An EPIC Weekend in December

 

The weather wasn't what the bride had hoped for (the location WAS called Sunset Ridge for a reason) BUT I think everything else was perfect for her and Robert so that part is easily overlooked :)

I'm here to link up with Sarah and Holly (such an appropriate name for the season!) for Hello Monday.  If you want to know what others are up to these festive weekends in December, head to one of their blogs to the link-up!

I wrote all about our Thursday/Friday here but will include some more pictures below - so many have been shared with me over the weekend, including the one I led with - the bride sent us her photographer's sneak peeks :). Yes, I have permission from the bride to blog before she gets back!

Here are a few other pics that showed up online, in our shared album, or sent to me yesterday:

This was the venue - when I went to grab the link I browsed their website pictures - gorgeous!!!  Because it was cold and dreary, we never really went outside - but I didn't miss much since the inside was so beautifully decorated!  The first pic is where the ceremony was held, then while we were having dinner they changed it to our reception area.  The second pic was the sign-in table and stairway up. . .

This is the floor with the bride's quarters as well as where the hot chocolate and hot cider bar were between the ceremony and dinner was on the third floor -On a beautiful day I can imagine what it would be like to eat up there with that view and all the windows!  

Dinner was planned around a 5:30 sunset but it doesn't always work, right?  

Yesterday there were several comments about the blizzard bar (instead of the traditional tiered cake) but I hadn't seen these cute labels the kids put on the cups of ice cream until my friend sent me hers :)

I had also had cups made for the couple to use in the morning for their snacks and to put in my family gift baskets:  

So.many.details - I loved them all!

Found this on SM - and my friend got a video of them driving away - a top-5 favorite I think!!

We woke up to this picture Saturday morning - already up and at the airport heading off for their week away together!  

It was SUCH a privilege to be a part of their day!!  This was the first thing I did Saturday morning:

The contact name and picture had to be changed in my phone!

What these two didn't know, though, was that we had an after-party after their party:

The ladies we bonded with on our Greece trip two years ago - one was already our aunt, the other two have become honorary "aunts" to our kiddos :)

After some of us closed this place down, a few headed out for some fun & games (Tom & I were not a part of this - ha!) Pictures, as always, compliments of Connie :)

Turns our this was where Robert & Ellie had their first date so, unbeknownst to the party crew, they brought the day full-circle :)

Saturday morning we headed to downtown Chattanooga for brunch at State of Confusion.

Ummmmm. . . we didn't know that there was a big Christmas parade and festival downtown that day so some didn't end up making it - after driving down there and being unable to find parking they called it a weekend.  Completely understand!  The late-night partiers :)

We happened to get there right when they opened and when we said "there are sixteen of us" the restaurant didn't even blink - ha!  Totally set up for crowds - we really like eating there.  Thanks for making the trip from Ohio Dad:

We got home, got the dogs out, I started working on pictures for our family's 2026 calendar, and we mainly hung close to home.  The Alabama-Georgia game wasn't much to talk about so I got this post mostly written, but then there was the OSU-IU game - wow!!! My brother was still in Chattanooga and I knew he'd be up watching. . .

And then I texted another friend who has been following those Hoosiers closely all season:  

Ha!  Glad she watched it live :)

Sunday was church, a Costco run afterwards for a few things and pizza for lunch, drop off suits, Stephen came by to do laundry and play a game with us - Nana was winning until the last round:  

Then I worked on the family calendar for awhile 

had a tennis match at 4:30 and wrapped up the day with Tom walking the doggies and him watching {something} and me catching up on my blog reading!

That's a wrap for the weekend we have been anticipating since the end of July :)

I made my coffee this morning, 

the tree is still undecorated, Tom and Erin have headed to work, time to feed the pups and log into work myself - I've been mostly off since Tuesday.

Thanks for reading about all the joy the beginning of this month has brought the Bell Family :)

I know I'll have lots of blog friends to catch up with over at Sarah and Holly's link-up today also -

Love,

Jenni