Congratulations Maya and Neal!

Drew and I traveled to Columbia, SC on Friday, September 5 for the wedding of our dear friends Maya and Neal Chawla. Maya and I have worked together for the past 3 years and have become really good friends so there was no way we were missing this wedding, even in the event of a hurricane (which just so happened to be the predicted weather for that weekend)! After obtaining an excused absence from Saturday's class, Drew and I left Richmond in the jeep around 9:30 p.m. Friday evening and drove all the way to our hotel in Columbia, SC, arriving around 3 a.m. We were able to drive around the storm and did not hit a single drop of rain! In fact, we woke up to nothing but sun on Saturday morning. After enjoying a southern breakfast of biscuits and gravy at the Ruth Chris Steakhouse in our hotel, Drew and I head across the street for the wedding at the beautiful Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. Maya and Neal were married in an Indian Vedic-style ceremony which we felt so special to witness because it was so full of meaning, tradition, with added personal details by the couple themselves. I knew from the second I started reading the program that Maya wrote it because 1. It explained every aspect of the ceremony very well 2. It was well written and 3. It has humor/fun injected throughout. After the ceremony we had an awesome lunch at the Convention Center, which was followed by the best pecan pie Drew and I have ever had.

There was a break between the ceremony/lunch reception and dinner reception so Drew and I decided to head over to the Columbia Riverbanks Zoo and Garden to check out the animals. We were blown away at how amazing the zoo was - the best one we have ever been to. Despite the fact that I really wanted to free all of the animals (expect the grizzly bear that was haming it up for the audience yet I was still terrified of), we made our way around the zoo without letting any of our furry friends loose. My favorite animals were the koala bears (which I like to refer to as "pugs of the trees") and of course the grizzly bear. Drew's favorite by a long shot was a gorilla that he was completely obsessed with and made me keep going back to see. It was worth it though because we were so close to him and got some really great shots.

After the zoo we headed back to the hotel to get dressed for the dinner reception at the Convention Center. The food at the cocktail hour was amazing! Dinner was fabulous too, followed by lots of fun dancing. My favorite part of the reception though were the many meaningful speeches that friends and family gave about Maya and Neal, and a great slide show. So much happiness for a wonderful couple.

Drew and I really liked Columbia and wish we could have seen more of it but we were so tired Sunday morning and headed straight home. We definitely want to go back sometime. Itwas a great weekend! Thanks to Kristina who house sat and took care of Gia for us all weekend.

Here are some pics.

The Chawla's after the wedding ceremony.



Cupcakes!


Drew's new friend


Cutey pie

Drama queen

Reception!