Wedding 3/3: Chris and Kristina

Ok I am going to start at the most recent wedding and move backward because I am the one that went to three weddings in three weekends and I get to make up the rules.  It was a complete and total joy to celebrate marriage with three couples in three weeks but I was not prepared for how exhausting it would be in the end.  Don't get me wrong, I loved it but also if I ever have to face this scenario again I will mentally prepare myself.  

Enough chatting.

And just to prepare you there are alot of pictures in this post. 

This past weekend's wedding was in New Hampshire.  I knew the groom from school and had met his bride numerous times when she would come and visit him.  The kind of sad thing is I don't have any pictures of the couple because I was so excited for this trip with two of my closest friends.  I already teased you with some pictures here, here, and here but the best way to talk about this trip is day by day.

Tuesday--My friend Mel drove up to Cleveland after I got out of work.  She is from Kentucky but had started her trip up north a few days earlier to spend some time in Steubenville.  I finished packing and we got to bed early so that we would be ready for a day of driving.

Wednesday--We packed up the car, began the day at 8am Mass, stopped at my favorite coffee place for coffee and we were off.  The driving there went so much quicker than I thought.  I drove first, she drove the last 4ish hours.  We made great time at about 9 hours including two stops.  We met our friend Emily at her boyfriend's softball game so that first we could meet him ASAP and second so that we could get outside after being cooped up in the car for 9 hours.  Oh and first impressions did we make.  Can I suggest that you don't meet someone for the first time after being loopy from a really long car ride.  He gave us another chance later that night when we had gotten some of the wiggles out.  The wrench in this day was that my phone crashed during the drive out so my only picture I have to share is an instagram photo uploaded before the crash of the iphone.

Thursday--Emily's house was so wonderful with its Connecticut charm. We couldn't help but sit out on the windowed in porch sipping coffee.  Being the morning person that I am, I finally nudged a little and got the day running.  Literally and figuratively. Em and I went for a morning run.

A little background on Emily.  We were transferred to Franciscan the same semester, gradually became closer friends, and then without either of us choosing it and purely through the prayer of our household she became my big in household (if you aren't a Franny, sorry for the confusion).  We have tons of pictures together (being my big, friends, in household together, and she is the one who introduced me to Haiti and my first trip was once she led) but I think this is one of my favorite pictures of the two of us.  How funny that it would be mid sweaty run.  What a blessing it was to run with her and catch up on life.  This run completely spoiled me.  After running through an a.dor.a.ble town with one of my closest sisters nothing really compares.    

Moving on.  After showering and getting ready for the day we headed out.  First stop was coffee at Emily's favorite coffee place. We then saw the Church that Emily works at, stopped at a beach, drove to New Haven, walked around Yale, got a lunch and stopped at the Apple store (they could not revive my phone and gave me a new one).  It was raining off and on so we couldn't walk around as much as we otherwise might have.  For dinner we decided on homemade crunch wrap supremes and my goodness they did not disappoint.  Get ready for the photo dump.

Friday-- On Friday we headed out to New Hampshire for the afternoon wedding.  Of course we had to pick up some Dunkin' Donuts on the way. 

We checked into the hotel, got ready, went to the beautiful ceremony, and headed back for the reception.  We had stopped at one of the giant liquor stores (so large due to NH not having tax on alcohol) to pick up some wine for girl time in the hotel after the wedding.  This is how we decided to chill the wine.  We never actually drank any of it falling asleep almost as soon as we got back to the room post reception. But I felt the wine chilling method was quiet ingenious considering the bottle wouldn't fit in the hotel ice bucket.  

All dressed up for the wedding and the beautiful tables at the reception. 

Whoever's birthday was closest to the wedding got to take home the centerpiece and seeing as my birthday is this Friday I got to take the gorgeous flowers and I was oh so very happy. 

Saturday---We woke up the next morning and went exploring in search of a cup of joe.  And oh did we hit the jackpot. This place roasted their beans in shop.  Love.  We didn't bring a DSLR camera with us but we remedied that a bit later.  However I did snag a few iphone camera gems.  

We headed over to brunch at the bride's parent's house but had a to make a coast pit stop on the way for some picture taking.

We took one last photo opportunity after the brunch stopping back in Portsmouth-walking around more, taking some pictures, and eating a delicious lunch.

The day was rounded out with lobster and beer with Emily's dad and the inauguration of Guinness Floats!

Sunday-- After going to Mass in CT and enjoying some breakfast we faced the 9 hour drive head on....and it won.  Oh man we were going crazy at about 4 hours in because it felt like we had done so much but we still had so much to do.  Neither of us wanted to be in the car anymore.  We didn't want to stop either because we just wanted to be done, done, done.  Oh man, it was rough.  As the drive came to a close Mel mentioned how great it would be to just jump in a pool so we hoped into a local pool real quick before heading back to my house and chowing down on some pizza and getting to bed.

Overall, the trip was great.  I wouldn't take it back for the world.  To get to spend that much quality time with two of my closest friends is priceless.  I hope that in the future we are blessed with another trip and that the Lord will will for me to head back up to CT again.   Until then I will just dream about CT days.....