This weekend the kids and I drove 8 hours south to attend a family wedding. After last summer’s wedding in Florida and several trips to visit family in Georgia and South Carolina, we consider ourselves fairly seasoned road warriors. But something always seems to go wrong, doesn’t it?! This time, the air conditioning decided to call it quits for the first 6 hours. Desperate times call for desperate measures; like windows cracked doing 75 on the freeway and clothespin hairdos (why I had a clothespin but no hair-tie in the car is quite the mystery).

At least gas station pit stops in the south are interesting!

Good news is that the air decided to kick back on for the remaining 2 hours, so we made it there in reasonably sane shape.

Several relatives traveled all the way from California to join in the festivities and the predicted thunderstorms held off for the outdoor rehearsal dinner/picnic.

With the wedding set for later that evening, we spent Saturday morning taking in the sights of Savannah, GA. An absolutely stunning city with a rich visual tapestry of big old trees, manicured open squares and historic brick buildings.

The tallest steeple in the city belongs to the Independent Presbyterian Church — also the one from which the feather falls in the opening scene of Forrest Gump. Unfortunately, the park bench that he sat on was only a movie prop and is no longer in the park nearby.

We brunched al fresco on fried green tomatoes and the sweetest sweet tea I’ve ever had the pleasure of sipping. I think I could totally be a southerner, at least when it comes to food and ambiance. Humidity and bugs, not-so-much (as if Virginia is much better).

Once everyone had cleaned up, the main event was held at an old plantation homestead. Built in 1929, the two story brick house overlooks 2700 acres of the most picturesque southern landscape you can imagine. Huge oaks dripping with spanish moss set a very romantic backdrop.

This motley crew is responsible for ushering me into this family in the first place! Many many years ago I spent a summer as a nanny for those young ladies (then only 9 and 10 years old!) and drooled over the prom photo of their “hot” cousin on the fridge. It took a couple years for Handsome and I to meet and fall in love in person, but I could not have asked for a more adorable, hysterical, and down right fantastic family to be married into.

Speaking of family, let’s get a shot of the beautiful couple up here already! Geez.

Told ya the scenery was perfection!

My kids are the luckiest to have so many awesome aunties to dote on them. Trust me, they eat it up. Every. Minute. And the coral ensembles were totally not planned… we’re just that good.

I mentioned they’re hilarious, right? I thought so.

Tented reception shenanigans followed and continued until past our bedtimes. As we were turning in for the night, Songbird says, “That was the best night of my whole life. I could have stayed on that dance floor forever. Thank you for bringing us, Mommy.”

Truth is, I would not have missed it for the world. This is the stuff the good life is made of.