Preliminary Wedding Pictures

More pictures are coming soon, but here is a brief recap of the world's best weekend. Let's start allll the way back in September.

My co-workers threw me a "Depth and Complexity" shower. Kevin was even able to make an appearance. Check it out:

The shower was super nice and a great transition from school into... awesomeness. 

I was out of school Thursday for a conference, so Friday was my first day off before the wedding. I met my mom at the Wyndham. These views from the hotel were taken throughout the weekend, but let's look at them here to paint a picture of the setting:

Holy gorgeous weather! Once there, I visited with my dad and Aunt Deb/Uncle Wayne, then headed out to get my hair cut. Before:

 After:

 We then met Carrie-Anne at the nail salon for the longest pedicure of all time. Too bad we had to practically hitch a ride home!

 We made it back just in time for the rehearsal, which started late anyway:

We attempted to avoid the other guests at the hotel in order to not start any controversy. Look closely to see why:

Next was the rehearsal dinner at Doc Taylors, catered by Tau Togs. We had delicious dinner (scallops barca... mmmm.)

Great food, great people, great time. The hit of the evening (besides the Phillies game) was the games that Raf and I purchased for the wedding party. Everyone had to guess which game was theirs. Todd's Saved By the Bell game makes a guest appearance here.

From top to bottom you see here: me and my brothers, my Aunt Kath, Uncle Dave, and cousin Thomas, my dad and his wife Gayle, and me and Kevin with the corn hole groom's cake.

We had a great time hanging out at the hotel Friday night, then woke up bright and early Saturday morning to get ready. Some beauty shots of myself, Carrie-Anne (Blue Ball bridesmaid) and Brynn (flower girl):

And THEN... the ceremony. ideo will be posted later:

Next was cocktail hour and pictures:

Then the reception began. Let's start with the civilized pictures:

And then the crazy times:

Ah, good times. Afterward, we all changed, then headed out to the beach for a corn hole tournament:

The next morning, we had breakfast with the lingering guests, then headed to the Taphouse for the game. 

We picked up the dog, dropped off the tuxes, and played some games with Matt, Lindsay, Dayna, and the Psimases. On Monday, we took the day to relax by having Chick-fil-A breakfast, walking the dog on the beach, and heading to the airport with Matt and Lindsay. 

All in all it was the BEST weekend. The pictures will keep coming, so keep checking! Thank you, thank you, thank you to all our friends and family who joined us and those who sent their congratulations!

Dusk and Summer

This post is a mish-mash of the entire end of summer, including my birthday, Labor Day weekend, and what evidence exists at this point of my bachelorette party. First, a summary:

The clips featured include a "Cracker" concert at the 31st St. stage where we saw "The Dude" abide, followed by the Pat Benatar concert we attempted to sneak into. The remaining clips are from the bachelorette party including a "dance off" at Chicks, Melissa getting her groove on, and our new friend and sponsor of "girl's night", "Thriller" himself.

Some other details...

I had my wedding hair trial run. You can get the gist from this.

We spent the end of August enjoying some gorgeous and cooler summer weather. Here are some of Raf's best, including some cloud shots, a fanny pack on the beach, Brynn's creation, and my favorite... Hot Dad:

We had a few people over for my birthday. The only evidence is the empty punch bowl. Raf made us some delicious fruit punch and we spent the evening playing our new Guitar Hero, courtesy of my mom and Greg for our shower gift.

On my actual birthday, I woke up to a lovely sweet potato pancake and assorted fruit breakfast.

We took our leftover punch to the beach with the Psimases. I wish I could share with you an additional video of mother ingenuity taken because we were at the North End and there were no bathrooms, but I was explicitly told not to!

Here was my birthday dinner:

On Labor Day weekend, we went to see a few bands at the oceanfront. This was one of our favorite shots of the weekend:

Then.... summer ended and school began, but we didn't let that stop us. Saturday, Karen, Haylie, and I rode our bikes to the oceanfront on a gorgeous summer-like evening. We met Janet, Melissa, and Elizabeth at Waterman's for a crush.

This began the "scavenger hunt" inspired by the Game of Things.

Things that Kevin does when I'm not looking: Takes the cats for walks (like this lady):

Things that scare children: Pictures of me, like this one of my wedding makeup:

Melissa came up with this one... Things you don't want to hear your mother in law say: The same story 3 times:

Others include: 

• Things that are ridiculous: Moments of Silence at an outdoor bar
• Things you just can't believe: Missing a fight because of a bathroom break
• Things you do when Kevin's not looking: Samoans
• Things you shouldn't say when trying to make a good impression: "I'm the crab dip whore"
• Things you shouldn't say in your wedding vows: "She can do it three different ways."
• Things that make you gag: Jason Priestley
• Things you shouldn't wear in public: family mullets
• Things that are painful: Waiting for Michael Jackson's Thriller Guy
• Things you would have a robot do: Make me Rocket Fuel
• Things that require an assistant: Getting over the bridge over Rudee Inlet

Good times.