Wedding Weekend

This weekend was absolutely wonderful. We went to Maine to celebrate my uncle and his partner being legally married. I have always referred to them collectively as "my uncles" but now it's legal and has been rightfully celebrated!

On Friday, after my nice morning off (read: after starting out late and running a bunch of errands for other people including buying shoes for the hubs), I met my gma at the bus stations, picked up the hubs, picked up my sister and headed north. We were stuck in some annoying traffic for the middle of the day, but the company was good. We made the mistake of leaving right at lunch time, so we had to stop almost right away. We picked a random exit with nothing but McDonalds for fast food, so we ended up going to Trader Joe's instead to piece together lunch. Good thing I love TJ's!

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Once we finally got back on the road and out of traffic, we got to Maine around 3pm. We took my gma over to her hotel (where the wedding was being held) and hung out at the bar for a bit while people checked in. Eventually my mom and my brother showed up and we checked into our hotel down the street. Usually, when we're in Maine, we stay at my uncles' place, but they were a little busy this time, so the hotel it was. My mom was generous enough to book the room for us, and since it was not cheap, 5 of us shared one room. Oh yeah. It was like an episode of Modern Family, but without the cleverly written jokes or the Spanish lady.

The rehearsal dinner/welcome to Maine party was so much fun. It was really nice to see people I haven't seen in a while, and catch-up without the formalities of the wedding going on just yet. I used to work for my uncle's husband (so fun to say that now!), so a few of my old coworkers were there, and I work for my uncle now, so a few of my current coworkers were there, and it made for a fun night. There was even a gayke.

(A little back story on the gayke. Three years ago when Johnny and I had just moved to Boston, we went over to my uncles' place for a Pride Party in Boston. It was the day before my uncle's birthday, so it was a multipurpose party, and I thought a cake would be perfect. But since it was Pride, I couldn't make just anyway, so I made a rainbow cake! It was a hit and it was affectionately named the gayke...gay+cake=gayke. The one above was made by a pro with fondant, but my gayke was the original, and I'm honored that my uncles' loved the idea so much that not only have I made it for the last three years for Pride, but they had one for the wedding!)

I had a little too much fun Friday night and woke up a little sluggish on Saturday morning, but luckily I have an amazing sister. If you happen to follow me on Twitter (@MaddieOgren) you would have seen this:

OH HECK YES! I ran four miles with my sister! I wasn't planning on doing a whole lot of anything Saturday morning, but when I my sister asked if I wanted to run with her, I decided I couldn't pass up the chance. She's running a half marathon next weekend, and had done her last long run Thursday night, so she just needed to shake-out her legs. Running at my pace would be fine with her, so why not? It was not a fast four miles, and there were four very short, unmeasured walk breaks involved, but there was also four miles of running! Forget the hangover, I felt amazing! I love having a new distance record and already feeling closer to my five mile goal!

I've been having pretty bad runs lately, so this felt so good. Sometimes the good ones come when you least expect it! 

We jumped in the shower, went to get our hair done, and were at the wedding by 2:30pm. We had to take some family pictures, so we were nice and early to the main event. Unfortunately, it was raining most of the weekend, but everything was in a BEAUTIFUL glass sunroom that was constructed for the event (think a regular wedding tent on crack). To save this from being the longest post ever, I won't give you the play-by-play, but here are some pictures to recap a lavish and wonderful event.

the ceremony

mirrored tables!

my daddy and me <3

gorgeous place settings

amazing food...6 courses total with wine pairings for each

dressed to kill

all the details were so beautiful

The affair was absolutely fantastic. The setting was beautiful and the company couldn't have been better. There were also fireworks! Really? Yes, really. I'm telling you, this was the party of the century. I danced my butt off and was one of the last people to leave. It was a BLAST. This morning, getting to brunch was tough. I didn't drink all that much (since I had my fair share on Friday), but sharing a hotel room with 4 other people and sleeping on a slightly deflated blow-up bed two nights in a row made me TIRED. The drive back was long and exhausting (not really...it was like 2 hours, but it felt like forever) and I passed out on the couch for a good two hours right after we got home. Johnny was the responsible adult and went to the grocery store and heated up chicken soup for dinner, so I'll at least be starting the week on the right foot. It was an incredible weekend, but it feels so good to be home! The grind is going to come far to early tomorrow...