The Wedding, The Pitt, Friends, and Duke University

It has taken me almost a week to blog about this!

Meredith and Brett's wedding was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!
The weekend started out with a bridal luncheon for all the bridesmaids and Meredith's family. We ate at a place in Durham called "Parizade Cafe'". We had a cute little private room to ourselves which was very sweet, cozy, and cute (perfect for a room filled with women :) )

Cafe Parizade; Durham, NC

 The food at the cafe' was very good. They served three courses. I had a caesar salad for the first course, shrimp and risotto for the second, and mango sorbet for the third.

Mango Sorbet with fresh fruit and a cookie :)

 Meredith also used the luncheon as a time to give us our bridesmaids gifts. The gifts included the very lovely earrings we were to wear in the wedding, a makeup bag with our names embroidered on it, an adorable coffee mug with our first initial on the front, and a cute little writing pad with our initials. The gifts were so cute, so functional, and so thoughtful. I loved them!

Makeup bag! Love the anchors!

The rest of the day was filled with manicures, pedicures, the rehearsal, and the rehearsal dinner (which also had really yummy food!).
After that, Meredith, two of her other bridesmaids, and I went back to the hotel we were staying at for the night. We gave each other messages and then headed to bed.

The next morning, Meredith had to get up by 6 a.m. since she was having a morning wedding.
I got up with her and had coffee. And then more coffee.
Mere's mom generously decided to have breakfast and coffee catered to the room. She is so thoughtful!

Patsy, my co-matron-of-honor, and I did each others makeup and kept Mere company while she was being primped. She looked beautiful even before getting her dress on!

Meredith after getting her hair done.

 Miss Gerri, Mere's mom, is such a wonderful lady. She will probably kill me for putting a pic of her on here, but she's beautiful. She's so pretty, so cute, and has an even prettier heart :) Just thought I should share :)

After we were all beautified, we drove to the venue. It was such a wonderful morning. I was able to have a few minutes alone to pray with Meredith. Mere also asked that me, Patsy, and Miss Gerri be the ones who helped her get into her dress. I felt honored.

I cannot stress enough how beautiful the ceremony was. It went perfectly. Meredith looked PERFECT even between the happy-tears (there was a lot of them ;) )

From left: Elise, Me, Meredith, and Ainsley

The reception was fantastic too. The food was good, the dancing was fun (even for me), I was able to see my family again, I had my hot-date-of-a-husband by my side, and some of my very best friends from high school were there!

 Patsy and I. I love her!

My mom, Meredith and I :)

Look at that handsome man!

We sent the bride and groom off to their honeymoon with cheering and bubbles. They drove away, we changed in to comfy clothes, and it was already over!

Before I move on from the wedding, I would like to say how proud I am of Meredith. God has done so much for her and in her. We became friends shortly before she got saved and He has grown her so much. She has changed and reformed and found a passion for Christ that was not in her when we first met. Now she has a wonderful man who wants to help her grow more. I am so proud and so over-joyed at all that God is doing.

After the wedding, Taylor and I went out with Elise, her date, Ainsley, and our friend Keith to The Pitt. The Pitt is very well known for it's Eastern Style Barbecue Pork. It was featured on the Food Network, for all of you foodies :) It was fantastic and so was the company. I miss them so much!

Taylor and I stayed the night with Patsy and her husband, Andy. They are adorable newly-weds with a brand new puppy :) We love being around them. I particularly was blessed by Patsy. God used her sweet spirit to remind me how important time with Him in His word should be to me. This girl is in vet school, working at an internship, newly married, and taking care of a new puppy and she still makes time for a devotion almost every day. She blessed me and she probably didn't even realize it. God is in her :)

YES!

Finally (I know, this is a super long post!), before Taylor and I headed home, we stopped by Duke University. It was my first time ever going and I was blissful about the situation! My daddy and I have watched games together since I was a little girl and I FINALLY got to see the chapel and the outside of the gym. We also ducked into the Divinity school since Taylor is interested in applying there. It was a beautiful day and I loved our long walk through the campus!

Locked outside of Cameron Indoor...So close, yet so far away!