Good morning, friends! Hope you all are doing well. I am very eager to share this post. One of my lifelong best friends, Melissa, is married! And this post is all about that wonderful wedding weekend! I’m looking forward to reliving it all as I write and reminisce 😊.

On August 9th my sister Halston arrived in town! Even though she was bogged down with work during the weekdays, we enjoyed meals together in the evenings. The first night she arrived, we had burgers on the air fryer with a mix of regular and Japanese sweet potato fries. We also enjoyed a big salad with goat cheese, dried cherries, balsamic beet strips and a homemade citrus lemon dressing.

Since it’s tough for Quinn to really eat a salad, I gave her some mixed veggies with her burger and fries!

Play time!

My mom and Pete arrived in town August 10th right in time for my botched dinner lol. I was trying to make us pork tenderloin, but I accidentally got a loin because I didn’t know there was a difference. Ya live, ya learn. I cooked it all wrong, and it was dry as all-getout. Everyone was incredibly sweet and said it tasted great (but we allllll know the truth 😜). I served it with some potatoes from The Little Potato company which were actually amazing, and we had some old reliable bag salads (well, not old, you know what I mean 😝).

Just a girl and her sloth and her Grammy!

The morning of August 11th I made Quinn some egg waffles! These were easy peasy and tasty, I even had one myself.

I made a nail appt since I was in the wedding. The fam hung with Quinnie, and Grampy put her sandbox together while I was out of the house!

That evening was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. The ceremony was at the stunning Severance Hall in Cleveland where the Cleveland Orchestra plays.

After getting the rehearsal down pat, we had dinner at Michaelangelo’s in Little Italy.

It was such a fun evening, and I loved getting to catch up with Melissa’s family and getting to know Michael’s (the groom’s) side of the family better!

I was basically coerced into giving an impromptu speech by one of Michael’s cousins, but I think it went pretty well! That was entirely out of character; I do not publicly speak on the fly in any circumstance, except, I guess, in this circumstance 😆.

The food was great, but I have to share specifically how yummy these cannolis were! I don’t even like cannolis usually, but these were top notch. And they also served various flavors of gelato- it was phenomenal.

I got back pretty late but still got a great sleep before heading back to Cleveland for the wedding day!!

All the bridesmaids, moms and Grandmas got ready together at the hotel beforehand.

Melissa gifted us these beautiful robes with personalized hangers!

And this breakfast 😍. Everything was really good. I particularly loved the passionfruit parfait and croissant with the jam compote.

After all of us got ready, Melissa put on her dress and did the “grand reveal” of her dress. She (and the dress) were GORGEOUS.

Melissa put so much thought into the details of her big day, and she spoiled us as bridesmaids with the sweetest hand written note, a fun tote and a beautiful silver bracelet! We ate lunch chatted, laughed- it was just a perfect start to the day.

After Melissa and Michael did their first look, we went around Cleveland getting pics all over the city! They chose some spectacular settings for the pics like North Coast Harbor and the Cleveland Library (not your average library 😍). I can’t wait to see the pics!

After the photo shoot. we went to Severance Hall. I pumped before going down the aisle. I actually pumped in an old telephone booth! I guess I can check that off the ol’ 2023 Bingo Card 🤪.

And a quick selfie, of course, with the glowing, beautiful bride!!!

The ceremony went off without a hitch, except, obviously, Michael and Melissa getting hitched! 😜.

After, I got to see the rest of my family! We grabbed a few pics outside.

The reception was at the Cleveland Museum of Art. You guys. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a magnificent indoor reception setting! the pictures don’t even fully capture how striking it was in person.

We enjoyed some delicious drinks and appetizers during cocktail hour. I particularly remember we couldn’t stop talking about how delicious the cheese was 😄.

Speaking of cheese- cheesin’ here with my Sis!

I didn’t think it was possible, but as the sun started setting the place just got even more jaw-droppingly gorgeous with the warm, romantic uplighting on the tall stone walls.

We all enjoyed the speeches and dances with misty eyes. I particularly loved Michael and Melissa’s choreographed first dance to Love Story.

The dinner served was tremendous. The steak was cooked to perfection.

And the dessert bar had all kinds of tasty treats. Naturally, I had to sample a little bit of everything!

There was even a ring-lit professional photo booth for pics! We had fun with it!

Melissa and I are friends because our moms met while walking strollers when we were about 6 months old. They are still good friends today, and obviously so are Melissa and I! I was so honored to be a part of her day.

This was the longest I had ever been away from Quinn for a period of time. It helped knowing she was in such great hands with Gigi watching her. When she sent a pic of Quinn sleeping for the night I was so relieved since Quinn had never gone to sleep without us for the nighttime.

It was such a fun, memorable evening, and I just adore Melissa and Michael as a couple. I am SO happy for them.

The next day, we had a lazy morning and ordered Blue Door Bakery for breakfast. This place is the besttt.

The highlights included the jalapeño chicken and waffle, the twice baked almond croissant and cinnamon roll! Oh, also the cranberry scone was the best scone I’ve ever had!!! It was actually moist-I’d never actually had a moist scone, and it was delicious!!

This seems like a good spot to wrap for now 😊.

Questions for you:

– Any memorable wedding stories to share?

– How was your Labor Day weekend?

<3,

Mackenzie