July 4th weekend involved more than a national holiday around here — it was Penno’s wedding!! I gave a little overview of the lead-up activities in my last post, and now it is time for the recap of the actual wedding … my favorite type of post 😀

At 10:30 on the morning of the wedding, all of us bridesmaids had to meet in the bridal suite for a day of primping. We got our hair done in twos …

… while Penno tried valiantly to make herself eat breakfast …

… while we all downed as much champagne as possible with the help of Mrs. Penno …

… which led to silly-faced self-portraits:

Once all of us common folk were fully haired …

… it was time for the bride to get her primp on!

We managed to finish the beauty day around 3:00, just in time to catch our party bus to the wedding site in Sharon.

As you can see, we were quite heavily made up! I don’t think I’ve worn that much make-up in my whole life combined. The process was fun, however, and I will take the make-up artist’s word that it will all work out for the best in the professional photos.

The spot Kerri and Seth chose for their wedding was beautiful! It’s only located about 45 minutes from where I grew up, but I’d never been to or even heard of Saphire Estate until the wedding planning began.

A very in-charge lady met us at the bus and herded us inside and up the stairs so the bride could complete her final preparations:

We were not necessarily the easiest bunch to keep on task:

Everything looked so pretty, and we I couldn’t stop taking photos:

  

We had a special room upstairs designated for dressing Kerri in her gown and for killing the hour + until the ceremony. We worked on de-stressing. We may have done that with water …

… but we may also have done that with champagne:

When we were sufficiently loosened up, we worked on inserting Kerri into her gown:

We invited our photographer buddies to partake as well:

Lindsay did an admirable job of strapping Kerri in:

And then there was some mother-daughter time:

And snack time:

And funny faces time:

Ting really led the charge on the champagne front like the trouper she is:

Meanwhile, we had to install Kerri in front of the air conditioner to keep her nerves on ice!

The ceremony progressed without a hitch (since I was in it, obviously) and was quite perfect and touching. Ting and I did some photography of our own while waiting for the bride and groom to finish their first formal husband-and-wife shots.

I found my date and admired his stunningly perfect color-coordinated tie:

And then I was herded away again so we bridesmaids could officially enter the party. I had the distinct honor of being the only bridesmaid with two escorts 😛

… though I’m not sure how intact my honor was after our entrance dance:

After our totally classy entrances, we all stood back …

… so that the royal couple could steal the show for their first dance!

Course #1 was an aesthetically pleasing salad structure:

Alongside delicious warm bread with a side of flower-shaped butter:

I was glad to see the royal couple partaking in salad as well. Too often, they don’t have time to eat a bite!

After the salad, I went exploring and came across this:

Only the most elegant wedding cake I have seen in my life! (And I have seen many wedding cakes, if that is not already clear.)

Stunning!

Shortly after my discovery, Kerri and Seth approached the magic table …

… and fed each other some elegant cake, elegantly of course:

I was jealous that they were eating cake already! But the rest of us had many other steps to take before we were unleashed on the cake 😀

Some of these steps included watching Kerri and her daddy dance:

Others included demolishing my dinner, which consisted of chicken breast stuffed with goat cheese and spinach, topped with a sun-dried tomato cream sauce (but that is just a guess!):

Enjoying the bride’s dazzling beauty:

Discovering the chocolate-covered brownie on a stick present at every place setting:

Eating the chocolate-covered brownie on a stick:

Stocking up at the chocolate fountain:

With pineapples, strawberries, bananas, Oreos, and Nutter Butters:

Finally, the cake slices were presented! I had a slice of each flavor: strawberries & champagne and pineapple-coconut:

After hours and hours of crazy dancing …

(photo courtesy of Lindsay!)

… we allowed the Kerri and Seth to escape through a maze of sparklers!

Congratulations to the happy couple! I’m so honored to have been included as a bridesmaid, and I feel incredibly lucky to count Kerri as one of my oldest friends 😀