Exploring St. Pete and the Wedding Day

We had most of Saturday to explore St. Petersburg with Abbye and Billy.  We decided to check out the Pier and the Sunken Gardens, but made sure to load up on sunscreen so we wouldn't get funky tans for the wedding!

Our first stop was the Pier, which is apparently being torn down soon to be replaced by a new development.  I think because of this it was very busy.  It was really a beautiful place.  There were birds everywhere, which Michael, Paul and I especially loved.

First, we spotted a pelican.

It let us get suspiciously close...

Ahh, this makes so much sense!  The pelican thought we had food for him, but we did not.

A beautiful great egret.  We also saw a snowy egret and anhinga.

I love this picture of us with Michael's parents in front of St. Pete.

This could only have been better if Erika and Quinn were free to hang out too!  But they had more important things, I guess. ;)

The Pier is in the background.

After the Pier, we went to check out the Sunken Gardens.  I'm still not sure what made it "sunken" but it was a pretty neat gardens area in the middle of the city.  We saw more birds (flamingos!) and big tadpoles with little stumpy back legs.  But Paul's favorites were all the water falls and ponds tucked away throughout the park.

I loved these hanging trumpet flowers.

Paul with Mimi and Papa.

After the Sunken Gardens we were all pretty hungry, so we took Abbye's suggestion and went to the 3 Birds Tavern.  Michael and I both got grilled chicken sandwiches (mine also had feta! yum) and I got the most amazing sweet potato fries ever.  It didn't hurt that they were partly soaked in honey, cinnamon and butter.  It was a perfect pick and we would go back (and back and back and back again if we could -- you did good, Abbye!).  We then separated to get ready for the main event, Erika and Quinn's wedding!

We got ready and said good-bye to Paul, which was a little hard because he seemed to understand this time that we were leaving and wouldn't be back for a few hours.  He was crying when we left but I knew he would be in good hands and would cheer up soon enough.  (Apparently he did cheer up, but he kept going to the door looking for us the rest of the night.)

All dressed up and ready to go!

We got there a little early so we could help with any last minute details that might arise.  Abbye and I became pretty skilled at pinning boutonnieres (thanks to the awesome photographer for teaching us how) but there wasn't much else to do.  Erika, Quinn and their families did an awesome job with everything!

Finally, it was time for the wedding!  The ceremony was held outside on the water.  Everything was perfectly beautiful, but Erika was stunning.  It was so fun to have a front-row view of these two getting married.  It's pretty special when you get to see two best friends marrying each other.  I'm pretty sure a bridesmaid or two almost lost and definitely a couple of the groomsmen did, which made it even more special.  I can't say enough how beautiful and inspiring and heart-warming it was to see them say their vows.

After lots of (what I am sure will be) awesome photos, we went inside for the reception.  The food was amazing -- prime rib, stuffed chicken, roasted veggies and potatoes, salad, and every kind of bread you can imagine, plus yummy appetizers -- spanakopita.  And then there was the cake, oh my!  It was delicious, and very pretty before that.

But the best part of the reception was dancing and being silly (which for me is most definitely the same thing) with my best friends.  The more I think about it, the more worried I am for how the pictures the photographer took of me will turn out.  Most likely, they will be pretty embarrassing, but it was worth it.  I followed Michael's advice and left my camera in the car, allowing me to just enjoy the many special, fun moments throughout the night.  There just so happened to be a photo booth set up, so we still got plenty of fun shots from the night.

Awkward prom photo.  Although somehow I'm the only one that ended up looking awkward.

I love these people so much!

Mean mug.  I wouldn't mess with Erika, but I'd take my chances with Quinn.  ;)

No words.  (Ok, those were words: no other words.)

Yeah, I kinda like the hipster no-lens glasses.

We're cool people.

 The DJ took all our requests -- JT and Lady Gaga to name a couple -- and it felt like we danced non-stop, although our many photos from trips to the photo both disprove that.  I never wear shoes with any kind of height, and my wedges were starting to show themselves in the pain in my ankle, but I didn't care one bit.  (Except at one point I almost fell over and Quinn looked at me funny.)

We saw the bride and groom off with lots of bubbles (Paul would have approved!).  I think it's a testament to what a fun party they threw that pretty much all of the wedding guests stuck around a while after.  We helped clear some of the tables and there were people still sitting around talking, not realizing the reception had ended.

Once again, we were not quite ready to get back to real life, so even though we were all exhausted and full, Michael, Abbye, Billy and I headed to the closest McDonald's for some vanilla cones.  (It was past 11 p.m., which is when the Dairy Inn closes, otherwise, we would have gone back.  For the memories, you know.)  We talked until close to midnight, when we had to turn our carriage back into the pumpkin that is parenthood.  (Which is still totally awesome!  I mean, think of all the things you can make with pumpkin!  Delicious things.  Still, it is a bit messy.)

It was a pretty hip McDonald's.

So now, you think, the fun is over.  BUT NO.  It isn't.  Although we had to say farewell to our superstar friends (good luck on boards next week!), we still had a few more stops to make before coming home to Memphis.