Day 61

Day 61: 7/17/15 (St Louis)

35 miles

TODAY IS THE BIG DAY – SHANNON & KEVIN’S WEDDING!

We got home pretty late from the bar so we slept in until 10am which is late even for us.  We walked over to Panera to grab a bagel and a scone for breakfast.  Once we got back we slowly started getting ready – then we had to quickly finish getting ready.  Kevin, Rico’s brother, dropped us off downtown with the bridal party.  Jillian went over to Shannon’s place where the girls were and Rico headed to the hotel where the guys were.  The girls were just about leaving for the party bus when Jillian got there, but Shannon asked if she could hang back and drive to the photo location with her.  Meanwhile, Rico killed some time at the hotel bar where he bumped into his mom’s best friend who had just arrived for the wedding.  He also saw a few of the groomsmen and one of Shannon’s childhood friends who was going to the wedding.  Finally, the party bus arrived to pick up the boys…

Jillian and Shannon ended up arriving at the photo location before the bus, even though they left about 20 minutes after the girls – clearly it was the boys’ fault.  So they hung out in the car while the photographers got Kevin ready for the first look.  Shortly after getting inside, Kevin finally got to see his bride.  The bridal party was still hiding around the corner so Jillian felt a little awkward being the only one in the room, but it was so beautiful and romantic that she was glad she saw it.  The rest of the gang filed in afterwards and all the photos began!  Jillian was helping as much as she could – mostly with the boys who couldn’t line up straight and constantly fixing Shannon’s train.  It took a few hours, but we both had a great time.  Before we knew it, we were back on the party bus headed to the church.  We may or may not have been a little too rowdy in the church parking lot, but hey, you only get married once! 

The priest was the party pooper who cut us all off a little sooner than we’d like, but it was probably a good thing after seeing the bottle of vodka going around the bus.  The ceremony ran smoothly (and surprisingly quickly for a Catholic wedding).  We couldn’t be happier for Mr. and Mrs. Robson!!!  Kevin is a lucky man!  After a whirlwind of family photos at the church, we headed back on the bus to the reception.  Rico was seated at the head table so Jillian was dateless for the first part of the night, but she joined the other dateless men (some of the bridesmaid’s boyfriends) and Rico’s brother and sister.  The plated dinner was super yummy – more Italian food – plus we hadn’t eaten since breakfast so anything would have tasted good.  Before the wedding party was announced they were also walking around with more toasted raviolis and other appetizers so Jillian was happy to snag a few (Rico didn’t get any ha ha). 

The DJ was playing some good music so we enjoyed dancing the night away.  Midnight seemed to come too fast.  Before everyone got too sweaty from dancing, we grabbed pretty much everyone from Shannon’s side of the family to take some photos.  It is especially rare to have all the Santamarias together since they come from all corners of the country pretty much.  Seeing all the cousins together, you can really tell they’re all related – it’s like they could be brothers and sisters.  The rest of the night was pretty eventful: the other usher ended up splitting his pants while dancing, we’re pretty sure one of the groomsmen peed his pants, and we’re guessing it was an Uncle of Kevin’s who led this little family camp song chant thing which was odd, but fun.  Everyone seemed a little reluctant to say goodbye at the end of the night because this was the first time that the majority of the Santamarias were together (only 3 cousins were missing).  We definitely cannot wait for it to happen again!  Here’s hoping for some more weddings in the future!  Once we were back, everyone seemed to fall right asleep.

Fact:

Shannon was the most beautiful bride! We wouldn’t be surprised if wedding magazines start calling her and asking if she’ll model for them

Lesson:

If you want the boys to show up on time, send a girl over early to round them up

Eat Well; Travel Often

Rico & Jillian