The Great Wedding Weekend

We got back from Door County about noon yesterday and stopped by my MIL's house to celebrate Dave's birthday. The weekend was a ton of fun despite some not so perfect details.

The Bummers

• The weather - is was cold, rainy and windy all day Saturday. This meant NO outdoor pics in this gorgeous scenery.
• My camera battery died BEFORE the wedding and reception.
• The church wedding coordinator was a rag.
• Even though my dress fit great on Wednesday, by Saturday, it was too big in many places. WTH??
• The extremely drunk girl at the reception.
• The whole weekend went way too fast.

The Bonuses

• Getting to hang out with my lifelong friends
• Dancing my a$$ off
• The groomsmen were so much fun
• Everything was beautiful...flowers, the bride, etc.
• Getting to spend the weekend with my hubby
• The food at the rehearsal dinner
• The photographer - he was a rockstar. Took pictures from about 9am- midnight.

So, Friday morning we dropped Lauren off at daycare and stopped by work to drop off her carseat with my mom. We were on the road by 8am. It was a rather cloudy day...it was raining in Madison. By the time we got halfway there it had quit. Was still very cool for late August. I think the temp hit 67. We finally made it to Egg Harbor about noon. Jas and I found the Landmark Resort where we would be staying and knew that we could try checking in after 1:00. So we drove around for a bit since neither of us had ever been to Door County. It is very pretty with all the trees, quaint towns and the water. Reminds me of the shores of the east coast in Maine or something.

Just after 1:00 we made our way back to The Landmark to try to check in before the rehearsal. The other bridesmaids were arriving as well. As luck would have it...everyone's room was ready but ours. Thankfully, I had a hunch this would happen and so we wore our clothes up there. Since we had about 2 hours till the rehearsal, we decided to drive north to the tip of the penninsula (Gills Rock) So many pretty views of the bay, yachts, sailboats, bed and breakfasts. Just a really neat part of the state.

We made it back to the church about 20 minutes before the rehearsal was to begin. The church was massive. We met all the other wedding party members and did a walk through of the ceremony with lots of laughter. After the rehearsal, everyone headed back to the Landmark to chekc in and wait for the trolley to take us to dinner. Jas and I checked into our room and then headed to the main room to catch the trolley to dinner. The drive was nice and the restaurant was very nice (right on Lake Michigan) I had one of the best meals ever...shrimp! Mmmm!

Once we got back to The Landmark, some of us went to the resort bar to have a drink and watch the Packer game. Packers won! We were in bed by 11:00pm to get some sleep before the big day. Of course I was up every 2 hours afraid my alarm would not go off.

Saturday arrived and I got all showered and packed up and was out the door by 7:30. All the girls were meeting at the main lodge to go for our hair appointments. It was very cloudy, rainy and windy. Not a good start to the day. Mindy's mom made a delicious breakfast casserole and muffins for us. We all got our hair done and did our makeup. We left just before 11:00am to head to the church. It was still rainy and windy and we were praying it would clear up by the time the ceremony was over.

We got ready and waited for the church coordinator to come let us know when we had about 15 minutes until the ceremony began. We were upstairs and away from everything. The flowers were gorgeous and sadly my camera died, so I couldn't even get a picture of them. All of a sudden we could hear music and the lady came up and said they were ready for us. We still had to put Mindy's veil and shoes on. After a frantic few minutes we all decended the stairs and the show began. The ceremony went great...with just a few tears. We took groups pictures and then loaded the limo. It was still terrible outside so we went to a cute little pub instead of the beautiful park. The photographer took picture after picture. I swear they will have a million shots in the end.

We arrived at the Landmark for the recpetion about 5:30. Everything looked so beautiful. The food was good, the toasts were great and the DVD I made was a hit. Even made the best man cry. After dinner, we were ready to DANCE!!! The DJ was not very good, but thankfully we just requested stuff and it made for a great dancing night! It went so fast though...and before I knew it, it was midnight.

I cannot wait to see everyone else's pictures since I have so few. I did post a few of the ones I did take below.

CONGRATS MINDY AND DARREN!!!!

The ferry in Gills Rock

Jas about 2 hours in

Jas and I 4 hours later

The beautiful lake in Egg Harbor

Self portrait




Our suite at the Landmark Resort

Heidi and Jeremy at dinner Friday night

The bride and groom at dinner

All the girls posing by lake Michigan

Friends since kindergarten

Melissa getting her hair done.

My updo in progress

Jamie

Mindy and the lamp from A Christmas Story

Now that is some powerful hairspray!

Mindy's sister and MOH, Tara.

Heidi

Tara painting Anna's nails

All our dresses

The last pic before my camera died.

Hopefully I will have some wedding ones to post soon!

ADD: I forgot to mention more about the drunk guest. Seriously, I do not know how someone could be that drunk. She was drunk by the time dinner was over. She could hardly walk or keep her eyes open. Her husband had to hold her up to dance. She ended up puking in the women's bathroom sink....SO GROSS! Then about an hour before the end of the dance, a few of the bridesmaids and I see her fall to the floor, taking some of the head table with her. We rush over and help her up and take her to a chair. I run and get her some water. I come back and tell her she needs to drink and she won't respond...so I slap her a bit and she finally opens her eyes...sort of. The groom finds her husband and tells him to get her out of here. So ridiculous!! Come on....your in your 30's, grow the hell up. Ok, vent over!