Chelsea Ties the Knot

Whew. What a wonderful whirlwind of a wedding weekend!

We flew to Philadephia early Friday for my sister-in-law’s (Matt’s younger sister) wedding! While the early morning flight went smoothly, the airport was packed. In an attempt to avoid bag check fees, we brought too many bags, and ended up leaving one of Matt’s at the crowded gate.  Arg. Because it was our fault, we couldn’t figure out who to contact and no one at the airport would answer the phone.  I finally got through to a woman who explained that the airport lost and found is different from each airline’s lost and found, and lost baggage in the gate area is only brought down to the airline’s baggage services at the end of the shift (around midnight). Thankfully, the lady went and found the bag herself and put it on the next flight and we were able to get it about 12 hours later!

Despite being on the phone half the day, I was still able to relax at the nail salon with the bride and moms and get fingers and toes done for the wedding. We also enjoyed an awesome kid-free dinner at Nectar with the bride, groom, and the groom’s siblings while Matt’s mom babysat Emerson.

Saturday was pretty low-key.  Matt picked up breakfast (omg the pb, banana, and stawberry wrap we discovered at Bryn and Dane’s), and then we each took turns at the gym.  We had the wedding rehearsal at noon, and then relaxed and got ready for dinner during Em’s nap.  The rehearsal dinner was at the General Warren Inn and was a real treat!

There was a cocktail hour out in the garden and then we enjoyed a three course dinner in an intimate private dining room.  My parents were there and Emerson spent the whole dinner on my mom’s lap eating buttered rolls – it was a nice break from mom duties.  I had asian beef skewers with a coconut rice cake, scallops with pesto, tomato, and cauliflower rice, and the most incredible (gf!!) praline cheesecake.

Matt’s family!

Sunday, we were up bright and early to source caffeine and breakfast and start hair and makeup!

I requested a slightly messy low updo and loved my hair!

In the afternoon, the bridesmaids  headed over to the venue, Terrain.  It’s owned by Anthropologie, so you can imagine the gorgeous details.

Chelsea got dressed by an emotional mom – I had all the feels thinking that I might do this with two daughters!

The dress!

I loved my dress too, although it was way too tight, and even when I took breaks to unzip it, I could not wait to get it off (I changed after cocktail hour and baby moved all around in there when I could breathe again).

First look with an equally emotional dad and then groom.

The handsome groomsmen.

The flower girl arrived in great spirits after her nap!

She had a blast hanging out with the bridal party, but got shy and needed mom when the tall videographer came in to film her dancing and triwling.

And of course, that same scary videographer was at the end of the aisle filming the processional and she couldn’t walk without dad.  This would have been fine (given that dad happens to be the bride’s brother), but then she spotted Gramme (my mom) in the crowd and decided that she would not walk down the aisle without Grammie either…

…so Grammie walked down the aisle too!

Not two minutes after the ceremony started, there was a huge rumble of thunder and it started to pour!!   There was an awkward moment when the ceremony was still going on and the guests were trying not to panic as they respectfully got soaked, so it was a big relief when the bride stopped the officiant and signaled for everyone to seek shelter on the covered patio! They decided to continue the ceremony with everyone huddled around and it was very romantic and intimate.  You could hear the rain falling on the tin roof.

And just like that the rain stopped in time for cocktail hour and it ended up being a beautiful night.

Dinner was served family style and included arctic char with forbidden rice and green beans, carrot soup, fresh sautéed veggies from the garden, and flank steak with chimichurri and potatoes.

My parents took an exhausted Emerson home around 9:45, and although my body ached too much for a lot of dancing, we enjoyed just hanging out in the cool night air. There was also a fire pit with s’mores, and since I had sourced some gf graham crackers at Wegmans earlier that day, I got to enjoy a few rounds of s’mores too:)

We stopped by the groom’s house for brunch on Monday, and then made the trek back to Philly and back to Charlotte. After a couple of late nights for Emerson (and no nap on the way home), we are all super tired.  It was our first time traveling with Emerson out of diapers, and although the pee went ok, let’s just say we are also happy to be back into a routine that involves our own bathroom:)

Congrats again to my beautiful sister-in-law and her new hubby, Mike.  I’m extremely jealous of their honeymoon through France and Spain!!!