Chris and Yasamin's Wedding

First to start, her name was phonetically "Jasmine" but i believe i've spelled it right in the title based off of the wedding programs.

So, i travelled up to Nashvegas for Emily's cousin Chris' wedding to a lovely young lady from Knoxville.

I got in just in time for the rehearsal dinner on Friday night where i took these photos of Emily with her sisters and her cousins Chris and John

The dinner was at a restaurant called Acorn. It was a little bit odd looking walking up to it, but the dinner was phenomenal. Very good stuff!! They had a pretty sweet slide show (if only Doug had had a Mac instead of a Windows computer for Drew's wedding) and some homemade cookies.

The next day was the wedding. We had brunch at Chris's mom's house where i got to finally see what the World Cup thing was all about. Someone there came up with the "pink card" which along with my "use your hands once a game" rule could revolutionize the sport and boost its ratings in america past that of the women's college softball world series.

We chilled out for a bit afterwards and then went to set up for the wedding. I helped move tables and spent about 30 minutes trying to balance one table so the centerpiece wouldn't fall over. 37 napkins and some duct tape later (what can't duct tape do? seriously!?!) i had found success.

Anyway, the wedding was outdoors at Cheekwood, a lovely park in Nashville and the reception was right next to the ceremony. I got to see a couple of interesting Iranian wedding rituals and a ton of VERY energetic bridesmaids. i know no one reading this will believe it, but i was probably the most anonymous dancer there. i'm not even kidding. These people THREW DOWN!!

So, here are the wedding and reception photos.

Aaaaannnd, you can click this link to see video of the wedding day.

Oh, yeah, also worth noting is that Chris actually made the rehearsal dinner invitations and the wedding programs and both were pretty darned impressive.

Atlanta Botanical Gardens

My parents came in town for the weekend with my grandmother the weekend of June 10. We did a tour of Atlanta, visited one of Emily's kitchens, and had a nice dinner while they were in town. We also visited the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. These pictures are from that visit.

Here's one of the Chihooly pieces

Here's Emily

and here's my mom cheating on my father with a frog.

Here's a sculpture of Charly Bird

and here are a couple of plants from inside the greenhouses.

and a few of the sculptures from the exhibit.

I took one last picture of Em and then got out of there to go fix dinner

Blake and Drew's Wedding

All right all right all right. Drew and Blake have finally made it down the aisle. The wedding took place at Pawley's island, where Drew and Fred, Doug and MC, Bill and Amanda, and Emily and I all got a sweet house on the beach. It was a beautiful weekend at the beach and an amazing time with great friends. Jason cooked up a low country boil on Friday night.

Here Brent inspects his can liner, amazed at how technology can help increase our enjoyment of beer.

Here Fred gets a picture taken with a couple of hotties.

Careful Fred, they're married.

Charlotte was a featured star at the Low Country Boil. Here she shows someone her bellybutton.

Brent and Sara enjoy some yummy ice cream

while Emily wrestles with Charlotte.

A highlight was later in the evening when Emily (tired from hours of entertaining Charlotte) turns to Charlotte's mom and asks if she'll be tiring out soon. Her response, "she's probably got a little more left."

Drew with the soon to be in-laws, here. Sometimes Drew is mild and human, other times, the tiger in him comes out.

Saturday night we had the rehearsal dinner.

Here Bill shows Drew his tie with a look that says, "hey, look here, look at my tie!"

That was before we headed to the rehearsal dinner.

Also, Em and i did a self-portrait in front of the window of our house before heading to dinner.

I didn't get much in the way of photos there, but there will be some video coverage at the bottom of this posting.

Sunday was the wedding. We hit the beach every day and we all really enjoyed our time together to hang out and goof off.

Here Emily and I get our picture taken just before the wedding.

She was very sweet and offered to serve as interim wedding co-ordinator since Blake's actual wedding co-ordinator was on strike or something. It was an upaid position, but did carry with it great prestige. Everyone seemed to come down the aisle at the right time, and she got everyone pinned into their dresses, so I'd say she did a splendid job.

I hung out with the boys while we waited for "go time." Here Drew and Bill are in the "I formation" as Drew completes some last minute sales forecasts

Gavin was very excited to be there. Here he actually claps. I actually got a picture of him clapping and didn't even realize it.

Here the Allvines await the arrival of the bride. A lovely coupling indeed.

Here are a few bridesmaids

And behold the handsome couple in the midst of the nuptials. Obviously, Blake was a lovely bride, as documented pictorially here.

They kept my perfect record of witnessing only "i do's" alive and so we proceeded to the reception.

Here Emily gives me her best "what are you looking at?"

Then Stephen showed the dance moves that have made him a legend in Central America to bridesmaid Jean Marie.

Doug and MC got their schwerve on and Doug obviously wore his sunglasses at night.

Then Blake, JM and Charlotte kicked their heels up.

Afterwards we came back to the house for one more late night. Here Kristi smiles for a photo, unaware that directly behind her there is a wine box guzzle going on. The "box o wine" made me think of "Clin-tone" from "Can't Buy Me Love" but I doubt anyone will get that reference.

At midnight on Sunday Emily turned 29 and so she got sang to, and an ice cream sunday with a "candle" in it.

Later she was exhausted from the wedding/birthday celebration and took a nap while she waited for me to help clean up. How cute!!

Sooooo, click this link to view the video I got from the weekend. Featured are some major league dancing from Charlotte and a very nice speech from Bill. I second his praise of Drew's character and spirit and know that Blake and Drew will share an amazing life together. They will be late for virtually every event they ever attend, but they will have a wonderful life. Best wishes, guys.

On the way home Em and I stopped by the Henry beach house to see Jeff and Elizabeth and the girls. After a few hours at the beach, we had reached the limit of how much fun little Caroline could have in one sitting Here she takes a nap in a wagon before Jeff takes her back to the house.

Later in the car, after an awesome but exhausting weekend, i would do the exact same thing (the nap thing, not the get carried to my house by Jeff thing).