A week in Chicago and Michigan (The Wedding!)

Tuesday 30 September

If anything was going to go wrong, this day would have been it, with three flights – the first departing from London at 6am and transferring through Frankfurt and New York to eventually arrive at Chicago at 8pm. Had a bit of time to chill in New York as I didn’t want to miss my connection (the plane ended up being a little delayed anyway) but all in all a pretty good day finished up with quesadilla’s from Taco Bell for dinner – welcome back to America!!










Wednesday 1 October

We were up bright and early to head up north – unfortunately our start was delayed a couple of hours by Mick locking her keys in the car which meant we didn’t have time for the Wisconsin Cheese Castle. She had organised a crossing of Lake Michigan for us so that I could see a bit more of the country rather than just driving straight up. The ride started off great, we watched them back a huge semi with a wide load on, played bingo, got colouring in books and decorated paper pirate ships all before the waves got too big and everyone wasn’t feeling too well so we just chilled and watched Indiana Jones. Had our appetite back by the time we got to the other side so grabbed something to eat and then continued the drive, arriving at the Lynch’s at around 1am

Thursday 2 October

Pretty awesome to be back here in Rogers City – love the Lynch’s and their gorgeous house and there were a few bits and pieces we had to put together before the wedding. Headed out mid morning to pick up Mariko (a friend of Michaela’s from her time at high school in Japan) and got to check out the amazing autumn colours. Spent the afternoon putting together “order of service” booklets, putting labels on water bottles and doing up welcome bags for those staying in hotels. Took some time out to make some jewellery and had dinner with everyone before an early-ish night

Friday 3 October

The day before the wedding so there was quite a lot to do. The morning was busied with sorting out table settings and tying ribbons around chocolates. That afternoon we had the rehearsal at the church which went pretty smoothly and good to have a run through. We had a dinner with everyone at a local sports café afterwards so it was great to get to know some of the guests before the big day and then finished off the night at Greeka’s – a smoky but very local bar with 40oz beers – interesting night

Saturday 4 October

Finally the day that this whole trip eventuated from. Started off with getting Mick’s hair done which took the whole morning, sandwiches for lunch and a bit of a flurry getting dressed so we could be at the church by 1:30 and have Mick in one of the side rooms before all the guests arrived. The service itself was lovely with some readings and nice words from the Reverend, Mick looked amazing and Joe very happy to be there! Photos at the church and home for a little before the pre-reception cocktails kicked off at 4:30. Mick and Joe did their first dance to a sweet song, dinner was delicious and got to catch up with Jonathan (a mate we’d hung out with in Texas a few years back) the night wound down with drinking and dancing – a great day all around.

Sunday 5 October

Up and dressed to go to church for 9:30am mass – was gorgeous that the church smelt like lavender as we walked inside. Big brunch with everyone calling by the house to say goodbye as they headed home and then it was present opening time. We left at 5ish to drive to Beaverton to spend the night with Joe’s family – which was a very different cultural experience to Mick’s place as Joe’s family are Hmong

Monday 6 October

Huge breakie at Joe’s families’ restaurant to start the day off and then we drove to Holland, MI. Had a pretty interesting chat on the drive yesterday but Mick was tired this morning so continued chatting about cultural differences with Joe. The dropped me at Holland and headed back to Chicago, I had a cool time chatting with Don over lunch at an Irish pub, meeting his wife and catching up with his family in Muskegon

Tuesday 7 October

Today was awesome, great to make the most out of it! Started off shopping at an outlet mall in Indiana and then trained to Chicago to meet Mick in town and she’d organised a great afternoon/evening for us!

Started out shopping around and picked up a bunch of cute summer tops (end of season over there), had leftover pizza for lunch and ate chocolate covered cheesecake on a stick – sonly in America! That night we went to the Unearthed gig at House of Blues which was amazing before seeing Wicked – amazing show, its become quite a tradition for Mick and I to watch a show from the nosebleed seats each time we’re together and really enjoyed this one. Spent the evening snacking away on cheese and goodies at home and got a good sleep before my 10am flight to San Fran on Wednesday morning