Wedding Bells for Andrea & Louis

Grams and Grandad are back in Corpus Christi after a five day trip to North Carolina for my niece's wedding. We flew in to Greenville, South Carolina on Thursday and drove to Asheville, North Carolina where we spent Friday at the Biltmore Estate.

On Saturday, we drove to Concord, which is just north east of Charlotte arriving in time for the bridesmaid luncheon. It was a very girly affair with finger sandwiches, beautiful flower-covered cupcakes, a charm cake for the bridesmaids, and personal gifts for the bride. She received several very sexy nighties and some very touching personal gifts. The mother of the groom gave her a special gift to open. It was a beautiful handmade purse made to match the bride's dress. It was made by a friend of hers who is seriously ill. We all cried. Then we laughed when my sister Jan, the bride's mother, went into the bedroom and brought out a clothing bag which had a sign taped to it that read "Wedding Night NO PEEKING." It seems that Andrea chose her wedding night lingerie several weeks ago, took it home, and hung it in the closet. She's very organized!

 After the luncheon we took advantage of the opportunity for a family picture. Back row center is my sister Jan. On the left is her daughter Kelly and on the right is the bride Andrea. On the front row Grams is on the left and Bylinda on the right. We have one more sister, Kay, who did not make the trip with us. Neither of our brothers made it either.

The wedding was an outdoor event in the Arbor Garden at Orchard House at 6 p.m. Sunday evening and was followed by a dinner and dance in the permanent tent structure also at Orchard House. We arrived about 5:30 p.m. The 45 minutes or so that we waited, it was miserably hot and steamy. We were all dressed in our proper wedding attire. The lady behind me leaned forward and whispered, "The liner of my dress is completely stuck to my body." We both laughed, but I knew what she meant. If I had gone to the ladies room at that point, my Spanx would have never come back up.

Once the wedding got started, it was a brief ceremony. Andrea and Louis chose a reading from Christian writer C. S. Lewis. Thank God protestant ceremonies are nice and short. After the ceremony, the guests enjoyed a cocktail hour in the garden while the wedding party posed for pictures. Then we moved to the tent where we had a delicious dinner followed by dancing. They had two DJs who were really great at getting the crowd involved. And we danced the night away and had so much fun.

I can't resist one more collage which includes some photos of the groom's family. My brother-in-law Don did a wonderful job with his toast to the bride and groom. It was lovely and touching. I also thoroughly enjoyed the best man's toast. He welcomed Andrea to a very exclusive club of people whose names are always mispronounced. Their last name is Wojciechowski. His mom said to pronounce it like "where's your house key?" 

And, a few words about his mom and his aunts. We had so much fun with them. We line danced, we sang, we laughed together. I know they love Andrea and are welcoming her into their family with open arms. We all stayed until almost midnight when the bride and groom finally left the party. 

And here is my favorite picture from the wedding. It's Andrea and Louis leaving the ceremony. The sun is setting behind them and it gave them a beautiful golden glow. And, they were both  actually glowing with happiness and love.

 

I am so proud of Andrea and the life she has chosen. I wish Andrea and Louis a long and happy life together.