A Charleston Wedding

The first weekend in November we enjoyed a beautiful, memory-making weekend in Charleston, SC where we celebrated my brother (Zach) and new sister-in-law's (Christina) wedding. Fourteen of us stayed in a beautiful house in Mt. Pleasant that was on a marsh with lovely ibises and cranes among other birds. It was so special! We enjoyed amazing food all weekend, the girls made it down the aisle as flower girls and we had 5 days together. Happy momma! Here's some pictures from the weekend.

We celebrated Christina's bachelorette with a Hollywood themed gathering that her college friends put together. It was complete with life size celebrity cutouts, but I was most impressed by the popcorn  and array of seasonings. That was the only picture I took!

This is rehearsal day at Boone Hall Plantation. We walked around a bit before practicing. These were the slave quarters, and I visited these with a new perspective and a deeper sorrow as we walked with Leila through these. We shuffled the kids along through some parts knowing it wasn't the time to talk about this hard part of American history and how Africans were treated.

The plantation drive is lined with beautiful, old Live Oaks that are covered in the iconic Spanish moss that is such a part of Charleston.

The plantation home that was used in the movie, The Notebook.

Our awesome kiddos before the rehearsal. 

On the dock for the rehearsal. 

We visited the Mt. Pleasant pier and marine-based playground, which the kids really loved. This is pure joy right here.

Crazy kiddos! We enjoyed watching fisherman bring in some fish and seeing porpoises swimming nearby.

The trees (I was mildly obsessed with their beauty) on wedding day. 

Our two beauties.

With the gorgeous bride who loves her nieces so much. The feeling is very mutual. Christina is a wonderful, doting aunt. 

The wedding ceremony took place on the Cotton Dock at sunset. It was beautiful. 

The girls were dancing queens, and Leila was able to meet many family and friends of our family for the first time. She's the blur behind Mary-Michael. She hasn't lost her African rhythm one bit! 

We loved having Uncle Drew with us all the way from Arizona. He had the "pleasure" of staying with our wild bunch in the house, too! 

And then we're done. 

We were so grateful that Geoff's parents also came to the wedding. Their help was invaluable, so that we could visit with people we rarely get to see and just have the extra hands. The Sunday after the wedding we hosted an after-wedding brunch at the house with my Aunt Sharon and Uncle Charlie. And really everyone in the house made it happen. It was a group effort that was enjoyed by many before heading back home. We are excited to have Aunt Christina officially in the family and thankful for a memorable weekend to mark their marriage.