October Wedding

October weddings are the best (maybe I'm a little biased)!!

On Saturday night we attended the wedding of a long time family friend. He got married in Ohio on the campus of Xavier University. The ceremony was wonderful, and the 80-year priest was quite hilarious!

The new Mr. and Mrs. O'Brien!

Following the ceremony, we celebrated all night long at the reception!


Way too many drinks on our table. Note the lovely place cards using the cork of a wine bottle. Cute! I will say that is alot of bottles of wine though, considering there were 275 guests!


It was cold before the dancing started (I don't generally wear Justin's jacket).

The next wedding will be Michael and Emily's!


Congrats!

Chip and Vanessa's Wedding

Chip and Vanessa's Wedding was truly memorable. The ceremony took place at 5pm at Rollins Chapel just down the street from the Hanover Inn. The rain let up for the perfect amount of time to allow us to get to the church still dry. Vanessa looked beautiful walking down the aisle, and Chip was tearing up. While the vows were incredibly long, the littlest groomsman Logan did a good job of standing still. Thankfully he had his mini-tractor to keep him occupied. The ceremony was beautiful, and we were ready to celebrate when it was over! No photography was allowed during the ceremony so I don't have any pictures. I did manage to take some after the ceremony though.

All ready to go - the inside of the church before the ceremony!

Us waiting for the guests to arrive.

Chip and Vanessa with both sets of parents.

The whole bridal party.

Justin and Hunter

Logan and Hunter, the little groomsman.

After many family pictures, we were off to the cocktail hour. We arrived just in time to sample a few of the appetizers outside on the terrace. Next, we went inside for the big introduction of the new Mr. and Mrs. After some lovely toasts from Vanessa's dad and Senator Lugar, we enjoyed a great meal of chicken and salmon. Justin and I had a great time chatting with Chip and Vanessa's friends from DC that we were sitting with. After dinner, Justin gave his best man speech and did such a good job! Everyone loved it, especially Chip and Vanessa. Let me tell you, it took him awhile to come up with a PG-rated, family friendly speech! We are so lucky to have Chip and our new sister-in-law Vanessa!

First dance - they had taken dance lessons a couple days prior so they were fully prepared!

The new Mr. and Mrs!

Time for some cake!

The reception was an absolute blast! We spent the next several hours dancing away to the highly requested Michael Jackson along with all the usual party songs.

Dancing the night away!

Post-reception and Logan was exhausted.

Of course, the rest of us went onto to have more fun.

As for the after-party, we ventured across the street to a fancy bar called the Canoe Club Bistro. I think our crowd was a bit too rowdy for their liking, and we were asked to leave! A group of us was playing flip cup (while sitting down and not even putting beer in the cup). They didn't like that too well and said that the New Hampshire liquor commissioner was going to come and find us. Whatever, we took our party elsewhere. Specifically, to the lobby of the Hanover Inn where the six pizzas we had ordered were delivered! :-)

Attempting to play flippy cup. It was short-lived.

All in all, a perfect wedding!

Vanessa's Bridal Shower

While the boys were busy fishing, the girls put on their dresses for a lovely bridal shower for Vanessa. Margaret, Vanessa's cousin, hosted the shower and did a fabulous job. So many of Vanessa's friends made the trip to DC for the party. It was wonderful meeting all her friends who I have heard so much about. We chatted, drank mimosas, ate a delicious brunch, and watched Vanessa's open her presents. Margaret had asked Chip several questions ahead of time regarding his relationship with Vanessa. At the party, Vanessa was asked the same questions. The test was to see if they answered the same. Chip was asked when he first told Vanessa that he loved her. His reply, "Hopefully sometime before we moved in together!" Needless to say, it was all quite hilarious!


More pictures to come from Vanessa.

Apparently I was too busy talking to take pictures. I know, I know, I need to work on my picture taking if I want to be a good blogger.

Wedding Bells!

Congrats to Michael and Emily! Michael suprised Emily by showing up in her Chicago apartment on a Wednesday night in late April to propose. Emily was suprised but happy, and of course said "YES!" Wedding plans are already in the works. The date is set for May 1, 2010. We can't wait for another fun family wedding!