Labor of Love

Labor Day weekend. Not only is it a long weekend, but in our minds its the end to a fabulous (and probably all too fast moving) summer. The last family BBQ, the last trip to the beach, (for most, not us!) the last week before school, and the last weekend to wear white pants, skirts, and shoes! (forgive me, I'm no fashionista and I'm aware that this rule is somewhat unofficial, just one I choose to humor myself) This labor day I had the pleasure of witnessing the union of marriage (well the conclusion to their elopement) of my future mother-in-law, (who will probably need to change this now) and her new husband Craig Money. It's sorta funny that she came into the marriage with two sons and he, with two daughters. Lee and his oldest daughter, Allison, are about the same age and Katy, his youngest daughter and John are the same age. Weird. I'm happy to say that I'm marrying into one incredible family and now I'm happy to not only have a fabulous brother in-law but 2 sister in-laws as well! Now being that I had no camera but merely a cell phone camera (which btw worked better than the borrowed digi from Hope) I have only a couple of pictures. I know several people took pictures and I'm waiting to see those and hopefully can post some of them for you.
Before I go into details..here are a few pictures of the fabulous hotel we stayed in. Its in the middle of downtown Winston-Salem in the middle of Olde Salem. The Brookstown Inn used to be an old mill. It was full of lovely details. Our room had 20 foot ceilings with wood beams and a chandelier. Our bed was up on a loft overlooking the living area. It was gorgeous! Here are a few pictures of the outside and interior of the hotel.





Here is a brief description of the Hammarback-Money wedding weekend (which I like to more commonly refer to as the Money Nups!)

On Friday upon arrival (after our jaws dropped at the beauty and splendor of our hotel rooms) Lee decided to Iron his suit. Glad he decided two hours BEFORE the wedding, as he left it a home. I packed everything right down to his hair gel and forgot his suit that we annoyingly purchased at the last minute the night before at Kohls. We made the 15 minute trek to Belk to meet Julie (she was having her make-up done) and we picked out a doozie of an outfit for the Money nups! We headed back to the Inn and quickly got ready and made our way downstairs for the complimentary wine and cheese at the bar. We met up with Loren and Janna (who had already lost her glasses somewhere at the bar) and Aunt Linda and Uncle Ken! Such a blessing to have all of them arriving from Minnesota! Grandma Merle and Grandpa Ken were hot on their tails..they wanted their free alcohol and dairy too! We headed into the ceremony-reception banquet room (goregous) and made our way to the open bar and found our table. AND in somewhat opposite fashion..had dinner (WHICH WAS YUMMO!) After dinner, Lee and John joined their Mom, Craig, Katy and Allison for their ceremony. After much debate over if Craig was really the one, I could tell by the tears in Lee's eyes that he knew C-Money actually meant what he was saying to Julie. There were tears and laughter. After the ceremony the bride and groom cut the cake and everyone refilled their glasses for the toasts. Several people made toasts including Lee who once again got a little emotional..(love my little sensitive man). A surprise was when Julie sang "God Bless the Broken Road" to Craig..with a little back-up vocal from Loren. It was beautiful. I don't think there was a dry eye in the house. The band the starting playing some music for the bride and groom's first dance and was then joined by Katy and Allison and John and Lee. It was a great wedding...two weddings in Winston-Salem within' two weeks. I'm so excited for our wedding...we will have the same anniversary as Julie and Craig and my dad's anniversary is September 5th...Loren and Lizzy are September 2nd! Let's hear it for the labor day nups!
The next morning we headed across the street for breakfast at "Mary's of Course." I think that was the best breakfast burrito in the history of breakfast burritos. Lee's basil and mushroom eggs benedict were incredible..as well a side of southern grits! Aunt Janna was licking her plate..she loves some grits! After breakfast we said our good-byes and started on our way to Roanoke!
We arrived at my grandparents house to be greeted by my everyone! I was so happy to see them all..I think the last time may have been Jenny's wedding! We stayed and hung out with them for several hours and it was just what I needed. Then we headed over to Jeff and Alisha's for the Hokie game! It was the first game of the season against ALABAMA. I mean come on...as much as I love my Hokies...ALABAMA was sure to win this one. The Hokies did pretty well against such a good team but I'm a little more than disappointed in the Hokie offense this year..we shall see. We plan on going to a hokie game or two as well! We stayed the night at the Consroe home and woke up early to have breakfast and start the journey home. Lee really wanted to go see Jason and his new house and I went to see Hope! GOOOOOSH I miss her. She's coming down here in a few weeks for the Blink182 concert so I'll see her then! We decided to make our way home on Sunday so we could have a day to ourselves at home and go to the beach. Doesn't look good so far..its rainy and grey..drats! We're hoping for sunshine later so we can say our final farewells to summer.
Hope everyone has a fab weekend..stay safe!

Meg~