...and then, Susie got married!

I cannot describe to you how much fun I had at Josh and Susie's wedding. My best friend in the whole wide world married an amazing man, surrounded by all my other favorite people, with an awesome soundtrack, at a summer camp!!

That's right! And she looked good.

Many times that weekend I heard people exclaim "How will anyone ever top this?!" And the answer is, they can't. However, they can certainly imitate it. So, to make things easier, I used Josh and Susie's wedding as a model to create my own guide of exactly what to do if you want your wedding to be the awesomest:

- Surround yourself with all of your favorite people, preferably for a whole weekend.


- Hold a competitive event, like the "Josh and Susie Wedding Olympics" held the day before at the camp, to the delight of all the guests. Include physical challenges, beer, and lots of trivia.


- Stuffy rehearsal? Nah! What you want to do is have a rehearsal barbecue, full of delicious food prepared and planned by Zack and Susie's fam.


- Bonfires: Have more than one, first of all. And at them, do things like make s'mores, listen to mandolin, and watch impromptu fire dances.


- Try to have a ketubah signing. I'm trying to figure out how I can do this even though I'm not Jewish, cause it's so cool. You might think it's going to be a quick, legal-ish thing, but everyone present, who think they will cry at the ceremony, will lose it 20 minutes early. (No photos, we were all too busy crying...)

- Make your ceremony super personal and gorgeous. If possible, have your brother play mandolin, and have it officiated by your mom's cousin, who is a cantor and who not only sings beautifully, but makes everyone cry with her personalized, inspiring words.


- Have yummy food!! And an ice cream sundae bar!

- Make the dancing the best EVER. Have a DJ who looks like he's not having fun, only because he's SO SERIOUS about keeping the party going. Groom must do a chair dance, a breakdance, and a spotlight slow dance with his best guy friend. Try to end the night with "Total Eclipse of the Heart," a song so perfect for the moment that everyone on the entire dance floor spontaneously begins a slow interpretive dance, ending in the bride and groom being lifted up by their friends and slowly spun around, symbolizing their love rising above everything, or perhaps they themselves aligning like the moon and the sun in an eclipse. Heh.


Congrats Sus and Josh, I love you both!

First, we went to Vieques...

So we're just back from a long, ridiculously fun, wedding-filled two weeks away. The first leg of our trip began on the beauuuuutiful island of Vieques, a tiny little place that's part of Puerto Rico. Vieques has a turbulent recent history due to the fact that it was used as a U.S. Navy testing site for many years, but thankfully the Navy was protested out a few years ago. Now, even though the island is still dealing with serious after-effects, it is a simply gorgeous, mainly untouched place filled with secluded beaches and wild horses, not to mention the coolest bioluminescent bay ever.

Anyway, that's where we began, for the wedding of Anna and Eoin. I couldn't imagine a more apropos setting and celebration for the most laid back, fun couple ever. The wedding itself was a lovely, heartfelt ceremony on a beach, followed by a reception at an amazing villa on the island. And this was no stuffy reception. The DJ groom and his DJ best friend, not to mention their crazy Irish companions, kept the party going for the entire night, and partway through, everyone threw on their swimsuits and jumped in the pool, MTV Spring Break-style. I always thought destination weddings were small, intimate, quiet affairs, but clearly they don't have to be!