Chorey Crew: my brother is married!

last weekend, we had the pleasure of heading to chapel hill for my brother's wedding! it was such a wonderful celebration, and we are super excited that God brought him and his new wife together in marriage - we love her, and she fits in very well with our family :) all of us were in the wedding, so that was fun, and there were several great events throughout the wedding weekend that we enjoyed.

we drove to chapel hill after work on friday, met my family for a late dinner, and got jefferson situated at the "guys' house" - my sister-in-law's brother's house where most of the guys were staying for the weekend. apparently jefferson had quite the time bunking up with the 15 or so guys. he even spooned with one of my brother's friends on the futon, so he felt right at home (since he usually sleeps curled up against my stomach).

saturday, my mom, sister, and i got mani/pedi's and walked down the street to the bridesmaids lunch, which was at this cute little restaurant called four eleven west. it had great food, and we sat in this little greenhouse-like area that was perfect for the eveng! while the girls were at the bridesmaids lunch, the guys all went to the "guys' house" for a bbq lunch hosted by some of our best family friends. jefferson got to partake in that lunch too! after the lunches, a bunch of us helped get the rehearsal dinner room decorated. it looked so pretty! the restaurant/bar, top of the hill, now has a great event facility that was perfect for their rehearsal dinner!

we headed back and got dressed for the wedding rehearsal, which went very smoothly, followed by the rehearsal dinner. because it was somewhat of a "destination wedding", all of the guests who were in town that evening were invited to the rehearsal dinner, so we had a little cocktail hour with just family and wedding party members before the rest of the guests arrived. the rehearsal dinner was great - yummy food, sweet (and funny) toasts, and a fun time with our family and friends. after that, we headed upstairs to the bar area in top of the hill for a few hours before heading back to the carolina inn for bed.

sunday - wedding day!! we got up and hung out a bit before heading to the wedding day brunch at this great little restaurant called the armadillo grill in carrboro, which is right next to chapel hill. after the brunch, it was basically time to start getting ready for the big event :) kel did my hair and makeup, which looked great - i really think she could go into business doing that!! the guys convened in the hotel lobby around 2 to head to the church in this cute trolley, which came back for the girls afterwards. kristin dressed at the church and was such a beautiful bride!! what a happy, exciting day!!

we took some pre-wedding pictures at the church - it was a cute church in the country, antioch baptist church, with a pretty steeple and lots of pretty poinsettias inside. gotta love weddings close to Christmas that get to take advantage of places being so nicely decorated (we did the same thing :))! i got to spend some time with my dad, brother, and sister before the ceremony just hanging out in one of the rooms while billy and the other groomsmen ushered people into the church, so that was kind of nice.

the wedding was wonderful! the ceremony was so sweet and personal, and i think most people in the room got a little teary as kristin walked toward bryan, both of them tearing up a bit. so sweet!

afterwards, we took lots of pictures and then the whole wedding party piled into the trolley for the trek back to the carolina inn for the reception. the hotel was decorated beautifully for Christmas, and the ballroom where the reception was held was so elegant! we had great food and drinks, and the band was awesome! they had the band liquid pleasure, which is a great wedding/party band in the area - so fun!! bryan and kristin started out with a choreographed first dance that was very impressive, then the father/daughter and mother/son dances. everyone ate dinner after that, and then the dancing began and didn't end until almost midnight when the bride and groom had to leave! it was such a special weekend and fun time with our family and friends, and we are so thankful that we have expanded our family yet again!

i'll post more pictures later when i get them too :) i think they're spread out on several of our cameras! these are the only ones i have for now...