Allison here...blogging about the wedding I attended last night of our friends Nick and Zoe. They both like to do life in their own style, so I knew going into the wedding that it would be done in true Nick and Zoe fashion. For starters, the wedding took place at the Brookfield Zoo. May I say that is an awesome location for a wedding. I had never been there before, but the grounds are gorgeous -- like a botanical gardens. The zoo guests were taken a back by all the people dressed up for a wedding and, yes, we did hear a dinosaur roar every 2 minutes during the ceremony, but it was awesome.
The wedding was held in a pavilion outdoors and the bride looked beautiful. Most of the music was on CD from a group called the Vitamin String Quartet -- basically orchestral versions of rock songs. Part of the ceremony was to the song "We're Going to Be Friends," a White Stripes song I recognized from "Napoleon Dynamite." I nearly cried at the bridal processional song -- "The First Day of My Life" by the BrightEyes, but performed by the bride's sister and groom's father. Two songs I'm totally going to download.
After the ceremony, all the guests boarded a tram for a private tour of the zoo which ended at the swamp pavilion, where cocktails were served. It's kind of weird to eat food (especially an appetizer with meat) in front of a live alligator.
Then we were herded (fitting word for a zoo) back into the tram to the reception at the Discovery Center. The reception was amazing with great food and lots of good dancing. One of my friends is pregnant and it was fun to watch her get her pregnant groove on. Another of my friends is a choreographer -- best dancer on the floor hands down!
I've known Zoe through my small group at my church here in Chicago. It's been so cool to see her journey of faith and her relationship with her now husband progress. She looked so beautiful and so happy -- I was so blessed to be there.
At the same time, this is one of the last events I'll see this great group of friends I have been a part of for the past two years. So, I thought I would share pictures of these people who have been such a great part of my life.
I hope that we can still come in and hang out now that we're moving to the suburbs, but we're moving too far to attend our same church, so we'll have to find a different small group to attend. I'm so thankful for these ladies who have experienced highs and lows with me during the past two years. I will definitely miss them.
