wedding festivities

We spent this past weekend enjoying a multitude of festivities celebrating our good friends Carter and Aveesh's wedding. The fun started with the women getting henna tattoos applied in ornate designs on our hands. My hand is freshly painted in the pic- the muddy paint dries and then lemon and sugar is dabbed over it to help the design emerge. The mud flakes off and leaves an orangey color that darkens into a nice brown.


It was nice to spend time with Aveesh's mom (seated in green) and his sister Amrita (standing in aqua) and learn about the interesting rituals and customs of India. It was also a pleasure to see all the gorgeous jewelry the ladies were sporting!


That evening we attended the rehearsal dinner held in a beautiful (and enormous!) house on a mountain top in Black Moutain. The drive up to the house was harrowing, with hairpin turns and steep drop offs, but the views were spectacular! My camera phone just couldn't capture the beauty- the only decent pic I could get was my girl in her party dress.


Carter looked radiant in her gown and jewels, surrounded by the mountains and lush green of Hidden River. Her henna hasn't fully darkened on her hands, so its hard to see.

The bride and groom, preparing to say their vows, along the river and under the trees. I loved that his shoes were red Cydwoqs!

Azalea loves weddings- she's constantly dreaming up ways for her dolls to tie the knot. We joke that she'll probably grow up to be a wedding planner! See how attentive she is?

Greg took this picture of us posing in the gardens, I wish he noticed that my feet are cut off! I have bronze colored ballet flats on, in case you were wondering.

The next day, Carter's family threw a barbeque party at the same location and we enjoyed a Southern feast. Azalea and Kira (my girls new favorite person) skipped stones and blew lots of bubbles. We had a great time with the Chumtong family (proprietors of Saki Silver), since they stayed with us during all the fun. We always enjoy having guests and showing folks our town! Now that the weekend is over, it feels like we did enough to fill a week! I spent the day cleaning and relaxing (mostly relaxing...) and driving around town looking for Azalea's birthday present (she turns 5 this friday!). Maybe I'll have time to paint her 10 piece nesting doll! It's been on my things to do list for ages, but its so much work, I've never gotten around to it. Well, I better get started!