costa rica

Finally, some photos from our beautiful honeymoon in Costa Rica this past May!

my wedding day

My much belated wedding post (ignore the date stamp)! On May 16, 2009, Patrick and I were married at St. Louis Church in downtown Buffalo.

When I woke up in the morning I felt calm, sort of like any other day with something big to wake up and do. I didn't spend too much time reflecting, just wanted to keep moving on schedule and make sure everything was right. My sisters and mother and I went to the salon after a quick breakfast then to the Twentieth Century Club to finish getting dressed and have our makeup done. I absolutely loved my wedding dress and veil, though they were not antiques as many people asked me, they were new and my jewelry was the only old stuff. I really enjoyed this early part of the day, when everything was quiet and private and just involved the girls and my father! When I saw how exquisite the dining room looked and how beautiful the flowers were, I started to get really excited. In a way, I downplayed the details of the day so I wouldn't get caught up in anything if it went slightly askew, and for the first time felt like everything about this day was going to exceed my expectations.

Before we went into the church, I sat in the car waiting through the final few minutes and looking out in awe that these were my wedding guests arriving and this was the way my wedding day looked. Once I got into the back of the church with my father and the bridesmaids I started to get emotional, especially when I heard the kids in the St. Mark's choir singing. It was just like we planned it, except I had always told myself it might not turn out that great, and again here it was going perfectly!

Our ceremony was probably the best part of the day. Although it was a traditional Catholic ceremony and therefore had a format to follow, Patrick and I were very involved in it, and we had meticulously picked the music, the readings and written the prayer of the faithful. Father Zajac gave a wonderful homily. He also made the vows very engaging. The childrens' choir and organ sounded phenomenal. I've been to quite a few weddings and I'm totally biased but I still think our ceremony was the best ever!

After a few pictures in the church we headed over to the Twentieth Century Club for the reception. The cocktail hour was the shortest hour of my life, it flew by so fast. Then Joe and Laurie did their speeches, which were both hilarious, especially when Laurie pulled out her autograph book from 1992 with Patrick's signature in it! After dinner Patrick and I danced to "Wouldn't It Be Nice" by the Beach Boys (a song that took us over a year to pick at the last minute) and my father and I danced to my favorite childhood song, "I Just Called To Say 'I Love You'" - Yay Stevie Wonder!

My personal goal for my wedding this last year is to have a old-fashioned photo booth at the reception - an homage to the stacks of photo booth pictures I have from over the years. And I got one there! I wasn't sure how people were going to take it, but it was a huge hit, maybe too much of a hit with some of my family members! The Party Squad played our reception and we had a pretty good dance floor going. I had requested some Tragically Hip, so late in the evening we had a "New Orleans is Sinking" sing fest where I got up on stage and sang - then fell on my ass like a dork. Oh well, you can't always be elegant, even on your wedding day!

Before the wedding day, Patrick and I had decided to keep it classy and have a formal exit at the end of the night then go straight to the hotel. Although I could have stayed out all night I didn't want to be a messy bride at some late night after party so we left that for our guests! But I did convince Patrick to stay until almost the end of the reception, which was worth staying for, and then we took off. I heard later the after parties were quite fun! Ours certainly was!

and on to something totally new

On May 2nd, the coolest girls I know came out to celebrate my bachelorette party. Thanks to Michelle we had an awesome limo that departed after a classy party at her place and took us all over town for what became an increasingly messy and wonderful night. We lost some soldiers along the way, somewhere between Hertel and Allen and Chippewa, but altogether a fantastic time was had by all! Oh, remembering the good times when we used to have nights like that every weekend!

Speaking of good times, my days as Emilie Riester are practically up. Maybe this is the time to 'officially sign off' as a single lady. I'm a bit sad. Even though I don't anticipate much in my life to be different after May 16th, there are many ways the people around you see and treat you differently and that at the very least will be a change. I'm sort of overwhelmed by the idea of calling someone my 'husband' in a non-sarcastic way! Well, on I go to something totally new!

bridal shower blitz

I was fortunate enough to have had three beautiful bridal showers over the last month!

The first, 'Riester family shower' thrown by Laurie was at the Mid-Day Club. The club is downtown at the top of the Liberty Building so we had a fantastic view of the city, lake and beyond! After lunch, in lieu of games, we played bridal trivia, where I was asked questions and my answers compared to Patrick's, and I totally rocked it.

Then we had a couples shower, or basically a co-ed shower, hosted by the Beecher family and friends at Patrick's uncle's house in North Buffalo. This happened to be the day that Michigan State played in the NCAA semi-finals, so we made the group wait after dinner until a win was ensured before any gifts could be opened! We had a great group of friends and family there and after shutting down the bar at the house, headed out to shut down Fahrety's next.

And then finally we had a 'tea' party at the Buffalo Club hosted by the Beecher ladies. I had such a fun time at all three showers, which were all so different and carefully planned by my awesome family and family-to-be!

san diego

As a last getaway before wedding events ensue, my mother took me on a long weekend in San Diego while she was presenting at a national conference for nurse practioners. We stayed a couple nights at the Town and Country Resort where I relaxed a bit, did some shopping and visited the resort spa. I was super excited to get to eat the local Mexican fare in Old Town, my favorite! But my mother is not so enamored by Mexican food so the flight of tequilas was not in the cards this time. For the latter half of the trip we stayed downtown in the Gaslamp district, a great spot where most of the downtown restaurants and shops are within a short walking distance. We spent a day at the San Diego Zoo and although I am not a 'zoo person' I really enjoyed seeing it. They have a very interesting and weird collection of animals there, by my zoo standards, and being springtime most of them had babies too! On the last day we took a sightseeing trolley around town and visited Coronado Island and Balboa Park before packing up and heading out for our red eye flight. It was a wonderful, relaxing trip!

snow weekend

It has been snowing a lot in Buffalo in the last month, so this weekend Patrick and I decided to celebrate it and went down to the Southern tier for a little break. We drove down to Ellicottville Friday night, through a storm no less, and met up at our friends' ski chalet. Everyone hunkered down by the fireplace with the ski slopes lit up outside the window and had some drinks and played with the doggies. The next day we switched venues and went to our friend's cabin in Little Valley to do the same in a bit more of a rustic setting (the toliet froze mid-way through the evening). But that aside, we had a lot of fun, watched the boys shoot off fireworks and guns in the woods, and trekked around in the snow which was easily half my height. Lots of good company and good food - that's definitely the best way to enjoy the snow!

holi-crazed

The holidays this year were totally overwhelming. For the first time Patrick and I tried to meld two family traditions into one schedule and let me tell you, it takes a lot of work. With that and many other things going on, I felt totally scattered and stressed out and for the first time understood why some people want to just stay in bed rather than celebrate the holidays. Everything from my Christmas shopping to my New Year's Eve plans were totally last minute. Next year I vow to buy all my presents and send all my holiday cards out a month early, so at least I don't have that to worry about!

Anyway, here's the picture from our family Christmas card - season's greetings!