Monday, March 25, 2013

Wedding Shower!

We all know I'm not the timeliest blogger. I'll accept that blame (ahem, Scott). Let's just say this recap from a certain trip was worth the wait.

My brother Scott and his fiance Amy are closing in on their wedding. Seriously, the wedding is in May and they've been engaged for over a year. It's almost here! Recently Joe joined Scott and some buddies for the bachelor party in Florida. Notice how there was no blog post about that trip... This time it was the ladies turn. I headed north to Rhode Island for the wedding shower. My mom was already there, ready and waiting. It was a bit overwhelming how many people I met, but at the same time it was fun to meet so many people that knew Amy at different stages of life. Oh and a good excuse to buy a new shirt. Yeah!

Not only did I get to see my mom, Scott was in town too. Although we had a great time, we were still missing a few important people. I know Joe and dad were at home thinking about us. I'm bummed we didn't include Amy in one of these pictures. I actually felt really bad going back through the pictures I had on my phone, Amy was hardly in any of them! How rude of me not to include the bride!

Here is an unofficial bridesmaid shot. Let's see if I can remember everyone... here is Lauren, Jen, Kari, Amy, Emily, Sara, Nicole and Lauren. How did I do?? ??? The lighting was hard in the restaurant, but you can see the decor in here was so cool. I wish I would have taken a picture of the chandeliers. It was a perfect spot for a wedding shower.

Once again, the bridesmaids. I swear we didn't setup a phone tree and make sure everyone wore blue/green to the shower. It just happened like that! Pretty cool I must say. Once again, bad lighting!

Since I didn't have many good pictures (meaning, not many with Amy), I stole some from her Facebook page. I knew she wouldn't mind! Scott showed up with flowers for the moms and Amy. This was the one and only time mom needed a tissue. I'd say she did pretty good!

The lovely bride with her maid and matron of honor. Remember this crew from our trip to NYC when Amy said Yes to the Dress??? I still have that episode on my DVR. Did any of you happen to catch it? I had my 5 seconds of fame!!!

I just had to include this picture. These lovely ladies are Amy and Emily's grandmas. I sat with them for the meal and let me say they're a funny bunch and very sharp!

After the shower we headed to dinner. I swear this trip was only good company and lots of food. But I'm not complaining! We ate at an amazing Italian place. You know what that means... huge portions of pasta. I was just bummed I wasn't able to take home my leftovers.

After dinner Amy's parents (Joe and Linda) took us to a spot with a great view of the city skyline. I have to add that Joe and Linda were great this whole trip. They wouldn't let us rent a car, instead they drove us around and were great hosts. Thank you both! Anyways, back to the picture... this is such a great view of downtown Providence. Thanks to the hills around Brown University that give you this view.

Here again is the city at night. To the right is the capital building. Our hotel was right next to it. Seriously... right next to it. More on that later.

You thought the day was over? Think again! My mom and I stopped at the hotel bar for one last drink. After all the festivities I had to say thank you to her and what better way than to buy her a glass of wine.

The next day we made our way to Newport where the wedding will take place. Scott and Amy had their tasting for the wedding meal. It was really nice to see the hotel where the wedding will take place. I'm getting so excited! It was also a great opportunity for me to experience and see Newport. Emily and I bummed around town, got lunch, bought my dad a t-shirt. You know, the usual touristy stuff.

Later that night it was finally time to head home. It was such a fun (and quick) trip. If you know me well, you know I was able to kick back and take a snoozer on the plane. I can sleep anywhere!

But before I fell asleep I enjoyed this sunset. B-e-a-utiful!

Oh, one more thing... remember the hotel I mentioned earlier? We stayed at the Providence Renaissance hotel. When we were checking in the front desk agent told us a little bit about the history and it was pretty spectacular! It was originally built as a Masonic Temple. Because of the stock market crash, construction was stopped in 1929. The building sat vacant for about 80 years before a company stepped in to transform it into a hote and the Renaissance opened in 2004. It was neat because they kept the outside structure that was already there and brought in a lot of Masonic symbols throughout the hotel.

Here is our room. The Renaissance brand is very boutique like, I love it!

Oh and the Front Desk Agent also showed us pictures of what the building looked like while it was abandoned. There was graffiti everywhere, it looked way run down. In our bathroom was a framed picture of some of the graffiti. I must admit graffiti artists have talent... although a crime to paint or tag on buildings like this, talent!

Ah yes, remember how I said our hotel was right next to the state capital building? Well this is what I meant. This picture was taken outside our hotel window. What a great sight! Beautiful building and beautiful view.

And for fun, here is the view at night. The building had green lights up top for St. Patrick's Day.

Ok, one more picture then I'll stop. Here is another view out our window just showing the columns on the old building. My mom and I loved the detail like this throughout the hotel. We picked a good one to say in!!!

So, was the wait worth it???

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