My Daughter's Wedding {Part1}

 

 

Family dinner (missing Adam's brother and his fiancé) Thursday night. Of course, we started the fun with a champagne toast!

 

We are still on cloud nine, almost a week later, and by going back and sorting through these photos, it's easy to see why. We had so much fun the whole wedding weekend. It wasn't a destination wedding per se, but since we don't live in Michigan any longer and most of our friends and family were coming from other states, as well as other cities around Michigan, we treated it as such and planned events in addition to the wedding. Grand Rapids is a beautiful city, with a lot to do and is easily walkable. We were able to acheive an urban vibe, without some of the inconveniences of a larger city like Detroit or Chicago.

 

Welcome lunch Friday, for whoever was in town early, at a pretty outdoor space in one of the brewerys Grand Rapids is known for.

 

 

 

Trolley ride with wedding party to the wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner

 

 

 

 

Rehearsal Dinner Fun

 

 

Welcome To Town Cocktails - post rehearsal dinner.

 

I am so glad we rented the trolley, as it was a fun way to get the wedding weekend started for the bridal party. From the church, we spent some time riding around downtown, with a pre dinner cocktail, before arriving at the restaurant. Adam's parents hosted a lovely dinner, with three kinds of sangria (red, white and mixed) and a delicious family style tapas menu. It was intimate, casual and broke the ice for those in the bridal party who didn't know each other as well.

We all took a short walk back to our hotel (past the love statue of course) and arrived at the hotel bar (outside and overlooking the river) to welcome our friends and family members to Grand Rapids. Everyone was so excited to see Adam and Megan and looking forward to a great wedding day on Saturday.

I can't wait to share the wedding with you in my next post.

Have a wonderful weekend!

 

Sneak Peek

 

 

 

We are back home from our daughter's wedding and feeling all the emotions. Tired from a lot of early mornings and late nights, relieved that everything came together just like we had hoped, filled with love and joy for the newlyweds and most of all very happy. Our two families came together so seamlessly and I can honestly say, everyone had a weekend filled with fun.

I'll be posting more photos in the days ahead, but wanted to give a sneak peek of the photo our photographer posted on her Instagram. I barely touched my phone all weekend, but plenty of others took photos, so I will have some great ones to share with you.

Happy Tuesday from a very happy (and tired) mother of the bride!

 

Sugar Free Baked French Toast with Struesel Topping {Recipe Redo}

 

 

 

 

There was a half loaf of stale french bread in my pantry and I remembered this delicious recipe, first posted all the way back in 2013. I think I have made it one other time for a tailgate, but it's been awhile and like many recipes buried in my archives, it deserved another try.

French Toast is one of my favorite things to have for breakfast, but I only like it made with white bread and I never have white bread in my house anymore. So, the stale French bread became breakfast. The original recipe is for a full loaf and I didn't have that, so I cut the recipe half and put the six slices in an 8x8 baking dish. This needs to sit in your fridge overnight, but it takes no time at all to put together; just slicing bread and whisking a few things together. The struesel topping is added before baking in the morning, so to save more time, I mixed the brown sugar, flour and cinnamon, but waited to add the melted butter.

This is pretty much fool proof and it perfect for a breakfast or brunch crowd. Or if you are like me, indulge a little (but, it's still sugar free of course) and treat yourself any day of the week.

Happy Wednesday!

 

{ Linking with these friends}

Savvy Southern Style

Between Naps on the Porch

21 Rosemary Lane

Stonegable