Vickie's Wedding in Austin

The last weekend in August (yes I'm super behind with posts) we traveled to Austin, Texas for the wedding of one of my college roommates. Eric and I went to Austin a few years ago and had a ton of fun hanging out with Vickie and Kelly and exploring the city they love and it was great to be back for their wedding. This was Dexter's first flight and he did great. We lucked out and the plane wasn't full so we asked for a row just for us to have a little extra room and not have to bother with gate checking the car seat. I was able to nurse him on take-off and Eric wore him in the ergo and he slept most of the flight.

Upon arrival we didn't need to rent a car since we knew everything was either within walking distance or there would be transportation provided. We took a bus from the airport to downtown that had a stop just a couple blocks from the hotel. The Austin Hilton was very nice and so accommodating... they upgraded us to a suite for free! Maybe they saw we were tired new parents and took pity on us! They had a pack n play delivered to the room and luckily just recently we had transitioned from the rock n play to the crib for sleep... that was a tough transition! We were starving so we walked a couple blocks to this gourmet grocery store type place and got lunch and some snacks for our room.

Later that afternoon Vickie drove all the bridesmaids (and Eric and Dexter... they pretty much went everywhere I did since I needed to feed him every few hours) to the rehearsal at the Barr Mansion.  And we received fun bridesmaid bags filled with goodies. The ceremony would be outside so Dexter got his first real experience with the Texas heat and he was not a fan so I missed most of the instructions while feeding him inside but luckily Eric listened to them for me and took over baby duty as soon as I was done.

That night we ate delicious tex mex at the rehearsal dinner at the Iron Cactus, in walking distance of the hotel. Poor Dexter did not want to sleep with all that fun going on so Eric had to take him back to the hotel after he ate. It was nice catching up with my Clemson roomies and the families/close friends of the bride and groom.

Saturday morning we hung around until the other bridesmaids and bride were up and we practiced the dance (more on that later), went to get lunch at the Easy Tiger in our matching bridesmaid attire. Dexter loved having play time with Brooke and Celeste.

That afternoon we all got ready and headed to the Barr Mansion. Bridal party and mother of the bride and mother of the groom.

Such a pretty dress!

 Dexter had a very cute wedding outfit that my mom made even though he wouldn't be attending the wedding due to his bedtime being around the time it would start with the time difference. Too bad babies don't understand time difference and time change ;)

The ceremony was beautiful and ended up not being too hot. Vickie was just beaming the entire time and they looked so happy! (I don't have any photos from the actual ceremony since I was in it and Eric was with Dexter)

The reception was inside in a building close to the mansion and the rustic decor on wooden tables looked lovely. And the lights outside on the pathway were so pretty.

Unfortunately Dexter could not stay asleep with the loud band inside the reception so Eric spent most of the reception outside with him so that I could do bridesmaid things and whatnot. He is a super dad!

There was a surprise for the groom, a coordinated dance in sort of flash mob style choreographed and planned by the bride that started with her and the bridesmaids and then other guests joined in part way through the song. It was set to "She's Country" by Jason Aldean. From someone with a dance background, it was really fun to learn and do... it's been awhile since I've done a choreographed dance and it was a great success! The groom loved it! I will say I'm glad we practiced it in our cowboy boots because it is harder to maneuver in those than other shoes or bare feet. You can see the video someone took here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB0poHC5ub4

There was also a photo booth which is always lots of fun! You didn't see a preview of what the photo would look like as the timer was counting down like most booths so I think that made for some interesting pictures... there are a few I saw from Vic's family that were pretty hilarious. I liked that you had the option to email the photos to yourself to have a digital copy. Who knew Clemson would be #1 in the country... Brooke predicted it!

The next morning we left for the airport using the bus again and had a good flight home. We had to gate check our car seat this time but Dexter did pretty much the same as the flight there and slept a good bit other than when being fed. I definitely think flying with a newborn or young infant was easier than I thought. It would be more difficult to fly with him now that he likes to move around a lot and isn't sleeping as much during the day.


All in all a great weekend seeing our friends tie the knot! We wish them many years of happiness!