Kristina & Frankie

Settle in, everyone, this post could be a long one! We're back from Kristina's wedding and it was wonderful, and I am fully armed with lots of pictures and details to share.

Our weekend travel really began Thursday night, when we dropped Achilles off at the kennel for the weekend. I was so anxious about it, because he has only been boarded once before, and also because I am apparently an over-protective doggy mom. The kennel does what it can to make psychos like me feel comfortable with it, though. For example, it's not a "kennel," it's "camp." And he's not a "boarder," he's an "overnight camper." He spends his days playing with other similar-sized "campers" in the playrooms, where they play doggy movies on large TVs. Every few hours he is given a rest break or walked. Then at night he has a "private bunk" for his sleeping pleasure. So, really, it sounds delightful, no? Yeah, I'm not totally convinced, but I appreciate their efforts.

We left for the airport early Friday morning to catch our 7:00 a.m. flight. The line at security was OUTRAGEOUS, but we made it through with enough time to even grab some breakfast. We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale around 10:00, picked up our (light green) rental car, and started our fun!

I loved this little pull tab in the trunk of our rental car, which apparently opens the trunk from the inside so you can jump out and run away like the little man on the tab. Funny!

We made a quick stop at Target to pick up a couple things (man, I miss having a Target!), then had lunch at a little beach-side restaurant before checking in to our hotel. Unfortunately, the weather sucked. It was overcast and very windy, so my plans for some pre-wedding pool time fell through. We rested in the room for a bit, then Eric went for a run while I started to get ready for the wedding. I have to say, it took me forever to find a dress to wear to this wedding. But I finally found a beautiful blue dress, with lots of beading that I loved. I was feeling pretty great when we left for the wedding! (Remember this, I'll explain why in a bit.)

Eric on the balcony of our hotel

We took a cab to the wedding, which was only about a mile away from our hotel. It was held at a restaurant called The Addison. We arrived shortly after 5:00, and immediately saw an old college friend. I left Eric chatting with him, while I went off to find Kristina in the bridal suite. She had requested that I stop by, along with Shannon and Nicole, the other pseudo-bridesmaids. (Note: I say "pseudo-bridesmaids" because Kristina was blessed with the problem of having too many close girl friends and female cousins, so instead of having a full-blown bridal party, she and Frankie only had a best man and maid of honor. Had they gone for the big bridal party, Shannon, Nicole and I would have been included! So that's what that means.)

Kristina was beautiful! Her dress was gorgeous, her bouquet was stunning, she was an all-around lovely bride. I stayed with her until about five minutes before the ceremony began then went down to sit with Eric in the congregation.

Waiting for the ceremony to begin

The ceremony was held in a courtyard of the restaurant, with banyan trees on either side and a gorgeous floral arch for the bride and groom to stand under. Thankfully, despite the fact that it had rained for days leading up to the wedding, the sky cleared for the ceremony and it was perfect. It was a beautiful ceremony! Their vows were nearly identical to the vows Eric and I said to each other (although they are very traditional, so I'm sure this is not rare), and I got very teary-eyed during that part. Also, remember that "The Art of a Good Marriage" poem I included in my last post? They had the officiant read that during the ceremony! What are the odds?

Here comes the bride!

Isn't the skirt of her dress gorgeous?

Exchanging vows under the beautiful arch

First kiss!

Introducing the new Mr. and Mrs.!

After the ceremony, Kristina and Frankie went off for pictures with their families, and later with friends/pseudo-bridesmaids (that's me!). In the meantime, the guests moved to the lower level of the courtyard for the cocktail hour, which was wonderful. There was a gorgeous fountain in the center of the courtyard, and pink and green paper lanterns hung in the trees. There was a live guitarist, delicious hors d'oeuvres, and of course, an open bar! We had a great time sipping champagne and catching up with friends. Eric even saw a girl he had in his flag football class in college! Eventually, Kristina and Frankie joined the party and we all swarmed them for pictures.

At the cocktail hour

General shot of the cocktail hour merriment

Eric with the blushing bride

Old college roomies!

Soon it was time to move in to the reception. Let me just say - the table setups were stunning. The centerpieces were amazing! They were tall branch/tree things with flowers scattered throughout the branches. Just gorgeous. At each place setting there was a menu for the dinner, which included a salad, and choice of filet mignon (my choice!), salmon, or chicken. They also had a favor for each guest, which was a pair of chocolate Gators! I loved that. Another detail that I loved was our place card, because this was the first wedding Eric and I have attended together since our own, so it was our first time being seated as "Mr. & Mrs. Eric W." Hooray!

Centerpieces!

Menu/place setting

Chocolate Gator favors

Showing off our "Mr. & Mrs." place card

The parents and bridal party were introduced, then Frankie and Kristina made their grand entrance and went into their first dance. They then opened up the dance floor for another slow song for all the couples to dance to, before picking up the tempo a bit!

First dance

Quick pic with Kristina

They then had everyone be seated for toasts and dinner. The toasts were great, and the food was excellent too! While we finished up dinner, Kristina did her dance with her dad, which was very sweet. Her mom cried through the whole thing! Then Frankie danced with his mom.

At our table

The newlyweds at their sweetheart table

The other main events of the reception were the cake cutting, which was so sweet, and the bouquet and garter tosses. The garter removal was awesome - the DJ had Frankie do a little dance up to Kristina before going in for the goods, and it was hilarious!

The cake table

Cutting the cake

Preparing for the garter removal!

Go, Frankie!

So funny.

Preparing to toss the garter
(Eric took this one especially because there is a similar picture of him looking down at my garter at our wedding before tossing it, and he loves that picture! He did a great job recreating it for Frankie.)

From there, the reception continued with dancing, drinks, and lots of fun for the rest of the evening. There was also a cheese and fruit table if the guests were looking for a healthy snack, and a dessert table (in addition to the wedding cake, of course) that included little shot glass desserts, miniature Key Lime pies, miniature peanut butter pies (my favorite), and the largest chocolate covered strawberries I'd ever seen. Delicious!

On the dance floor

Desserts!

Eric dancing (and laughing) with the bride

Recreating the picture below, which was taken on Eric's birthday in 2001. It's one of his faves from college!

Another thing that's awesome about this picture: those shirts Kristina and I are wearing are basically the only shirts we ever wore out for the first two years of college. We were awfully stylish.

With college friends Jordan and Sleimen

The last picture above brings me back to that point about how good I felt about my attire for the evening. Take a nice look at my friend Jordan. Does her dress look familiar? Yes, it's true. All my agonizing over what to wear resulted in me wearing the same thing as my friend. Ironically, we both had other dresses all picked out, but decided at the last minute to wear this one because we were afraid someone else would be wearing our other option. Nice. But, we embraced it, and laughed it off. We decided our story was that Kristina had asked us to be bridesmaids and made us buy that dress, but then changed her mind about it at the last minute and didn't tell us we could wear something different. Ha! Blame it on the bride, I say.

Two ladies with impeccable taste

We left the reception towards the end and caught a ride back to the hotel with Kristina's friend Shannon and her boyfriend. We spent some time sitting on our balcony and looking at pictures, before crashing in our Sleep Number bed (yay!).

Saturday morning we were desperately hoping for more beach time, and it was actually sunny when we got up around 9:00. But, we could see clouds moving in so we decided to just go for a walk along the beach right away instead of hoping to lay out later. It was a good plan, because after walking for about an hour, we got caught in a downpour on our way home and the rain continued off and on for the rest of the day.

Other than our families, of course, this is what I miss about Florida.

Standing in the ocean

After the beach, we went to get some lunch then went back to the hotel to get ready for the Post-Wedding Brunch Kristina's family was hosting at their house. It was amazing! They had a drinks served by a bartender, and more food than I ever would have expected. They even roasted a whole pig! (WARNING: If this thought grosses you out, I advise you to skip the pictures below.) We had a great time talking with Kristina and Frankie some more, before we had to leave for the airport.

The main food table

The pig!!!!!

The dessert table...this was BEFORE everything was even put out!

The newlyweds, and the old married couple!

Our flight home was perfectly pleasant, and we were even treated to a spectacular sunset out the window, followed by a night-time view of NYC before we landed. I love flying in the evenings! We got back into the city around 9:45p.m., grabbed a cab back to our apartment, and spent the evening relaxing and eating sushi. Mmm.

Sunday morning we were finally able to pick Achilles up from camp! He seemed no worse for the wear, other than being very, very tired. He put on quite a display when we first saw him (see video below), then we walked him home through Central Park, which he always enjoys. As soon as we got home he passed out and slept all day. He had a busy weekend, too!

VIDEO: Achilles' response when we picked him up from "camp." Think he was excited?

As you can see, he was pretty pumped. He couldn't even calm himself for a serene "Imagine" picture. Maybe he's singing?

And that was our trip! It was a wonderful trip, a beautiful wedding, and a great celebration. Congratulations, Kristina and Frankie! Thank you for everything, and best wishes for your life together. Hope you're enjoying Peru!