Getting married in Phoenix

A few weeks ago I headed out to Phoenix to celebrate my friends Amanda and Branden get married. I went to graduate school with Amanda in Texas and finally met Branden when I moved to DC last year. I'd never been to Phoenix and since it was Presidents' Day weekend I decided to extend the trip Friday to Monday.

Friday when I arrived around 2 pm I dropped my bags, changed into my bikini and headed to the pool. It was in the mid seventies the whole weekend and the pool was heated so chilling by the pool was amazing for this winter exhausted east coast girl.

After welcome cocktails I headed with another long lost grad school friend to have dinner at a place called Sandbar. We actually had to walk across sand and by a pool to our seats. We each enjoyed a margarita and I had some delicious tacos before heading back to bed (the two hour time change was brutal).

Saturday morning I got up early to run 10 miles. The resort had a four mile route they recommended so I ran that twice and threw on another loop to get 10. The morning temperature was perfect for running in a t-shirt and shorts and the route took me past about 500 cacti. I learned I loved cacti, mountains, polite suburban runners, and the desert air truly is dry (I stopped at CVS for a bottle of water).

where the road ended and golf course began

the sun was intense

so pretty

a little closer

After my run I rinsed off and we headed back to the pool for a few hours before we had to get ready for the wedding.

The wedding ceremony was in a pretty church a 40 minute drive from the resort, luckily they bussed us all there. Amanda actually glowed during the ceremony (as evidenced below).

i do's

We headed back to the hotel for the reception. I got ridiculously happy when I noticed we were having cauliflower puree instead of mashed potatoes. Oh and the cake was delicious too. Then we DANCED!

hey, I made the background of this one!

The next day called for hot tub and brunch. Then I did some reading by the water feature while I waited for my friend Kandyce who lives in Phoenix to come pick me up.

everyone deserves one of these in their backyard

Next up, Phoenix outside of resorts...