A Road Trip to Illinois

This past weekend we had the privilege to road trip down to Peoria, Illinois to see some good friends and celebrate the marriage of Tyler and Breanna! On Friday morning at 5:45am, I packed up the last of my cold medicines (my cold was still lingering a bit) and our friend TJ picked Andrew and me up outside our apartment building. We were on the road by 6am sharp. After taking a minor wrong turn and ending up in White Bear going West instead of going East, we were on our way headed in the right direction. I was able to sleep a lot on the way there which was nice to catch up on my sleep after not sleeping much from having my cold. The trip was about an eight hour journey, but it felt like it breezed by. Before I knew it we were pulling into Normal, Illinois where we would stay with our good friend Noah (who moved there after graduating college) and a handful of other friends who had made the eight hour journey.

A few hours after arriving we were on the road again to Peoria, Illinois for the Hetland wedding. The wedding was held at Kickapoo Winery, and it was one of the most beautiful locations I've seen for a wedding. The ceremony was held in an open air barn and they could not have been blessed with any better weather. It was sunny, yet it wasn't too hot and there was a nice breeze blowing through the barn. The vineyard was just to the left of the barn so you could look out and see all the vines. It was gorgeous. What a perfect place to exchange vows and proclaim your love for each other.

My handsome date

Ladies, meet TJ.

A beautiful sunset… One of my favorite things!

We failed at getting the Sunset in the background

The dinner and dance were held inside the Kickapoo Winery building. They had a perfect sized ballroom for dinner and dancing. After a fabulous dinner and a yummy cupcake dessert, we danced the night away and entertained ourselves with the photo booth (Yes, there was a photo booth! And yes, I took multiple pictures… again!). The DJ for the dance was fantastic playing just the right music at the right time with a lot of upbeat tunes, but still a few slow songs thrown in there. By the time we made it back to Noah's that night we were all exhausted.

My handsome date and I trying out the photo booth props

Noah and Andrew

Noah, Andrew, TJ

I found a dead chicken

Me and Sarah with Andrew creeping in the background.

Me, Sarah, and Gaby

Me, Sarah, Bobbo, and Gaby

Andrew acting like a clown

Bre and Tyler decided to have a photo booth at their wedding instead of a guest book. The idea was for everyone to take a photo or two (or four in my case) to document in a fun way that you were at the wedding. 

Andrew and Me

Photo courtesy of The Guest Booth

Sarah, me and Gaby

Our message to the bride 

Photo courtesy of The Guest Booth

Back Row L-R: Andrew, TJ, Cody, Gaby, Bobbo, Noah

Front Row L-R: Me, Wade, Sarah, 

Bottom Two: Schuey and Kent

Photo courtesy of The Guest Booth

Boys in Back: Schuey, Tyler, Wade, Noah

Girls: Me and Sarah

Photo courtesy of The Guest Booth

Back Row L-R: Wade, Cody, Andrew, Bobbo, Cody, Schuey

Front Row L-R: TJ and Noah

Photo courtesy of The Guest Booth

The next day we slept in a bit before packing everything up to head home.  On our way home we stopped in Peoria, Illinois (where Bre, the bride, grew up) and enjoyed some yummy food, pool volleyball, bags, and gigantic blow-up bouncy castle. What a fantastic way to end the road trip. I wished we could have stayed one more night and just hung out with everyone, but we were thankful we were even able to go. On the way home I basically read the entire way. I had brought a really good book and got completely sucked in. It helped the eight hour drive home go by fast! We saw an interesting car on the way home too…

Bre and Tyler thank you so much for allowing us to share your special day with you! You two have a beautiful story that I can't wait to see play out year after year! We're praying for many blessings on your new marriage. May you always keep Christ the center. 

This was our ninth wedding this summer… three more to go!