Finally, it was the big day! Lauren and Craig's wedding day!
And WHAT a beautiful day it was! Can you believe this? I worked a bit in the morning before the wedding and then Todd and I went down to the beach with Aunt Betty for a bit. They don't call this the Emerald Coast for nothing!
The sand here is super soft - maybe even softer than Clearwater Beach. You can see Aunt Betty coming down the stairs behind Todd - there were a TON of stairs here. Those dunes are tall!
I'm sorry. I need to share one more picture. Aunt Betty and Todd chatted for a while, while I dug up coquinas with my toes.
After our time at the beach, we went back to the house to get ready for the wedding, which was at 3 pm. Todd got to drive everyone to the church (it was super close) so Aunt Betty, Warren and Carole and I were the first to be dropped off.
Carole practiced her reading while we waited.
Todd even got to drive the bride and her father to the church! (He IS her Godfather, after all!)
The ceremony was so beautiful and the family took pictures outside after they said I do.
Helen and Lauren in front of the church 💕
Lauren and Craig also got a picture with Grammi and Bean. Grammi is showing us her famous "looking over at her grandchild" look!
And then... it was off to the reception at the Black Bear Bread Company!
Sorry Warren, I didn't mean to capture this cute photo of you, Steve, Kathleen and Carole while you were finishing your appetizer!
And after taking some photos, Lauren and Craig arrived!
They're literally so cute.
I loved the candles and flowers at the bride and groom's table!
We even got little menus (and koozies, of course). The food was excellent!
At first I thought this was Todd or Steve and then I realized it was just a tall palm tree.
The bride and groom had their first dance ...
... and then the bride danced with her dad ...
(Second pic of Lauren dancing with Gordie so I can show you what the back of her dress looked like! SO beautiful!)
... and Craig danced with his mom!
It wouldn't be a Bailey wedding if Steve didn't say the blessing. He always does such a great job though!
Lauren and Craig before they cut their cake (which was INSANELY good!)
It takes two humans to cut a cake that tall!
Lauren was like, DON'T DO IT CRAIG. DON'T DO IT!
But you can tell he is definitely up to something!
Noooooo!
Phew! He didn't smash the cake in her face. Such a gentleman!
We all got a good laugh out of that one!
Looks like Craig will live to see his second day of marriage!
Craig had THEEEE cutest niece and nephews who were all literally so adorable and well behaved.
I snapped a nice one of Helen, Aunt Betty and Kathleen. Well, it was cute except for the shadows!
Next, Craig's two sisters gave a toast - or maybe more like a roast!
Helen and Gordie thanked everyone for coming, and I swear Gordie reminds me of my dad so much (except with a thick Boston accent!)
Lauren and Craig thanked everyone for coming.
And then there was a little dancing! First, Todd and his mom; Warren and Helen.
Then Grammi wanted to snuggle up a bit with the groom!
And Lauren danced with her Grampi.
And of course, there was some Love Shack, some Ain't No Mountain High Enough and some Shout!
It isn't a wedding until Helen is doing this!
Everyone getting their groove on - I think we were going down, down, down here!
After the wedding reception was over, everyone went over to Bud and Alley's for a little post party.
Todd, Steve and I had stayed back at the reception to make sure everything got cleaned up and we needed to find Lauren's bouquet, so I feel like as soon as we got to the bar, everyone was leaving or about to leave! Todd drove a bunch of people home, so Steve and I stayed back and he bought me a drink. He's the best brother-in-law!
After a beautiful wedding day, we were blessed with a beautiful day-after-the-wedding! So we went to Camp Watercolor where they had warm pools, a lazy river and slides!
Grammi watched Bean and KK play a little Acey Ducey (there was definite smack talk going on here).
This was just the best, most relaxing day! (And did I mention the pool was warm? Even I got in! In November!)
Lori came over to say goodbye to Carole since our beautiful week in Florida was coming to an end. I almost didn't want it to end - it was weirdly even easier traveling without the kids!? They're older, good travelers and relatively easy to deal with, but this was a great, low stress trip for us! Or maybe I just felt that way because I let Todd do all of the planning (which is almost always my job!)
Until next time, Seaside! (Ok, this is the Destin/Fort Walton Beach area on Choctawhatchee Bay, but whatever!)
