My big sister’s wedding went off swimmingly . . . the sun shone brightly, there were no surprises, and all was well.  Since they were super smart and got lots of pictures done ahead of time, they got to practically head right over to the Canary Hotel for the reception.  And of course, that’s where all the fun stuff was–eating, drinking, and dancing (not necessarily in that order)!  So my sister and her husband (ack–it sounds so crazy to write that for the first time!) made their way over to the reception courtesy of their pedi-cab driver (read more about how the pedi-cab was decorated here):

. . . and remember those last-minute escort cards (detailed here)?  Well, they did their job and looked good in the process . . .

 

(okay, really, I just needed to get a picture of Chunk somewhere on this blog–that curvacious girl has ruined me for all other pugs!  Oh Chunk.)

 

Alright–back on track.  Once we got to the reception, we had one focus: food.  Well, okay, there may have been one other focus: drinks.  Drinks was easy, but with food, we had a strategy.  See, Mr. Bunches and I have been to our fair share of weddings lately, and we’ve learned that the best place to stand and chat is near whatever door the passed hors d’oeuvres were coming out of.  And that’s exactly what we did (along with Uncle Tree and my cousins–they’re no slouches when it comes to food strategies).  So we got to taste everything: beef skewers, brie & spinach puff pastries, spring rolls, you name it–if they made it, we ate it.

 

Of course, eventually it was time to find our seats and to welcome the new couple as they performed their first dance as H+W.  They did great.  Spectacular.  It was really a DWTS moment.  She had sequins and glitter, and he had stretchy pants . . . can’t you just picture it?!  Sublime.  Okay, well maybe it wasn’t quite like that.  But you had a cool image in your head, didn’t you?  You’re welcome.  I figured since I didn’t have any pictures of it, I better give your imagination a good jumping off point.

 

But no, it was just beautiful.  And once they sat down, and we all sat down, that’s when we felt it: the first raindrop.  At first I thought maybe someone at our table just had a lisp or something, but no–it was a rain drop!  Apparently their dance was so amazing and sparkly and jazzy that the rain gods decided to reward them.  With rain.  Light at first, but then pouring!  Can you believe it?  The average rainfall for Santa Barbara is only 1.21 inches for the month of April–the entire month!  (We get that much rain in Brockport at least every day.)  So what were the odds?!  Of course, my sis was a little distraught at first, but everyone was great–the hotel staff quickly brought out towels and umbrellas, the DJ was a rockstar and kept playing theme appropriate music (we were hoping that It’s Raining Men would make an appearance, but it wasn’t in the cards; shucks, huh?), and the Best Man even got on the dance floor and performed his own special rain dance. 

 

My sister’s good friend, Shona, pointed out that rain on a wedding day is a good thing–it’s a sign of fertility!  Yay babies!  So all in all, the rain only lasted for about 20 minutes, and then this happened:

See that beautiful rainbow?  Well–there were TWO of them!  Doubly lucky.  And it looks like my sis may have gotten her own little pot o’ gold Josh:

I can’t wait to see these pictures from the photographer–I’m sure they’ll be stunning:

The hotel staff was amazing and quickly changed out all the linens, reset all the tables, and made everything beautiful yet again.  The sky was clear the entire rest of the night, there was no wind, and it was the perfect temperature–it really couldn’t have been better.  Which, of course, meant that there had to be dancing:

Why exactly is it impossible to look cool while you’re dancing?  IM-POSS-IBLE.  But it was fun regardless–lord knows that me and the Mr. like to get our boogey on. 

One of the best parts of the night was when my biggest sis arrived to the reception . . . of course, it only reminded us that we were missing the youngest sis, but we’ll see her soon enough at her own wedding.  For now, there are 3, but in August, there will be 4:

Is it obvious that I’m practically kneeling in this picture?  I kind of feel like Big Bird when I’m with all the sisters (especially when I’m in a yellow dress 😉 )–one of these kids is definitely not like the others.

Okay, so that’s all.  Finito.  The end of the greatest wedding yet (take that William and Kate).  But our travels weren’t over–soon I’ll post some details about our wine trip from the day after the wedding, and then Vegas baby.  Yeah.