Yesterday I wasn’t feeling so great. From the moment I woke up I sneezed like every single minute. Constantly. And my nose was running like crazy. I took a hot, steamy bath and that seemed to help a bit, but when I came out of the bathroom it all started back up again. To get out of the house, in case that was what was causing it, we went to the taqueria for lunch. When we came home I took a nap and rested in bed for a few hours. It seemed to help. This has happened to me a few times this allergy season. Where I’d be sneezing and sneezing and my nose would just be a faucet. .. and then about 8 hours later, I’d be fine. Like something just had to work its way out of my system. So annoying.

Anyway, I ended up missing Aimee & Lance’s wedding ceremony, but rallied in time to make it to the reception at the Shedd Aquarium. As we pulled into the parking lot, a car pulled in beside us and it was my coworker, Teal. Aimee works with us and since we didn’t know many people at the wedding, Teal and Dallas and I hung around together all night. Our other coworker, Tony, was also at the wedding, but since he is also Aimee’s uncle, he knew a million more people than us.

When we arrived, everyone was having cocktails outside. I had to take an obligatory shot of the view from the museum campus. It’s so beautiful. And it was about 7:30 at night, so the sun was setting gorgeously. I think something was in that first glass of wine Teal and I had because I accidentally introduced Tony as Aimee’s AUNT and Teal dumped the glass on her dress by accident. Awesome way to start the night! It’s all good, though.

We made our way in for dinner and picked up our seating assignments. They were on these cute fish placecards.

The tables were all named after candy, since Aimee notoriously has the sweetest tooth. Dallas and I were at Table Starburst. Teal and Tony were at Table 100 Grand. Each table was sprinkled with the candy the table was named after and each person also got a customized box of M&Ms.

It was fun to see everything at the reception because Aimee and I discussed so much ahead of time. I’ve learned from talking to Aimee that her relationship with Lance is much the same as mine with Dallas. They have been together roughly as long as we have, a few years ago they bought a house in Bridgeport after having lived together for a couple years, they shopped for rings around the same time as us, got engaged within a few months after us, and now are married, just a few months before us. We work closely together on projects at work and, of course, we have discussed every detail of engagements and weddings for the past year. Our weddings will be very different, but it was very interesting to see how everything we’d been talking about turned out. For example, I’d seen photos of centerpieces she liked, and heard how she discussed options with her florist. I loved how the centerpieces turned out in the end:

The dinner tables were set up in the lobby area of the Shedd. It’s a gorgeous room. In the middle there was an area that would later be the dance floor.

I snuck a photo of the bride and groom as they were finishing their dinner. I felt kind of bad about interrupting, but I know that once dinner is done and the party gets going it can sometimes be hard to catch the two together. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen Aimee with makeup on before, so it was a shocker to see her all dolled up. So pretty!

After dinner there was a diving show in the Caribbean Reef exhibit. I love the huge Caribbean Reef tank and could look at it for hours. I don’t think Dallas has ever been to the Shedd, so he found it to be pretty impressive.

After the diving show we walked around a few of the other exhibits that were open for the event. It was nice to enjoy the exhibits without having to fight your way through crowds of people. I thought this frog was hilarious. His head was above the water and his body below, and his hands were pressed against the glass. I don’t know how he got into this position but it didn’t look like he was going to get out of it any time soon.

Around the Caribbean Reef exhibit, coffee and desserts were set up. Lots of pretty cupcakes and chocolate truffles. Dallas had a red velvet cupcake that he said was awesome and I had some really decadent brownies and truffles.

After wandering around exhibits and having dessert, Dallas and I headed back into the main room. We found Teal and Tony and Dallas got everyone out on the dance floor. We had a great time at the reception, but at 11 p.m. we decided to call it a night, since I hadn’t been feeling well earlier. Great wedding. Best wishes to Aimee & Lance!

Oh, I was also going to mention.. this was our 6th wedding this year. We had fun at every one, but I think we’re ready for a break from weddings…. er.. oh.. right… except now we still have to finish planning our own wedding! Here’s a summary of weddings this year:

• Kate & Trevor: Fun country club wedding in the suburbs.
• Christina & Geoff: We actually missed this wedding in Mexico because it was the day before Caroline & Danny’s wedding, but we still got to attend some fun wedding festivities like the Mexican-themed couples shower.
• Caroline & Danny: Outdoor family wedding at a historic mansion in Oak Park.
• Shannan & Tien: Outdoor wedding at a vineyard in upstate New York.
• Loden & Trent: Outdoor park wedding with the reception in a Logan Square historic mansion.

I just did a quick count. Dallas and I have attended 17 weddings together. We should probably have a pretty good idea by now about what we do and don’t want at our own wedding. … and I think we do, which makes things a little easier.

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