DESTINation Wedding

The first weekend in April we got to go to our dear friend Nikki's wedding in Destin, FL. (It was the bride and groom's cleverness to call it a DESTINation Wedding - I just stole it from them for my blog post :)). Matt and I were so excited for this trip for several reasons: First and foremost, to help celebrate our friend; secondly, to get to see all of our other Dallas friends (whom we miss dearly); last but not least, for a mini-vaca for ourselves. It was a wonderful weekend!

We arrived on Thursday afternoon. After checking into our hotel (Hilton Sandestin), we promptly headed out to the beach, where we relaxed by the water with a beer. That night we got to spend time with the bride and groom and other wedding attendees who had arrived on Thursday. Some of our Dallas friends were in by Thursday, and we were super excited to see the Reynolds and the Rockenbachs. Everyone headed to a very cute area of Destin called Baytowne Wharf were we ate at Graffiti (I think the official name is Graffiti & The Funky Blues Shack). Matt and I shared the special - blackened tilapia with shrimp and angel hair pasta. It was super yummy!

Friday was beach day. We lazed by the beach with the other Dallas peeps staying at the Hilton Sandestin, and it was a very relaxing, breezy day. Unfortunately, beach day = sunburn for Carissa :( As usually happens with the first major sun-time exposure of the summer season, I had a very bad, stingy burn on my legs. Sadly, this kept Matt and I in for the night, and we missed out on the going out, fun festivities with everyone else. However, we did enjoy a nice Sushi dinner at the Sushi bar in our hotel. The Sushi was surprisingly good; we enjoyed edamame, a sashimi sampler and a roll.

Yes, this is how white we actually are ;)

Saturday we had a gorgeous day - perfect for the wedding. We took advantage of the weather during the early part of the day with a bike ride around Sandestin (the name of the resort community we were staying at within the city of Destin, FL). First, we biked to the Residence Inn Marriot Sandestin to say hello to our Dallas friends who had come in the night before. Then we biked to Baytowne Wharf and enjoyed a lunch of salad, grouper and seafood etouffee at The Acme Oyster House. Then we met up with the Rockenbachs at Rum Runners and had some delicious margaritas while we strolled through the Baytown Wharf area. We ended up on a pier overlooking Choctawhatchee Bay where we admired nice yachts and watched fish jump for a little while before heading back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding.

The wedding was at WaterColor Inn & Resort. The weather was gorgeous, the setting was amazing - it was a perfect wedding. Our friend Nikki looked beautiful, and her now husband, Brad, looked very nice as well. Most importantly, they were both very happy, very much in love and it was great fun being a part of their day. The reception was way fun. There was an abundance of yummy food. Appetizers included oysters on the half shell, shrimp cocktail, ceviche/lettuce taco, tomato soup with mini cheese sandwiches and more I'm sure I'm forgetting. Dinner was a lovely buffet of wedge salad, grilled veggies, fish and steak. And, of course a super cute wedding cake for dessert PLUS a late-night snack of milk and fudge brownie. As if that wasn't enough for a good time, there was an open bar, a wonderful band, lots of dancing and good friends :) Congratulations to our friends Nicole (aka Nikki) and Brad Smedberg!