Annie's Notes of Caroline Getting Married (aka the Wedding of the Century: Part 2)

I was extremely excited for Caroline's July wedding for many reasons:

• It was being held in Duncan, my hometown which I have not been to for over a year since my parents moved to Houston. 
• I would get to see Mary... always a cause for great excitement. 
• Another tagline for the incredible bachelorette party in Vegas was "Why party like a rockstar when you can party like a Garis?"... so we all knew it was going to be a damn good party. 
• And finally, I was so excited to see Caroline, who I've literally known since she was born and have always considered to be the little sister I never had, be the most beautiful bride ever. 

I was not the only one excited for this joyous wedding celebration.  This event had been quite the talk of the town, or so I've been told.  I witnessed this excitement myself as I was getting my nails done the day of the wedding.  I think every person there was talking about the evening's big event.  Literally.

And Caroline absolutely did not disappoint.  She was a BEAUTIFUL bride and everything about the wedding was just exquisite and incredible.  Here are some of my favorite photos of the festivities.

My lovely family... love them so much. 

Carol's bridal party walked in to a stringed quartet version of The Beatles "All You Need is Love"...so original and cute.  The beautiful bride walked in to the traditional wedding march and gave us all chills and teary eyes...she was breathtaking!  (ps--I love the timing of this photo... check out the Terracina clan there on the left.) 

The groom kissed the bride not once... but three times! Ha. 

Following a cocktail hour (that was a huge reunion with many, many people from Duncan I hadn't seen in YEARS), we were given our dinner table assignments in this GORGEOUS room. It may be extremely difficult for anyone from Duncan to believe... but this is the Simmons Center!?!  For everyone not from Duncan, the Simmons Center is a large rec/convention center in town, and these large convention rooms are where we held everything from summer camp to company Christmas parties to prom...and I can assure you that never ever in its entire existence has it ever looked like THIS.  It literally was unrecognizable.  Completely transformed.  So amazing. 

Brother and I enjoying the glorious splendor of the transformed room (and the delicious 4-course meal... steak and lobster=SO good!!)

Speaking of glorious splendor... I think the cake was taller than Caroline.  ;-) 

Mary achieved the perfect combination of humor and sentimentality in her amazing Maid of Honor speech... a difficult feat indeed.

I love this photo...cheers Mr. and Mrs. Brown!

After din, the party moved to "dancing under the stars" at the Garis's house.  This photo definitely doesn't capture the full essence of the scene, but at least it gives a slight idea.  Their backyard literally looked like a trendy Hollywood nightclub, complete with a clear plexi-glass dancefloor over the pool, white leather couches, and two bars made from ice sculptures. It was amazing! (and the band was awesome). 

A soulful saxophone player from the band serenaded Mary like I've never seen anyone with a musical instrument do before. I was dying laughing. 

When we weren't dancing our booties off (or getting serenaded) on the crazy dancefloor, we were in the very fun photobooth. Here we have the wonderful combo of Mary and myself and our mothers (who are also best friends as of the last few years). A photobooth is an absolute MUST at my (hypothetical) wedding. Too much fun. 

...and they lived happily ever after! <3 

Such a beautiful, FUN, joyous event.  I saw one facebook album from it entitled "the best thing to happen to Duncan since the land run", and I think they might be right. ;-) 

I love you, little sister! 

xoxo, 

Annie