Wedding Weekend!

Last weekend, Jenn and I drove to Minnesota for our college housemate Cara's beautiful wedding. We hadn't seen her or Jake in over a year, so it was wonderful to spend some time with them, especially on their big day!

Thursday, we had the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner at a restaurant called Jake's (too cute). We spent the rest of the night, catching up with each other and getting to know the rest of the wedding party.

Friday, we (Jenn, Kim, Laura, and I) threw Cara a surprise bachelorette party. We decorated a park shelter with balloons and streamers, picked up Subway for lunch, and decorated matching t-shirts. It was so nice to spend time outside, relaxing before the wedding chaos began.


At the end, we wrote messages on the balloons and, despite my child-like whining, let them go.


Saturday, we got to the salon early to have our hair done. We brought breakfast with us and had bagels, fruit, muffins, and orange juice. When our hair was done, we went back to Cara and Jake's house to put on our dresses.

The ceremony was held outside at the beautiful Millennium Garden at the Plymouth Creek Center. The weather could not have been more perfect - perfect temperature, not too sunny. We arrived early for group pictures, then prepared the awesome centerpieces for the reception.



The ceremony was beautiful, Cara looked gorgeous in her dress, and everything went smoothly. Jenn crutched her way down the aisle and I didn't have to worry about heels because the bridesmaids (and bride) were barefoot! Like I said, perfect.


The reception was equally as amazing. The food was great, the cake was adorable, the music was awesome, and I danced like a maniac because I didn't know anyone there. All of Jake's friends were incredibly nice, so we had a wonderful time dancing with them and wheeling Jenn around on the dancefloor.


The wedding party choreographed a dance on Thursday night, so in the middle of Cara and Jake's first dance, the music stopped and a mix of songs came on for us to do our dance. It was too much fun. Hopefully, I can find a video and post it here later. Here was the finale:


Needless to say, the weekend was perfect. It was great to see Jake, meet his awesome friends and family, spend time with Laura and Kim, and be a part of such an incredible day.

The best part, however, was seeing Cara. After graduation, Cara moved to Minnesota to be with Jake and I've missed her terribly. While spending time with her this weekend, all of our amazing college memories came flooding back to me - the baby voices, our inside jokes, our nicknames, singing and "having a band." Despite the chaos and stress of the wedding, it felt like nothing had changed. It felt comfortable - like the basement of Central Perk.


I'm so unbelievably happy for Cara and Jake. It was a perfect night for a perfect couple and I cannot wait to visit them again.

Most of these pictures were taken by Cara's professional photographer, Jennifer Whalen