Wedding Wednesday

About a year ago, on Memorial Day Weekend, I had the most amazing weekend with friends and family as I had my bachelorette party in Chicago and another bridal shower, hosted by two of my aunts, in the same city as our family lake house, where I've spent a very significant part of my life.

The trip to Chicago started off rocky, and getting bumped off our flight meant that the Cubs tickets that J got us went to waste (so sad that I still haven't made it to Wrigley).  When we finally got there, things started looking up!  We ate a lot, we drank some :) and we went all around the city.  We even took some time to get an education on our weekend of fun by going to the Museum of Science and Industry.

The Bride-to-Be has to be dressed up

Waiting to get into Garret's to get some popcorn

Science & Industry Museum

Howl at the Moon

After a fun couple of nights, we took the train from Chicago to South Bend and then rented a car to take us to my bridal shower.  My only Aunt on my dad's side, Sandi and my Godmother/Aunt on my mom's side, Debbie put the shower on for me.  Aunt Sandi makes me taco salad every year for my Birthday so when she offered to do the same for my shower, I could not pass it up!  We had the shower in her church and it was lots of fun!  We played games and ate GREAT food and had a great time!

Cake Table

Great decorations

The whole group

Best Flower Girl ever!!

What a great weekend... I can't believe that was a year ago!!!

Bachelorette Party Recap

It's been a little over a week now since I got back from my bachelorette weekend.  Now that the pictures have surfaced, I wanted to give you a recap of the weekend!

We (my roommate/bridesmaid and I) were supposed to leave for Chicago early Friday morning.  J bought us tickets for the Cubs game that afternoon and I was so excited to go to Wrigley for my first time!  WELLLL, that didn't happen.  We were on an oversold flight and we got bumped.  I was so mad.  They gave us $400 vouchers  for the trouble, but it still didn't bring Wrigley back.

So we finally got there and met up with my cousin.  We got checked in to the hotel and went and got some Chicago Style Hot Dogs at Portillo's (YUMMY!) and then went back for the free happy hour at our hotel.  After that, another one of the bridesmaids arrived and we headed out to a local bar that my cousin (who lives in Chicago) frequents.  It was a pretty early night (we were home by 12:00) and we were all exhausted from traveling so we got a good night sleep!

The next morning, we got up and went down to breakfast and waited for my other cousin to get there.  Once she arrived, we headed out and grabbed some coffee on our way to the Museum of Science and Industry where we spent most of the day...

After the museum, we went to the mall to get the rest of my shower hostess gift and I happened to find some lingerie from Victoria's for the wedding day.  Then we went to Garret's Popcorn to get a Chicago Mix (caramel and cheese pop corn together... YUMMY), where we waited about 45 minutes in the drizzle... it was worth it!!!

Once our shopping was done, we went back to the hotel where we ordered Chicago Style Pizza from Gino's East (YUMMY) and got ready to go out.  My bridesmaid from Vegas brought what she called "decorations" for me...

which were weird at first, but as the night went on, it was not such a big deal to have on a veil and a blinking sash.  The buttons on the left were distributed to the girls so they didn't feel left out.  So we had a great night out... I was out later than I have been in... uh.... I don't remember the last time I was out so late.

After a few hours of sleep (ONLY a few hours of sleep) we had to get up and catch the train to Indiana for my shower.  We drank our mimosas on the train and had a great time talking and laughing about the night before.  What a fun night!!!

Next Up: the Indiana bridal shower!

Bridal Shower - Indiana

I called my aunt last week to ask her for a perogi recipe.  Since the Stealers are in the Super Bowl, my Pittsburger roommate wanted some Polish food.  SO, that doesn't really matter... the point is, I was talking to my aunt and she asked me if anyone was planning on throwing me a shower.  I told her that my mom had talked about throwing me one on the same weekend that we would be in the area for my Bachelorette party.

So, she called me back on Saturday and said that she had called and checked and her church was available on the Sunday that I told her about and she was calling to ask if she could throw me a shower.  HOW SWEET IS THAT?!?!?!

This also means that we can stay at my lake house that night and have a night of wine and games with the girls!

My aunt also makes the most fantastic taco salad ever.  It's been a tradition for a lot of years now that she makes taco salad for my Birthday.  She asked me if I wanted to do something like that for the shower... and that was an easy answer... OF COURSE!

I'm so lucky to have such a great family.  Not everyone is blessed enough to have aunts (and uncles) who care about them as much as mine do and I am so excited about the next few months when I get to have fun and celebrate with my friends and family!

The Best Maid of Honor EVER!

Everyone should have a Maid of Honor, and everyone should make sure that their MOH is up for the task.

MINE?  SHE IS AMAZING!!!!

There are not enough words to describe how fantastic and on top of the ball my MOH is.  My MOH is my BFF from Grad School who lives MUCH too far away from me.  She is a FANTASTIC party planner and will be completely on top of making sure that everything about my wedding experience is perfect!

So we were talking the other day and she says, "I have your shower planned".  She has been talking with a friend of mine in this area (who I'm now calling my "non-bridesmaid bridesmaid") who has been SUPER helpful in planning a shower for my friends in Texas who probably won't be able to attend the wedding.  Their idea is fantastic and I am so excited about it!

She is also planning a bachelorette party for me for the spring.  Right now, the plan is to fly into Chicago and then take a train to a nearby casino where we were play and have fun and enjoy the SPA!!!  I think there will be another shower while we are up in that area for my cousins and aunts.

I could not ask for a better MOH and I'm sure that everything that she is planning for me is better than I could even imagine and probably more than I deserve!!!  I'm the luckiest bride EVER!!!