Wedding Weekend in the Windy City

Mama, Sheridan, and I had a wonderful time in Chicago at Stephen's brother and sister-in-law's wedding. They perfectly planned every little detail and made the weekend into a delightful time of visiting and celebration.

I left so inspired with ideas for our wedding. One idea I especially liked was that they encouraged their guests to attend several other events throughout the weekend, which fostered a lot of visiting and made the long trip so incredibly worthwhile.

Mama, Sheridan, and I left Virginia very early Friday morning so we would arrive in time for me to attend the rehearsal dinner with Stephen. I enjoyed the long drive with many hours of visiting with Mama and discussing so many wedding details. Sheridan was the sweetest little traveler. When the GPS said we had slightly under seven hours remaining, she replied, "That's not long at all!" and when we had three hours remaining she offered to begin cleaning up her toys!

We arrived just in time to check in to our hotel and I quickly got ready for the rehearsal dinner. It was so wonderful to see Stephen after being separated for over two months!

On Saturday, there was a cookout and a baseball game afterward. Soon after Stephen proposed to me last March, his brother sent an engagement gift of a Detroit Tigers hat, so I quickly learned where my baseball loyalty was to be placed in this family. It was my first Major League Baseball game and the Tigers won.



I have never been around a family that seems to enjoy each other quite as much as Stephen's family does. Both my mom and I traveled home trying to understand why there seems to be such a sweet closeness and genuine interest in each others' lives. I left feeling so excited to be joining their family. Although beforehand I was nervous about meeting Stephen's huge amount of cousins, aunts, uncles, etc., I felt so at ease and comfortable around everyone. They were so kind and welcoming to me.

After the game, everyone gathered at the hotel for pizza. When we arrived at the hotel the night before, welcome gift bags awaited us, including little pins with a symbol unique to the family's last name and a note encouraging their wedding guests to wear the pins around the hotel so that the guests could meet each other. I like this idea and am hoping to order more of the same pins for our guests' hotel welcome baskets as well.

The following morning Stephen took Mama, Sheridan, and I to the church he enjoys visiting when he occasionally stays in Chicago. I can't wait until I get to go to church with Stephen every Sunday! I love gleaning from his spiritual wisdom and insightful application to biblical truths. 

Sunday afternoon was the wedding! It was held in a garden at a lovely arboretum. The reception followed indoors and included a delicious meal, Stephen's "best man speech" and toast, a touching slide show of pictures from the bride and groom's childhoods, and a dance that lasted for hours. I have never seen a family flock to the dance floor with so much enthusiasm. Even just a couple days ago as I was at another wedding, it took a lot of effort and prodding to just get a few couples out on the dance floor, but this family was way into it and danced until late into the night. Stephen basically turned into a person I did not know out on the dance floor. I laughed so hard. My friend Abigail stated it best in an email after she saw the pictures: "There's one picture that I about passed out laughing over... Stephen's hands are in the air and he looks like he's totally breaking out the moves, while you stand watching in stunned adoration." 

Sheridan wanted to dance too!

When we sadly had to depart, Stephen reminded me that it was the very last goodbye of our engagement. The next time we will see each other will be just a few days before our wedding! I miss him so much when we are apart, but we both have so much to accomplish in these final two months and the time does seem to be passing very quickly.



It was the most enjoyable wedding weekend and I am so glad it worked for us to go. I look forward to spending much more time with Stephen's family in the future.