OBX Wedding Bells

The whole reason for our weekend in the Outer Banks was to celebrate the wedding of our good friends Travis and Claire. Travis and Derrick used to work together at SMT and I helped them buy their first home together back in May. (I just realized that sentence sounds like I helped Travis and Derrick buy their first house together. I guess Claire and I will have to start our house hunt next). Since then, we've been hanging out regularly and even joined the climbing gym together. I am so glad to have them as new friends and we felt really honored to be invited to their wedding. It wasn't a huge wedding and it really made us feel special to get an invitation.

Derrick and I were resting from our lighthouse adventure in our room with a book and I glanced out the window and saw the groomsman posing for a photo down in the hotel courtyard. The photographer had them all posed so nicely I had to grab my own shot.

The wedding was just right outside our hotel which was fantastic. It was on the pier over the water which is such a cool idea. Just look how gorgeous it was! It was pretty windy out there but Claire and Travis handled it like champs. The ceremony was short and oh so sweet and Travis didn't even make it down the aisle before he was crying. Crying grooms get me every time! Claire looked stunning! And they wrote their own vows which are always amazing to hear. Derrick and I were not that brave so I always love it when other couples are brave enough.

After the ceremony we walked right into the pier house for the reception and party. It was such a cool space with wooden beams, chandeliers, and a view of the water. We sat at table 9 with two other couples we didn't know but became best friends with by the end of the night. Oh, and see that fruity, pink drink? Yeah...the bartender was very generous with his alcohol to mixer ratio. I had to ask him to lighten it up on my next one.

The favors were lottery tickets! Claire's family opens a lottery ticket after each Christmas? I think that's right....so they shared the family tradition with all of the guests. We didn't win but I've already spoken to Travis about that and he said he'll take care of it.

 I loved their ombre cake!! And it was delicious! Derrick and I had the white chocolate/key lime pie flavor it was amazing. We dropped Claire and Travis off at the airport at 5 AM on Monday morning so Claire gave us a to-go box with a giant chunk of cake. If you know Derrick at all, you know it was gone that same day.

This is the best picture I got of the Bride and Groom.  Too bad because her dress was freaking amazing. Their first dance was to the Mario Kart Love Song which I LOVE and Derrick had to tell me to stop singing it out loud while they were dancing. They also broke it down to Ice Ice Baby not long after and it was awesome. Claire could move in that dress and Travis is hilarious on the dance floor. He threw his jacket at Derrick and took off for the dance floor when the song came on.

Our new professional photographer friends took this picture of us. Best of the night :)

 

Here's our table friends for the night. Strangers to BFFs. Seriously, we had our own dance circle going on and even made breakfast plans for the next morning. They ended up not working out, but hopefully we'll see them again in the future. We are facebook and instagram friends now at least :)

And with the bride and groom. Didn't I tell you her dress was awesome??

Travis and Claire, you throw a kick ass party! Thanks for inviting us! We loved every second of it. Hope you're enjoying your week in Antigua! We'll pick you up on Monday night....maybe.