Whirlwind Wedding Weekend

Last weekend I flew to Florida for my cousin's wedding, along with my entire extended family. I was only actually there for three full days, not including the two days of travel, so while it was a long weekend, it was a short vacation. Packed full to the brim, though! There was something for the wedding every day (I was there Friday, Sat., Sunday) and the wedding itself was Saturday night. The ceremony was short and sweet, and absolutely gorgeous. My cousin made a beautiful bride and the location was breathtaking. It was a destination wedding, my cousin and her husband are from Atlanta, both have family spread out all over so they decided that since everyone would have to travel anyways, might as well go all out! It was at a resort on Florida's Palm Coast, about an hour south of Jacksonville, that was about the fanciest place I've ever stayed at. It was beautiful and huge and everyone that worked there was really nice, which surprised me because unlike most resorts, they didn't work for tips. Gratuity was automatically included in everything, so there was no cash changing hands and everyone was really nice anyway. Go figure. Maybe people really are just nice. Or maybe not.

I hadn't seen my 3 cousins in that family or my aunt and uncle for years, so it was really great to be able to see them again, and to see again everyone that lives much closer. I especially loved spending time with my favorite aunt and uncle and their two adorable munchkins that I love. I took a TON of pictures over the weekend, mostly at the wedding and in St. Augustine, where we spent Sunday since it was overcast, not a great pool day. St. Augustine was awesome, I just wish we'd been able to spend MORE time there. Did you know that St. Augustine is the oldest continually inhabited settlement in the continental United States? There's been some sort of settlement there since 1565. It has a long Spanish history, as that's who originally explored there, which was really interesting. There's an old fort, Castile San Marcos, a cathedral, the Ponce de Leon, which was originally a hotel and now is a college campus, and a bunch of other stuff, including a long walking street full of shops (sadly, mostly touristy stuff and T-shirts) but the shops are in old restored buildings that are, I hate to use this way overused word but it fits, quaint.