So I really slacked off on updating my blog on my honeymoon. I'm sure you'll forgive me for that. :)

As Mike said in his last posting, the ceremony at the Duke Gardens got rained out. I was pretty excited at first because it was nice and cool outside and kind of overcast which is the perfect weather for pictures, but when we started hearing the thunder rumbling as we were taking some pictures I started to worry. Then I felt a raindrop and we headed up to a gazebo to take shelter. A nice lady walking by gave me an umbrella to use and we ended up waiting for at least 30 minutes for the rain to pass. Well it only got harder so at 5:50 p.m. (the ceremony was supposed to begin at 6 p.m.) we decided to officially move it back to the hotel.

It turned out to still be a really nice ceremony. Everyone was able to sit down (there were only 50 chairs at the Gardens) and it was nice to be in the same location as the reception. The rain did pass while we were in the ceremony, so we went out to the courtyard area to take pictures and it was a lot of fun. At that point I just felt so relieved that the "formal" part was over that I started relaxing and feeling a lot better.

The reception was great, the food was outstanding, and I danced my ass off until the DJ left at 11:30 p.m. I also drank a bit too much but it was a lot of fun. The open soft bar was a big hit, as was the chocolate fountain, and the cake was delicious. I got to see a lot of friends that I hadn't seen in a long time which was really nice and I think that everyone had a great time.

We stayed at the hotel bar after the reception until about 1:30 a.m. Needless to say we were a little bleary-eyed at the send-off breakfast the next morning at 9 a.m. but I wouldn't do anything differently if I could go back. Besides the rain it was just as I imagined it.

The honeymoon was really fun, too. We left for New York on Saturday afternoon around 3:30 p.m. and got to our hotel that evening around 6:30 p.m. We walked around the block and had some great pizza and then got some much needed sleep.

On Sunday, we had brunch at The View at the Marriott Marquis, which is a revolving rooftop restaurant. It was really nice, and then we went to a 3 p.m. showing of 'Curtains' with David Hyde Pierce (from Frasier). It was REALLY good - very funny with good songs. We also had tickets for 'Phantom of the Opera' for Wednesday night but ended up seeing a LOT more shows than just those two, thanks to the discovery of the same-day half-price ticket counter in Times Square.

We saw 'Les Miserables' Monday night, 'Inherit the Wind' Tuesday afternoon, 'Phantom' on Wednesday, and 'Chicago' Thursday evening. We also went to the ballet (Swan Lake) with Alexis, one of my bridesmaids, Tuesday night, went to the Bronx Zoo on Friday, and then stayed in the Bronx to see the Yankees play the A's on Friday night. Saturday morning we took a harbor cruise, and then flew back to NC Saturday evening. In between all that, we did some shopping and ate some really great food.

So now we are back in Birmingham and it's very strange to have all the wedding hoopla over & done with. However we do have some new excitement in that we closed on our house yesterday (Monday) and will get to start moving in next Monday.

I will probably post pictures from the wedding here as I get them.