Beachfront for the Weekend

Hi, y’all!  I hope your Monday was good.  I’m going to be honest and say that mine was a b****.  Really, it was!  I pretty much spent all day either catching up on emails or attending meetings.  And to top it off, I was so freakin’ tired!  This week is going to be rough!  It’s a good thing I like my job!

Well, I promised a recap of the weekend, so here it is…

Note: After uploading my pictures last night, I realized that I didn’t have many good shots for the blog.  I guess it’s because so many people brought cameras that I felt awkward taking bajillions of pictures.  One of Vishnu’s cousins brought her fancy shmancy camera, so once I get a hold of those pictures, I will definitely share some of the good shots.  That’s a promise!

I got to La Jolla on Thursday morning.  After Vishnu picked me up, we headed back to the hotel so I could freshen up.  It was almost lunchtime and we were all starving, so Vishnu, his parents, brother, and I headed to lunch.  We ate at a decent Thai place, and then walked around for a bit.  We were staying at a hotel that was pretty much situated in the best part of La Jolla – the beach was a block away and there were tons of shops and restaurants all around us. 

That night we headed to his cousin’s condo for some family time.  I got to hang out with most of his mom’s side of the family.  They were so incredibly nice!  I felt like they really made an effort to get to know me, and their excitement about our wedding was so genuine.  My nervousness about meeting them completely fell by the wayside as soon as the conversations started going.    So, I didn’t take any pictures that night because I knew that I wouldn’t be posting any of them.  I didn’t want to put a picture of someone on the internet without their consent, and I didn’t want to tell them about my blog…not yet anyways!  I just met them…call me weird, but that’s how I feel!

Day two was equally as fun.  Vishnu’s brother and I woke up and went for a morning run along the beach.  A quick hour long run turned into a 2 hour adventure as we navigated our way back to the hotel.  It was really nice spending time with him…he’s really the little brother I never had!  Take a look at some of our views…

Those are either sea lions or seals…I’m not too sure.  Either way it was incredible to see them relaxing on the rock.  What a life!

Check out this little guy!  There were probably 10-15 of them running around and having the time of their lives.

Friday night we headed to the Mehndhi (Henna) party.  Everyone socialized, ate, and drank.  There was a station set up where women (and men if they wanted) could get mehndhi done.  Again, lots of fun!

The next day was wedding day!  We got up fairly early and started getting ready ASAP. 

Remember how I was so nervous about the sari issue.  Well, because we were so pressed for time, Vishnu’s mom helped me out.  And to be completely honest, her method was very different from my own mom’s.  It didn’t look the way I wanted it to, but it worked.  In the end, it really didn’t matter if my pleats were perfect because, well, it wasn’t my wedding!  Haha.

The wedding was held outside, and it was truly gorgeous – a perfectly manicured golf course in the background and the beach off in the distance.  I don’t think my descriptions of everything would do any justice, so I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves…

Yep…his cousin arrived on a horse.  (For those of you who are completely baffled by this, I’ll explain more later.)

The beautiful bride and groom!

Oh and look at my mehndhi the next day – a deep red!

The reception was held an hour or so after the wedding.  The ballroom was beautifully decorated with bright colors as you can tell by our table’s centerpiece…

There was lots of dancing and eating at this reception.  The bride and groom wanted everyone to have fun and in order to loosen the crowd up a bit, they opened up the night with their very own dance number.  They performed a choreographed dance to a few different songs.  It was so cute!  And they definitely set the bar high for me and Vishnu.

All in all it was a great weekend!  I’m so glad I was able to take part in this event and meet a lot of Vishnu’s family.  Now I really can’t wait until my own special day!

Did you have a good weekend?