Weekend of Wedding Festivities

Shawn and I spent this past weekend in northern New Jersey to celebrate his brother's wedding. Shawn was the best man, so we were involved in most of the process. The rehearsal dinner was Friday night and the wedding was Sunday afternoon/evening, so we drove up to his mother's house Friday afternoon and spent the night there, then got a hotel room Saturday and Sunday night. It was the first weekend off we'd had together since the last wedding we went to back in July, so it was really nice to spend some time together, despite it not being as relaxing as I originally hoped due to all the time spent in the car getting to and from each location. But it was a beautiful wedding! And the food was the best we've had at any wedding, so no complaints there! His brother is also a beer guru so there were some awesome beers on tap at the reception.

I didn't take many photos at all, since I was focused on having a good time, but here's a quick visual of the weekend:

Shawn's mom has three rats, so they were our roommates for our Friday night slumber party. This is Georgette; she's very social.





The ceremony was held in a Catholic church, but it was quick and painless since neither one of them is particularly religious. Beautiful fall colors for the bridesmaid dresses and flowers. And I'll admit, it was really great to see both brothers all dressed up... probably the only time that will ever be the case!





I snapped a quick shot of what I wore to the wedding. The dress and cardigan are recent buys from Anthropologie, the shoes are Miz Mooz and probably about 6 years old at this point. I was so comfortable all day; no regrets on this outfit choice what so ever! (It was a long day! I traveled with the bridal party, so there were no breaks in between things.)





The reception was held at Lake Valhalla Club and it was beautiful. It was foggy and misty all day on Sunday, with bouts of rain, but I think that only added to the charm of the location. The bride and groom took some photos in the woods nearby - I can't wait to see how they came out!





One of the groomsmen kept ordering interesting shots. This is called Rainbow Shots, for obvious reasons. It's a bunch of different mixers and not much actual alcohol, but the gravity of the different liquids leads to this effect. Pretty neat, huh? He also taught the bartender how to make Alien Brain Hemorrhage shots... I didn't get a photo of that one but it looked really creepy and cool.





And finally, the highlight of the weekend was coming home to Lloyd! Shawn's friend checked in on him a few times over the weekend, so he didn't go hungry or anything, but man, was he happy to see us! I was so worried he would think we abandoned him! His toys were untouched, so I'm not really sure what he did all weekend. I don't think he really eats or plays unless we're around. The little guy has been very cuddly since we've been home.

All in all, a delightful weekend with delicious eats, but we are very much happy to be home!