Our Rainy-Day Wedding: The Rehearsal

This is it!  My recaps are actually beginning!  Our wedding day was one of the best days of my life, and I cannot wait to share it with you guys.  But before I get to the pro pics, I'd like to tell you about the day before.

It started with manicures for me and MOH Deniz.*

In retrospect, I could've gone with an edgy gunmetal gray, but I loved this pale pale pink.  (And it matched our wedding colors!)

Then we met up with my mom, my SIL J. Dawg, and my MIL, the Dude's mom, for brunch.  I'd been wanting to try Sandra Bullock's restaurant, Bess Bistro, and it didn't disappoint.  Gourmet grilled cheese sandwich with blackberry compote?  Yes, please.

It was great spending time with all of these women before everyone else got into town for the rehearsal dinner.

Photo by MOH Deniz

Then it was back home for a bit.  Here we are chillaxing with the Dude's mom and grandpa a few hours before the rehearsal.

At this point, the sky was starting to look pretty gloomy, and we weren't sure whether our backyard barbecue was going to come together.  The rental company was scheduled to drop off our tables and chairs at 3pm.  As soon the truck arrived and the guy started to unload our tables, the rain started to fall.  Yikes!   To top it off, my wedding dress was at the alteration's place, and I wouldn't be able to try it on until the rehearsal dinner was over.  Somehow I neglected to learn that the bodice was about a cup size too big until the week of my wedding! It was a bit stressful, but the beer was helping.

Pretty soon, it was time for the rehearsal!  This was the first time we got to see my extended family who had come in from West Texas, Houston, Dallas, Louisiana, San Antonio, Amarillo, and upstate New York.  As soon as my flower girls saw me, they ran to my side and didn't leave it!  It was so sweet.  Below is my uncle Tommy, who I had asked to emcee our reception.  The flower girls are his grandkids.  

Photo on the right by MOH Deniz

We ran through the ceremony in our outdoor location (Plan A) first.  Look how cute my bridesmaids are!  The flower girls were cracking up our officiant, Spike.  When we rehearsed the kiss, Grace (the one in the gray shirt) covered her eyes and said it was gross!

Then, our coordinator, Rick, asked us to go ahead and run through the ceremony inside the Artisan Ballroom (Plan B).  I don't have any photos of that, though.

The rehearsal was over quickly--almost too quickly!  Then it was time to head to me and the Dude's house for some delicious barbecue action.  At this point, it was drizzling pretty steadily.  But not to worry!  MOH Deniz had wrangled us a deal on a tent with the rental guy for our backyard dinner.   Phew.  What would we have done without her?  The tent was already up and the barbecue was getting delivered to us asap.  And my awesome friend (and ceremony reader) Amanda was on her way with my wedding dress!

I don't have a lot of photos from the rehearsal dinner, but here are a couple good ones.

The Dude gets really excited about barbecue.  Little does he know, he won't be so excited about it two and a half months later when the leftovers are still in our freezer.

While some of the adults enjoyed bottled beers, the little ones enjoyed their Coca Colas.

Photo by MOH Deniz

Before we knew it, the night was coming to an end, and I was forcing all of my family into a big group picture.  I'm so glad we got this!

Photo by MOH Deniz

I wish we would have gotten a group shot of the Dude's family, too, as well as our wedding party.  I was way too preoccupied with other things to think about who was taking photos.

Next up:  a quick tangent so that I can show you the gifts we got for our wedding party.

What Not to Do on Your Honeymoon

Now that my honeymoon recaps are done, I thought I'd share with you guys some of the things we did wrong.  Hopefully someone can learn from our mistakes!  By the way, I see now why people tend to go to tropical islands on their honeymoons instead of gallivanting through Europe:  it's exhausting!   (But totally worth it, in my opinion.)  At any rate, here's our list of "don'ts" (and some "dos").  Please, learn from our stupids.

• On the last few days of your two-week long honeymoon, don't try to squeeze in a million-and-one sites, activities, and adventures.  Instead, save the relaxing parts of the trip for the end--you'll appreciate those days of rest before returning to "normal" life.

• Don't buy two new pairs of boots on your trip.  Especially when you're literally carrying all of your luggage on your back and everything barely fits into your giant backpack as it is.
  

• This is ridiculously obvious, but don't neglect to check the weather before you go!  Don't rely on your partner who tells you that it's going to be "nice" in Paris.  Nice is relative, people!
  

• Don't bring your (brand new) Sonicare toothbrush and try to plug it in to a European electrical outlet.  Even with a converter, that baby will get fried.
  

• If you're a reading junkie, bring books with you that you don't mind leaving (on the airplane, in your hotel room, wherever)--makes room so you can buy more boots! 
  

• If you plan on carrying on all of your luggage, keep in mind that the U.S. government will not let you bring back any liquids over 100ml.  This means you can't bring back olive oil from Greece for your SIL who had been asking for some for months!  :(
  

• Be sure to learn a few phrases in the native languages of the countries you plan on visiting.  (How much does it cost?  Can I have the bill?  Where is the bathroom?  Do you have Coke Light?)  But don't stress to much over this.  You'll be able to get along even if your tongue freezes up and you forget everything you learned.  Even if you start speaking in Spanish to the concierge at your Parisian hotel. 
  

• If you see a giant Lego Hagrid, take a picture with it!
  

• When it comes to booking hotels, either really do your homework before you go and book in advance, or just show up and find the best deal.  Booking in advance based on a half-assed internet search is a recipe for disaster! 

• Never make fun of your husband for taking too many pictures.  You will be so grateful for all of them when you get back home!
  

What lessons did you learn when traveling on your honeymoon?

Mice in Europe: Athens

Well, folks, this is it.  My final honeymoon recap post.  It's been fun sharing our experiences in Europe with all of you.  Be sure and stay tuned for a post on travel tips and, of course, the wedding recaps!

When I left you last, I said that our ferry from Naxos was heading back to Santorini--what was that all about?  Well, we had booked our ferry from Santorini to Athens before leaving for our honeymoon.  Then we decided, while in Santorini, to take a side trip to Naxos, which meant we had to get back to Santorini in time to catch our ferry to Athens.  We ended up backtracking a bit by going from Naxos to Santorini to Athens because Naxos is actually in between Santorini and the mainland.  In fact, our ferry from Santorini to Athens stopped in Naxos on the way.  In theory, we could have just stayed in Naxos and tried to board the ferry when it arrived there, but we weren't sure how the system worked and didn't want to take the risk of not being able to board our ferry.  So back to Santorini it was but only long enough for a quick bite to eat.  Then it was on to Athens!

We only had two full days in this city, so we tried to fit in as much site-seeing as possibly, even though we were incredibly worn out at this point in the trip.  Our first morning in Athens, we woke up and headed a couple of blocks from our hotel to Hadrian's Arch. 

The Dude let us to some steps that were worn smooth and looked very precarious.  But once we got to the top, it was totally worth the climb.

Check out this view of the Acropolis!







Then we checked out Ancient Agora, basically the hub of ancient Athenian civilization.  This building was completely reconstructed to look as it did back in the day.



The entire porch area was filled with marble statutes from various eras.  We have no idea who this bust is.



This building is part of Ancient Agora.  It's the Temple of Hephaestus, and it is known as the best preserved ancient Greek temple.




After grabbing some lunch, we headed to another ancient site, the Kerameikos cemetery.  It was filled with ancient headstones, beautiful views of a basilica, and lots of turtles. 

Finally, we headed back to the neighborhood near our hotel to see the Temple to the Olympian Zeus.  It was on lower ground than the other sites we had seen that day, and it was much much larger in scale than any of the other ancient temples.  It was completed by Hadrian in the 2nd Century A.D., and it was meant to rival the Parthenon.  It was pretty much breathtaking.

The next day, it was our goal to get up before the sun and see the sun rising over the Acropolis.  We attempted to this, but in our groggy state, we decided to go back to the hotel after the sun came up because we were so sleepy and cold.  We went back to sleep for two hours!  So then it was time to go and fight the masses to see what has to be one of the most popular tourist sites in the world--the Acropolis.





I was reading a book on Greek mythology the whole time we were in Greece, and so luckily I was able to point out that this tree is the olive tree that was planted by Athena when she was running against Poseidon to be ruler/protector of Athens.  The story goes that all of the women voted for Athena and all of the men voted for Poseidon.  When Athena won, that's when men decided to take the right to vote away from women. 



We finally made it to the Parthenon!  So crowded, but totally worth it. 




It was amazing and pretty surreal to see all of the ancient runes in Athens.  Our two days were so jam-packed with seeing as much as we could that we didn't really get a chance to soak up Athens culture like we wanted to.  I'd recommend staying for longer than we did!  It's a beautiful city, and it has a lot to offer.

We woke up very early the next morning to catch our flight back to the United States.  We were sad that our honeymoon was ending, but so happy to get back to our home, our cats, and married life.

Mice in Europe: Naxos

Sure, we were sad to leave Santorini. It truly felt like paradise. (Well, paradise where you can't flush paper down the toilet, but paradise nonetheless.) But we were so excited to hop on our first ferry to Naxos!

We arrived just in time to see the sun setting over the Temple to Apollo. Kind of apropos, since he was the sun god after all.


Finding our hotel was a bit of a challenge, as all of the "streets" in the little port town where we stayed were very tiny and windy. It really felt like we were walking in a maze! We finally got to our hotel that we had booked the day before on Expedia, and the owner told us that he didn't have our room anymore! He had given it away minutes before he got the fax from Expedia. Luckily, he was very nice, and he had already arranged for us to stay in a nearby hotel. This lesson we learned over and over again in Greece--it's better not to book your hotel room in advance because you will probably stumble upon one that has a room available!

We headed back down to the water's edge to have dinner, followed by some Greek coffee and Ouzo.


Greek coffee, although served in adorable espresso cups, is NOT espresso. It is very tasty, however. Just make sure not to drink the grounds at the bottom of the cup. Instead, when you finish, turn your cup upside down and let the grounds trickle down the sides of the cup. After a few minutes, turn your cup back over and read your fortune in the grounds. I have no idea if people in Greece actually do this--I learned this from my MOH's mother, who grew up in Istanbul.


The next day we spent exploring the village. First on our agenda was breakfast. Look what we found on the way:


Ghetto Luxury Dance Club. Do they even get the irony?

Then we enjoyed breakfast near the water. Well, I enjoyed breakfast. The Dude enjoyed a chocolate milkshake.


We got some up-close action at Apollo's Temple.




We walked around the village for a bit.


Next, we decided to splurge on a cab ride to an ancient site in the interior of the island. It's a tiny island, so there really wasn't any public transportation to speak of. We were so glad we made this decision (even though I got a bit carsick from the windy roads)--we ended up at one of our favorite sites of the trip!

Demeter's Temple was actually quite interesting, as it had recently been reconstructed to reflect the various periods of its existence as a religious site: first, as a temple in ancient Greece, then later as a church. In our opinion, the historians and restoration artists did an amazing job of deciding how to restore it.


The temple was nestled into a beautiful, lush valley. I imagine it's no accident, as Demeter was the goddess of fertility. It was breathtaking.


We ended that day with a delicious dinner where we got waited on by two very hot Greeks (one male and one female--lucky us!). I got a little bit drunk and accidentally kicked over the chair across from me when trying to feed a begging cat some bread. Ooops! Luckily there was a table of loud Germans next to us, and I don't even think they noticed!


The next day, we explored a 10th Century castle that was literally built into the hills of the village. It was an incredible place, but it was sad to see what bad shape it was in. They just don't have any money to work with.


These are views from the castle windows!


Then it was back to the port to wait for our next ferry: back to Santorini! Wait, what?

I'll end with a short video from our dinner on the second night. In Greece, many of the restaurants have a ton of appetizers, called mezes, that you order for the table to share. It's similar to the idea of Spanish tapas or Turkish mezes. (And the word actually comes from Turkish. Yeah, I'm a linguistics geek. What, I haven't told you that yet?) Anyway, I thought the mezes we ordered at this restaurant were so pretty I had to share--they were yummy, too!




Did you miss something? Try and keep up, OK? ;)
Mice in Europe: Paris Part I
Mice in Europe: Paris Part II
Mice in Europe: Versailles
Mice in Europe: Milan
Mice in Europe: Santorini

Mice in Europe: Santorini

Our first stop in Greece was Santorini. Santorini is a small, circular archipelago of volcanic islands located in the southern Aegean Sea, about 120 miles southeast from Greece's mainland. The main island is called Thira, and the most beautiful part of the island, where the main thrust of restaurants and hotels is located, is called Oia. We thought it was really cool that Santorini is basically what remains of a larger island after a massive volcanic explosion that took place 3,600 years ago. Now the city of Thira looks out into a water-filled caldera, which makes for some mind-boggling photographs.

Here we are on our first full day in Oia. Believe it or not, this photo was taken from the cafe where we had breakfast. The views don't really get much better than this, people.



There were so many amazing photo ops like this throughout Oia. I have no idea what this building is--we just thought it was pretty.



The next two shots are from the balcony of the hotel we stayed at on our second night. It was called Delfini, and it is run by the sweetest woman I've ever met. When she found out we were on our honeymoon, she told the Dude "I will see you back here next year with one baby." Haha.


I think this next photo is so beautiful it doesn't even look real.


The next day, we woke up and headed back to our breakfast spot--we seriously couldn't find a place with a better view! Here's the Dude checking out a cruise ship that was pulling in to port in the cafe's telescope.


The Delfini was booked for this night, so we had to find a new hotel. My only criteria was that it had a swimming pool. Luckily, I wasn't disappointed. (Those are not my toes, by the way!)


After a relaxing afternoon by the pool, we hung out in the hotel room for a bit and got ready to check out the sunset. I sneaked a few pages of my book while the Dude showered.


This is pretty much how I rolled for most of the trip: with my nose stuck in a book. Hey, I was excited to have free time for pleasure reading for the first time in three years!


When the sun started to go down, we headed up to our hotel's Sunset Terrace to take in the gorgeous Aegean sunset from a sweet vantage point. Some Greek beer and red wine along with a bowl of peanuts were the perfect complement to the setting.


Now it's time for some gratuitous sunset porn. Is that a thing? I just made it one.




Since this was our last night in Santorini, we headed back down for a fancy dinner in a restaurant filled with drippy candles and lace curtains. It was such a romantic setting (but alas, too dark for photos). Here we had one of the best conversations of the trip--we just talked about how excited we were to spend the rest of our lives together and how lucky we are and all that mushy stuff. I'm glad no one we know heard us talking because they probably would have thrown up in their mouths.

Here's one last shot of one of the blue-domed churches in Oia. Beautiful, no?


I had a really hard time deciding which video to share with you guys--we have three full days of awesome Santorini footage! I ultimately decided to go with two because why not? The first is of a wedding processional (or recessional?) we saw on the streets of Oia. (This is Weddingbee, after all!) We saw many couples getting married while in Greece, and we happened to get footage of this one. If we hadn't had our dream wedding in Austin, Oia would have been a magnificent place to tie the knot.



The second is a video of me and the Dude after we finished dinner at The Blue Sky Restaurant in Oia. I had just finished a very spicy salad with something called "rocket." This is us trying to figure out exactly what that meant. (Sidebar: we didn't figure out that "rocket" actually means "roquette" or arugula, a spicy Mediterranean leafy vegetable, until after we got back to the States and I Googled it. Heh.)




Next up: We take a ferry to Naxos to see the Temple to Apollo.

Did you miss something? Try and keep up, OK? ;)
Mice in Europe: Paris Part I
Mice in Europe: Paris Part II
Mice In Europe: Versailles
Mice In Europe: Milan

Mice In Europe: Milan

When I left you guys, we had just seen the Eiffel Tower sparkle in all its Disney-esque glory. We woke up the next morning, had breakfast in our hotel, and took the Metro to the rail station, where we would get on our train to Milan. We were sad to leave Paris but so excited about what was next!

At the Milan Cathedral

We enjoyed a relaxing ride through the French and Italian countryside. The highlight of the train ride was getting to see the Alps--they really do have little snow caps on! We arrived in Milan around 9pm, ready to find our hotel and get something to eat. We'd eaten lunch on the train, but we were definitely saving room for a nice, big, Italian dinner. Unfortunately, we had booked our hotel in advance and it was pretty far from the city center. So much for saving money! We took the subway as far as it would go in our direction and then had a 45-minute walk to our hotel. That's a 45-minute (hungry) walk with giant backpacks on our backs.

We finally made it and checked into our hotel, realizing a bit too late that (a) the hotel restaurant and room service were closed for the evening (b )we were at least a 30-minute walk from any open eating establishments, (c) we were in a very industrial and non-pedestrian-friendly area at about 11pm. We left the hotel and desperately walked along a major highway for about 20 minutes, looking for something, ANYTHING, to eat. When we realized we were much more likely to find a prostitute than a pizza, we admitted defeat and headed back to our room.

We ordered drinks from the hotel "bar" (a dirty room with a few random liquor bottles and two cafeteria-style formica tables) because we couldn't think of anything else to do. They didn't even have milk to make me a White Russian, so instead I got a Black Russian that cost 14 Euros. The Dude (probably more wisely) had a beer. Back in the hotel room, I raged through two cans of mini-bar Pringles. I didn't even enjoy them--I only ate them out of spite! Milan--1, Mice--0.

Eventually we both passed out with thoughts of tomato-y pasta and garlic-y break filling up our angry, hungry little heads. But the next day was a brand new day, and hey! We were on our honeymoon, so we determined to make the most of our one day in Milan.

The Dude had done all of the planning for Milan. All I knew was I wanted to do some shopping! We took the subway to the main square in the city, which is home to the exquisite Milan Cathedral, a foreboding yet beautiful Gothic explosion that towers over the entire square. After lunch (oh, heavenly sandwiches and potato chips!), we explored every angle of the cathedral.






The Dude suggested we head over to see the Last Supper, which is housed in a church a few stops over from the main square. We hopped back on the subway and arrived at the church, pumped up to see the Last Supper! We walked inside and tried to purchase tickets from the woman sitting at the desk. She informed us that no we wouldn't be getting in to see the Last Supper and that, in fact, it was "booked" until November. What? You have to have RESERVATIONS to see the Last Supper? In a church? Doesn't it seem like there is something wrong with that? Milan--2, Mice--0.

Not to be deterred, we headed back to the main square to get some major shopping in (H&M, Zara, Intimissimi!), as well as to consume massive amounts of beer, espresso, and gelato. Several hundred Euros later, we felt much better! We strolled through the arcade, trying our best to appreciate the city despite our experiences. C'mon, how spoiled could we be? There's no pouting on your honeymoon!





We hung out until dark, did some more damage to our wallets, and then had an amazing (but pricey) dinner in a restaurant in the arcade. The best part: there was a guy singing some covers in English, and I swear he sounded like an Italian Willie Nelson. We were thoroughly entertained. Milan--2, Mice--1.



By the way, when we took this video, we still hadn't figured out that the music was coming from inside the restaurant. We had no idea he was singing live until right before we left! Yeah, maybe we were little tipsy?

Our day in Milan definitely ended on a high note. Up next: we head to Greece!

Did you miss something? Try and keep up, OK? ;)
Mice in Europe: Paris Part I
Mice in Europe: Paris Part II
Mice In Europe: Versailles

Mice in Europe: Versailles

Somehow on the third day in Paris, we managed to take zero photos. So this post is all video. I apologize if you're reading this from work, and you can't watch them!

It was our final day in Paris, and we decided to spend the day in Versailles--if you're not familiar with it, Versailles is a city located just a little outside of Paris. It's the home of the famously ornate Château de Versailles, well known as the home of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI during their marriage. We read in our guidebook that you should get there early, as the Palace tends to get very crowded with tourists during the day. The book also suggested spending the entire day in Versailles. We took the Metro and the RER (kind of like a suburban rail), and it took us about an hour total.

When we arrived, it was cloudy and cold and windy, and we were sleepy! And we had to walk a pretty good way from the train stop to the Palace. Honestly, I just wanted to go back to sleep.

Our first impression upon walking up to the front of the Palace was "Uh, where's all the grass and trees and stuff?"



In our heads, we pictured the Palace of Versailles as we had seen it in paintings or movies: with a beautifully landscaped entrance leading up to the brilliant golden gates. Needless to say, we weren't prepared for all of the gravel. Or the raging lines of tourists. Or the tartar hangover I had from the night before, apparently.

We pressed on and got to see part of the inside of the palace. First, the chapel.




Then down a hall of marble statutes, where the Dude got a little lost.



After peeking into the king's and the queen's quarters, as well as a massive art gallery featuring paintings that tell the history of France through battles, we popped out back to see the gardens.




They were gorgeous, but it was still windy and cold, so we headed off the grounds to find shelter and sustenance.

After grabbing a quick bite and doing a bit of shopping, we hopped on the train back into Paris. We took naps and then ventured out to a sidewalk cafe for some espresso (me) and Coke (the Dude). Can I just say right now that if you go to Paris (or Rome, or Milan, or most other big European cities), you should definitely go to a sidewalk cafe just for drinks at least once a day. I wish we had them here in the States!

Refreshed, we explored the neighborhood around our hotel to get some provisions for our "picnic." Originally we'd wanted to grab food and take it with us to the Eiffel Tower, but it was too chilly. We settled for a cozy evening on our hotel balcony with some wine, cookies, and a baguette. Oh, and don't forget some delicious pastries from this chocolate shop.



Apparently the French girls were also excited for the Dude to get his chocolate on!

At 12:30, we tried one more time to make it to the Eiffel tower by 1am to see it razzle dazzle.



We made it!

Up next: As we head to Italy, our trip takes a turn for the worse.

Did you miss something? Try and keep up, OK?
Mice in Europe: Paris Part I
Mice in Europe: Paris Part II