the weekday wedding.

before i met richard i had never been to a wedding during the week. i had been to saturdays and sundays, but not a weekday. we have now been together for 2 years and have now attended 4 weddings, 3 of which were during the week!

thursday 06.24.10 tony and tinas wedding.
tina was a family friend of richards and got remarried to her high school sweetheart:)

monday 08.09.10 mike and loras wedding.
all 3 of them are best friends and we got to travel to santa barbara for this one:)

saturday 06.11.11 chris and ingrids wedding.
i work with ingrid and chris is a former marine:)

monday 10.10.11 nick and jesis wedding.
nick is a friend of richards and jesi and i have started getting closer, jesi also took our pictures:)

nick and jesi began dating in june and engaged in march. it was a whirlwind, but when you know, you know. they were then getting married in october. talk about a whirlwind! there was quite a bit of drama leading up to the wedding with other friends in the group. but really, when is there not wedding drama. and at the end of the day as long the bride and groom are happy, thats all that matters. most of the wedding was done by jesi, the ultimate do-it-yourself bride. she did all the decorations, made the flower girl dress, she probably would have made the cake if she could. check out her blog for ideas and to follow her process, seriously its awesome!

we traveled back from long beach early to make it in plenty of time for the wedding. it was being held at springs preserve and i had never been. i had seen pictures and heard from others it was going to be beautiful. i wasnt sure how my body was going to feel going to a wedding the day after a 1/2 marathon and was a little nervous how i would dance all night. but i sure as hell was not going to miss this event for anything:) we made it back in time for a quick nap and then i went into girly prep time to get ready. even still, we actually left on time!

turns out the bride was running a bit late so we had plenty of time to check out the venue and meet up with our friends to catch up. we scored great seats for my picture craziness and the sun had dipped behind the perfect tree to keep things light, but not glaring in our eyes. finally we started to see groomsmen and heard the bride had arrived, it was time to get married!

the ceremony was beautiful, and i bawled like a girl as soon as the first groomsmen and bridesmaid came out. from there it was all down hill on the crying front and then i went totally over the edge when they read their incredibly sweet vows to each other. then it was time to party!

 we made our way upstairs to a ballroom type area that had a dining area and patio with a dance floor. the first stop was of course the bar, it was soda and teas all around! this was actually was a dry wedding, a new experience for most of our group haha. we passed the time with the amazing hors d'ouevres and a popcorn bar! the whole room had a rustic feel, it had the bride and groom written all over it. jesi had done an amazing job with the decorations!

it was finally time to see the newlyweds as they were ready to enter and we were ready to eat some dinner! smiles and cameras were all around as they bounded in the room together. they had a super cute table in the front with a sample of each of the hors d'ouevres. around the room they came and the cameras continued to snap as the prime rib came dangerously close to the boys at the table on its way to the carving table. being so close we did have the honor being 1st in line for the carving station and the mash potato bar! seriously popcorn and mash potato bars in the same place?! heck yeah:)

after dinner it was time to dance, had to work off all that food we had dove into! the bride and groom had their first dance, it was of course beautiful. the bride then danced with her dad and the groom with his mom. it was all so romantic. then it was time to boogie! we all danced together and had a really really good time. it was so great to have this small group all together, without the drama, without mean girls, without the outside world judging. then there was of course the throwing of the bouquet. all the single ladies lined up at the opposite end of the dance floor, i tried to stay in the back. jesi kept turning around to look at me, i think she was trying to figure out where i was. all of a sudden the bouquet came flying at me! it was an excellent not catch because she had literally hurled it too far, but i quickly grabbed it off the floor and claimed my prize. everyone immediately went to richard with googly eyes and elbows saying, "look who caught the bouquet!" soon after it was time to head home and let the newlyweds be married.

 it was such a great wedding and i was so glad we got to share in their joy! i cant believe another couple got married. are we really all to that age now?? wow. kind of make me think im a grown up:) well either way one thing is for sure, i love love and weddings.