Wedding Weekend Fun

I was so thrilled to have last Thursday and Friday off from work and it was nice to have a good long weekend, but I am glad to be back! Hope you didn't miss me too much :).

We headed to Myrtle Beach on Wednesday evening to stay with Jon and Nicole before our flight on Thursday in a condo at Ocean Lakes.  We spent the evening "golf carting" and riding up and down Ocean Lake's version of the strip!  I can't believe how many different golf carts there were.  Some were jacked up, some had radios/CD players, and some even had portable DVD players attached!  I wish I would have had my camera to take a picture of all the madness.

On Thursday around noon we headed to the airport, but not before we enjoyed a little River City Cafe for lunch.  If you have never been, you are missing out!  Their burgers are AMAZING!  We made it to Detroit without any hitches, until we started our drive to the hotel.  What was supposed to take only 45 minutes, ended up being over 2 and a half hours due to rush hour traffic!  After helping the bride and groom with some of their wedding set up, we all decided to head to Royal Oak for a little dinner and drinks.  We enjoyed some Mexican at Monterrey Cantina then headed over to 5th Avenue on 5th Avenue for drinks.

{l to r: vicki, me, serena, nicole}

{l to r: Bradley, Mark, and Jon}

This place was so much fun, and they had the best drink specials.  Every hour or so, they would have a "surprise" special where all drinks were $2.  They would post a countdown up for 20 minutes on all of their TVs.  We stayed for a little while because the deal was so good!  Then, we headed back to the hotel to find this in the elevator:

...embarrassing photos of the bride! He he.  Her mom made copies of this a posted them in the elevators and on her room door.  HILARIOUS!

Friday morning was much needed.  The girls headed to the spa, while the guys played a round of golf.  I received a pedicure, manicure, and a 30 minute massage.  HEAVEN!  It was so relaxing, and a great way to start off the wedding festivities.

After the rehearsal dinner, the wedding party and guests headed to Hoops for some drinks and karaoke! OMG. We.had.a.blast.  I don't think I have ever laughed so much in my life!  We started with a little girl vs. guy flip cup.  Can you guess who won like 5 times in a row?

...that's right!  GIRLS RULE!  {minus Jon in the background...he he}

Then, the rounds of karaoke began....

{the groom in karaoke action}

{Joe and Vicki}

{Mark, Bradley, and the groom's brother Matt}

{either Friends in Low Places or Strawberry Wine :) }

...we even had a few spectators...

{Jon peaking through the window}

...and this my friends is what we call blackmail...

...ssshhh....don't tell :).

Saturday was wedding day, and for me it was full of running errands for the bridal party and making a little magic happen!  I enjoyed every minute of it, and I am so glad that I was able to help out the bride and groom on their special day.  The wedding turned out beautiful, but sadly my camera did not charge the night before like I thought.  I did grab a few pictures, but none of them do any justice to how perfect their day was.

{serena walking in with her dad}

{check out the back of that dress!}

{vows}

{husband and wife}

 

{bradley, myself, bride, and groom...sad that it turned out blurry :( }

{Hubby and I}

{Nicole and I}

{bradley and jon}

There was plenty of action on the dance floor that I missed, but I think I may be OK with that.  No evidence needed of the good time we had :).  You might have been able to use those as blackmail as well!

Indianwood was a beautiful place to have a wedding.  Check out the ceiling of the room where the reception was held:

Absolutely stunning!  The food wasn't half bad either.  Cocktail hour consisted of bacon wrapped scallops, beef skewers, and coconut shrimp.  Our meal included a garden salad, followed by Filet Mignon, Indianwood chicken, red-skinned potatoes, and green beans.  The bride and groom shared a Junior's cheesecake for their wedding cake, and there was a dessert bar for the guests complete with brownies, cake pops, chocolate and candy covered pretzels, etc.  These were to die for, and the best part is, the bride's cousin made them!  How special?!

Around midnight, the festivities slowed down and everyone headed back to the hotel, including the bride and groom.  They rented a bus for all guests to travel back and forth from the hotel to the venue for safety.  Best idea ever!  The bus ride home with all the late night junkies was hilarious.  And it was even complete with a stop at the liquor store...yes, in a huge Greyhound bus!  I wish I had pictures of this, but I did snap one classy pic of the bride on my Blackberry :)

So...what's the magic I made happen you might ask?

That's right...the maid of honor had this brilliant idea, and I was able to make it happen for the bride and groom.  We were in the hallway as they made their way into their room to change once we got back to the hotel, and I was able to snap these pictures for the bride!

7AM came mighty early Sunday morning, and the ride back to the airport was rather quiet.  Once we got to our gate for the flight home, it was announced that the flight would be delayed 2 hours.  Wanna know the real bad news?  We had arrived 2 hours early to the airport to give us plenty of time in case we hit traffic.  Can you imagine 4 very tired and hungover people in an airport waiting for 4 hours?  NO FUN!

{Jon and Nicole passed out in the airport!}

{jon dragging his tux that he did not want to return...he tried to pawn it off on everyone}

There are more one-liners from the trip than I will never be able to remember, new friends that we met, and many laughs shared.  It was definitely worth the plane drama and sleep loss that was suffered!  I wish many happy years of love and joy to this beautiful couple.  Thank goodness for Sports Bars aboard Carnival Legend.  I look forward to making many more memories with Serena and Mark!

Whew....that was a long post!  Happy Monday, y'all!