Wedding Bells are Ringing!

As you might remember from reading the Monterey/Big Sur blogs, we drove home from that area on a Tuesday, arriving back in the LBC mid-afternoon.  We each worked for two whole days and on Friday of the very same week, we hopped an early morning flight (out of our adorable little airport - it was my first time actually flying through it, as opposed to just picking folks up there, and it's just as awesome as everyone says) to Sacramento.  While we don't normally do so much travel all within one week (to locations that are pretty darn close to one another), in this case, it was for the best of causes - Chris' Mom Susan was getting remarried!

The happy couple!

The nicer shots on the blog are courtesy

of Molly Bollinger at Memory Lane Photography.

She did an amazing job, and she was a true

pleasure to work with.

Both of our respective set of parents divorced when we were on the younger side of things, and although our Dads eventually remarried, our Moms never had.  After seeing the success Chris and I had meeting on Match.com (17 years ago in August!  Dear Lord, we're old!), Susan signed herself up for it and found Andy, whom we met a few years back.  He's a wonderful person, kind and loving, and they suit each other perfectly.

We landed in Sacramento and grabbed our rental car without issue, and then we were able to secure an early check-in at the hotel, which was also great.  We headed over to Susan and Andy's condo, visited with them for a bit, and then it was back out the door for lunch at Ettore's, a local institution.  Chris remembers Ettore's starting out as a small bakery around the corner, and it gradually expanded into quite the place, all while staying committed to serving amazing food and even better desserts and bread.  Ettore's would also be handling the wedding cake duties for the reception, and we were all excited about that.

Enjoying our lunch

My veggie quiche - so good!

We had some smaller desserts,

but these were too lovely not to photograph.

After lunch, we headed to the ceremony and reception venue, the Varenna Clubhouse, to check out the lay of the land and see how we'd be setting things up the next day.  One of Susan's friends, also named Susan (convenient!  and confusing sometimes!) lived in the complex, and she was able to secure the Clubhouse for the event; since the attendee list was fairly small (about 20 folks total), it was the perfect size.  Susan joined us at the Clubhouse, as well as Chuck, a friend who would be helping out by operating the music and serving drinks.

Chris, Chuck, Andy, and Susan,

discussing our upcoming furniture moving duties

Chris knows I'm always taking pictures

The Varenna area also had a lovely community garden, complete with roses and larger trees, so after we finished discussing prep for Saturday, we strolled down to see it.  Molly ended up taking several shots of the newlyweds there, including the one at the top of this blog post, and her suggestion to do so was a great one.

Susan and Susan, leading the stroll

We headed back to Susan and Andy's (which was just down the street - super convenient) to look at the materials we'd need for setting things up on Saturday.  Susan did an amazing job organizing everything, clearly noting where all of the linens, table settings, and the like would go, and in what order.

After this, it was back to the hotel for Chris and I, to nap a bit (that flight was way early, yo) and change for dinner.  Toni once again hooked me up right with dresses for the wedding and dinner the night before, so I found a handy wall of greenery to pose with while Chris grabbed a shot:

Right outside a Walgreens

Dinner that night was just the four of us at the Zinfandel Grille, right next door to Ettore's (we spent a lot of time in this area over these few days); while the Grille's focus isn't necessarily pasta, all of us chose it, and our dishes were fantastic.  We dropped Susan and Andy at the condo and headed back to the area for a quick nightcap, first at Porchlight Brewing, and then at the Capitol Beer and Tap Room.

The next morning, the two of us did a quick run and grabbed breakfast at Paris Baguette, which was kinda weird, honestly - not bad, just weird (good coffee/chai, though).  After getting cleaned up, we had a few hours to kill until our services were required at Varenna, so we drove to Old Town Sacramento and wandered around, shopping and sightseeing by the river.  Some sea lions had taken over one of the nearby piers, and as usual, they were loudly proclaiming their presence.  Did I take any pictures of this cute, historic little area?  No, I did not, so instead, here's one from the internets:

It's all boardwalks and train tracks

and candy shops.  Cute spot.

We grabbed sandwiches for lunch at Sourdough & Company, which were great, and we headed over to Varenna to start helping with setup.  There, we met Chuck, Friend Susan (not to be confused with Bride Susan, who was busy with all of her pre-wedding prep - hair, nails, makeup, etc), and Andy, and we started rearranging the space to suit our needs.

All deliveries were right on time,

although the florist left one of the boutonnieres at the shop.

It was quickly remedied, and everything else went smoothly.

Having a very important conference in the kitchen.

Once setup was complete, Chris and I dashed back to the hotel to fully dress for the wedding, and once we got back, it was almost time for guests to arrive.

Helping Andy with his flowers

Once we got back, the cake had also arrived,

and it looked awesome!

It tasted awesome, too!

Molly arrived to set up her items, so I'll hand the blog photos off to her from this point on (she's obviously pretty darn good at this):

About 15 minutes before the ceremony started, guests began to arrive, and we enjoyed meeting all of Susan and Andy's friends from the area.  Chris, who had departed a bit earlier to get Susan, arrived with his Mom right on time, and we ushered everyone into their seats for the bride's entrance.

Chris walking his Mom down the aisle.

What a great escort!

The ceremony was lovely and relatively short (only 10-15 minutes), and I was so honored to be asked to stand at Andy's side as his half of the wedding party.

Time to kiss the bride!

As I mentioned earlier, once the ceremony concluded, Molly whisked the happy couple down the street to the garden, to grab some color shots amidst the flowers.

Inside, we popped open the champagne and visited with everyone, until the newlyweds made their return.  It was time to cut the cake!

While we noshed, Chris got up to toast his Mom and Andy, and we all cheers'd!

This is the face of a man whose wife mentioned

he *might* want to think of a wedding toast

just a few hours prior to this.

I was like, just say how much you love your Mom,

and how happy Andy's made her,

and welcome him to the family.

He did absolutely great,

but I think he was rather petrified.

Once it was time to wrap things up, we herded everyone outside for a big group photo...

...and one of the four of us as well:

After everyone left, I switched into flip-flops (my feet were DONE), and we started breaking down the room, putting it back the way we found it a few hours prior.  We packed everything up, bid adieu to Chuck (who was amazing), and headed back to the hotel for a few hours of down time.  No napping, but we did rest, and then changed back into nice clothes and picked up Susan and Andy at the condo to head to dinner at a local Italian spot.  Everyone's meal was once again delicious, and some folks had leftovers for days!

After that, we said goodbye to Susan and Andy, as our flight the next morning would leave even earlier than the flight from Long Beach on Friday.  We made it home without any issue, and we happily greeted this maniac upon our return:

Rough life, indeed.

Although the trip was short, and we were still tired from our excursion earlier in the week, we had a wonderful time at Susan and Andy's wedding.  We were happy to be there not only to celebrate their life together, but also to help them with all of the thousands of tiny, annoying details that come along with an event like this.  Best wishes to both of them in the future!

Later!

Amy