V&T's Wedding Weekend: Part 2

Saturday, September 27. The big day finally arrived.

Shortly before 11am, V and Travis stopped by the La Quinta to pick up me, Holly, and george. We headed off to the venue to set it up for the night's festivities.

The Sons of Hermann Hall (or "Home" depending on which sign you read).




The ceremony & reception took place in the main performance space on the 2nd level. On the ground floor there is a bar & various other rooms. It's a really fabulous building & was the perfect spot for V & T's wedding.

The color scheme for the wedding was blue & orange. When V first told me this, I thought she'd lost her ever-lovin' mind. Then I saw the venue & it all became clear. Perfect choice, V.

Centerpiece! Notice that george is off in the background (to the left), ignoring the centerpieces with all her might. Because that's what she does. She's a chronic centerpiece-ignorer. You need to learn to confront the centerpieces directly, george. It's the only way to overcome this problem.

The favors were custom-made matchbooks. Very cute.



"Are we done yet? Do we need another blue tablecloth? How should I wear my hair tonight?" So many questions, one weary-yet-excited bride.


The next thing you know, 6 hours had passed & it was time for V&T to tie the knot.

Pre-ceremony:






I didn't take as many photos as I might have liked (I didn't take any at all during the ceremony). I preferred to experience those things rather than document them; That's what professional photographers are for. So if you want to see pics of the ceremony, you'll need to go to the website of V&T's photographer. I'll post a link when I get my grubby mits on it.

Next up: Party time!

V&T's wedding weekend: Part 1

Hello, gang! After a long hiatus, I'm back! And I have oodles of photos to share with you all (although not quite as many as I would have liked). As I may or may not have mentioned before, my dance card was pretty full for the month of September. First my parents and my brother, Ray, came to NC to visit us for a bit. Then I traveled to Dallas to attend Travis & Veronica's wedding. It's been an absolute blast & I'd love to share some of the details with you in photographic form.

First of all, I'm going to throw chronology out the window & focus on pics from this past weekend & the big wedding celebration. Today's batch of photos are from Friday, the 26th of September ... AKA Veronica's last day as a swingin' single gal. I was spoiled on that day because I got to spend a lot of private one-on-one girl time with the Woman of the Hour. We went to a fabulous Elvis-themed Mexican restaurant called Chuy's, where I was so stunned by the fabulously tacky scenery that I forgot to take any photos! So now all of you will have to go there & experience the fabulosity for yourselves. It's worth it. Trust me.

Next we walked & shopped. 'Cause that's what girls do best, right?

Outside "Wild About Harry's" hot dog emporium. I could make a very tacky joke here, but I'll leave that up to your own imaginations.

And if that's not classy enough for y'all ...




I loved Froggies, the shop where we found these glasses. Imagine Lulu Faboo, only bigger. I refuse to disclose how much money I spent there.


V wasn't the only one craving wieners that day.

I love that "Do Not Climb On Me" sign. There's something hilariously sad about it.

The rest of the afternoon was spent with Holly & george, wandering around Target's lingerie department, wondering if adhesive bras actually work or if they're just a bunch of malarkey. Then it was time for the rehearsal dinner at Maggiano's! Sadly, I have few photos from the dinner (I feel self-conscious about taking photos of other people), but the two I got are awful cute.



Aaaaaaaaw! What an adorable couple!

Preppin' for Fam

Hey gang. Sorry to be MIA for so long. There isn't much to report ... except that my parents and my brother, Ray, will arrive here in just a few days! Wee!!! Unfortunately, I have a ton of things to do in preparation for their arrival (boo!) but it's all worth it to have them around (yay!).

I've been rather distracted over the last few weeks (first the sickness, then the political conventions) so I haven't done as much research as I would have liked in preparation for my family's arrival. Here's what I've got so far. I'm going to post the links here because I'm having a heck of a time organizing my favorites in Firefox. If anyone can give me some tips on organizing bookmarks in Firefox, I'd appreciate it.

Waterfalls!
Photos of NC Waterfalls: http://www.pbase.com/waterfallrich/north_carolina_waterfalls&page=all
Visit NC Waterfalls: http://www.visitwaterfalls.com/
Sliding Rock: http://www.ncwaterfalls.com/sliding_rock1.htm

Stuff for Mom
Wrightsville Beach: http://www.visitwrightsville.com/
Carolina Beach: http://www.carolinabeachgetaway.com/
The Cotton Exchange (across from the battleship): http://www.shopcottonexchange.com/

Stuff for Dad
Bennett Place in Durham (Civil War history): http://www.nchistoricsites.org/bennett/
Battleship North Carolina in Wilmington (WWII history): http://www.battleshipnc.com/index.html

Stuff for Ray
Busch Gardens: http://www.4adventure.com/BGW/default.aspx
Kings Dominion: http://www.kingsdominion.com/

Oh, The Places We'll Go ... or not
Durham Visitors Center: http://www.durham-nc.com/
Raleigh Visitors Center: http://www.visitraleigh.com/
Chapel Hill Visitors Center: http://www.visitchapelhill.org/
Lake Lure: http://www.lake-lure.com/
Biltmore Estate: http://www.biltmore.com/
Duke Gardens in Durham: http://www.hr.duke.edu/dukegardens/
Pullen Park in Raleigh: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullen_Park
State Farmers Market (and restaurants!): http://www.ncfarmfresh.com/FarmMarketDisplay.asp?FarmID=1529