April 22, 2013

A Detroit Wedding!

Last Weekend we headed up to Detroit for my cousin, Ashley’s wedding. It was a really quick trip leaving on Friday morning and returning on Sunday afternoon. It was worth though to share in such a great day and celebrate their marriage with family we don’t get to see very often.

We got there on Friday afternoon after a delayed flight and very uneventful cab ride from the airport. During our 30 minute ride to the hotel all of Detroit we saw was so different from home. Lots of abandoned buildings with windows busted out and graffiti. The hotel however was very nice, our room was a mini suite with a small living room. Apparently all the rooms are set up that way at this particular hotel.

They had made these cute gift bags for all of us when we checked into the hotel. The were filled with candy, water, soda, a cute welcome/thank you poem and recommendations of things to see and places to eat. I wish I had thought about this for our wedding

We headed out the first night to find something eat for dinner and decided on this little Thai place a couple blocks from the hotel. Matt likes really spicy things so he thought it was a great idea to order Curry Pad Thai and ask for it hot. I’m not even exaggerating when I say that he was crying while trying to eat his meal. I kept telling him he didn’t have to eat it, but he insisted that it was good and he liked the flavor.

You can’t really see the tears in this pic

On our walk back to the hotel we saw a few signs talking about taking bridges and roads into Canada. We hadn’t really looked into things to do since it was such a quick trip for us, so we didn’t even realize we were so close to the Canadian boarder. It made us wish we had brought our passports to set off on and adventure. Before we made it back to the hotel we decided to detour for some ice cream at Marble Slab. This particular one was next to the Casino across the street in an alley which they had closed in to make a covered walkway. I’d never seen something like this before it was a smart idea!

That widow roof is actually attached between the two buildings

Right as we were about to walk into the hotel with our ice cream my Aunt called and invited us to come to the rehearsal dinner which was being held at a sports bar near all the stadiums. Since they hadn’t eaten yet and we had, we went upstairs and enjoyed our ice cream first before catching the free shuttle the hotel had to take us around town. By the time we arrived dinner was over and everyone was just visiting and having fun dancing and they were bringing out desert. My cousin ever the bride was busy taking care of last minute changes to the wedding. 
Saturday morning, the day of the wedding, we got up late and headed out to one of the recommended places in the goody bag. It was a brunch place and claimed to have the best breakfast in Detroit. It was quite crowded which was a good sign and we had to wait about 25 min for our table, but the food was good. I ordered “Fried Chicken and Waffles.” I’ve had chicken and waffles at a few other places before and it’s always good. After I ordered it I said to Matt that I wondered if it was going to be actual fried chicken, as in like a chicken wing? Matt thought that was a crazy question and said they wouldn’t server chicken with bones for breakfast. Sure enough though when it came it was chicken wings on top of my waffle!
It was good though!

After breakfast we just hung out at the hotel before getting ready and heading upstairs to the wedding. It was quite nice staying at the same place the wedding was being held and only having to go up one floor to the ceremony. The room they held it in was on the top two floors as it was a large room with windows all around and a balcony around the whole room. 
The wedding was beautiful and I think everyone had a great time! Ashley and Ryan looked like they were having a blast. They did this thing during the ceremony, instead of a the unity sand or candle, called The wine box. It’s a special box they got and inside it you place a bottle of wine and they each write a love letter to each other and place those in there also. The idea is that if you ever come across a rough patch in your marriage that you don’t think you might overcome you’re suppose to open the box, drink the wind and read the letters to remind you of why you fell in love in the first place. If and hopefully you never come to that point, then you open the box of your 5th anniversary, enjoy the wine and read the letters and celebrate. Then you write new letters and place a new bottle wine and do the same for your 10th, and so on for every 5 years. It’s like making your own little marriage time capsule. 
Anyway I’ll just conclude with some pictures of the event, which will better show you how the night went! 

Here comes the bride!

Me with my Cousins

My Aunts and Cousins that attended

Matt said I had to take a picture of him because “It’s rare I look this good!” 

Beautiful centerpieces

The beautiful new Mrs. 
First Dance
The chocolate fountain was so so good!

Me and the beautiful bride

The newest Mr. and Mrs. Heethuis
The highlight of the evening was the photo booth! They used the photo booth as their guest book every photo strip that was taken was placed in a photo album and then you signed next to it. You also got a copy of your own to take home with you! As you can see we had so much fun with it!!
Sunday morning we got up and met my cousins and aunts for breakfast at the hotel restaurant and then packed up our stuff and headed back to Orlando. So it was definitely a quick trip, but well worth it to celebrate such a special day and marriage! Hopefully the newlyweds are having and amazing time on their honeymoon in Thailand! 

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