Are you ready for a MONSTER photo post?! I have about a zillion photos to post today, and rather than break them into several separate posts I decided to organize them by weekend. So here goes.
The weekend before last began with a looooooooong trip to Philadelphia. I'm pretty sure our GPS derives some sort of sick pleasure in guiding us through the most traffic-light-ridden routes to every destination we plug in. Throw a little Friday rush hour into the mix, and you've got yourself a recipe for one irritated hubby. We arrived at about 3:58 for the 4pm wedding at a quaint Catholic Chapel in Manayunk. We would've arrived at about 3:53, but about 30 feet from the parking lot some dude in an X-terra was parked in the one-way street, leisurely unloading his groceries into his rowhome. We encountered this sort of behavior on more than one occasion throughout the weekend. Is it just a "Philly thing" to completely block a one-way street for 5 minutes with utter disregard for the wedding starting next door?! As if sitting in traffic with a stick shift for two hours didn't have my dear husband wound tightly enough... I thought he might crack and shove a grocery item through this guy's eye socket. But we survived (with the aid of copious foul language) and whipped into the parking lot. Of course I made the mistake of unbuckling my seat belt about 10 seconds too soon, because when I say "whipped into the parking lot", I mean I was nearly thrown through the windshield. But that's neither here nor there. We made it in one piece.
I suppose I should do some introductions before throwing you right into their wedding photos... The groom, Aaron, used to work at the Proving Grounds with Ben. He met Maureen playing rec volleyball when she was going to school in Baltimore, and they both moved to NYC recently to pursue more education and work. Their families are from Philly... hence the wedding venue. They're one of those couples that eat hummus and run marathons together, just to make everyone else jealous of their low cholesterol and stunning physiques. Jerks ;] Now for the good stuff!
Warning: I am a black & white photo junkie. You'll see.
Mr. & Mrs. Aaron Wasielewski!
Off to the reception... with AMAZING food and a great party
The venue was a beautiful, sprawling golf course just outside of town
The glowing newlyweds! Aaron has the whitest teeth you'll ever see. So white that he gets teased about it. Check out that smile!
The only other couple from APG cool enough to warrant an invite, Shannon & Ray
Their first dance was cute enough to bring a puppy to tears. And Aaron NEVER stopped smiling, not once ;]
Maureen's gown was super-classy and elegant... all gauzy and etheral (and it doesn't hurt that she's about a double zero!)
All sweetness, all night long
Proof that we were, in fact, in attendance
We stayed over at the golf course (where the valets were just baffled by my husband's fancy-schmancy manual transmission! It was rather comical), and got up Saturday morning to head across town to our next stop. Of course, first things first, we had the requisite frustrating failed attempt at finding breakfast, followed by a traffic-light-ridden ride across town to the highway, where we proceeded to creep for 5 miles into downtown Philadelphia. I came very close to turning around and going home on more than one occasion (hubby losing his mind again and making me want to pull out all my hair!) but I'm glad I didn't! We arrived at our destination to find a single open parking space on the street right in front of a Starbucks - FINALLY, the universe had thrown us a bone. After a triple, I felt like taking on the world. And so we did.
When our friends arrived, I kissed the hubs good-bye and he headed off to Mike's, because I was staying behind in Philly with Sarah and the ladies for a Bachelorette Party!!! The five of us went on a food tour (cheese, chocolate and gelato!) followed by a DELECTABLE tapas-style dinner at Continetal Midtown, followed by some drinks and shenanigans :] It was a GREAT time... totally worth the traffic!
Heading out to an unknown destination (as far as Sarah was concerned...)
Second stop on the food tour - "Naked: A Chocolate Cafe"
Sweet shot of City Hall (while walking across the street, I might add... I'm proud of this one)
This is the kind of girl Sarah is... who else orders Cotton Candy for dessert?!
Drinks at Continental after dinner
Sarah and bridesmaid "the other Jenna" gettin' gangsta
Lovely Ladies... Gina, Sarah, Michelle and I
Seriously. Could she be any cuter?
Bottoms up, girl!
Drinks at Ladder 15, our next stop
She's just so photogenic, I couldn't help myself.
So cool! Michelle in an old-school telephone booth outside our hotel at the end of the night
Sunday morning we got up and drove back to Mike & Sarah's, where the bridesmaids were doing a trial run with their hair and my hubby was recovering from the night before. I can't even get into that... (a) I wasn't there, and (b) we'd be here all day. Suffice it to say that Mike is a little worried about that best man speech after the past couple evenings of shenanigans they've spent together. Oye.
Ben and I headed home to shower and gather ourselves before heading to his mom's for some family fun! We had missed his sister's birthday the weekend before (the weekend of our first anniversary), so we were all finally getting together to celebrate. And here's how it went...
Evan (2 1/2 yrs old) showing off his alphabet skillz with Uncle Ben
Lil Cara-bear, 5 1/2 months old
Big cousin Cara taking baby Carsen under her wing, quite literally ;] Carsen at 6 weeks!
Enjoying the weather out on the patio with my cuite-patootie nephew Leo (5 yrs old) and baby niece Caraline.
Ev snugglin' with Uncle Josh, taking a break from the balloon animal madness (which I somehow managed to completely neglect in my photo-taking!)
Hungry boy!
Then Lacy got out her two-cups-and-a-string telephone, which entertained the adults all night long! Ben and his sister Amberly cracking up (and Lacy in mid-hack! lol)
We're easily amused, what can I say?!
Happy Birthday to Em! Leo helping Mimi blow out her candles
"Hey guys, wanna see me lick whipped cream off my elbow?! I can do it!"
"Yes Lace. We'd LOVE to see that."
Poor Nana just hides her eyes til it's all over...
WHEW. What a weekend it was. Non-stop madness! As crazy as life has been over the past few weeks, wrapping up the weekends with our families is always the welcome icing on top of an already sweet cake :]
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