Natalie's Wedding

Two and a half weeks later, I'm finally writing about my best friend's wedding!!

Natalie and Brian got married July 5th in Ohio, so the rehearsal was July 3. They were extra brave and had the rehearsal dinner at their house!

Natalie's favorite taco truck actually catered the event, and filled up their entire island with food! It was all SOOOOOO amazingly delicious! 

And if that wasn't enough food, Natalie also made buckeyes! My fav!!!

And they had a groom's cake too! 

Natalie has about 295739 nieces, nephews and cousins, so they also had a piñata for the kids! How fun!

Natalie also had a get-together at her house the next day for the 4th of July (I posted about it here). 

Tara (the other maid of honor) and I spent the night at Natalie's on July 4th so we could all get ready together on her wedding day!

If you know Natalie, you know that she does not wear makeup, so this was a big deal that I had to get a picture of!

Natalie's cousin is a wedding dress designer! So she made Natalie a custom made dress...short, because Natalie had always wanted a short dress, and with lace from her mom's wedding dress! Natalie always said she would wear cowboy boots with her wedding dress...so cowboy boots it was!

After we got ready, we took some pictures in front of Natalie's house...

{photo from Christopher Bues Photography}

...and had some Jimmy John's! 

Ella also hung out with us while Trav went for a quick run...she was ready to party!

The wedding was at a Catholic church in Akron. They had a full mass, which was kind of long, but I am glad we didn't have to stand the whole time!! It was a beautiful ceremony!

{photo from Christopher Bues Photography}

{photo from Christopher Bues Photography}

After the ceremony, we took a quick family pic...

...Natalie and Brian took pictures at the park...

{photo from Christopher Bues Photography}

....and then we all met back at the hotel from a few drinks before heading to the reception!

I didn't take very many pictures at the reception, probably because I was busy giving a speech in front of 225 people (nerve-wracking!!!), and having lots of fun afterwards! 

My one picture: 

my child enjoying the koozie favors!

Here are a few from Natalie's photographer, Chris Bues...he was awesome!

{This is one of my faaaaavorites...with my Chi O's! We still know how to party 7 years out of college.}

Congrats Natalie and Brian!!!! I'm so happy for you both and I am glad I could be part of your special day!!!

Natalie's Bachelorette Party

{Whoa, 3 days of blogging in a row?! And a non-baby-related post?! Who am I!?!?!}

This past weekend, I flew to Ohio (for a whole 36 hours!) for one of my best friends, Natalie's, bachelorette party!!! 

It was so wonderful to be reunited with so many of my good college friends!!

I arrived bright and early Saturday morning, and we hung out at Natalie's house for a bit (and she and her fiancé, Brian, made breakfast for us all)...

{The happy couple}

{part of our group at Natalie's house!}

We said goodbye to the WOLVES (yes, real wolves!) that live next door, and headed to Cleveland!

In Cleveland, we had lunch and drinks at Happy Dog. In case you are not familiar, this place only serves hot dogs...gourmet hot dogs with all sorts of toppings, but hot dogs nonetheless. And I do not eat hot dogs!!!

 

I was kind of freaking out, but because I am a good friend, I took one for the team and got a hot dog with cucumbers, tomatoes and feta. 

 

Yes, I ate a hot dog. Take note, because it may never happen again. It was ok...but I really wish I had just gotten two orders of tater tots. Those were yummy!

After our "delicious" lunch, we headed to the hotel to freshen up and give Natalie her gifts!

{bridesmaids!}

{Jess got Natalie some pee-pee straws}

{Bride + Maids of Honor!}

{Beer in the sink....standard}

We went out for a little day drinking action at Great Lakes Brewing Company. I am not a huge beer drinker, so I had some riesling. Haha...is that ridiculous?! Ordering wine at a brewery?! Oh well. 

{Our whole group!}

We then left to go to dinner at Market Garden. Sooooo delicious!!

I got the black bean tacos and they were amaze. You could say I mayyyy have enjoyed them more than my hot dog earlier ;)

And, they also had wine! Hooray! We also passed out a little card game that had dares and different shots for people to take. I'm not really sure what ended up happening to those cards....???

{This is SO classic Natalie}

Around 10:00, my boobs were HURTING. I hadn't pumped since 3:30, so I was pretty much dying. I didn't want to leave Nat, but thankfully, her future sister-in-law, Katie, was sweet enough to come back to the hotel with me so I could relieve my boobs! 

{Selfie in the cab!}

We met Natalie & Co. back out half an hour later. They had somehow wandered down to Club Touch, which if you know Natalie at all, you know that this was not her idea! Hahaha. It was pretty comical. Upon googling it the next day, it is apparently a supper club with great tacos! Who knew?!

We finished off the weekend on Sunday by visiting Natalie's personal favorite (catering their rehearsal dinner), the Taco Truck!!! My burrito was sooooo amazing!!! I could not eat the whole thing, but man....yum in the tum!

Such a fun time in good ol' Ohio!!! Can't wait for your wedding Natalie, in just one short month!!

Adam and Erica's Wedding!

This past weekend, we attended the wedding of Travis' friend, Adam and his lovely wife Erica!

{Sadly, Ella did not get to attend!}

Since Trav was in the wedding, I rode to the church with Amanda, whose husband was in the wedding as well. There was terrible traffic, so we got there at 3:59...and the wedding was at 4. Whoops!

The ceremony was gorgeous and was in Erica's home church. 

{Oh and side note: all of these pictures ARE terrible! I was not about to bust out my fancy cam and try to compete with the wedding photog ;)}

{Can you see my husband?! Ohh no, of course not, because he was hiding behind a bridesmaid the whole. entire. time!!}

I loooved her dress!!!

The reception was about 50 minutes (!!!!) away, so Amanda and I decided we would both pump...in the car....on our way to the reception. It was quite a spectacle. 

The reception was at Cape Fear Botanical Garden, which was gorgeous and had lots of pretty areas for picture taking! Unfortunately, I didn't get a good pic with my husband till later, because he had to stay with the wedding party during the cocktail hour. 

The room was super big and open and had gorgeous purple and green uplighting once the sun set!

Our meal was served family style, which could have been a little awkward if we didn't know everyone at our table, but fortunately, we were sitting with all good friends.

The food was really good...we had trout, chicken and a filet!

{With my handsome groomsman! 

My dress is from here--had to get something to hide my baby pooch!}

Their cake was super gorge and I'm still kicking myself for not getting a good enough pic of it...it had lights shining on it to make it look even more pristine (Trav thought it was an ice sculpture, haha)!

{First dance!}

I actually had to leave soon after the first dance (during the daddy/daughter and mother/son dances) because I was about to cry thinking about Travis dancing with Ella at her wedding one day. I hid in the bathroom for about 10 minutes and I pulled myself together. 

#ridiculous

For their exit, Erica changed into a shorter, super cute, sparkly dress!! I wish I had gotten a better picture of it!

Congrats, Adam and Erica!!! Have fun in Fiji!!!

Autumn and Matthew's Wedding

This past weekend, we went up to Chapel Hill for the wedding of our good friends, Autumn and Matthew. {You may remember I went to Autumn's super cute monogrammed bachelorette party about a month ago.}

Here are some pics....of course, I was too lazy to take my camera, so these are all crappy from my phone. Sorry. You know this is how it goes by now.

We got to sit in the balcony, which I have to say was super ideal for picture taking!

The ring bearer was SO cute!

The reception was at the Harvest House, which was a super cute farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. No really. When people were giving speeches, there were cows mooing in the background! HA!

Here is my silly husband {he was a groomsman, again} doing who-knows-what for their entrance.

Autumn and Matthew walked out to the sound of the UNC bell tower chiming, like it does before UNC football games. Matthew even did his thing with his arms, which you can see here (I don't know how to explain it?) that he always does at the games when he wants everyone to stand up. It cracked me up!

Me with my handsome groomsman! I love the ties that they got as gifts (there were little polka dots on them close up)!

The cake was SUPER yummy, plus they also had the most amazing cheesecake! I had a slice of both...don't judge.  

The groomsmen decided/got forced into singing "Wagon Wheel" for the bride....sign #1 you know you are at a Southern country wedding. 

{Travis says after: "I didn't even know the words!" UGH how do you not know the words to "Wagon Wheel"?!}

Here is another picture of the reception area! It was so pretty with all of the little lights!

{Ignore all the beer bottles....that wasn't our table or anything...}

Congrats Autumn and Matthew!!!