Melissa and Edwin Garcia

It was my first time to attend a wedding near Christmas.  Melissa and Edwin know how to throw a par-Tay. It was a lot if fun!  

Dresses

Saturday was shopping for dresses for Allie and Kev's wedding.  The bridemaids dresses were already picked out we just needed to go to the shop and get measurements taken so that we could place the order for the dresses.  (July 30th is not that far away.)  Many hours later.... (It was a very small shop with only one woman working and the party before us was six in total.)  We got it all worked out and then went off to the mall to try to find jr. bridesmaid dresses.  We found something we really liked, Abs picked it out, but did not find the size.  Asked the saleswoman for help with was a bust.  We decided to take matters in our own hands and unfortunately as of 8 pm we were still unable to procure said dress.  But we have other thoughts that we will attempt this coming week.    Here is the happy couple!!!

The Wedding

I had to get out of the house early as I needed to exchange my dress. Yup, last minute Annie here, went shopping Friday afternoon and did not try on dress. Well Saturday morning "fitting" revealed an improper fit. I dashed out the door to exchange. The store did not have the dress in the size I needed. That meant more shopping and yes trying on of dresses. Five or six dresses later I was able to leave the store with one in hand. The upside to this is that the second dress is cheaper and lots more comfortable. The downside is that is more of a plain Jane dress. Oh, well!! I will be comfortable though. On my outing Friday I was able to procure a beautiful, sexy, and comfortable pair of heels.

Off to the grocery store after shopping to get some breakfast goodies. Back home to make the breakfast. Then showers all around. Dressed and out the door.

Since the church was a 2:00 p start we had to leave here right in the midst of lunch time. We has some hungry folks. I threw some bars, crackers, and apples into a bag for us to eat on the way.

Ceremony was funny. That Father-in-law of mine is a real comic. He is a deacon so he helped officiate the wedding ceremony. We were laughing, so was the happy couple.

Well the wedding has finally arrived. They have been engaged for over a year - come to think of it it might even be closer to two!

With Bill in the wedding and 3 hours between ceremony and reception, my Mother-in-law gave me the key to their hotel room. We had packed the kids' bathing suits and used their room to change and play poolside. It was the best way for us to use our time. We had the hotel pool all to ourselves for 1 1/2 hours. (We chose not to stay at the hotel as we only live 45 minutes away.)

At 6:00pm, the cocktail hour began. This was extremely helpful for my hungry crew. They had a pasta station, cheese, and some fruit. As well as servers walking around with all sorts of goodies. 7:00pm was the start of the reception and more eating. The dinner was a buffet which had roast beef, chicken, and salmon; roasted veggies, carrots, and salad. Lots and lots of food - I am certain I gained lots of weight. (Hopefully all the dancing took it off!)

My children were danceaholics. Especially Joshua, he was so funny and adorable to watch him "cuttin a rug". He would just go up there by himself and dance away. I think I need to call him the dance machine. The DJ did this game for someone from each table to take home the centerpiece. Well, I won!! I had to do some crazy dance with the other table winners. It was fun! and embarrassing all rolled into one!

It really was a great time and we were happy we got to visit with family that we don't get to see too much. I am very happy to say I have another sister-in-law, she is a hoot!

Rehearsal

Friday night was rehearsal night for Mike (Bill's brother) and Rose's Wedding.   With Bill in the wedding party that meant we all were going.  This was not too bad however, Bill was unable to get home the time he wanted to so that put us way behind.   He was unable to stop and pick up tux earlier in the week, so we needed to stop.  There was a problem with the jacket which needed to be altered.  Yeah, we were over 35 minutes late.   (Let's hope that doesn't happen for the wedding.  lol)

Then it was off to Maggiano's Little Italy restaurant at the Cherry Hill mall.  This place was huge and amazing.    They have a big dining area and several rooms that are used for functions.  The food was served family style and boy did you get a lot.  Most of our food was left as we were sitting with Bill's Uncle Dave and his family.  That put only 4 adults at our table with the choices of Eggplant Parmigiana, Spaghetti and Meatballs, Fettucini Alfredo with Broccoli, and Chicken Saltimbucco.   I completely forgot to tell you that we also had some cheese and crackers, mozzarella sticks, and fried calamari.   Then came the bread, caesar salad, and tomato caprese.   (The craziest event of the night - Stephen ate the calamari!!!!!)   All this was followed by Tiramisu, cheesecake, and ice cream for the kids.