Wedding-Palooza

Well I survived. Barely. Oh lordy where to begin....We kicked off Wednesday with the non-bridal shower. It was crazy cuckoo fun. I warned my mama how these women felt about white wine. She barely believed me. I believe the final count was 15 bottles of wine. Amazing.

Thursday the rehearsal dinner after a lady nail party and the church rehearsal. One of the best parts about being in a wedding is getting to participate in all the events and get to hang with everyone. It was awesome to get to meet the groomsmen I had not before, meet Katie's dad who in 12 years of friendship I had never met, hang with her mom, and just get excited. Katie is Ukrainian orthodox so I was DYING to know what the ceremony was going to be like. There were crowns. It's a pretty cool ceremony I think everyone should look into it. The rehearsal dinner was at Moran's, one of the oldest restaurants in Manhattan. It was a great time and as I feared there was an after party. We headed to Park Avenue Tavern. I felt like I had to watch the groom a little. This is a fun crowd, but also a late night crowd and we had some wedding to do tomorrow. Stayed out, and slept in a little the next day.

Friday a race to the marital finish line! Hair, make up and feeling excited during the day. Everything went mostly smoothly. Little hiccups here and there. I got to wear fake eyelashes. Pretty into it. Katie looked absolutely stunning and beautiful. We gathered her dress, got into the elevator and off to the church. By 6pm our girl was a married lady and now to party. The reception was dreamy. It was a bit challenging for me because this is an outgoing crowd. I am weirdly outgoing. Once I know you sure, but when we made our entrances as part of the wedding party and were told we had to do a dance...I froze. I mean the introductions enough were a little squirmy but now we had to do a dance?! It could have been worst, Jackie's groomsmen had her wheelbarrow out on to the dance floor. The best man is the groom's brother and we were on the same intro wavelength. Thank god. Katie just beamed the whole night. She looked so beautiful even as she ate a burger from Shake Shack post wedding during the photo session. She danced on a speaker, crowd surfed, and basically lived out all of her dance fantasies in one night. I am pretty sure it was the wedding of her dreams. It was over too fast, and with not enough sliders as far as I am concerned.

Jackie and I helped take things back to the hotel. I made the girls walk to the hotel because it was 2 blocks away. Yeah, I made the bride walk to her hotel on her wedding day. I would not usually do this. I blame vodka. I also thought it was the perfect way to sum up a city wedding. Who needs a cab for 2 blocks? Not these classy ladies. We got to the hotel, drank a ton of water, ate some chicken salad and old bagels, stripped out of our finery bride included, and then headed back out. I got home after 4am. Saturday I think I moved twice.

If their marriage is anything like their wedding, they are in for a future of great fun, dancing, burgers, a lot of people who love and wish them well, and dancing.

The non-shower, all the bridesmaids.

Amazing ladies I got to meet. 

Gorgeous ceremony and church. 

29th Street photo shoot. 

Empire State Realness. 

Quick burger.

Bridal love. 

We're classy.