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Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Lucas's California Adventure | Liv's Wedding

When my good friend Liv told me she was getting married in Carmel, California, I immediately wanted to plan a whole big family vacation around her wedding. Unfortunately, due to Trav's work schedule that wasn't going to happen this time of year. So, we opted to take a long weekend trip with Lucas (since I don't have a lot of milk stashed in my freezer for him, and he needs me to eat!) and left Ella at home with my parents (spoiler alert: she barely noticed we were gone and had a blast without us!). 

We left Thursday night and had a quick layover in Chicago. 


Lucas did SOOO well on both flights!! Everyone kept commenting on how good he was!


We landed in San Jose around 10 PM (1 AM east coast time!), rented a car and then drove 75 minutes down to Carmel. 

The next morning, we had the rehearsal! The venue was having a wedding that night, so that's why we had to have the rehearsal in the morning. 


Yes, that is us rehearsing. Too bad the scenery isn't prettier, right?!
Liv's venue was absolutely gorgeous. I am obsessed. 

After the rehearsal, we drove along the coast to the rehearsal lunch at Rocky Point



Again, beyond gorgeous scenery!



After lunch, we decided to head to the famous 17-Mile Drive. Unfortunately, it started getting really foggy around this time, so I didn't take any good pictures. But we did drive past Pebble Beach Golf Course, which was a highlight for Trav. 

Once we got back to the hotel, Lucas watched his first UNC basketball game with Daddy...



 ...while I did my bridesmaid duties and helped out with the flowers. Liv's mom is actually a florist and did all of the flowers for her wedding...us bridesmaids just helped out a little bit. 

The next morning, I was up at 7:30, ready for hair and makeup (good thing I was still on east coast time, so I felt like it was 10:30!). When I walked into Liv's cottage where she was staying, I was greeted by all of the beautiful flowers we had been working on yesterday! 


{except, I can't take credit for these...my job had been folding pieces of tulle, ha!}

We had a fun morning of pampering. Liv even paid for all of us to get airbrush makeup done, which is something I had never done before, but I liked it!


Lucas hung out with Daddy...and luckily, our room was really close by, so I could run back and forth to check on them and feed Lucas. 


Then it was time to get dressed! I'm obsessed with Liv's wedding dress. It kind of made me want to get married again!


After a little champs, it was time for the first look!


We totally crashed their first look. Well, we tried to anyway. 


By the time we got off the shuttle, we discovered Liv and Brian had already done their first look! So my friend Jen and I decided to walk across the street and do a little shopping while we waited.


Jen swam with Liv and me in college, and it was so good seeing her again!


We finally arrived at the wedding venue, and Liv wrote her own vows. I was very impressed! I was much too nervous to do something like that on my wedding day!


Then it was wedding time! 


Again, too bad it wasn't prettier out. 


We haven't seen any pictures from her photographers yet, so these are a few I've stolen from various people off of social media! 

If you want to see more of her beautiful venue, here is their website. I will try to share professional pics when Liv gets them and sends them to me! :)


Side note: it was SUPER cold. Ok, so it was really like 60*, but that is cold when you are wearing a sleeveless bridesmaid dress (that scratched the crap out of your arms, but that is a whole other story...)! I was really jealous of her great aunt's jacket...why didn't we all get those, Liv?! ;)

After the gorgeous ceremony, it was time to party! Thank God they had tons of heat lamps around, so I didn't totally freeze to death. 


Lucas was clearly unfazed by the cold! He was such a ham and flirted with everyone


Liv also had told of pashminas available (with a sign that said, "To have and to hold, in case you get cold!" So cute!), so I used those to stay warm and act as a buffer between my scratchy dress and my skin.  Oh and Lucas got one to use as a blanket, too. Win win win. 


Our food was delicious (Liv is kind of a foodie, so I expected no less) and was served family style. 


The first dance was held in a barn, but it was really pretty with twinkling lights all over the ceiling. 


They also had a photo booth, and us bridesmaids thought it was hysterical that the backdrop was the exact same material as our dresses. We tried to blend in...

I totally crashed around 9:30 PM because 1. I am old and lame, and 2. Still on east coast time. I don't know why my body could not get on this time zone for the life of me!!! 
But still, such a fun night! 

Sunday morning, we walked around Carmel. It really is such a cute little town!


It reminded me of Germany/Switzerland mixed with Positano/Amalfi Coast mixed with Blowing Rock. I know, weird and random combination, but it works! 


We had brunch at Katy's Place (SOOO good if you are ever in Carmel!), where Lucas sat in a high chair for the first time!


Then we decided to walk off all the food we just ate by hiking down to the ocean. 





It was all fun and games until we had to walk back up to our car. Holy moly. Trav pushed the stroller, and I still couldn't keep up! It was a workout for sure.

We flew out of San Jose that evening and got back to Charlotte a little after midnight. 


It took us a few days to recover from all of that traveling, but I'm thankful this little guy was such a trooper! We had such a fun 4 days with our sweet boy! 
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2 comments:

  1. Seriously you are supermama flying across the country with Lucas, being IN a wedding and on a different time zone!!!

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  2. Oh my gosh, what an absolutely beautiful wedding!! The scenery and the bride, just gorgeous! So glad you got to go! Lucas looks like such a great little traveler!

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