So.Much.Joy (Part One)

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind! My son, Andrew, got married, we had a family trip to New Hampshire with most of our kids, and have tried to get ready for the beginning of the school year that starts next week! We've also started what I'm calling "The Great Room Swaps". With Andrew now living in an apartment with his wife....it's still surreal that I have a son who has a wife!...and Sarah moving into an apartment next week for grad school, out house is going through lots of changes!

For mostly selfish reasons, I want to share the events of our wedding weekend. One of my favorite parts of blogging is seeing my posts pop up in "memories" on social media and getting to read over special moments. Watching your child get married definitely falls into that "special" category....and I know that reliving the wedding weekend will be something I cherish forever.

And, honestly, it was just such an amazing time from start to finish! I'm so excited to share all the details! And pictures...there were LOTS of pictures!

Consider yourself warned :)

Our wedding weekend celebrations started on the Friday night before the wedding. The bride, all her bridesmaids except for her cousin, Sara, the mom of the bride and and I went to get our nails done. It was a perfect way to start the weekend as we were pampered with manis and pedis. We all scrutinized over colors and shared lots of excited conversation. Everyone's nails came out beautiful and we were one step closer to the big day.


Saturday was, in a lot of ways, a regular Saturday around here for most of the day. I got to start my day with adoration and Jay and I attended morning Mass with most of the kids. It just happened that the Mass was for Jay's Grandma that I had set up months before. It was such a great way to start such an important weekend. Life is all about family...even the ones that are no longer with us.

After Mass, we "company cleaned" the house for all the guests we would have the next day. The afternoon was actually pretty relaxed considering what it was leading up to. There was lots of excitement and anticipation as we counted down the hours until....

Rehearsal Time!

The rehearsal at Church went great. It went much quicker than I thought it would! Everyone, even the bride, was happy and relaxed. We did a couple of walk throughs and headed off to the rehearsal dinner.

The rehearsal dinner was held at a local restaurant called the Inn at Shipyard Park. It's right across the street from the ocean in a neighboring town. The night of the rehearsal dinner was beautiful. There was a free weekly concert right on the water that night, so we were serenaded as we walked into the restaurant. Definitely a special touch!

Sarah and Ellen(sisters of the groom), John and Jacob(friends of the groom)

Keegan(friend of the groom), Jon(brother of the groom and best man), & Marisa(Jon's fiance and bridesmaid:)

On the left, Victoria(sister of the bride and maid of honor),
 on the rt, Sara(cousin of the bride and in the middle Sara's +1) 

The parents and grandparents table...I was missing bc I'm the photographer:)

Mike(brother of the groom) with Sarah and Ellie

Jon and Marisa...another future Mr/Mrs in May 2020

Keegan, Jacob, John and Andrew were friends all through high school!

Andrew and Liz....aka the bride and groom

I had worked with the restaurant and we picked several entrees for our guests to choose from. There were 21 of us...the wedding party, a plus one, my parents, Jay's parents, and the parents of the bride and groom. The restaurant had made special menus with the wedding party color scheme and we had a view of the water, but the company was the best part. The whole evening was relaxed and everyone was just so happy. Liz gave out beautiful earrings and necklaces out to the girls as well as to me. She also gave me a special little jewelry box that said "Thank you for raising the man of my dreams". So sweet! She also gave Jay some special cuff links that said the same thing. Andrew bought a special frame for Liz's mom which I'm sure will hold a wedding photo soon! They also bought her dad a special set of cuff links.

Sarah gave Liz a bouquet of roses that represented all the friends that she invited to pray a novena for Andrew and Liz before their wedding day. It was an idea that Sarah came up with and organized. Such a sweet gesture.

Andrew has always had a special bond with all his sisters.<3

Conversation flowed freely and there were lots of laughs and happy moments.

Dessert was "Grandma's famous chocolate cake". Jay's mom makes the best chocolate cakes. Andrew especially loves them! For years, before he had a fiance or a girlfriend, he would tell Grandma that he wanted her to make his wedding cake. Well, unfortunately, the venue only allows bakery cakes. (Which I think Grandma was relieved to hear!) But she generously agreed to make him a cake for the rehearsal dinner.

I bought some special cake toppers that are an inside joke I will have to explain. Andrew is a huge Shrek fan! It's one of his absolute favorite movies...and he loves all the sequels too! Months before the wedding, I came up with the idea of finding Shrek and Princess Fiona cake toppers for the "groom's cake" at the rehearsal dinner. They were sitting in my drawer for months...and Andrew got a good chuckle when he saw the cake for the first time!

Just one of the many special touches I tried to find to make the wedding weekend extra special!

After the restaurant, most of the girls came back to our house and most of the guys headed over to Andrew's apartment for some games. Liz's house is a little over an hour from our house, so her parents and sister stayed in a local hotel and Liz stayed at our house since the make-up artist was coming so early in the morning!

We all tried to settle down and get a good night's sleep for The Big Day! (Which was hard to do because we were so excited!!)

The almost Mr. and Mrs.

To Be Continued..........