Wedding in Coral Gables, Feb 2 - 4

 What a wonderful wedding!
 We drove from Vero to Coral Gables with a stop in Lake Worth for sushi and to buy a few Thai flower ornaments for Barbara's hair. Then, on to Coral Gables where we had booked a HomeAway months ago.

  Julia and Randall had scheduled a beach wedding in Islamorada which had to be moved because of hurricane damage. They were lucky to get the Coral Gables Biltmore Hotel, a grand hotel.
  Our HomeAway bungalow, unfortunately, was double booked, and the owner, Nick, offered to let us stay in his house (with his dog) for one night. We were a bit ambivalent as it meant sharing a bathroom and not being in the full apartment. But - our choice was to move to an expensive place, so we took a gamble.

  One problem was that we had to wait 45 minutes for him to arrive to let us in. The room itself was a bit small and cluttered and had only a double bed, but....it was clean and adequate and we are far from fussy.

   So, after we moved in, we went to the Sheraton to pick up Ted and Bev. We didn't know if we'd join the folks, Sandy and John at the Biltmore for a light dinner, or go out with Ted and Bev. As it turned out, like so many events involving a lot of people, the dinner grew to a large group with about 20 people. We ended up staying for dinner which was overpriced, but we went with the flow.
   The next morning, we got up pretty early and joined Ted and Bev for a breakfast buffet at the Sheraton and then went to the Biltmore where Mike and Nancy had reserved a cabana for the family. Some people, especially the kids, enjoyed the gigantic pool. We stayed for a few hours and then dropped Ted and Bev off and thought we'd get into our bungalow - finally. Unfortunately, it still was not quite ready, so we went to Havana Harry's for a late lunch.

Wow! What a find! We had a chicken/plantain/yucca dish which Nick had told us was big enough to split. Then, we ordered an appetizer of ceviche. There was so much food that I don't think that we finished even half and it was only about $32. It is a definite to visit next time we go to Coral Gables.
   Afterwards, Nick was finished cleaning and we finally got into the bungalow and had to rush to get showered and ready for the wedding.

   The wedding was lovely. It did have to be moved inside because it was spitting rain, which was a bit unfortunate, but the inside venue was also lovely. It went without a hitch - totally beautiful in every aspect. Sawyer and James walked down the aisle and Chris and Shelley were Matron and Maid of Honor.
   The reception was in a grand ballroom with a very good band, although a bit loud for the room. Grandma and Grandpa were in wheelchairs to make life easier. We saw with them, Mike and Nancy, Nancy's brother, Bob, his wife Kristen and Denise, Nancy's sister-in-law.

    We all had fun- they had a photo booth and people were encouraged to take silly photos and it was a big success. We took a fun one with Ted, Bev, Dennis and Mark.
   The next morning, we went to Carol and Randy Berg's house in Coral Gables for a fabulous breakfast buffet. It was wonderful and we got a chance to chat with Randall's side of the family a bit more. (And- stuffed our faces!)

  Afterwards, we drove to a timeshare in North Miami Beach. Weirdly, it is the same rather dilapidated one where we stayed a number of years ago. But, it will be fine for a few days. We dropped our bags and went to stay with Denise and Jack in Fort Lauderdale where we watched the Superbowl. We are tepid football fans, but it was an interesting game. The Patriots were going for their 6th SuperBowl against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles won in a quite exciting game.

Jack is a true fan of the Patriots and watched the game intently and intensely. Denise made a wonderful chicken chili with cornbread and we had a good time.