wedding extravaganza!

We had an amazing time this weekend. My parents came down at 11 to give us time to get ready, and so I could show them where stuff could be found. We left around 12:40 and started our trek.

Travis had to take a picture of this guy dressed like Superwoman, stumping for a Halloween store... poor guy!

I'll admit that I cried a little when we left... it was hard to drive away from my baby knowing that I was leaving her overnight. But once we got going, we had a nice drive and I got excited for the wedding. We arrived at the hotel, and I did a quick pump, then we got dressed and headed to the church.

Lauren looked amazing.

This one is dark, but its me doing one of my two readings. I forgot the copy of my reading that I printed out in the car. I thought there would be a copy there, but there wasn't...  :-(  I was so mad at myself. Luckily one of the readings was from the Bible, so obviously there were plenty of those around.

I actually cried (again) when I got back to my seat because I felt so badly...
but honestly, I don't think Lauren even noticed!!

Of course not... she was married!! And that's all that matters.  :-)
It was truly a beautiful ceremony too.

I called my parents when we were walking back to Ro's car (she drove us from the hotel to the church) to check in... the only time that I called until Sunday when I was calling to let them know our ETA. Everything was going well (Gwen had just gotten done taking a nap on my dad!).

After that we headed back to the hotel to kill some time until the shuttle left for the reception site. I pumped again, and we hung out with some friends. Then it was on to the shuttle... which was actually a fun little party bus!

We arrived at the reception site to waiting trays of champagne (with chambord and a raspberry... mmmm).

After hanging out there for a little, they opened the room for the cocktail hour. Talk about amazing!

The room was beautiful, but the food was out of this world. Tons of stations... from a station with meats and cheeses, to one with mini diner foods:

(mini milk shakes, mini hot dogs, mini cheese burgers!) to a Chinese food station. There was so much food to choose from that people thought it was the dinner! I think I found my new "happy place"!!  :-) 

After we ate, it was time to head into the reception.

Center pieces:

They did the first dances right away, so they could open up the dance floor right after.

It worked well because there was some dancing, then they brought out the salads and took our entree orders (three options)... then more dancing while the entrees were prepared.

Then more dancing before the dessert... wedding cake, plus petit fours, and a whole other room with dessert stations!! There was a chocolate fountain with tons of items to dip, plus Belgian waffles and ice cream, funnel cake, fruit pies, and dessert liquors.

It was so great having Hannah there too... we snuck away together twice to pump. It was nice having her company so that it was actually fun, instead of a chore. Plus we could commiserate when we had to dump that liquid gold down the drain... :-(  That was the worst. I brought a cooler to the hotel to transport milk home since I pumped 7 times over the course of our 24hrs away (once when we arrived, once between ceremony and reception, twice at the reception, once before bed, once at 7am then again just before we left at 10:30ish)... but I didn't bring the cooler to the reception since 1) I didn't think it would keep the milk cool enough for the 6 hours we were there and 2) it was big and awkward and I didn't want to have to be schlepping it around for 6 hours. Plus, I was imbibing, and while I never got drunk, it was probably better to play it safe.

The dance floor closed down at 11:30, and we all piled back on the shuttles to head to the hotel. We got back about quarter after 12, and between getting changed and pumping one last time, it was about 1 before we were in bed. A long day... but the whole night was just amazing. My Hoser did such an awesome job planning her wedding.

The next morning I woke at 7am (thanks stupid internal alarm and super-full boobies), pumped, then settled back in bed for a bit. I was half awake for a while, but did get a little more sleep, getting out of bed at 10am. We then got all ready and met some other friends from college (who lived in the area) for brunch. Then it was onward to home! And my Gwenie!!

That was the first trip when I had to keep biting my tongue so I didn't yell at Travis to "speed up grandpa!!" (Um, he was already going 65 - 70.) Lol, I was eager to get home to my baby.

As for Gwenie, she did pretty well with her first night away from her parents. My mom and dad did great with her... she ate well for them, was happy, and played well. She went to sleep easily for my mom... but unfortunately didn't sleep well through the night. I think it really threw her off when she woke that first time and it was my mom who came in to her and not me. So she was up a bunch for her. But my mom said she was still in good spirits the next day, though tired.

Her sleeping was still off last night, though she slept better towards the end of the night. I think I might know why now though, as I just got a call from Trav saying that he is pick up Gwen and taking her home because she has a fever.  :-(  My poor baby.


On a related note, my parents brought down some old pictures for me to check out....

Pre-Senior Prom

You might recognize the dress...

Its actually the one I wore to Lauren's wedding, though I had it shortened to knee length.  :-)

Fun!

On that note, I'm going to go so I can get done with work and get home to my sick baby!!



Ps. A random funny for you... if you enjoy the Old Spice commercials as much as I do, then you'll love this... a Sesame Street version!