Chelsi and I have known each other for a very long time. We got much closer as we’ve gotten older, especially since she’s Danielle‘s long time bff 🙂 I was super honored to be invited to her wedding! She and Chad now live in Tifton, only about 30 min away from me, and it’s so wonderful to know a good childhood friend is nearby. They had one of the most unique weddings I’ve attended and we were fortunate to be on the short guest list 🙂
They got married in Destin, Florida on Thursday May 26th at 4 pm. We left that morning and found a wonderful Hampton Inn hotel in Fort Walton Beach. We decided to stay Thur-Sat so we could go home and go out on a date for our anniversary. Now that Kye won’t nap in the car we took a chance and got to the hotel before his nap (actually it was WAY before since there’s a time change in Destin that we totally forgot about!). Of course, a room wasn’t ready yet so we went over to Waffle House and had lunch and then let him watch a movie in the car until they had a room. I was surprised how well he did going down for a late nap, I thought he’d struggle but he did eventually fall asleep. Score! I got ready while he (and Daddy…) napped then we headed to the wedding!
It was so neat that the wedding invitations said a location would be decided for the ceremony…it was a beautiful spot on the beach!
We got there early so we took some pictures (duh!)
My handsome boy!
ceremony site
(thankfully the rain held off! and the clouds helped cool everything down which was nice!)
checking out the waves
Here comes the bride with her bridesmaid, Danielle!
Chelsi’s grandfather married them which was so special
loved her dress!
I was pretty nervous about how Kye would behave during the ceremony. We didn’t take him to Claire‘s, Danielle‘s, or Taylor‘s. He hasn’t been to one since my brother’s and I had LOTS of help with him there plus we had a hotel room nearby for him to go to when he was ready. Being such a small, intimate wedding it’d be pretty noticeable if he was acting up! Thankfully we had snacks and it helped us out even more that the family passed out little bags of shells to toss as the bride and groom left so Kye played with those 🙂
pretty Mrs. Butler!
Kye’s shells
vows
yay! the kiss!
attempt at a family picture after the ceremony
Wish Kye was looking a little happier but he was pretty ready to go (it’s tough for a toddler to be soclose to the ocean and not allowed to swim in it!)
After the ceremony we headed over to a SUPER nice house that the family rented for the week. They had a ton of yummy food (most of which CHELSI made HERSELF!!!) and we enjoyed getting to know all the sweet people in Chelsi and Chad’s families. There was even another toddler there who Kye enjoyed bugging to death (the poor thing did NOT want to play with him but he was persistent!). Unfortunately we weren’t able to stay too long because Kye’s bedtime and with the time change situation we had to stay on Valdosta time. I’m so glad we were able to be there to celebrate with my good friends and to support Chad and Chelsi on their new adventure! It was such a unique, intimate, and beautiful ceremony and reception!
high school buddies
duh, I always take one more picture!
Up next is more of our fun weekend enjoying Fort Walton Beach, Florida!
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