Wedding Weekend!

It's been one month since RJ and I got married.  Actually, it was one month on Tuesday, but I felt it was insensitive and narcissistic to blog about my wedding on the anniversary of 9/11.  And then the past two days I've actually been quite busy with trying to get a job.  One updated resume and three cover letters completed!  I feel so accomplished.  :)  I'll keep you updated on whether anyone wants me or not. 

So it's three days late, but in honor of our one month wedding anniversary, I thought I would post some of my favorite moments from our amazing weekend in New Orleans...

The best part about the weekend (besides actually getting married) was spending time with all our friends and family.  We had so much fun wandering around the city, taking in the sights, and eating great food with all our favorite people.

Great look bro!

What? You don't have random, overweight stuffed bears hanging out on your mall benches?  Weird.

Showing Britt the sights!  With an Abita in hand of course.

Favorite day with some of our favorite friends!

Best souvenir ever: A BOURBON STREET PONCHO of course!!!  A little rain won't stop us from sight-seeing!  All the girls bought ponchos, and the all men decided they were manly enough to handle the rain.  Whatever.  Somewhere out there there is a group photo of everyone in their ponchos, and whoever has it I would love a copy please. :)

Typical

Welcome to New Orleans!

Cute!

RJ's commissioning ceremony was one of the most special parts of the entire weekend.  We set up shop right in the middle of Jackson Square, without any permission.  Better to ask for forgiveness than permission, right?  But no one was annoyed.  In fact, by the end of the ceremony there were about 30 people we didn't know who had gathered around to watch.  One lady said she felt honored to be able to witness something so special.  Isn't that sweet?  Afterward, all these strangers came up to RJ and shook his hand, and thanked him for his service.  It was a day I will never forget, and I was so proud of him.

Swearing in.  See the strangers in the back taking pictures?  We were a tourist attraction that day.

Tradition

Awww

Love this

Proud.

<3

After the ceremony we headed to Antoine's, a famous restaurant in the quarter.  They were just featured in Bon Appetit, as one of their top ten restaurants.  More importantly, they went above and beyond to make the lunch so special for RJ.  They gave us an amazing private room with a balcony that looked down onto Royal street.  We had two personal waiters that were INCREDIBLE (yeah Derrick and Charlie!) and they made RJ a special dessert, their famous Baked Alaska, that said "Thank You Ryan".  And you can't beat 25 cent martinis!  Next time you have a nice dinner or lunch for a group of people, Antoine's is the way to go!

The Capitol room.  Thank you Antoine's!

SO NICE! And it tasted great too!

Favorites!

We had so much fun taking pictures on the balcony.  Of course, Tom got so many amazing shots!

RJ's dad and sister

Love this!

Friday night my friends treated me to a wonderful bachelorette party.  Britt made sure it happened, and brought all the fun "bachelorette goodies".  She is the best.  We started in the room with champagne, and everyone was graced with a lovely penis straw, even my grandmothers.  That's how you know your grandparents are down with it.  After champagne we went to dinner and had a great time.  I also ate my weight in chicken strips.  Maybe not the best idea the night before your wedding, but whatever.  One of my favorite parts of the night was when we went around the table and those who were married gave their best marriage advice.  It was a really sweet and thoughtful moment.  After dinner we headed out!  We made a pit-stop at my favorite place EVER, Cafe Beignet, to hear my favorite singer, Steamboat Willie.  It's been said I have a slight obsession with him, but I prefer to call it a "healthy admiration".  He called me up and sang "Do you know what it means, to miss New Orleans?".  Best moment ever.  Then we went to Pat O's piano bar, (so fun!), and requested gems like Wilson Philips "Hold On", and "My Girl".  We ended the night being harassed as we walked down Bourbon Street, with a quick stop in "Club We Don't Belong".  Perfect night!

Britt's first hurricane!

Flowers in the hair!

Love you Sal

Serenaded by Steamboat!  If you know me, you know what a HUGE deal this is.  I've been waiting my whole life for this moment.

Thanks for a great night my loves!

Saturday was so lovely, and I actually felt really relaxed all day!  RJ and I ate breakfast together and then went and chatted with Simone about the ceremony.  She also gave us some pre-marriage counseling.  :)  Then I spent the afternoon with all my favorites!  We got our nails done, I got my hair done, and we got ready at Sally's while we listened to Taylor Swift and drank champagne.  Does it get any better than that?  My friends were SO good to me that day.  Britt and Sally went and got all the flowers, and Britt made the corsages and my bouquet!  She is a florist in disguise that girl!  Meg went with me to get my hair done and brought me frozen yogurt.  She also did my eye makeup.  I seriously have the greatest friends in the world, and I wouldn't have wanted to the day to go any differently. 

Perfect engagement gift!

The actual wedding was incredible.  It was a little hot and humid (ok probably more than just a little), but I think it was totally worth it for the perfect sunset, bright green scenery, and the cicadas singing in the background.  Best of all, I married the love of my life!

Seeing RJ-Bear!

Pretty

Couldn't have asked for a better backdrop!

Vows at sunset.  I planned it that way by showing up 15 minutes late.  You're welcome.

I love him so much!

After the wedding, we went to my very favorite restaurant in New Orleans, Atchafalaya.  They too went above and beyond for us.  The room was perfect, they made special menus, and the owner gave a really sweet toast at the end. When I think back to the night, I just get a huge smile on my face, it was so special and perfect.

Love this moment

The food was TO. DIE. FOR.

Best brothers a girl could ever ask for

Our amazing, (and famous!) officiant.

ALL of the speeches were so great.  But there were too many to show all the pictures here.  So I'll just show you Steve's which made me laugh so hard, and then cry equally as hard.  I'm really lucky to have such an amazing brother.

Tony, the owner, and his lovely speech.

One of my favorites!

It's official!  Or so we thought...

After dinner we went out to Grits for a little shaking of our groove things!  RJ didn't really want to go, he says he hates Grits, but I refuse to acknowledge that because I really don't understand how anyone could hate Grits.  I mean, honestly.  But since he's the best husband ever, we went for an hour or so, and despite the look on his face below, I know he had a GREAT time!

Haha this picture totally sums up our experience at Grits.  I am loving it, RJ wants to GTFO.

Married!

Honestly I could go on, and on, AND ON, about how amazing the weekend was.  But this post is already 2 million years long, so I'm going to reign it in.  I'll end with just a couple more highlights...

When we got back from Grits on our wedding night, there was a fruit and cheese plate and champagne waiting for us from the hotel.  It was amazing.  After I had a moment with the cheese, RJ and I drank champagne and talked about our favorite moments from the night.  It was perfect.

Le Pavillon was so beautiful, and everyone there was so friendly and kind.  I can't wait to go back for our anniversary!

Every night there were bottles of water and two delicious peanut butter and jelly cookies waiting for us in the room.  It always hit the spot, and the cookies were really good!  If you click on the picture, it should be big enough to see the recipe.

The day after the wedding we all went to Domenica for lunch.  Delish.  You can also find them featured in a very famous magazine, Charcuterie by Rick. ;)  At lunch my mom found one of the luminary bags in her purse and passed it around for everyone to write a note to us.  Some of them were really funny like,  "Love is letting your brother-in-law sleep on your couch when he can't find a job", and "Love is eating it, even when it tastes bad".  Please.  Like that ever happens.

The amazing wedding box my grandpa made.  Notably absent?  The wine.  My bad.  But it's ok because it has turned into a memory box for all the wedding things from that weekend.  It's one of my most special treasures.

Looking at all these pictures makes me SO happy, but mostly it makes me wish we could go back and do it all again.  It was a perfect weekend, and I loved every minute.  Lucky for us though, being married is pretty cool too.  We've had a great month of marriage... so far I'm a fan.  I'll keep you updated as we continue on this little journey.  :)