California wedding

Now for part two of my trip to California. (See part one here.)

Friday (June 19) was the day of the rehearsal. It was super hot, but we survived.

Bride and Groom practicing lookin' good.

Mother of the bride.

The wedding party (sans groomsman Jay)

Siblings!

Cousins!

Once everything was settled and rehearsed we finally got to eat. Lots of fun stories and cheersing happened.

Dinner crowd.

Happy couple.

Cute parents.

Um...

After dinner I joined the kids for more hanging out. The next day Lauren and I went for a run around her grandmother's neighborhood. (My only run or exercise during the whole trip. Yikes.) Then we were super hot so we hopped in the pool. Ryan and Tess (their dog) joined us. That was also my only time in the water during my whole Southern California vacation. After the pool I helped them finish up some last-minute things for the wedding.

That afternoon more relatives arrived, and that night we had a big family dinner together. Then back at the hotel Sunni and I (with a little help from Jay) assembled the program fans for the wedding and had fun cousin bonding time.

The next day (Sunday, June 21) was the big day! Mom and I went to the venue (The Vineyards) early to hang out with the bridal party. The ceremony was at 5:30. Luckily it wasn't quite as hot as it had been during the rehearsal.

Front row, waiting for the fun to begin.

Ryan, walking Mom down.

Lauren entering with her mom.

The ceremony.

Unity Balloons.

Aw mush.

The ceremony was very nice. It was sweet to hear them read the vows they'd each written. Afterwards most of the guests headed up to the reception, while the rest of us hung out (with our own reception food and drinks) for pictures outside.

Good-lookin' family

New daughter.

Cousins!

More cousins!

Cousins selfie!

Cheers!

Sunni stepped on Lauren's veil and made it fall out. Sunni was mortified. It was hilarious.

Sunni and Aunt Judy with the newlyweds.

Eventually we all got to head up to the reception. We got there for the end of the cocktail hour, then headed in to dinner. The place looked really nice.

Each plate had a little box with the dipped and personalized fortune cookies I ordered.

Bride and Groom joining the party.

First dance.

The slideshow I made.

Dancing with Mom.

Cake!

So the wedding was really nice and everyone had a good time. It was fun dancing with aunts and uncles I'd never really seen dance before. At the end of the night we sent the couple off with sparklers. Back at the hotel that night my aunt hosted a little after-party. It was mostly my relatives, but some younger people from the wedding showed up, which was awkward for them and pretty funny for us. Good times were still had though.

But then the next day I woke up sick (not for reasons you might be assuming, I swear), and ended up spending the next two days in bed. It was no fun feeling sick, but I'll also admit it was a welcome break from vacationing and wedding-prep and grad-school studying to just lay in bed and rest. I needed it. Despite all that, the whole trip to California and wedding week was pretty great. Lots of fun memories were made, and I'm so happy for Lauren and Ryan!