Week 77

Aug 25-31

This week Ed and I (yes, just us) flew to the great cheese state for the marriage of Holly Steele and Ryan Winchell. It was by far one of the best weddings ever. Ed had never been to WI and I wanted to show him everything. It really is a pretty place two months out of the year when there isn't snow. Haha!

I know what everyone is thinking. How could you leave your child alone? Who watched him?? Well don't worry because he was well taken care of. Mimi (my mom), Gigi (my grandma), AND Aunt Caroline (my sister) all came to watch one little boy. Not only was he well taken care of, but entertained and occupied every waking moment so he didn't even notice we had left.

Everyone keeps asking me..."isn't it hard to leave him?" Well when we were leaving and I explained that, "Mommy and Daddy are going bye-bye and will be gone for awhile. Can you give Mommy a kiss?" His response was, "No." Although I didn't take it personally because that is his latest thing. He says "no" to every question or suggestion you present to him. I grabbed him, kissed him, and as we were walking out the door said, "bye." He just turned around, smiled, and waved "bye-bye." No hard feelings. I got over the despair because if he wasn't worried about me leaving I figured I might as well not feel so guilty and have a good time!

Back to the wedding. We flew out of Orlando on Thursday evening and arrived in Milwaukee that night. Initially we had planned on driving to Holly's hometown that night, but we figured out it was going to end up being 1:00 am and we were both exhausted. We decided to get a hotel room and take a night to relax. We lucked out, because we found a great deal on a very modern/swank room. It was so nice!! We had a few drinks, went to bed early, and slept like we hadn't slept in over a year. There was no MONITOR static to keep us up and nobody woke us up at 6:00 am!!!

The next morning we were refreshed and ready to party with Holly and her friends/family! We drove to Holly's house and while Ed finished up some homework I went with Holly and Heather (her sister and MOH) to start decorating the room for the reception. The wedding was at a beautiful resort called the Three Bears Lodge. The room was absolutely amazing and ENORMOUS!! We decorated and it looked awesome! I couldn't wait for her reception!

Holly's colors were turquoise, black, and white. She had a damask element that played into the whole thing. It was all very elegant and lovely. After decorating we went back to the house to get ready for the rehearsal at the church and the dinner to follow. Everything went very smoothly and the dinner was great! We had Italian food (yum!) and everyone relaxed with a few drinks. It was a great night! We ended up leaving on the early side because we had hair appointments first thing Saturday morning. Once again...a full nights sleep, uninterrupted. :)

Saturday morning was fun!! We all met up at the salon and of course Heather the wonderful hostess/wedding side event planner had food and drinks...even cute little cups with Holly's turquoise color on them. It was so nice! Everybody's hair looked very cute, especially Holly! The salon did a great job. After hair we headed straight to the church to get ready/relax/eat. We had plenty of time to do makeup, steam dresses, hang out, and get ready for pictures!

The wedding went off without a hitch. I cried my eyes out. Holly was such a beautiful bride and the whole thing was just so emotional for me. I love my Holly sooooo much and I am so happy she found someone to spend the rest of her life with. Ryan is such a nice person and their relationship is absolutely incredible. I feel like their marriage is solid and will last forever. I was truly honored to be standing up at the alter with them to witness their vows.

The wedding was absolutely beautiful...I can't wait to see the pictures. The photographer Holly hired is absolutely amazing and had some great ideas for creative poses. After the wedding we boarded a party bus. Holly even arranged for extra room so that husbands/boyfriends/etc could all ride together! Score! :)

It was so neat to ride through the countryside and get amazing pictures of the wedding party and especially the bride and groom. The photographers specialty is pictures in big, wide, open fields and luckily there are plenty of those in WI. While we navigated the country roads we were able to enjoy some drinks! We even stopped at a bar for awhile to hang out while Holly and Ryan stole a private moment for pictures alone.

After the party bus it was on to party even more at the reception! Before we left for WI Ed kept asking me about the schedule and I explained the wedding at 2:30, party bus in between, and then straight to the reception from 6:00 pm til midnight. He kept insisting that this much "partying" was going to kill us and we would never last. I had to remind him that Wisconsin folks don't mess around!!! We hit the reception running and partied/danced/ate/drank until midnight!!

The reception (like everything else that day) was AMAZING! The food was great, drinks were flowing, and we were dancing up a storm! It was really neat to see a bunch of my friends from middle school. I really want to go back soon and take Jack because there are SO MANY kids his age!!! They were all so cute!!!! Maybe Jack will need to go up in the winter to see his first snow...hmmm.

So after the reception ended we went to yet another party and then finally to bed. We had to get up the next morning which probably seems impossible, but surprisingly neither one of us felt that bad. Holly texted me first thing in the morning and said she wanted to meet me for coffee. I told her she should go back to bed because her wedding was yesterday and I know she has to be exhausted!!! She insisted on meeting Ed and I for coffee to say goodbye. I really wanted to cry. I love her so much. Just writing about it is making me cry right now. :( She is truly the BEST FRIEND anyone could ever possibly have.

Holly, her mom Barb, and her sister Heather all met us to say goodbye. They are truly like a second family to me. It was so awesome seeing everyone after so many years! I want to thank the entire Steele family for making Ed and I feel so welcome while we were up there. We really had the best time and have been so relaxed since we have been home.

I'm sure there will be more pictures that come out. I wish we would have brought our camera with us now. The pictures on here now are mostly borrowed from people. Enjoy!

Publish Post

CONGRATULATIONS HOLLY AND RYAN!!!!!