Hey y’all,
We just got back from a 10 day trip back to the States. It’s been a year since I’ve been back, which is the longest time I’ve ever been away from the homeland; my last trip back was last summer, which also featured a wedding and a baby. This summer, the wedding was between our best couple friends, Andy Pool and Michelle Elliott. We had been calling it the Royal Wedding because Michelle is actually British. She initially went to the States on a secondment for Rolls-Royce, and well, has now married an American, so she’s there to stay! Awhile back, we dubbed Michelle the “Queen of HR North America,” hence it was only fitting that this also be dubbed the Royal Wedding!
And to explain the Royal Baby part of the title: Doug’s sister Stacey gave birth to Colton William Brewer only 1 day after Prince George was born in the UK. Given the close timing of the births, and that he was born in Charlotte, NC, which has the nickname of “The Queen City”, it was perfect that he could be a Royal Baby. He is certainly heir to the throne in the Brewer household!
Besides the wedding and visiting the baby, we also had some other important items on the agenda. One of those included visiting Doug’s Grandpa Dale and his wife Cecil. Grandpa Dale’s health has been deteriorating, and since he is 90 years old, we thought it would be good to visit him. And besides visiting all these family and friends, we also worked in the Indianapolis office while we were there. It was both to conserve our precious holiday time, but also to make our faces known again in the office and to try to sort out our career options when it’s time to move back to the States in only 6 more months.
Here is our crazy itinerary while we were in the States: fly Manchester to Pittsburgh via Newark; drive to Bridgeport, West Virginia to visit grandparents; drive to Indianapolis to work and go to the Royal Wedding; fly to Charlotte, NC to visit the Royal Baby; and finally fly back to Manchester from Charlotte via Washington Dulles. Phew – we definitely got around during our time there.
Travel map
Us with Grandpa Dale
Instead of detailing what we did every day of the trip, I’m pretty much just going to splash a bunch of pictures at you. Since we were working during the week, nothing too exciting happened there, although we did manage to catch up with a lot of friends throughout the week. Sorry, I forgot to take pictures at most of those events, but you friends know who you are!
Dinner at the Sniders… they have bought a house and had a baby since we’ve been gone!
Meeting up with Andy, Brijan, and Mich at Mass Ave Pub. They tried to reenact their karaoke engagement night for us, since we were also gone for that event.
Mini bachelorette night on the Thursday before the wedding – I know some of the other girls got pictures of the whole group but unfortunately I don’t have one.
Kristina and Corrine getting mani/pedis in preparation for the Royal Wedding!
Rehearsal dinner – Mich is the public speaker in the relationship
Not sure what’s happening here except that B kept saying, “Wait, one more picture, one more…”
Watermelon, green apple, and grape
Bridesmaids!
Me and Tina!
Some green apple toasts on the wedding morning!
Getting beautified! We were lucky to all get our hair and make-up done.
The bride is looking good!
Mum’s got her hat!
Performing some last minute dress surgery
Mich showing off her Notre Dame garter!
Proud mom and beautiful bride
The groomsmen were getting ready too
They were really busy
I don’t have any pictures during the actual Royal wedding ceremony (since Doug and I were both in it), but here is one afterward
Me and Doug in St. Mary’s – this is actually where we also said our wedding vows so that we were legal in the Catholic church
A little throwback to that day when Doug and I said our vows at St. Mary’s – this was on December 12, 2011, about a month after we had our big (dare I say ‘real’?) wedding down in Austin, TX
Back to Royal Wedding pics – me with Brijan!
And party bus time for the wedding party!
Things got a little crazy…
Our friends know how to have a good time
Groomsmen pics by the monument – all checking the time on their pocket watches which were their groomsmen gifts
For once I wasn’t the creepy rando taking pictures of a wedding – this time I knew these crazies!
Nice one of me and Doug
The reception was beautiful and amazing! It was on the 5th floor of the Regions Tower, which had a huge outdoor terrace that we danced on all night!
Cam giving a thoughtful and funny best man speech
Little Antonia is quite the talent. She sang the first dance song as well as other songs throughout the night.
First dance! I love the Indianapolis skyline in the background.
Bouquet toss
Garter toss – check out that garter in mid-air! Talk about timing!
After the reception ended, the party did not! We headed out to the infamous Wild Beaver. Yes, that’s the bride on the bar!
Now the bride and the groom on the bar!
Me and BOB (Black Out Brandon)
Shortly after this last picture, Doug and I called it a night. Turns out things were just starting to get crazy. The night actually ended with the bride taking a trip to the emergency room after a failed piggy back ride on an excursion to Steak ‘n Shake. After spending the rest of their wedding night at the hospital, the outcome: a broken elbow. Let’s just hope that her arm heals up before reception #2 that is happening in the UK at the end of the month! All in all, it was an epic wedding. All the best for our dearest friends Michelle and Andy Pool!
The last part of our trip was a visit down to Charlotte, NC to see the royal baby, Colton William Brewer. He was not even two weeks old while we were there, so he mainly just slept and ate. But he was super cute, and I’m glad we got to see him because he’ll be much bigger by the next time we get to see him! Thanks to Stacey and Thomas who let us crash at their place even though their life must be exhausting right now since they are getting no sleep with a newborn baby in the house.
Uncle Doug and sleeping Colton
He can actually sleep through anything – loud TV, barking dogs, banging doors, etc.
Tummy time!
So sweet
Last pic with Colton before we left.
Check out the Rolls-Royce engines on our Boeing 757 on the flight back.
Our trip back to the States was even better than I could have hoped for. Seeing all of our family and friends really made me miss it more than I realized. I think the trip actually made me more homesick rather than filling that homesick void. I’ll be happy to return in only 6 short months. I’m really glad we got to see Grandpa Dale, as I’m not sure he’s going to be around in 6 months, and I’m glad we got to meet the newest family member, Colton. Also really happy to be a part of an amazing wedding with our closest friends! And the last thing that was so great about our trip: THE FOOD! Wow! The Mexican, the steak, and the BBQ, so much good stuff that you can’t get anywhere else!
Some delicious examples of what we ate during our time in America!
God Bless America!
xoxo
Tara
Schetzels in the UK 