The Wedding - Reception in Georgetown

(disclaimer: this post is long!  I just couldn't think of how to divy up the pictures in sections, and I didn't want to leave too much out, so here it is, all at once.  enjoy!)

After we got back from our honeymoon on a Thursday, we arrived in Dallas and were planning on going back home for a couple days before our second reception in Georgetown (Danny's hometown-ish... where they graduated high school and where his parents lived the longest before moving overseas) that Saturday.  Unfortunately, while we both stayed completely healthy in Mexico, practically the minute we got back to Dallas and to my parents house, Danny got really sick with chills and high fever.  We decided to crash the night, hoping to leave the next morning.  But he was still really sick and couldn't break the fever, so we ended up staying that night and going straight to Georgetown that Saturday from Allen while he still had a 102 degree fever, poor guy - but I knew with as much planned for this, the bride and groom couldn't exactly miss it.

We left in the morning and got there by lunch.  Luckily, the Bertucci's (family friends of the Garcias and hosts of our reception) let Danny sleep in their guest room while I joined the rest of the crew in helping making food and set up the backyard before guests arrive.  And luckily, Danny was able to join the reception and make it through the evening without too much trouble (well, a bit of teasing from siblings, but come on, give the guy a break) and still have a good time and greet everyone.  I was a bit anxious to be outside in August in my wedding dress for the entire evening (what was I thinking?!) but it really turned out quite nicely.  There were a slow but steady flow of guests the entire evening and while I didn't know very many people, it was nice to meet people that were a part of Danny's life.  And miraculously, as tight as my dress was the week previously, it fit so nicely today that I never felt squished or too hot and I was even able to eat my entire plate of food! :)  Thanks again for everyone who made this possible!

Tommy and crew preparing the food .... they were very serious about the whole business, and it paid off, looking and tasting wonderfully.

... greeting the first arrivals.  (one, uh, interesting moment was when we were setting up and everyone kept saying we've still got over an hour when I kept thinking, "no, it starts at 6"... despite it being printed on the invites that it started at 6 pm, somehow practically all the people helping out kept saying it started at 7 pm, and when I tried to tell them otherwise (um, I should know, I made the invitations), no one seemed to hear me... oh well.  that just meant I was changing into my dress as the guests started to arrive and the food was still being put on platters.  Oh well, it all worked out eventually.)

food! :)

... making sure we all stayed hydrated

FAMILY!  ... just a few that were there and actually got pictures of ...
Brent and Elena (thanks for the great photos!)

Nick and Kay

Joshua (Tommy's oldest)

Elena with Tia Rosa (Danny's aunt)

Rebecca and Rick (parents of the bride)

... taking a break from greeting guest to grab a bite to eat.  We had fruit and veggie trays, crackers and cheese, croissant sandwiches, lemonade, and for dessert, there were brownies and lemon bars! yum!

... back to greeting friends and guests, friends of the Garcias from Georgetown ...

The Bridges

The Arthurs (center and right) + guest(?) (left)

Tony Bertucci - host of the evening

The Halls

... more Halls

... and a couple more Halls

The Andersons (?)

The Robertsons

Joey and some friends

My coworkers and friends (l-r): Susie, Carmen (Susie's mom), Danielle, and Lisa (my roommate and maid of honor)

my architecture friends! (l-r) Madalyn, Grace, Lisa, Courtney, Jennifer (and Erin, in spirit - she had to work)

Silverio and Debbie with Ruslan and Abigal (Tommy's daughter)

The Watts

The Williams

Their gazebo looked so pretty when dusk fell and they turned the lights on.

The Carters with Debbie (far right, mom of the groom)

Lorissa and Tommy from College Station

Marie Fawcett (family friend, and our "caterer") giving us advice as newlyweds

The Honeymoon, pt 4

... some of the local shopping in Mexico.

... so many ornate handcarving everywhere we went.

... beautiful tropical flowers

... the "mexican chicken" (as the locals and Danny called it)

... the gorgeous beach!

We even took the opportunity to go snorkeling one day.  ... it wasn't quite what I expected, but I did, and Danny really enjoyed it.

... under the water was so much ... bluer than I expected, I guess I've seen too many movies.  and there weren't a whole lot of fish.

... some of the fish we saw.

... we got lucky once and saw a school of fish swim by.

All in all, we enjoyed our trip to Mexico.  Thanks mom and dad! :)

The Honeymoon, pt 3

After we went to Chichen Itza, our tour stopped for lunch in this little town.  One thing I really liked about Mexico was all the beautiful murals they put on all the buildings.

The buffet restaurant had these traditional dancer who balanced bottles on their heads while they danced.  It was pretty incredible to see how many bottles they kept adding and no matter how much they kept spinning, they never fell off.

After lunch, the tour went to see a nearby cenote (natural made sink hole).  The water at the bottom was clear and many people swam, but it was really dark and there were bats covering the ceiling, so Danny and I just looked on.  At the top of the cavern was a hole where a huge tree was growing and its roots were growing at the bottom of the cave, at least several stories down, and it's still growing now.  crazy.

Before they took us back to the hotel, we had a stop in Merida, the capital of Yucatan, and saw the Grand Plaza and the local cathedral.

We also got to tour the Governor's palace and see a series of murals about Mexico's history and culture.

The Honeymoon, pt 2

One of the days we were in Mexico, there was one thing I really wanted to do - a guided tour of Chichen Itza.  Aside from the couple hour bus ride each way that just dragged on forever it felt like, and several very loud and very hungover college kids in our group (luckily, despite their vocal concerns, none of them puked on the bus), the day trip was really enjoyable.  I'm so glad we got to go and see some of the largest and most famous of the Mayan ruins.  Especially from my (nerdy) architectural history student standpoint, it was so fascinating to see all these structures.  And even from a religious standpoint, while nothing specific was said, there was so much evidence that pointed to all these neat connections to the scriptures, Danny and I kept looking at each other during the tour and knew we were thinking the same thing about how cool it was historically.  And though nonchallant about it at first, Danny, being a history major, found it enjoyable too.

Temple of Kukulkan

... one disappointment of the trip, due to an accident several years ago where a woman fell off the top of the temple, people aren't allowed to climb the buildings anymore.  and due to some stupid vandalists who were caught graffiting on the ruins, people aren't allowed to be within five feet of the ruins.  *sigh* I was looking forward to climbing the temple, but oh well.  at least I got to see it.

The Great Ball Court

... our tour guide, this little guy named Turtle ... he'd say his name is this funny accent every time is what time to move on, hard to forget. ... oh and if you can't tell, it's raining in this picture.  The sky was pretty gray when we got there, then we had this cloud burst, lasted a few minutes and yes, we got wet but it cooled us off from the August heat.  And then, just a few minutes after that, the clouds were all gone and it was bright and sunny.  ... weather here was like that the entire time... very strange.

... details of the stone carvings in the ball court.

Venus Platform in the Great Plaza

Temple of the Warriors

part of an excavation site

El Caracol - the Observatory

The Osario Platform - the High Priest's Temple

La Iglesia in Las Monjas complex of buildings

Serpent's Head sculptures

... baptismal font(?)

Akab Dzib - The House of Obscure Writing

... always glad to see other tourist couples willing to help take a group photo in exchange for taking theirs.  it is so hard to get pictures as a couple when you're the only ones there.