Our family whirlwind of parties keeps on going!

This past Saturday, we celebrated the second of our two family brides. This time around the shower was for my cousin Kara, who will be marrying Rich in January. The whole family (minus a few key members, such as our grandmother who couldn’t make it up from Virginia for the event) gathered together, along with some of Kara’s closest friends, to celebrate the upcoming wedding.

The shower was held in Westchester, at a favorite restaurant of my aunt and uncle. We arrived in a huge group – my sister, her husband, the baby, and our aunt – to find most of our family members already there. Kara was not there yet, in the grand tradition of the bride arriving once all the guests were there (though the shower itself wasn’t a surprise). We immediately got into the swing of the party. Emily, my cousin and the bride’s sister and maid of honor, had spent much of the morning prepping the room, putting together some framed pictures of Kara and Rich, as well as some other party things.

The party really got underway once Kara arrived. All the women gathered in the party room, while the men (my dad, my cousin Jordan, the groom to be, my uncle, brother in law, etc.) all stayed in the bar area for what we call the “man party” (they did this for my sister’s shower last year as well). Emily had made sure that there was a table just for the bridal party, and so we all gathered together for the first time since we had gone dress shopping (which I will also eventually post about, but I figure that shouldn’t happen until after the wedding!). Emily made a speech.

Food was served, presents were opened, and we had a great time celebrating with Kara. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Up next in the “Real Life” series: Thanksgiving 2014!