California Vacation, Part 2: The Wedding

We had hardly been at Gus' parents' house for an hour when it was time to get ready for the rehearsal dinner. The groom is one of Niko's Godbrothers, and the groom's parents are our koumbari (wedding sponsors and Niko's Godparents). So, they are basically family to us. Both kids had been invited to be in the wedding, but Niko had staunchly refused. So it was just us and our little flower girl that went to the rehearsal, leaving Niko home to be spoiled by his yiayia and papou. He was thrilled, haha!

Anyway, off we went to St. Sophia's in Los Angeles, which is a gorgeous Greek Orthodox Cathedral. We went there for Easter services many years ago (before kids), and it has always stood out in my memory as one of my favorite churches. Our koumbara asked me to take pictures for her, so I did! Here are just a few...

Here they are, practicing the walk around the altar (three times). The guy walking behind them and holding the ribbon is the groom's brother, so Niko's other Godbrother. Both of our kids adore them!

Here comes the groom and his parents (our koumbari!)

And our favorite flower girl, with her new friend (And flower girl partner) Andrianna. Interesting fact: the last time I saw Andrianna, she was a little one-year-old running around my baby shower for Niko. Times have changed!

After the rehearsal, we moved on to a delicious dinner at the Palm Restaurant in downtown L.A. Maya sat with her new friend at the kids' table, where she ordered a glass of milk and was happy and can be. We visited with friends old and new, and really had a nice time! We left sometime after 9pm, and our happy little flower girl passed out almost immediately.

------------------------- The next day, all the kids in the wedding had orders to report to the hotel (the reception site) by 12:30pm. This meant we were up and dressed and out the door by 11. Our little flower girl was gorgeous in her white dress!

And we took a family picture, but Niko wasn't going to meet up with us until later in the day, so he was still in his pajamas. :-P

The next few hours were filled with lots of waiting around and picture-taking (not by me!). It wasn't too exciting, at least from our perspective! But we had sandwiches to eat and it was fine. Soon, it was time to head to the church!

I didn't take any pictures during the ceremony, happily enjoying my role as a guest. But Gus' sister filmed Maya doing her flower girl duties, which I was thankful for! Anyway, the ceremony was beautiful, and brought back all sorts of memories from nine and a half years ago. And then we were off to cocktail hour at the hotel-- the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Very, very fancy. We took some family pictures in the lobby first:

And then we had drinks and appetizers (mini beef Wellingtons, among other goodies! yum!). Maya was punch-drunk. It had been a long day, but she was just happy to be there and sucking down some lemonade.

Then they opened the doors to the ballroom, and I got to SIT DOWN (yesssss!). I am so not meant to wear high heels. I was dying! But we took all kinds of pictures. Here I am with my hot date...

And a shot of the ballroom (if you look in the foreground, you can see Gus, his parents, his sister, and Niko... I think Maya was lining up outside for the bridal party entrance)

And the kids' table. We weren't sure if our kids would stay there, but they had fun! And they got fruit cups instead of scallops, and chicken strips instead of filet mignon... They were VERY happy about that!

The kids were served first, and Maya was soon asking us when the dancing would begin. We told her to go for it... and she did! She danced her little heart out! A ring bearer followed suit, and soon even Niko was out there showing off some break-dancing moves. It was AWESOME!

As the night went on and everyone finished eating, the adults took over the dance floor... there was a live Greek band and everything! VERY fun (and loud!!!).

At around that time, the Greek dessert tables opened up in the cocktail area, and we discovered the photo booth. Everyone went to the photo booth multiple times, with very entertaining results! And at around 10pm, we had two very exhausted kids on our hands. So we loaded up the cars and headed home. All in all, we had a LOT of fun, but the days filled with wedding events were VERY long for us. I eagerly awaited the rest of our vacation where I wouldn't have to wear high heels. :) And more on that later!