up and spend the day with my mom. I got her tickets to see Wicked when it comes to SA in June. I am so excited to see it again as all I listen to on my ipod since we saw it in NY in Feb is the soundtrack. Here are some pics from Mother's Day:

Clark, me, Mom and Dustin

Mom & Dustin

This last weekend, May 16th, Dustin Rucker graduated from College! I was in DC all last week and flew in on Friday night. Early early (4:30am early) Clark and I loaded up the dogs and headed to College Station, Texas. We dropped the dogs off at the hotel in time to make it to the ceremony which started at 9am. Pics of the ceremony:

Clark, fully engaged in the graduation.

Dustin crossing the stage!!

Unlike Clark, I was smart enough to bring a book to the 3 hour event. I have read two of Jodi Picoult's books this week, My Sister's Keeper and 19 Minutes. They were both so so good and I have never cried so hard in a book as I did in My Sister's Keeper. I would recommend both of these books, they are filled with heavy content but they were very easy reads.

We went over to Dustin's house before we ate and snapped some pictures and then later that night we had a fabulous dinner at The Republic. We went and had some brunch Sunday morning and headed back to Fort Worth.

The fam in Dustin's Backyard

You know you are a Rucker if you like Whiskey.

It feels so great to be home for a few days before heading out of town on and off the next couple of weeks. Lot's of TV to catch up on and quality time with Bailey and Piper. We are very excited about Aaron and Amy's wedding this weekend and the opportunity to spend a lot of time with our friends Scott and Sarah!

Mr. & Mrs. Nixon

I am starting to notice I am about a week behind on all my blogging. Work has been really busy lately and I have been/will be out of town quite a bit for the next couple of weeks. Excuses aside, I am ready to write about Ali and Nick's wedding weekend. I flew into Austin on Thursday night and had a wonderful dinner with my friend Scarlett. After that, we met up with some friends at Key Bar but called it an early night as I had a busy weekend ahead of me. Friday morning, Ali had arranged a mani/pedi brunch for the bridal party. We snacked on Chicken Salad and drank mimosas during the relaxing afternoon before the rehearsal.

Me with the Bride

It was a Catholic wedding in a beautiful church in downtown Austin. The rehearsal was easy, the wedding coordinator was as strict (mean) as they come but she kept us in line and got the job done quickly. The Rehearsal dinner was really great. It was at Carmelos, also in downtown Austin. There was a great slide show that Mr. Nixon put together and plenty of toasts were given throughout the night.

Rehearsal

Dinner

After the Rehearsal concluded, we met up with some of our Austin friends at 311 (on sixth) to closeout the night: 311

Heather and I

Her Boyfriend Bradley

Scott, Trent and I

Wedding Day! I reported to the Bride's conference room at 8 am to start getting ready for the 2pm ceremony. I had created an Ali's Getting Married Mix that we listened to all morning. We had hair and makeup and Ali gave us our Bridesmaids gifts. It was a great idea and something that I have never seen done before. Basically, she commissioned a jewelry designer and told her a little bit about each of us, then the designer created individual pieces based on each of our personalities. Mine was perfect and exactly like something that I would buy. Here are some pics of us getting ready that morning.

"I'm getting married!"

We took pictures at the church and were sequestered into a little, un-airconditioned room far from the chapel. It was so hot but luckily we didn't have to wait long before getting lined up. Ali was a beautiful bride and the ceremony went great. There was a lot of up down and I was certain I was going to slip on the marble at some point but all in all, everything went smoothly. From the ceremony, we were loaded back on the bus and shuttled to the Four Seasons, where the reception was to be held. They had passed mojitos which were amazing and some yummy hors d'oeuvres. The band was great and the ballroom looked so pretty. We had a great time. Pics Below:

Right before...

Mr. and Mrs. Nixon

Clark & Dustin

Getting married this weekend! Amy and Aaron

The cake was so good!

Of course, Clark found a tambourine...

Hoping to catch the bouquet.

Congratulations!!!