Hi friends!  I hope you are all enjoying your Sunday.    This past weekend was such a blast!  As I mentioned, this weekend was my best friends wedding, and I can’t believe it is all over!  It was such a whirlwind weekend.

The weekend kicked off on Thursday afternoon with Kaylan and Matt’s rehearsal at a beach club in Monmouth Beach, New Jersey, where the wedding was being held on Friday.

Bride and Groom!

Bridesmaids…

It was a beautiful day, and after taking some pictures by the beach, we headed over to the rehearsal dinner at Porta in Asbury Park.  The restaurant was amazing… So rustic!

The rehearsal dinner was perfect… laid back, personal, and full of delicious food.  We enjoyed some wine, ate some pizza, and caught up with friends.

It was the perfect kickoff to the weekend, and although we were all having such a blast and wanting to stay out, we called it a night around 11 so that we could get some shut-eye before the big day!

Friday morning we made our way over to Kaylan’s house for hair and makeup…

Kaylan arranged for wraps and salad to be delivered for lunch, and we all chowed down.

We also spent a lot of time cuddling with Kaylan’s new puppy, Cruz.  I couldn’t get enough of him!

It was such a relaxing day, which was exactly what the bride needed!

All day long the sun was out and there was not a cloud in the sky.  At one point, I decided to check the weather,  and noticed that there was a flash flood warning for Monmouth Beach, starting at 7 p.m. that night (the ceremony was at 6).  The ceremony was planned to be outside, at the beach, so the weather really needed to cooperate!  I didn’t want to get Kaylan worked up, so I didn’t mention it to her, but the rest of the bridesmaids and I were secretly freaking out as we looked into the weather forecast more.  Hurricane style winds and torrential downpours were making their way to us.  Our only hope was that the ceremony would be done before the rain hit.

Once we helped the beautiful bride into her dress and the flowers showed up, it was time to hit the road for some pictures before making our way to the beach club.

So gorgeous…

We arrived at the beach club around 5:15, and by this point, the wind had seriously picked up.  The chairs weren’t even set up yet for the ceremony because they were scared they would blow away.  Kaylan surprisingly stayed calm, even as the sky got dark.  They made the decision to move the cocktail hour inside, but the ceremony would remain outside.  We crossed our fingers that the rain would hold off!

Eventually the chairs were set up and the guests were seated…  it was almost time!

My pretty momma and her boyfriend, Bob!

The clouds were seriously getting darker by the second, and the wind had now picked up even more, but we were all just so excited to get the ceremony started!

At 6:00, the ceremony started!  Although the weather was getting worse by the second and it was now freezing on top of everything else, the guests laughed as we walked down the aisle holding down our dresses to keep from flashing the crowd.  I actually had to stop walking for a minute as a huge gust came because my dress was borderline up over my head.  It was quite the entrance!

All the weather worries and the fact that everyone was freezing and pretty much being blown away seemed to disappear as Kaylan made her way down the aisle to Matt.  The ceremony was absolutely gorgeous, and couldn’t have been more special or personalized.  It was such a beautiful thing to see my best friend of almost 25 years say her vows!

Newlyweds!!

After the ceremony, we managed to get a few pictures on the beach before the rain started to fall.  At this point, we all looked like we had been through a hurricane, but it sure made for some good memories!

After trying to tame our hair and get ourselves a bit more presentable, we made our way into the reception… everything was gorgeous! 

We had such a great time, and my feet are still killing me from all the dancing.  It was the perfect night of celebrating the beautiful bride and her new groom! 

The entire weekend was so incredible, and it was everything I could have hoped for my best friend.  She was a gorgeous bride, and she was absolutely glowing with happiness, which is exactly what she deserves!   

What was the best part of your weekend?? 

Was the weather hurricane-like where you were?!