Our journey began Wednesday night when Vince got home from work. I gave him a haircut, while Bella took a bath, and then we took turns taking showers before loading up the car and heading to Keri's house in Durham to spend the night. We made it to Keri's by 10:30, put a sleeping mooga bear to bed on an air mattress in the study, and then stayed up to chat for a bit. I made it an hour before calling it a night, I mean we did have to be up at 4:15 a.m. Keri dropped us off at the airport to catch our 6:15 a.m. flight and that brings us to Thursday...
We landed in Houston around 11:30 a.m. and my Mom met us in baggage claim. Andrew circled the airport until we got our luggage and were waiting outside. My Mom was given a free upgrade when she rented a car, and of course the logical upgrade to a Ford Explorer is a brand new Cadillac Escalade! The thing had air conditioned seats, bad.ass. So, from the airport, Andrew took us to lunch at a cute little place called Just Mac. It was all Mac & Cheese with different fixings, read absolutely.delicious. My Mom had a slight breakdown during lunch, and I was prepared because this day, June 23rd, would have been her 40th Wedding Anniversary. She composed herself quickly, and I gotta say, that was her only meltdown. She was happy, and I mean happy the rest of the weekend :) After lunch, Andrew dropped us off at our hotel, and the Ammirato family proceeded to take a 3 hour nap. It was very much needed. For dinner, my Mom met up with some missionary kids she knew while growing up in Africa. I actually played with this couple's daughter on my first trip over. I remember them because they had a pet monkey, and I was fascinated by it, but also terrified it would throw poop at me at the same time. Anyway, we went to dinner with Andrew and Sarah at a yummy Mexican place with real Mexican food, not what they try to pass off as Mexican here in North Carolina. Bella sat between Andrew and Sarah and was nothing but giggles and rainbows all through dinner. When we got back to the hotel, Bella spent the night with BB, and Vince and I had a couple of drinks with the bride and groom to be at the hotel bar. While there, the entire cast of Chicago showed up to wind down from their show that night. Our hotel was right next to the theatre district. My brother actually recognized Roz, from Amen, walking through the lobby. Around 11, we all called it a night.
Friday. After breakfast with BB, we got ready to go to the aquarium. Well, Bella and I went with BB to the aquarium, and we had a blast. My brother has done nothing but make fun of this aquarium because it is owned and operated by Landry's, a seafood restaurant. I gotta say, it was pretty cool. They had a huge assortment of fish and sea creatures including a red octopus, huge spotted stingrays, creepy electric eels, piranas, and so much more. There was an area for petting tiny rays, baby bamboo sharks, and horseshoe crabs. They also had white tigers that you could walk right up too. 4 live there, only 1 is displayed at a time, and they were gorgeous. You can even spend the night with them too. We stayed for tiger enrichment where they told us all about the tigers, and Bella soaked up all the facts like a sponge. We rode the shark train, which was an open air train with a glass ceiling that took a tour through the old waterworks building that has been transformed into a huge arched aquarium full of 30 sharks swimming all around you. It.was.awesome. My favorite was the enormous saw fish. It looked like something straight out of a cartoon. We also rode a giant ferris wheel and the merry-go-round before heading back inside to have lunch. Lunch was cool too. There was a huge cylindrical aquarium in the middle of the restaurant full of huge fish that you could watch swim while you ate. I had a salad. Something just didn't seem right about eating seafood in front of a bunch of fish. After a quick trip to the gift shop, it was time to head home for a little nap before the rehearsal dinner at 6:30. Dinner was at Collina's, a cute little Italian restaurant where Andrew and Sarah had their first date <3 There were 14 of us total including my Aunt and Uncle, Sarah's Mom, 3 sisters, a nephew, and a boyfriend + us 3, and my Mom. Dinner was great, and we all had a nice time laughing and celebrating Andrew and Sarah <3
Saturday. The big day! My Mom and I met Andrew at the venue at 9 a.m. to help him get everything set up. Both the wedding and reception took place at an old Fire Station in the Heights of Houston. The ceremony took place upstairs, and the reception with yummy sit down dinner was downstairs. My Mom and I took care of putting on all the tablecloths, setting out all the flowers/table decorations, and putting together the candy buffet (and yes, I separated the Skittles by color). All was ready to go by 12:30, and ProSound was on it's way to install sound and lighting so everything was running along smoothly. We arrived at the Fire Station at 5:30 to hang with Sarah while she got dressed. Bella loved this part, and took a few moments to practice as well :) Sarah was a drop dead gorgeous bride in her light and lacy cream Vera Wang, and blue Badgley Mischka heels. The ceremony began promptly at 7 p.m. and we were all in place, including Vince who was using his iPhone to Skype with Papa so he could be at the ceremony too. Papa even wore a suit for the occasion :) When my brother walked out, he took out his phone and took some pictures of the crowd, and waved at a few folks in true Andrew fashion. Bella performed her role perfectly, and Sarah looked like a dream as she walked down the aisle escorted by her Mom to my brother. Hands were held, vows were said, and a beautiful kiss sealed the deal. Before crossing the threshold, my brother crushed a glass that a friend had slipped into the aisle for him. My Aunt leaned over and asked when he had converted to Judaism. My brother, always the funny one :) A few family photos were taken, and then it was time to have some fun! After being introduced as Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Beard, they did their first dance <3 We then all ate dinner, enjoyed a fun video montage of pictures of the happy couple from childhood until now, and laughed at all the surprise toasts. See, Andrew didn't tell anyone about having to toast, he just made a list and put us all on the spot including me... Bella's was cute though, she got on the mic and talked about how she loved Uncle Andrew because he taught her how to play golf when she was 2. After cutting the cake, a lot more dancing and photo booth fun ensued. Yep, they had a photo booth at the wedding, and space in their guest book for you to add one of the 2 strips you got from the booth. too.cool. We sent them off with heart shaped sparklers glinting in the night. It was a beautiful evening.
Sunday. We made it back to Mint Hill, NC around 11 p.m. after a long day of travel, and I gotta say that we were all happy to be home. There is just something about sleeping in your own bed.
Friday. After breakfast with BB, we got ready to go to the aquarium. Well, Bella and I went with BB to the aquarium, and we had a blast. My brother has done nothing but make fun of this aquarium because it is owned and operated by Landry's, a seafood restaurant. I gotta say, it was pretty cool. They had a huge assortment of fish and sea creatures including a red octopus, huge spotted stingrays, creepy electric eels, piranas, and so much more. There was an area for petting tiny rays, baby bamboo sharks, and horseshoe crabs. They also had white tigers that you could walk right up too. 4 live there, only 1 is displayed at a time, and they were gorgeous. You can even spend the night with them too. We stayed for tiger enrichment where they told us all about the tigers, and Bella soaked up all the facts like a sponge. We rode the shark train, which was an open air train with a glass ceiling that took a tour through the old waterworks building that has been transformed into a huge arched aquarium full of 30 sharks swimming all around you. It.was.awesome. My favorite was the enormous saw fish. It looked like something straight out of a cartoon. We also rode a giant ferris wheel and the merry-go-round before heading back inside to have lunch. Lunch was cool too. There was a huge cylindrical aquarium in the middle of the restaurant full of huge fish that you could watch swim while you ate. I had a salad. Something just didn't seem right about eating seafood in front of a bunch of fish. After a quick trip to the gift shop, it was time to head home for a little nap before the rehearsal dinner at 6:30. Dinner was at Collina's, a cute little Italian restaurant where Andrew and Sarah had their first date <3 There were 14 of us total including my Aunt and Uncle, Sarah's Mom, 3 sisters, a nephew, and a boyfriend + us 3, and my Mom. Dinner was great, and we all had a nice time laughing and celebrating Andrew and Sarah <3
No comments:
Post a Comment