Congratulations, Katie and Tony!

On Saturday, July 16th, we traveled west to Grand Rapids to attend the wedding of Sara's college friend, Katie.  Sara and Katie met at MSU through Kevin's friend, Ben, and Sara's friend, Michelle.  Katie and Sara had some classes together over the years and hung out socially, as well.  Sara, Katie (and Michelle) were all in Phi Chi Theta together, too.  We've all kept in touch over the years thanks to social networking and we usually make a point to get together at least once (sometimes more) a year at Christmas when everyone is in town. 

Let me back up a couple of weeks before I get to the wedding... Back on July 2nd, I went out to Grand Rapids for Katie's bachelorette party.  We all wore purple (or black if you didn't have purple) shirts in honor of Katie's wedding colors.  We met up in the mid-afternoon, hopped onto a party bus, and took off to Muskegon to hit up a couple wineries.  We stopped at another winery in Grand Rapids on our way back for dinner at San Chez... which, by the way is a fantastic restaurant that I hope to go back to again!  We had a wonderful tapas dinner and some delicious sangria for dinner, after which we all headed out to a couple different downtown bars.  It was a lot of fun and great to see everyone!

The Phike sisters... Michelle, Katie, Sara, and Amanda

Ok, so back to the wedding day... but not quite to the wedding yet.  Kevin, Carson, and I went out to Grand Rapids in the early afternoon to check into our hotel.  We wanted to take Carson swimming for a bit before having to get ready for the wedding.  It was an adults-only wedding, so Carson was going to meet up with Grandpa and Grandma for the evening.  He ended up getting to play with his cousin Rebecca for a few hours, which he LOVED!  He also loved swimming beforehand.  He probably could have stayed in the pool area for hours more.  But he was a good sport about heading back up to the hotel room... he also loves staying in hotels... and was excited to take a bath in the hotel bathtub.  :)  He wanted his towel wrapped around his waist to walk back to the room... he's getting way too big. 

And now to the wedding.  :)  We were very excited to attend Katie and Tony's wedding.  We knew it'd be gorgeous - and it was!  Both the ceremony and reception were held at Frederick Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids.  Such a great place for a wedding!  Everyone looked beautiful and it was clear that Katie paid close attention to every little detail.  Everything looked so perfect!  Her wedding colors were purple and silver and everything was so elegant. 

We were also looking forward to a night out as adults and to having some fun - and we did!  We caught up with old friends and met some new friends, too.  We really had a great time!  Kevin's back was still bothering him quite a bit, so he didn't dance too much, but Sara was out there dancing most of the night with friends.  Dancing is such great exercise!  :) 

And I realize I didn't get a good picture of just Katie and Tony...  sigh.  Thanks for including us in your special day!  We wish you both a lifetime of love and happiness!