Time Out from the House: Here Comes the Bride(s): Part 3

The other day it occured to me that it had been 6 months since my friends Sarah + Chris tied the knot. I brought you and Here comes the Bride(s) Part 1 and  Here comes the Bride(s) Part 2: Foran-Tuller Wedding. I promised Sarah's would follow and then our own, but I never followed up. Lately, I've been (gasp!!) missing the craze of wedding season and the hours spent choosing eggplant vs. purple. So, I decided to revisit Sarah's wedding events as a tribute to last spring through fall starting around this time.

So Happy (Belated) 6 Month Anniversary to my favorite Vermont Wedding love birds.

I met Sarah on day one of grad school, as we previously talked about. I actually still remember the first time I heard Sarah and Chris talk on the phone. It was that same day- day one. I overheard some nauseating cute nicknames and I still remember thinking at that time I bet they had a fantastic relationship. Correct. Chris is an amazing guy, but even better, Chris is 100% the right guy for Sarah. He loves her like I am certain no one else in this world could. I also remember when Sarah and I started talking about weddings. We thought this Amsale dress was the best thing since sliced bread. Looking back... umm really? Amsale, yes. Dresses that show so much skin and are not flattering? No. Our journey to our weddings (only 3 weeks apart from each other) was hilarious, tense at moments, and included a bazillion trillion hours on the phone.

Moving on to Sarah's big events. First, we had Sarah's bridal shower at her parents house. I love the warmth of bridal showers in a home, and this was no different. Sarah's mom and Aunt Donna did an amazing job with the shower and the special details. Oh yeah, I handmade Sarah's shower invitations. I cannot for the life of me find a picture of them, though. Sad. But here are some photos of the shower.

 

Loved these labels!

 

Love these two!

 So cute! Favors are VT maple syrup

I reached back into my scrapbook days for Sarah's shower and pulled this out. I forgot how fun (and yet time consuming) scrapbooking can be. One of these days I'll maybeee get around to making another one for our own wedding but that doesn't seem like it is in the near future.

Fast Forward to June. I'm living in Ohio and have to figure out how to get from Cbus to the Hamptons in NY. Ummm sooo I flew to White Plains NY, Kelly picked me up, and we drove another 2 hours to the Hamptons. My flight was late- surprise surprise- and on the way home I think I had a grand total of a 13 hour trip and a 8-9 hour delay. Yikes. None the less, the weekend was absolutely fantastic and we had the best time. A great big Hamptons beach house + 9 girls + lots of food and wine = bachelorette party extraordinaire!

The weather did not cooperate fully, but we managed to squeeze in a short trip to the beach... and an afternoon nap. What more could we want?

Awesome huge wine glasses. And homemade guac. A little pre- evening out dinner and apps at home. Mmm.

All of us post eating some delicious dinner!

There are more pictures somewhere, but these will have to suffice for now. I miss being tan. And the beach. Thank goodness it is spring winter reincarnated and there is some hope for warm weather... sometime... somewhere....

So we went the rather long stretch from June to September until S+C's big day. I loved this wedding, and I loved a weekend in Vermont. The weather was the absolutely perfect New England fall weather you only dream about. Sarah put tons of effort into her day- and she even brought out her own creative side, making her menu cards herself (with a little help from a nice friend who drove up to Hoboken for the day). We got there early Friday afternoon and enjoyed the town of Stratton for a bit before we headed to the festivities.

Later on Kelly + Mike got there and we headed over to the Hildene for Rehearsal. Hildene is the old Lincoln Family Home in Manchester, Vermont and the views are absolutely breathtaking. I'll try not to include every photo, but rehearsal day was gorgeous with the most perfect weather ever. And great for picture taking.

We only bought this camera the week pre-Sarah's wedding, so there are about 15 of this picture with different lighting. But look how pretty this place is!!! I also brought my good old Anthropologie belt that is my favorite staple to add to any outfit. Just thought I'd point that out.

Have you ever seen people looking more in love? Or pretty? Sarah has my favorite hair ever. Sigh.

Yeah, Dana and I matched. Even though really Kelly and Dana are twins.

love this one!

And there are our hot roommates.

If we were to compare reality tv to internet reality, it would be blogging. And here I am in my very truest form. Looking for a bathroom since my bladder is the size of a 4 year olds.

Hmm also apparently I cared less about food that night and more about the pretty rehearsal venue because I didn't take many actual dinner pictures- and the few that I did take are oddly colored. Again, new camera. But YAY! Saturday morning rolled around with sunshine and love and sprinkles and unicorns. Okay, maybe just sunshine and love, but it was seriously another fantastic day and the wedding was set to be perfect.

Gorgeous day and we are wearing tank tops. Gorgeous warm day. And look at the pretty background. Then  J and Mike played paparazzi and shot a few of these bad boys from our balcony:

We went over to Hildene, got ready, and were waiting for the guests to arrive when the officiant came in and asked Sarah for the marriage license. Sheer terror took over her face as she said "I don't have it!". It was in Chris's car. At Stratton. With no one left there to get it. But, my lovely friend told me before her wedding that only three things really mattered on her wedding day:
1. Chris being there (and I saw him already- so we were good on that front).
2. No rain (sunny skies- check!)
3. No stomach virus (no excessive bathroom use so far that day, so we are in the clear).

So I told Sarah to repeat the three things that mattered. A marriage license is just a technicality, and this wedding was going to happen no matter what. Sarah was amazing and took this in stride. She and Chris got legit married on Sunday in their jeans and t-shirts. That's true love. 

So, I'm not usually so bossy, but I told J like 15 times you HAVE to get a good seat at Sarah's wedding. Normally, this would just be the nagging wife-- but no joke, at Kelly's wedding, J and Chris (Sarah's new hubs) went on a long run and got back late; they barely made it to the wedding. So I told him 15 times. Be on time. Okay wait, sometimes I am bossy. But still, I had reason. So Jamie and Mike arrived early. And were the very very first ones waiting for the bus to Hildene. Thank you husband, you did well. He also took these:

Who knew J had attention to detail? Love the hanging flowers with birch wrapped around them... and the groomsmen's Vans. This wedding was everything Sarah and Chris. After their ceremony, which had the most emotional poems and readings (I cried. A LOT), Happy Hour was held by the mansion and was yum, yum yum! It got a little chillier, and we grabbed our pashminas that S gave us for the wedding:

My lovely grad school ladies.

We got to pick our own accessories, so I chose that flower belt. And S's bmaid Katie made our jewelry!

S + C's reception was just so perfect for them. Between their band, their parents' and siblings' speeches, first dance, and celebration, it was everything they wanted it to be. We had the best time.

Maybe the first bride ever to do the Charleston at their wedding.

loved all the details. menus, centerpieces, and the table names were made by S's graphic artist bmaid, Kristin!

"Sarah, you told me three things matter today. Is that one of those things? No. Okay, let's move on"

Oh yeah, instead of cake, they had a huge container of Ben & Jerry's. Vermont's Finest. So cute.

After the wedding, there was an after party at Stratton. I must admit, I didn't make it too long. We were totally exhausted after the wedding and half hour bus ride back to Stratton. But we did manage to buy S a shot and see Chris' band play for a bit.

Best vermont wedding we've ever been to. Okay, only one. Still, it was fantastic. Sarah and Chris are the perfect match, and their wedding was the perfect celebration.

So here's me sending you two some happy 6 months of love.  xo!