La Boda de Dani y Megan!!!!

I still cannot quite believe this is all happening. I think part of it is because Meg's been living in Spain for the past 18 months and we haven't had as much exposure to the happy couple. It all seem so surreal. Just two and a half years ago, only two European adventures ago, I was sharing on this very blog about our trip to Seville and the cute guy Megan had a bit of a 'thing' with. And now I've just been to their wedding. Her Spanish is fluent, she clearly fits right into this community. How much can happen so quickly.

The wedding was perfect. I know there were many details that didn't go as planned or desired and yet it was perfect. Megan was absolutely stunning and a fantastic hostess. Dani the perfect image of poised, dapper and loving.

In total the event was about 10 hours long. It began with my family gathering to get dudded up in our dresses and suits. Then we met the Spanish crew and hopped on a private bus to the quaint country location of the wedding.

The ceremony was lead by friend, Cacho, who warmly welcomed us in English before sharing a very sweet summary of the cinematic love story that lead up to this moment. Then the mothers sent up and each poured some local wine, Spanish and Floridian, into one glass which the couple drank to symbolize their union. It was just so exactly as it it should have been. It makes me tear up to remember.

After the ceremony there was food and drink and cake and then a showing of the most thoughtful wedding present. Dani made a video of photos from both their last and managed to weave in a super cute version of their story. It culminated in well wishes from the state side folks who couldn't make it to Spain.
The couple enjoyed their first dance and after that the rest is a blur. There was much dancing and drinking and laughing and love.

We all rode the bus back around 4am to people yelling is Spanish, kiss the bride!

Sigh.

Just so honored and excited to have been able to share that moment with them AND the families.

Mom & Dad dolled up

On the wedding bus!

The international wine

So romantic!

The Family getting Crazy

All the ladies!

Wedding, Family & Friends in CA

We recently had a packed trip out to California. Chris’s childhood buddy, AJ, got married in Santa Barbara. He and Tine had a really small wedding but they chose to include us so we went out. We took advantage of the time out there and stayed with my old friend Eddie and his new wife Margaret in Loma Linda. They just got a new puppy, Winston who was so much fun to play with!


We enjoyed the drive up to Santa Barbara though the weather was kind of crummy. It got really cold all of a sudden, we spent an hour wandering along the main street looking for tights for me so I didn’t freeze in my dress. The wedding was on the beach and just as the bride arrived, looking gorgeous, the clouds cleared and the sun poured down on the happy couple – their pictures will be awesome. They met at a language school and chose the school as the location of their reception. Tine is from Denmark and many of her traditions were incorporated into the party, for example they cut the toes off of AJ’s socks so he couldn’t run away and they chopped Tine’s veil to keep her from flying away. During their first dance they played a really sweet romantic song, then in the middle they switched to a hard core fiddling Irish jig and all the groomsmen jumped in, then after a minute or so they switched back to the slow song. It was fun.

We drove back to LA/Loma Linda that night. The next day we hung out with my friends Eddie and Margaret. We decided to take the dog, Winston, to Laguna Beach. We met up with Chris’s cousins Sondra and Ray and their new baby girl, Lucy. We at lunch outside and Lucy was so good! After a caramel apple and some icecream it was back to the house.

It was a busy but awesome weekend. It was great to see so many old friends. All picture are here.