Matt and Julie did a heck of a job picking a wedding date. Suzi, Sloane, and I traveled south for some fantastic weather in St. Augustine last weekend and the last of the Anderson weddings. Not only were we stoked to see the oldest Andy get hitched, we also couldn’t wait to see Matt’s house that we heard was near completion. Word on the street was that there were actually walls and floors!

We thought it might be tricky just getting out of town since it was Sloane’s first time flying. Suzi was a little nervous about how Sloane would handle the changes in air pressure during take-off and landing, and decided to head off any freak-outs at the pass by feeding her on the up and down. It worked, we arrived without a hitch. Whew. We picked up a rental in Jacksonville and cruised down to St. Augustine with Jenn and Eric to check out Matt’s digs. Which looked amazing. Having seen pictures of the process and taken part in some of the demo, it was incredible to walk in on beautiful wood floors and new drywall; instead of a shell with all exposed studs and sub-flooring. Wow. We were still put to work upon arrival though. The poor guy has been living out of a storage unit for a couple years and needed some dudes and an extra truck (Jeff!) to help get some furniture in the place. Check in at www.andersondrive.com over the next few weeks for some pics that are sure to come. It may be a while though. The bride and groom are snuggling out in snowy Colorado as I write. Ha.

OK. Everyone picked up their duties pretty quickly during the rehearsal Friday night and Mom and Pop put on a wonderful rehearsal dinner in a great downtown restaurant. The Saturday wedding ceremony was at the Cathedral Basilica, a historical anchor for the city. Matt and Julie decided on a traditional mass with Latin elements, which was very nicely done. Julie was beautiful and Matt looked sharp in his pink bowtie (come on now, wait until you see the pictures).

Everyone then walked across the street to AIA restaurant for the reception. Matt and Julie did a nice job scheduling everything within walking distance, and St. Augustine is the ideal walk-about city. All the streets have cobblestones and small, boutique shops. It’s a wonder we weren’t completely distracted each time we headed out. The reception was a blast. I had my own father-daughter moment when Sloane yanked a full glass of champagne onto my lap. Really special. Matt and Julie looked like they were having a great time and then before we knew it, they were off!

We were off the next morning ourselves and must have been feeling pretty lucky because we decided to see how Sloane reacted to the take-off and landing without any assistance. The extra seating in our row may have done the trick, but she did great. No fussing and no delays made for a nice cap to the weekend.

I should mention that we had the pleasure of hanging out with Kevin Hurley Photography again. Kevin has photographed all the weddings for the Anderson kids over the last three years and I think we’re all sad that we don’t have any more weddings for him to shoot. He’s done an amazing job with each one and everyone always talks about how enjoyable he is to have around and work with. We did get Sloane down to his studio early this year and I would wager he’ll have more Anderson/Hery babies to shoot in the future. If you’re looking for a photographer for any event, you won’t get higher recommendations from us for anyone other than Kevin and his team.

Congrats to Matt & Julie on their wedding and a big high five for planning a flawless weekend! We’ve got plenty of pics in the Photo section and want to mention that a lot of the picture credits should go to our guest photographers, Jeff and Eric. Nice job gentlemen. We had a great time visiting with everyone and look forward to the next gathering.

Happy Thanksgiving!