A Wedding Weekend on Whidbey...

Well, Sunday night wrapped up a whirlwind, 3-day weekend out on Whidbey Island to celebrate the wedding of my dear friend, Kristina, to her beloved Nicholas. It was a jam packed three days, but good times were had by all! Although it has been raining ever since the day after the wedding, the sun came out in full splendor for the actual affair, driving the temperature up into the 70s for the first time in over 200 days in Western Washington. Talk about impeccable timing! Although the newly weds are off honeymooning in Peru as I type, here is a quick and dirty blow-by-blow of their wedding weekend.

After dropping off Lia at the sitters, I cruised up north to the Mukilteo ferry terminal in record time. I joined Kristina out on the island at her parents' house a little before 10 am. The bride and I and several others in town for the weekend headed out to her favorite local beach, Double Bluff, for a stroll along the water before lunch. Here are the two of us before climbing down the rocks and onto the sand.

Part of the group walking and talking.

Since the sun was out in its full glory, the surface of the water was sparkling like diamonds! I tried to capture it with this picture. I was really missing my little sidekick here as it felt almost criminal to be here without my little Lia and her faithful beach companions, Mr. Bucket and Shovel.

After the beach, we headed back to Kristina's parents home for some quick lunch before heading off to the wedding site for some work time. Here is the mother of the bride, calm and cool as a cucumber, from atop her perch as we drove off!

Once at Fireseed Gardens, the bridesmaids, bride, and brothers of the bride quickly got to work on the finishing touches of the reception hall. Here is the dairy maid of honor (the maid of honor owns a dairy farm...so we had fun with that title all weekend long...much to her chagrin), Anna, and brother Bjorn stringing up the lights.

Jess and I had the pleasure of arranging all of the name tags for the tables in alphabetical order on the entry table. Lucky us. :-)

After finishing the reception hall, we ventured out into the gardens for the actual rehearsal with the rest of the bridal party and Pastor Tom.

After the rehearsal, back to Kristina's parents' home we went for a delicious and catered rehearsal dinner. It was an enjoyable evening. Here are the bride and groom serving up before the rest of us!

Stini and her bridesmaids after dinner.

We ventured out into the backyard for various toasts and tales of the honored couple. Here they are taking it all in. What to do with all that attention?

We met back at Fireseed Gardens on the big day two hours early for a long line-up of poses and pictures. Here is the bridal party warming up for several shots to come. What a good looking group, if I may say so myself. ;-)

The bride and her bros. I had to include this shot as I had the exact same pose taken with my three bros on my wedding day!

Stini and her women in black.

Ron arrived on the island in time to join up with my parents and me at Fireseed. Here we are before the ceremony begins.

Kristina and the F.O.B. walking down the "meadow aisle" as the ceremony begins...

Exchanging vows. What a beautiful setting!

It's a done deal! My groomsmen, Matt, and I following the couple back down the aisle at the end of the ceremony.

We ventured into the barn after the ceremony for a scrumptious salmon and chicken dinner. Here are Ron and I doing what we do best.

The happy couple politely feeding each other cake.

The happy couple performing their practiced and polished first dance for the crowd. We then danced the night away til my feet could take it no more. Ron and I retired a little after 9 pm. Is our age showing or what?!

We wrapped up the weekend by getting together on Sunday back at the bride's parents' home to snack on left overs and watch the bride and groom open up their gifts. Here they are diving into their loot!

What a fun and busy weekend! Two days later, I'm still recovering...

Kristina and Nick, I wish you all the best!