Family Wedding Fun!

This past weekend, we journeyed to South Bend, Indiana for my cousin Steffen's wedding to his beautiful (now) wife! It was a great weekend, though I am extremely tired today and grateful for a day to rest (sort of). There is still laundry, cleaning, and other household chores to do, of course!

Steffen has been a Notre Dame fan for, practically, ever. So getting married there was his dream. Typically, you have to be a current student or graduate to be able to get married there. At first, Steffen didn't realize this and it halted the wedding planning process for awhile. Then, a priest friend of his (who is the priest for the basketball team at ND), somehow was able to make everything work out for Steffen and Melanie. Basically, this never happens. They were extremely lucky!

The campus is beautiful. I had never been to Notre Dame before, so this destination wedding was both extremely fun and very educational! At first, the immense amount of construction on campus made things confusing. (We most definitely spent 20 minutes trying to find our dinner location for Friday night. Once we made it Legends, we were finally able to enjoy their amazing food! Can anyone say beer cheese burgers?)

But after we familiarized ourselves, it was easy to enjoy celebrating a marriage in a place so steeped in history. Steffen and Melanie got married in the Log Chapel, a cute little building near the lake.

There ceremony was absolutely beautiful. Steffen's face was so full of love when Melanie walked

into the chapel. The ceremony was beautiful and I was honored to sing the Responsorial Psalm and Gospel Acclamation. Congrats, Steffen and Melanie!

After the ceremony, we had some down time for pictures before our tour of the stadium! Of course, we had to snap a husband/wife pic! 

The stadium was awesome! We got to see Touchdown Jesus from the suites and the field itself. We touched the iconic "Play Like a Champion Today" sign in the locker room! And of course, Curly Lambeau's plaque! GO PACK GO!

The reception was beautiful and located at South Dining Hall, which looked more like it should be at Hogwarts than Notre Dame. We had a great time dancing the night away with family and friends. An overall awesome wedding! 

Obligatory family picture that I absolutely love!

We went to mass at the Basilica the next morning and it was quite a traditional experience. It was absolutely beautiful and was nice to experience a different kind of reverence towards God.

Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs. Nizinski! :)