We’re back!

The wedding was simply lovely and was held on a beautifully breezy afternoon in Dubuque, Iowa.

The cathedral where the ceremony was held was absolutely gorgeous!

I love how ornate Catholic churches are. 

I always feel like I’ve stepped back in time, and into Europe, when I’m in one!

After the ceremony, the wedding party headed out on a trolley to cruise around town,

while the guests headed to cocktail hour at the Grand River Center.

It’s a fairly new complex and is situated right on the banks of the Mississippi river – which lends some gorgeous views!

It was slightly rainy in the morning, but a bride couldn’t have wished for a more picturesque afternoon.

 

The couple’s colors were black and white – very chic.

 

We arrived right at the beginning of cocktail hour, natch, snagged a table right in the middle of the action,

 

and had a little fun.

Cocktails too – I chose Sangria. What a fun idea to include on the menu!

While we sipped, we snacked on mixed nuts at the table, 

some finger food, 

and awesome hot apps that were being passed out. Gyoza’s? Yes please!

 

Soon the wedding party arrived and we took our seats to begin the fun.

After a luscious dinner of reisling marinated chicken – it was TIME FOR CAKE!!!

Both bride and groom were well behaved and there was no cake smashing to be had. Has anyone ever seen cake/face smashing at a wedding in person? All I know is, I told Ben that he would have a VERY unhappy bride on his hands if he smashed cake in my face at our wedding. Thankfully, he knew what was good for him, and refrained!

They had four different kinds of cake to choose from, but I had my eye on one in particular.

Strawberry filled white cake, anyone?! Light, sweet and refreshing – top notch. 

My husband unhinged his jaw and inhaled his piece. Why wouldn’t he? Seriously, it was on a dare and was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. Oh wedding shenanigans!

Oh, I thought this was so cool – they also had chocolate covered fortune cookies!!! How clever/cute!

Mine ripped in half.  

There we go! Good fortune.  

The evening was too gorgeous to stay indoors all night, so a bunch of us headed outside to sit by the river and enjoy each other’s company for awhile.

The groom is a friend from high school, so it was fun to catch up with some old classmates that were there too.

Romance was in the air.

Drinks, too!

 

I paid my duties as beer wench a couple times.

The good times rolled well into the night and concluded with some furious cutting of scotcharoos. Totally normal.

Congrats Katie & Dan!!!!

In slightly obsessed news, I started and finished reading Twilight in the car on the way to and from the wedding, then proceeded to watch the movie on YouTube this afternoon. I am hooked!

It’s so funny to re-watch the movie after reading the book. The first time I saw it, pre-book, I thought it was awesome! Now that I’ve read the book, though, the relationship Edward & Bella had in the movie seems really underdeveloped and so incredibly rushed. Know what I mean?

At any rate, I cannot WAIT to dig into the rest of the books. Wheee – I love book series’!

Ok – time to go wind down for the evening and prep for the upcoming work week. Have a great night!!