The whole weekend was devoted to wedding stuff. I picked Andrea up on Friday after work and we drove to my parents' area (stopping on the way for some amazing ice cream - dress size be damned!). After running some errands to get last minute supplies, we had dinner with my parents and then worked on our toast. The next morning, we got up early to meet Karin for breakfast at Starbucks and to get our nails done. Karin was cute - talking like she had already had 5 cups of coffee, haha. At the nail place, she was cornered by a very strange woman who proceded to tell Karin her whole life story, complete with unwanted marital advice. 

After nails,Karin set off to the florist while Andrea and I went back to the house to begin the lengthy hair straightening process. Andrea's hair is extremely curly, so the whole thing took over 2 hours, some hair-cutting, flat ironing from me, and then reinforcements from Mommy. While I would kill for curly hair, it does make me appreciate my short hair, haha.

With the windows up to prevent any curling, we headed out to the rehearsal with our boys. The rehearsal was very quick (esp. compared to the Catholic ones I'm used to) and we were off to Chris's parents' house for dinner. Dinner was amazing (they made a TON of food) and we got to relax and hang out and practice some Greek dancing in the backyard. 

We headed back to my parents' house for some Wii and junk food (there was a lot of junk food last weekend - it's amazing I could zipper that damn dress) and toast practicing. 

Andrea and I got up early the next morning for all of the pre-wedding primping rituals and headed over to Karin's for breakfast, hair, makeup and pictures. Karin was in pretty good shape - a little hyper, but not too nervous. And she was wearing our birthday present to her:

Chris, being deemed the most romantic out of our men for the day, had left her a very sweet card to wake up to pointing her in the direction of her mailbox, where she found a beautiful pearl and diamond necklace and earrings. After ooh-ing and awe-ing, we got down to serios hair/makeup business. 

Andrea in rollers (after all that straightening!):

Karin looking like a worried Lil Bo Peep:

Ahh, much better:

Brides gotta eat:

Karin and her mommy:

Oh, yeah, brides gotta drink too:

After hair and makeup, the photographer showed up to start snapping some pics. He did a really nice job, but he was a little strange at first. He kept calling us from room to room, but then kicking us out so he could shoot Karin alone. By the end of the day, if anyone said "Ladies" the rest of us chimed in with "get out."

He took a bunch of group shots and portraits of Kars (including one of her getting ice cream from the ice cream truck - my idea, of course, and I'm insanely jealous there was no ice cream truck on my wedding day) and then left us to fool around on our own until the boys got there. 

The girls, all married hags, tear...

One of my favorite pictures from the day:

After some family shots with the boys and Chris's family, we headed out in our limo bus to Bucks County Community College for more pictures. It sounds odd, but they have a beautiful sculpture garden there. 

Some pics of the ride:

Chris with his women:

Pre-wedding toast:

The bride and groom:

The prettiest bridesmaids:

After pictures, we made a pit stop at Acme for saftet pins because one of the bridesmaids' dress broke. While we were waiting, Karin discovered the bag of props the guys had brought for our grand entrances into the reception. It's a good thing Karin has a great sense of humor...

Well, what wedding isn't complete without a blow-up doll??

At the wedding, the picture taking was turneed over to TJ and he got some great pictures. I *heart* our telescopic lense

So, I'm realizing how long this post is and that the pictures will probably freeze up computers, so I'm going to stop for now and do the reception pics as a second post.