i love weddings.

so on saturday, the hub and i dropped off the bean with the ILs and headed to ontario airport to hop a plane to phoenix. the wedding i did those boxed invitations (and save-the-dates, weekend itineraries, programs, place cards, and table cards) for was finally here, and i was looking forward to a gorgeous event in a venue that the hub swears is ab-fab. well, he didn't use that term, but you get what i mean.

of course, this being the first time i was being separated from the bean for more than a few hours (fourteen! FOURTEEN long hours), i totally cried as i waved at her and we pulled away. i tried really hard to keep it on the d/l and sniff really quietly, but the hub's no fool - the moment he noticed i was turned away from him, he poked me in the side and said "are you crying?? bwahahahahaha, you wuss!"

fucker.

so anyway, i was bringing the bridal couple's order of thank-you notes with me, which i still had to fold and box. and of course, i'd forgotten to grab some tissue at home, so since we were a little ahead of schedule, i had the hub swing by a nearby target so i could go in and pick some up. and he totally redeemed himself in my eyes for laughing at me when i got back in the car and noticed that he'd gone to the starbucks drive-thru while i was inside. mmmm, caramel macchiato. it was EXACTLY what i needed. i sucked that shit down like it was going outta style.

and after finding parking, going up the escalator and through the security checkpoint (traveling is SO easy when you don't have any bags aside from your purse!) and taking a seat at our gate, i had time to assemble the box of thank-you notes, complete with pretty tissue paper and ribbon. yay for me! the hub helped me out, and then gave me the eye when i whipped out the camera.

and then it was time to get on the plane for our 47-minute flight. i took another picture here, but it's kind of shitty, so i'll spare you the horror.

in phoenix, we were supposed to be met at the bottom of the escalator by a driver who was going to take us straight to silverleaf club, the wedding venue. silverleaf actually does have a website, but it's for members only, so i'll save you a click and skip the link here. anyway, the car had been arranged by the hub's assistant, who's been fucking up lately, so i was already a little skeptical of how smoothly this was going to go. she'd sent him an e-mail to say that the car was all set, but of course, didn't provide the name of the car company nor their phone number.

and sure enough, when we arrived, there wasn't a single soul waiting at the escalator. we walked from one end of the terminal to the other, and still - no driver. i was eyeing the line of waiting taxis outside, but the hub knew that the car company already had his credit card information, so he called his assistant, got the number, and we finally found our driver. see?

inside the car, i pointed at this and said "ooh, sh-wank-ay!" i got the side eye again.


we arrived at the club and were, like, two hours early. we decided to wander around the grounds, which were as gorgeous as the hub promised they were. and then we found the ceremony site.
we totally cheated, because we snuck a peek at the room where the reception was being set up by a handful of very busy employees. and then we heard voices, followed them, and found the bride and groom with their parents and wedding party, taking pre-ceremony pictures. i snapped a few of my own before the DOC came up and very politely but firmly asked us to go and grab a refreshment in the bar. ha!


so like naughty little wedding guests who'd been caught with our hand in the cookie jar, we followed her to the bar with our tails tucked between our legs. we ordered lemonades and sat back to watch the end of the basketball playoff game between the suns and the spurs. and because we'd skipped breakfast, we powered through the little bowls of snacks. i liked the pretzels shaped into golf tees.


and then finally, it was time to head down to the ceremony site and wait for the fun to start. i was stupidly pleased to see everyone clutching a wedding program and accepted one from the attendants, even though i had that thing practically memorized. but what would i have said - "i made them, so i don't need one."?


i loved that the parasols at every other seat perfectly matched the rose petals that were scattered in the aisle. and of course, i was excited that mine perfectly matched my outfit. it's like they knew.

and i'd agonized for a full week over what to wear - i didn't want to buy anything new, but i was afraid that the dress i wanted to wear was too casual. but no worries - i noticed lots of other folks in much more casual attire. hell, the chick sitting next to the hub was wearing a brown tank dress with matching platform flip-flops. ew.

sadly, i can't post any pictures of the actual ceremony, because i couldn't see a damn thing and the ones i did manage to snap off kind of suck. but the official wedding photographer posted some of her beautiful shots here. and trust me, it was a gorgeous wedding. they couldn't have picked a more perfect, beautiful day to start their lives together.

they'd chosen to give each couple a bright, happy gerber daisy with the escort card pinned to the center. the bride's mom told me about them during the planning process, but it was really cool to see the finished product.


the reception was set up with three very long tables, so they were broken up into "sections" and everyone was seated on the "east" or "west" side. of course, we were WESS-SIIIIIIIDE! represent (oh, that was so bad)! and the set-up of the tables was beautiful. went perfectly with their italian -themed dinner.


the favors turned out to be little boxes of godiva "chocoiste" dark chocolate mint pearls. so yummy! and i totally grubbed down on the antipasti platter. salami? good. cheese? good. roasted asparagus? gooooood.


as we'd gone through the receiving line, the groom shared with us that he was a little nervous about their first dance. they were doing something choreographed to earth wind & fire's "september" - a song i really love (and was amused to read later on the plane that it was also beyonce & jay-z's first dance song). i'm not usually a big fan of choreographed first dances, but theirs was really cute and the guests enjoyed it immensely.


the best man, who was the groom's brother, made a really cute toast that he based on jeff foxworthy's "you might be a redneck" bit. stuff like "if you took a golf ball, stuffed it with gunpowder, and nearly blew your own face off...you might be the groom." he did an awesome job, and so did the maid of honor - the bride's sister. she'd written her toast in rhyme, and it was funny and sweet and brought a tear or two to my eye.

dinner was lovely, and we were sad to note that it was already time for the car to pick us up to take us to the airport. i was especially bummed to leave before dessert was served - we all know how much i love dessert. although strawberry profiteroles were on the menu card, and there was no wedding cake in sight, so i wasn't sad for TOO long. heh. however, i was a little bummed not to be able to take advantage of this:


and by this time, after hours upon hours of not being able to nurse the bean (nor did i have a pump with me, because where in the hell would i have put it?), i was DYING. i swear, my poor boobs were like fucking rocks. i don't know what the hell i'm going to do when it's time to stop breastfeeding. i whined about it to the hub and while i didn't get much sympathy, it was funny to watch his reaction.

after a short and uneventful flight home, we hopped into the car and headed back up to wrightwood, where i was thrilled to find the bean awake and hungry, even though it was midnight. actually, so were we - we stopped at mickey d's for a couple of filet o'fish combos before heading up the mountain!

whee! one wedding down, two more to go.