Josh and Katie's Baltimore Nuptials

We've been to nearly a wedding a month this year with our last being in the last days of 2011.

Our Charlotte friends, Josh and Katie got married on 12.30.11 in the Charm City!

Baltimore!!

They've been engaged for over a year giving the bride plenty of time to pay attention to every little detail.

I was impressed!

When we checked into our hotel we received a welcome box full of Maryland goodies.

Love the pretty ribbon and sticker!

We were shuttled from our hotel to the church, all in Downtown Baltimore.
The church looked gorgeous decked out with poinsettias.

A lot of people were taking pictures during the ceremony but Brad is totally against that.
So, here's the picture of the bride I got afterwards.

Her dress was Priscilla of Boston.

Gorgeous!

To match the beading on her dress she had bling added to her bouquet.
I didn't get any good pictures of the bridesmaid dresses but they were simple and elegant and most wore big rhinestone earrings.

Perfect for a New Year's Eve weekend wedding!

Sparklers as they left the church.

Then we were all shuttled over to their reception venue.

The historic Belvedere.
For all you Mad Men fans, they recently filmed a couple of episodes here.

This place was impressive!

It's an old hotel they've converted into condos with a ballroom venue on the 12th floor and a bar overlooking the city on one of the top floors.

When we stepped off the elevator there was a table set up with family wedding pictures.
I did this too, but only had our parents wedding pictures.

She had pictures of great grandparent's weddings!

That's impressive as well!

For me, it was like an act of Congress getting our parent's pictures.

Name cards for the sit-down dinner.

Their favor was a donation to two causes close to their heart.

Josh's brother suffers from a spinal cord injury due to an ATV accident several years ago and Katie works with children who suffer from autism.

Their cocktail hour, of course included Maryland crab dip.

And, these yummy chicken taco bites among other food.

The newlyweds at the cocktail hour.

Then, we were ushered into a separate room for the dinner.
One word for this room.

AMAZING!

Brad even took a video with his phone to capture just how gorgeous this room was.

Love all the little details.

The meal consisted of a first course of salad and then a second course of salmon and beef.
Yum..

Katie has two sisters and Josh has two brothers so they had two best men and maid of honors.
Cool or what?

This is one of Josh's brother's giving his toast.

They all did a great job!

We were one of three couples from Charlotte.

We finally got a chance to meet their friends Erin and her husband Craig for the first time.
We're already making plans to all do dinner very soon!

One of the best parts of the reception for me was when I met two guys from my hometown!
(Well, where I went to high school and all my family lives)
The groom is from Arkansas so two of his good friends are from Hot Springs.
Of course, giving it's not that big of a town, we know a lot of mutual people.
They know a lot of my family too!
They're a few years younger than me, so of course, I didn't know them.
Very fun though!

Their wedding reception was one big dance party!

I can't remember the last time I saw so many people dance at a wedding!

Kids, parents, everyone!

Brad said he thought he was at a rave at one point!!

HAHA!

The bride and groom both did such a great job!

What a lovely event and we're so glad that we were included in their special day.

The party didn't end here though.

A big group from the wedding spent New Year's Eve at a fun restaurant on the water in Downtown Baltimore.

More on that tomorrow!